Norman Bailey (bass-baritone)

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Norman Bailey
CBE
Born(1933-03-23)23 March 1933
Birmingham, England
Died15 September 2021(2021-09-15) (aged 88)
Rexburg, Idaho
, U.S.
Education
OccupationOperatic baritone
Organizations

Norman Stanley Bailey

CBE (23 March 1933 – 15 September 2021) was a British operatic bass-baritone who appeared in leading roles in major opera venues. After an early career in Austria and Germany, he settled in England and was associated with the English National Opera. One of his signature roles was Hans Sachs in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which he performed at La Scala in Milan in 1968 and at the Bayreuth Festival the following year. Later that year he was called upon at the last minute to play the part at the Royal Opera House in London when Hubert Hoffman had to pull out with a sore throat. He also played this part in his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1976.[1]

Career

Bailey was born in

Vienna Music Academy.[4] He finished his studies with Josef Witt, Adolf Vogel and Julius Patzak in Vienna, with F. Carvino in Düsseldorf and Clemens Kaiser-Breme [de] in Essen.[3][6]

In 1959, he made his stage debut as Tobias Mill in Rossini's

Landestheater Linz from 1960 until 1963. From 1964 to 1967, he was a member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. He appeared in the title roles of Verdi's Rigoletto, Nabucco and Simon Boccanegra, among others.[3]

In 1967, he first performed at

Le nozze di Figaro, and appeared the same year in London as Figaro in the same opera at the Sadler's Wells Theatre (later English National Opera or ENO).[3]

Bailey has been particularly associated with Richard Wagner's operas, including the title role of

Chicago Symphony conducted by Georg Solti, and the role of Wotan in the Ring cycle[3] which he sang in the ENO production conducted by Reginald Goodall. In these performances he appeared alongside Rita Hunter as Brünnhilde and Alberto Remedios as Siegfried. The recordings from live performances in English at the London Coliseum are often regarded as constituting a classic audio Ring cycle. Another major Wagner role was Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which he sang in many opera houses including the Bayreuth Festival in 1969 and 1970,[7] the ENO and the New York City Opera.[8] He recorded it with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Solti on Decca/London, and in English from the ENO conducted by Goodall on Chandos. In 1976, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in this role.[9]

He appeared as Barak in

Rexburg
, Idaho.

Bailey appeared on BBC television and radio almost 100 times, including both performances and interviews.[13] He was a castaway on an October 1976 edition of Desert Island Discs, and was pictured, alongside Patricia Johnson, on the cover of the 3–9 December 1977 edition of the Radio Times.[13]

An American citizen at the time of his death, he was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1977 New Year Honours.[4][14] In 1981, he was appointed Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music (Hon RAM).[15]

Bailey built up a sizable teaching studio and taught for several years at the Royal College of Music, London.[5] In Teton Valley, he joined the adjunct staff at Brigham Young University, Idaho.[5]

Personal life

In 1957, Bailey married Doreen Simpson, whom he had met in a choir.[6][1] They had two sons and one daughter and divorced in 1980.[6] He met his second wife, Kristine Ciesinski, in another musical capacity, while appearing as Hans Sachs for Cincinnati Opera in 1983. He married the American soprano in 1985,[3][6] and they remained together until her death in a glider accident in June 2018.[1] He is survived by his three children, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren in the UK, and in the U.S. by his sister-in-law mezzo-soprano Katherine Ciesinski (American conductor Mark Powell) and his brother-in-law IT federal sales expert Raymond Ciesinski (journalist Phoebe Eliopoulos). Bailey was a resident of Driggs, Idaho.

He died in Rexburg, Idaho, US, on 15 September 2021, at the age of 88.[16][11][17][5]

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Norman Bailey obituary". The Times. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  2. ^ Focht, Josef, ed. (23 March 1933). "Bailey, Norman (1933– ), Bariton". Bayerisches Musiker-Lexikon Online (in German). Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-3-59-844088-5
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    .
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Obituary for Norman Bailey". Baxter Funeral Home. 15 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d "Norman Bailey". International Dictionary of Opera. Gale. 1993.
  7. ^ "Norman Bailey". Bayreuth Festival (in German). 16 January 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  8. Newspapers.com
    .
  9. ^ Performances with Norman Bayley archives.metoperafamily.org
  10. ^ "Norman Bailey Bass-Bariton – England – Oper – Aufnahmen". Repertoire (in German). Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  11. ^ a b "In memory of Wagnerian bass-baritone Norman Bailey". English National Opera. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  12. ^ "Lulu, 15 July 1996". Glyndebourne. 10 May 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Stars of Genome: Norman Bailey". BBC Genome Project. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  14. ^ "No. 47102". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1976. p. 8.
  15. ^ "Honours". Royal Academy of Music. 21 April 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  16. ^ "Fallece el bajo-barítono wagneriano Norman Bailey a los 88 años". Platea Magazine (in Spanish). 17 September 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  17. ^ Cooper, Katherine (17 September 2021). "Norman Bailey (1933–2021)". Presto Music. Retrieved 18 September 2021.

Further reading

External links

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