Thomas Hemsley

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

Life

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

He studied from 1951 singing privately in London with Lucie Manén; more vocal studies followed later in Cologne. His debut as an opera singer, he gave in 1951 at the Mermaid Theatre in London with the role of Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas; his partner was Kirsten Flagstad. 1951/1952 he was engaged as a soloist at the Mermaid Theatre. 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 engagement in the roll compartment " lyric baritone " at the Stadttheater Aachen ( 1953-1956 ). There he sang a total of 15 games, including the title role in Rigoletto ( 1953-1955 ), Valentin in Faust and Master Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Later Festengaments followed at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (1956-1963) and the Zurich Opera House ( 1963-1967 ). As a guest he sang during this time at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Several times he has performed in the course of his career with the Glyndebourne Festival. He sang, among others, Masetto in Don Giovanni, spokesman in The Magic Flute, Don Fernando in Fidelio and music teacher in Ariadne auf Naxos. In 1961 he sang the role of Dr. Reisch man in the British premiere of the opera Elegy for Young Lovers by Hans Werner Henze. In 1955 he performed at the Wexford Festival as Count of Eberbach in the opera The Poacher ( in English) on. In 1960 he sang at the Aldeburgh Festival the role of Demetrius in the world premiere of the opera A Midsummer Night's Dream by Benjamin Britten. In December 1970, he gave his late debut at Covent Garden in London. He sang the role of the psychologist Mangus in the world premiere of the opera The Knot Garden by Michael Tippett.

In the years 1968 to 1970, he sang the role of Sixtus Beckmessers in Richard Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Bayreuth Festival. In this role, he was able to make its ability to characterize art to the test.

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

To his starring role in the late phase of his career was the title role in Verdi's Falstaff; he sang this role for the first time in 1980 at the Kent Opera.

Hemsley was also a respected concert singers. He sang, among others, the Christ - game in the St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, and the baritone part in the War Requiem. As a recitalist, he interpreted, among others, The Winter Journey, the song cycles of Robert Schumann and songs by Hugo Wolf. The song cycles by Hugo Wolf he interpreted together with Irmgard Seefried. Critics Hemsleys was repeatedly highlighted his excellent diction and almost accent-free German pronunciation.

After ending his singing career Hemsley appeared occasionally as an opera director in appearance. 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 art of singing entitled Singing and Imagination (1998).

Hemsley was married to his wife Gwen since 1960; from the marriage were born three sons.

Repertoire and voice

Hemsley sang on stage with a wide repertoire that included games from baroque opera to modern. On stage he was considered a " versatile artist ". The focus of his stage roles are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi. He sang a total of 100 roles. His other major 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" possessed a wide vocal range.

Audio

For the record Hemsley played a number of games.

In 1952 published the Dido and Aeneas production at the label HMV, with Hemsley as Aeneas. In 1956 he sang at the Decca label two games (Apollo / high priest ) in a complete recording of the opera Alceste; Partner was Kirsten Flagstad. 1959 was a recording of the opera Alcina, in the Helmsley sings the role of Melisso. His partner had Joan Sutherland, conductor Ferdinand Leitner was. The recording was released on LP on the label melodrama; a re-release on CD in 2008 as Deutsche Grammophon. 1966 under the Decca label a complete recording of the opera A Midsummer Night's Dream was published in the Hemsley the role of Demetrius sings; the composer Benjamin Britten conducted the recording.

In 1967 he sang the role of Sixtus Beckmessser in a studio recording of the opera The Mastersingers of Nuremberg under the baton of Rafael Kubelik; his associates were Thomas Stewart and Gundula Janowitz. 1968 and 1969 originated live recordings of the opera The Mastersingers of Nuremberg from the Bayreuth Festival; these recordings were later re-released on CD.

1973 was published by Philips, a complete recording of the opera The Knot Garden under the baton of Colin Davis.