Thomas Hemsley

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Thomas Jeffrey Hemsley , CBE (born April 12, 1927 in Coalville , Leicestershire , † April 11, 2013 in London ) was a British opera singer with a baritone voice .

Life

Hemsley attended the Grammar School in Ashby-de-la-Zouch , North West Leicestershire , then then 1945-1948 the Brasenose College of Oxford University . As a choirboy he sang in the Oxford New College choir . Later he was a chorister and auditor at St Paul's Cathedral in London .

From 1951 he studied singing privately in London with Lucie Manén; further singing studies followed later in Cologne . He made his debut as an opera singer in 1951 at the Mermaid Theater in London with the role of Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas ; his partner was Kirsten Flagstad . In 1951/1952 he was engaged as a soloist at the Mermaid Theater. In 1953 he sang for the first time at the Glyndebourne Festival ; there he made his debut as Ercule in Alceste . Hemsley then went to Germany . He had his first permanent engagement in the role of "lyric baritone" at the Stadttheater Aachen (1953–1956). There he sang a total of 15 roles, including the title role in Rigoletto (1953–1955), Valentin in Faust and Herr Fluth in The Merry Wives of Windsor . Fixed engagements followed at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (1956–1963) and at the Zurich Opera House (1963–1967). During this time he also sang as a guest at the Deutsche Oper Berlin .

In the further course of his career he made several guest appearances at the Glyndebourne Festival. There he sang Masetto in Don Giovanni , Speaker in Die Zauberflöte , Don Fernando in Fidelio and the music teacher in Ariadne auf Naxos . In 1961 he sang the role of Dr. Reischmann in the English premiere of the opera Elegy for young lovers by Hans Werner Henze . In 1955 he appeared at the Wexford Festival as Graf von Eberbach in the opera Der Wildschütz (in English). In 1960 he sang the role of Demetrius in the world premiere of the opera Ein Midsummer Night's Dream by Benjamin Britten at the Aldeburgh Festival . In December 1970 he made his late debut at the Covent Garden Opera in London. There he sang the role of the psychologist Mangus in the world premiere of the opera The Knot Garden by Michael Tippett .

From 1968 to 1970 he sang the role of Sixtus Beckmesser in Richard Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Bayreuth Festival . In this role he was also able to demonstrate his ability to characterize.

He sang regularly at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff from 1977 to 1985 . There he appeared as Bartolo in The Barber of Seville , Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and as a lawyer Dr. Kolenatý in The Makropulos Case . In 1986 he performed there again as Don Alfonso. He sang with the Scottish Opera in Glasgow (including Malatesta in Don Pasquale and Captain Balstrode in Peter Grimes ). In 1974 he took over there as Caesar in the world premiere of the opera The Catilina Conspiracy by Iain Hamilton .

The title role in Verdi's opera Falstaff became his highlight role in the later phase of his career ; he sang this role for the first time in 1980 with Kent Opera.

Hemsley was also a well-respected concert singer. He sang the Christ part in the St. Matthew Passion and the St. John Passion and the baritone part in the War Requiem . As a lieder singer he has interpreted, among others, Die Winterreise , the song cycles by Robert Schumann and songs by Hugo Wolf . He interpreted Hugo Wolf's song cycles together with Irmgard Seefried . Hemsley's excellent diction and his almost accent-free German pronunciation have been highlighted by critics on several occasions.

After finishing his singing career, Hemsley made occasional appearances as an opera director. He worked as a singing teacher and professor at the Royal College of Music in London and at the Northern Royal Academy of Music in Manchester . In 2000 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire .

He also wrote a book on the arts of singing called Singing and Imagination (1998).

Hemsley had been married to his wife Gwen since 1960; the marriage produced three sons.

Repertoire and voice

Hemsley sang a diverse repertoire on stage, spanning roles from baroque opera to modern times . On the stage he was considered a "versatile artist". The focus of his stage roles were Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi . He sang a total of over 100 roles. Other important stage roles included Guglielmo in Così fan tutte , Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro , Germont-père in La traviata and Wolfram von Eschenbach in Tannhäuser .

Hemsley had a "warm, flexible" baritone voice. His voice, which he used with "unsurpassable intelligence", had a wide range.

Audio documents

Hemsley played numerous roles for the record .

In 1952, the label HMV released the Dido and Aeneas production, with Hemsley as Aeneas. In 1956 he sang two roles (Apollo / Oberiester) in a complete recording of the opera Alceste with the Decca label ; Partner was Kirsten Flagstad. In 1959 a recording of the opera Alcina was made , in which Helmsley sings the role of Melisso. His partner was Joan Sutherland , the conductor was Ferdinand Leitner . The recording was released on record on the Melodrama label; it was re-released on CD in 2008 by Deutsche Grammophon . In 1966 the Decca label released a complete recording of the opera A Midsummer Night's Dream , in which Hemsley sings the role of Demetrius; the composer Benjamin Britten conducted the recording.

In 1967 he sang the role of Sixtus Beckmesser in a studio recording of the opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under the musical direction of Rafael Kubelík ; his partners were Thomas Stewart and Gundula Janowitz . In 1968 and 1969 live recordings of the opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg from the Bayreuth Festival were made; these recordings were later re-released on CD.

In 1973 Philips released a complete recording of the opera The Knot Garden under the musical direction of Colin Davis .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Thomas Hemsley obituary obituary in: The Guardian, April 15, 2013
  2. ↑ Karl J. Kutsch and Leo Riemens: Large singer lexicon . Fourth, expanded edition. Munich 2003. Volume 3: Franc – Kaidanoff, p. 2030. ISBN 3-598-11419-2 .
  3. ↑ Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (CD) cast and short review; Retrieved April 20, 2013
  4. ↑ Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Review of the recording from 1968 ( RONDO of November 7, 2008)
  5. ↑ Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, cast in 1969
personal data
SURNAME Hemsley, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hemsley, Thomas Jeffrey (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British opera singer with a baritone voice
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Coalville , Leicestershire
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 2013
Place of death London