ENZO SERI
A native of Tuscany, Seri came to France at an early age: his father, a well-known antifascist, had to leave Italy and settled in southern France (I think in Nice) as a political refugee. Very young, Enzo Seri became a painter and sculptor, and also studied voice, making his debut as Pinkerton in Monte Carlo, followed by engagements in Algiers and Marseille.
However, being an outspoken antifascist like his father, he exercised prudence when the Nazis occupied the northern half of France (and controlled also the southern half), and interrupted his career until he met pianist and voice teacher Tosca Marmor, a member of the resistance movement – and enraptured by Seri’s voice. She gave him singing lessons, she saved him from being deported to Germany as a forced laborer by obtaining false papers testifying that he had been a resident of Monaco for five years (tiny Monaco was kind of a safe haven for all kinds of Nazi victims and adversaries, but only people residing there for minimum five years were exempt from the Nazi’s and their French vassals’ grasp), she accompanied his recitals, and she saved him again when he was arrested by the (Nazi-controlled) French police on the occasion of a visit to his family in Nice. Seri reciprocated when Marmor, being Jewish, was arrested by the Nazis and eventually deported to Auschwitz (she survived) – as long as she was imprisoned in France, he stayed in touch with her on a daily basis, sent her food and money and so on, and above all, looked after her host of resistance documents and made them evaporate before the authorities found them.
After the war, they revived their close association; Seri sang all over southern France, Marseille, Toulouse (where he was a member of the troupe), Algiers (1948/49 season), Tunis, Béziers (Carmen, Werther), Nîmes, Nice, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Monte Carlo, Geneva, Brussels, Liège, at the Aix-en-Provence festival (Così fan tutte)… and for the French radio in Paris. However, he refused to make his debut at the Paris Opéra as Tamino, saying he couldn’t leave Nice for the time being since he was busy working on a huge and important sculpture – sculpting and painting was still as important as singing for him, or perhaps even more important.
Reference: Tosca Marmor: Le piano rouge. Souvenirs, Paris 1990
https://www.historicaltenors.net/italian/seri.html
TRACKLIST
Mattiwilda Dobbs, Enzo Seri, Jean Borthayre, Lucien Mans, Paris Philharmonic Orchestra And Chorus – Georges Bizet – The Pearl Fishers (Les Pecheurs de Perles)
Label: Everest – S-442/2
Series: Everest Opera Series
Format: Box Set, Stereo
2 x Vinyl, LP, Stereo
Country: US
Genre: Classical
Style: Opera
A Act I (Beginning)
B1 Act I (Conclusion)
B2 Act II (Beginning)
C Act II (Conclusion)
D Act III (Complete)
Record Company – Everest Records
Baritone Vocals – Jean Borthayre
Bass Vocals – Lucien Mans
Chorus – Paris Philharmonic Chorus
Conductor [Chorus] – René Alix
Conductor [Orchestra] – René Leibowitz
Lacquer Cut By – Pete Helffrich
Orchestra – Paris Philharmonic Orchestra
Soprano Vocals – Mattiwilda Dobbs
Tenor Vocals – Enzo Seri
Record 1 has labels A and D, Record 2 has labels B and C to accommodate users of a record changer.
Electronically Enhanced For STEREO Effect.
Sung in French language.
Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A): EOS 442 A Pete Helffrich
Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B): EOS 442 B Pete Helffrich
Matrix / Runout (Runout Side C): EOS 442 C Pete Helffrich
Matrix / Runout (Runout Side D): EOS 442 D Pete Helffrich
No comments:
Post a Comment