Spelios Constantine

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Spelios "Sam" Constantine (born September 15, 1924 in New York City , † August 31, 2010 in Kornwestheim ) was an American opera singer ( bass ).

Life

Spelios "Sam" Constantine was born to Greek parents and grew up in a humble but musical environment. When he was 20, he decided to serve in the U.S. Army and was at the forefront of the first wave of invading forces in Normandy. After the war he stayed in Europe as a soldier for a few years, initially in Biarritz, where he received his first singing lessons at the Biarritz American University. After working in Germany (East Germany and Heidelberg), he moved back to the USA.

In 1951 he began vocal training at the Julius Hartt College of Music with René Maison and later Martial Singher, where he graduated in 1953 with “cum laude” still in the vocal range as a baritone. In 1952 he was a guest soloist at the Berkshire Music Festival in Tanglewood (Massachusetts). From 1957 to 1959 he studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia with Hunter Kimball and Sidney Dietch and with Dr. Leopold Sachse (scene). He changes to the lyrical bass subject.

In 1957 he sang Don Alfonso and Osmin at the Santa Fe Opera . In 1959 he sang Benoit in La Bohème at the New York City Opera and took part in the Metropolitan Opera singing competition in March, which he won with the aria Als Büblein klein from Nicolai's opera The Funny Wives of Windsor . The appearance at the matinee at the Metropolitan Opera followed on March 20, 1959. Through the mediation of the patron Erich Leinsdorf , he subsequently received small roles at various opera houses, for example in November 1959 as Fiorello and Sergeant at the Barbiere di Siviglia and as a guard captain in Medea alongside Maria Callas and Jon Vickers at the Dallas Opera .

In 1962 he received the Rockefeller Fellowship and was signed by the Columbia Artists agency. Subsequently he moved to Europe. He made his European debut in Oberhausen with the role of Mephisto in Gounod's opera Margarethe. He then moved to the Württemberg State Theater in Stuttgart, where he held the u. a. sang Don Alfonso (Cosi fan Tutte) and many small parts. Since 1982 he has taught in Stuttgart and Ulm and from 1983 to 1987 at the Kornwestheimer Musikschule.

Appearances have taken him to the Chautauqua Opera , the New Orleans Opera , the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company , the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra , the San Antonio Opera , the Städtische Bühnen Oberhausen and the Württembergische Staatsoper Stuttgart . He sang under the conductors Renato Cellini , Josef Krips , Fritz Mahler , Max Rudolf and Julius Rudel . He stood on stage with Maria Callas , Dorothy Kirsten , Eileen Farrell , Roberta Peters , Teresa Stratas , Licia Albanese , Giuseppe Campora , Albert da Costa , Jon Vickers , Eugene Tobin , Sebastian Feiersinger , Igor Gorin , George London , Alexander de Sved , Gustav Neidlinger , Gottlob Frick , Nicola Zaccaria or Nicola Moscona . The directors Armando Agnini , Leopold Sachse , Wieland Wagner , Günther Rennert , Boris Goldovsky , Elmer Nagy and above all Franco Zeffirelli shaped his game.

Constantine had been married to the opera singer Hildegard Wagner-Constantine since 1960.

Opera and musical roles (selection)

  • Mozart, Don Giovanni : Leporello Württemberg. State Theater Stuttgart; Figaro's wedding : Figaro; Cosi fan tutte : Don Alfonso Santa Fe Opera; The Abduction from the Seraglio : Osmin (Santa Fe Opera)
  • Wagner The Valkyrie ; Hunding in concert at Dallas Opera with Eileen Farrel, Tristan and Isolde : König Marke
  • Verdi Don Carlos : Philip; Aida : Ramphis; The troubadour : Ferrando, Un Ballo in Maschera : Tom, Sam Württembergische Staatstheater Stuttgart a. a. with Sandor de Sved as Renato
  • Gounod Faust : Mephisto at the theater of the city of Oberhausen
  • Saint-Saens Samson and Dalilah  : Ancient Hebrews
  • Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor : Raimondo; Don Pasquale : title role
  • Rossini The Barber of Seville  : Basilio Santa Fe Opera
  • Cherubini, Medea : Creonte Dallas Opera with Maria Callas
  • Lortzing Zar and Zimmermann : Syndham at the Württemberg State Theater in Stuttgart
  • Bock / Harnick Anatevka : Tewje in Stuttgart
  • Rogders / Hammerstein: Oklahoma in Stuttgart

Discography

A 1960 recording of Handel's Messiah from Hartford University under Fritz Mahler was released on LP. Private recordings of recitals and opera arias are available, but have not yet been published.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Met Concert / Gala 03/20/1959
  2. ↑ Birgit Kiefer: The golf club has not been around as long as Hildegard Constantine has been playing on the course . ( Memento of December 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Stuttgarter Zeitung of August 13, 2011, accessed on January 23, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Constantine, Spelios
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Constantine, Sam (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (bass)
DATE OF BIRTH September 15, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH August 31, 2010
Place of death Kornwestheim