Selmar Cerini

SELMAR CERINI (1861-1923): Cantor Steifman aka Selmar Cerini was a dramatic tenor who left a successful operatic career in Breslau (singing roles such as Raoul, Eléazar, Manrico…) for the synagogue and became Oberkantor in the same city. Cerini recorded more than 70 recordings for several record companies mainly cantorial but also some operatic arias and songs.

www.operanostalgia.be/html/Greatest_Cantorial_Voices.htm

www.forward.com/articles/122762 = Listen to “Kol Nidre” by Cantor Selmar Cerini (from the CD “Cantors, Klezmorim and Crooners”):

"My grandfather was born Selmar Steifmann. Early in his operatic career, he

was

called in as a stand-in for a role that sang from behind the curtains. When

the

critics were asked the name of the performer, they were told it was Cerini,

who

was at that time a minor singer in Italy. The reason they couldn't give out

his

real name is that in Europe, at that time, one had to go through certain

formalities before being allowed to be billed as a singer. He received

outstanding reviews and from that point on he was known as Selmar Cerini, and

legally the name was changed to Selmar Steifmann-Cerini. In fact, only one of

his records that I have has Steifmann-Cerini on the label. "

• rather obscure artist, who last set foot on the operatic stage in 1892.

However, I, at least, find it fascinating to know that he was prominent

enough in his time to have had a biography published in German in 1900, and

that he recorded both cantorial music and operatic arias for major labels

almost fifteen years after his operatic career ended.

http://listserv.bccls.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=OPERA-L;nMufhw;199604192343...

The Great Tenors Vol 2 / Knote, Cerini, Paoli, Munteanu, Borgatti, Lapelletrie, Et Al

  Release Date: 09/09/2008 

Label: Symposium Catalog #: 1368 Spars Code: n/a

Composer: Richard Wagner, Friedrich von Flotow, Bedrich Smetana, Gioachino Rossini, Jacques Halévy,

Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Charles Gounod,

Georges Bizet, Adolphe-Charles Adam, Ambroise Thomas, Spiro Samara,

Franco Alfano, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Performer: César Vezzani, Julian Biel, Giuseppe Borgatti, Leon Campagnola, René Maison,

Petre Munteanu, Antonio Paoli, Julius Bochnicek, Heinrich Knote,

Selmar Cerini, John O'Sullivan, Rene Lapelletrie

Orchestra/Ensemble: Orchestra

Number of Discs: 1

Recorded in: Mono

Length: 1 Hours 19 Mins.

 CD  $19.99 

In Stock

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jan 21 2021, 3:43:11 UTC