Cesare Siepi: Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro, 'Tutto è disposto... Aprite un po'quegli occhi'

Cesare Siepi (February 10, 1919 -- July 5, 2010) was an Italian opera singer, generally considered to have been one of the finest basses of the post-war period. His voice was characterised by a deep, warm timbre, a full, resonant, wide-ranging lower register with relaxed vibrato, and a ringing, vibrant upper register. Although renowned as a Verdian bass, his tall, striking presence and the elegance of phrasing made him a natural for the role of Don Giovanni. He can be seen in that role on a famous 1955 film of the opera made during an edition of the Salzburg Festival under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwängler. In 1953, Siepi debuted at the Salzburg Festival with a legendary production of Don Giovanni conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler, staged by Herbert Graf, and designed by Clemens Holzmeister. He made an immediate impact in the title role of the opera, which became perhaps his best known role, as it had been for the most famous Italian bass of the generation before, Ezio Pinza. This performance has been released on CD, and a 1954 mounting of this production was filmed in color and released in 1955. Siepi was a frequent guest at the Vienna State Opera. In 43 performances he sang Don Giovanni, more often than any other singer in modern times except for Eberhard Wächter. In 1967 Siepi was Don Giovanni in a controversially received production staged by Otto Schenk and designed by Luciano Damiani that showed Mozart's masterpiece in the light of the commedia dell'arte, emphasizing the comic and ironic elements of this opera (conductor Josef Krips strongly opposed this production's concept). In Vienna he also sang Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Colline (La bohème), Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Padre Guardiano (La forza del destino 1974 in a new production conducted by Riccardo Muti), Gurnemanz (Parsifal), Méphistophélès (Faust), Filippo II (Don Carlos), and Ramphis (Aida). His final performance at Vienna was in Norma (Oroveso) at the Austria Center Vienna in 1994... en.wikipedia.or...
Lyrics & English Translation
Everything is set:
the hour should be near;
I can hear people... it is her!
It's nobody;
The night is dark...
and I am just beginning to practice
the stupid work of being a husband...
You ungrateful!
While remembering my ceremony
he was enjoying in reading:
And while I was seeing it I was laughing
at me without knowing it.
Oh, Susanna! Susanna!
What a great suffering you cost me!
With your ingenuous face,
with your innocent eyes,
who would imagine it? Ah,
that it's foul to trust in a woman.
Open your eyes,
you incautious and stupid men
Look at these women
Look what they are!
These you call goddesses
with deceived senses,
to whom the weak reason
tributes incenses.
They are witches who enchant
only to make us pain,
Sirens who sing
to draw us,
Owls who attract
to take out our feathers
Comets who shine
to take our light away,
they're thorny roses
they're charming foxes
they're benign bears,
masters in cheating
friends of worries
who pretend, lie,
don't feel any love,
don't feel any pity,
no, no, no, no, no!
I don't tell all the rest,
anybody knows that.
A link to this wonderful artists personal website: www.allmusic.co...
Please Enjoy!
I send my kind and warm regards,