Nello Santi (1931-2020)

[adriano]

The great Maestro Santi died yesterday.
He was a fabulous and highly respectful opera and symphonic conductor, a rare (and perhaps the last) expert of authentic Belcanto tradition. Besides numerous opera recitals and excerpts, his discography includes, for example, the complete "I Pagliacci", "L'amore dei tre Re" (for RCA),"Cavalleria Rusticana" (for Orfeo, live)"Francesca da Rimini" (for Rodolphe Productions), "Madama Butterfly"  and "Il Trovatore"(for Concert Hall). Of course there are more live broadcast recordings available.
For Accord he also recorded Leoncavallo's "La Nuit de Mai" and for Decca a vers successful selection of overtures and interludes by Wolf-Ferrari. For Meister Music and Panasonic he also recorded Symphonies by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky and pieces by Respighi with Japanese Orchestras.
Santi was not only a dear friend, but also the conductor from whom I have learned the most, especially during my 25 years at the Zurich Opera - where he conducted 94 premieres.
Some of these productions are also available on DVD.

[Alan Howe]

Also a much-underrated conductor, I think. He'll be missed.

[adriano]

He openly disliked modern opera staging, which he considered "a digraceful mess" (the original Italian term "porcheria", difficult to translate, describing a swine's stable condition). I remember him quitting the podium once he first saw the decorations of a Zurich " Rigoletto" - handing over the job to a colleague. In the middle (of the last act's decoration) there was but a kitchen table... But this is just one example.
He knew his scores perfectly by heart. He even had memorised the exact rehearsal numbers in each score, and also the difference beween various score editions - and mistakes in printed orchestral parts. The only opera I saw him conducting by constantly turning the pages was Wolf-Ferrari's "I quattro Rusteghi" - a very difficult piece. There he admitted to be already too old to learn this score anew.

[Alan Howe]

He openly disliked modern opera staging, which he considered "a digraceful mess"

Good for him! Time to stop imposing directors' clever ideas upon performers and audiences alike.

[Gareth Vaughan]

HEAR! HEAR! (very loudly)

[Alan Howe]

Nello Santi in memoriam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQj0qTHmqtY

[Double-A]

I have not much to contribute here.  But the news makes me sad and also nostalgic and I feel I want to join the mourners.  It seems that almost every time I went to the opera as a young student (for 2 francs with the student ID!) Nello Santi was the conductor.

[Alan Howe]

That's actually rather a moving contribution. Thank you.