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Alberto Fernando Riccardo Semprini (27 March 1908 – 19 January 1990), known as Alberto Semprini (), or by his stage name Semprini, was an English pianist, composer and conductor, known for his appearances on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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...
, mainly on radio.
Early life
Born in
Bath,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, England, of Italian ancestry, Semprini showed early talent for both the piano and cello. The second of three sons, his parents were Arturo Riccardo Fernando Semprini, a musician from
Rimini
Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...
, Italy, and his wife, Elizabeth Tilley, a opera singer from
Dudley
Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...
,
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
. Alberto graduated from the
Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
Conservatory in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
in 1929, having studied composition and conducting, as well as honing his skills at the piano.
Career
In Italy, he performed a broad range of music, from pop to jazz and classical, and in 1938 led his first radio orchestra there. In the late 1950s he also featured regularly at the
Sanremo Music Festival
The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annual ...
.
Semprini recorded for
Telefunken
Telefunken was a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the ''Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ('General electricity company').
The name "Telefunken" app ...
in the early 1940s, with a dance orchestra. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, despite having a
British passport
A British passport is a travel document issued by the United Kingdom or other British dependencies and territories to individuals holding any form of British nationality. It grants the bearer international passage in accordance with visa requ ...
, he was called up for military service in Italy. He was rejected as being unfit, but his passport was taken, and Semprini was suspected of being pro-British (which was true). Life in
Fascist Italy became difficult for him, and he moved to
Sanremo
Sanremo (; lij, Sanrémmo(ro) or , ) or San Remo is a city and comune on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Rivie ...
to compose. He returned to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
in 1944 to await the arrival of the
Allied Army. When they came, he volunteered his services with the
Entertainments National Service Association
The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, ...
. While working with ENSA, he met the actor
Michael Brennan, who helped Semprini get his passport back. Brennan brought Semprini back to London in 1949. He was signed to
His Master's Voice
His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...
in 1950, for whom he recorded until 1963.
Back in the UK, he hosted a
light music programme, ''Semprini Serenade'', which he introduced with the words: "Old ones, new ones, loved ones, neglected ones". The program first aired on
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
in 1957 and continued for around 25 years.
Although his 'house band' was the New Abbey Light
Symphony Orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...
on his commercial records, on radio he was always accompanied by one of the BBC's own staff orchestras, initially the
BBC Revue Orchestra.
Semprini also wrote a number of original light music compositions, including ''Concerto Appassionato'' and ''Mediterranean Concerto'', which he used as the theme tune for his radio show.
In 1977, following a performance in
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, Semprini chose to leave the stage, citing a lack of confidence.
Honours
In 1973 he was made an Officer of the
Order of St John, and on 30 November 1983 he was appointed an Officer of the
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
, in recognition of his considerable charity work.
Personal life and death
In 1931, Semprini married Brunilde Regarbagnati in Italy, and the couple had three sons. However, the marriage was not to last. After the war, he worked and studied in Spain, where he fell in love with a young Spanish dancer, María de la Concepción Consuelo García Cardoso, the daughter of Generoso José García Inglesias, a house painter. Semprini took Consuelo to England in 1949, and following his divorce in 1952, married her that year. They had two sons.
He lived on a houseboat in
West Mersea
West Mersea is a town and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in Essex, England. It is the larger (in terms of population) of two settlements on Mersea Island, south of Colchester.
History
Roman buildings and Ro ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, and in
Brixham
Brixham is a coastal town and civil parish, the smallest and southernmost of the three main population centres (the others being Paignton and Torquay) on the coast of Torbay in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Commercial fish ...
,
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
. Semprini suffered from
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
, and died in Brixham on 19 January 1990, aged 81.
Recordings
Semprini was a prolific recording artist. His work was first released on the Italian label
Fonit Cetra
Fonit Cetra was an Italian record label, active between 1957 and 2000.
History
Fonit Cetra was founded in 1957 from merging two already existing labels: Cetra (acronym from Compagnia per edizioni, teatro, registrazioni ed affini), owned by RAI an ...
, then
EMI Records
EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...
, where he remained for the rest of his professional career. Although strongly associated with light music, his recordings were principally of well-known classical music, including the
Grieg Piano Concerto
A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpiec ...
and solo pieces by
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
,
Chopin,
Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
,
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
and
Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
.
In 2015
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is an American record company and label.
History
The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...
released a CD of his late 1950s broadcasts with the
BBC Revue Orchestra, most of which had not been heard since their first broadcast.
Cultural references
In the ''
Monty Python's Flying Circus
''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...
'' segment known as "The Chemist Sketch", the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
interrupted the show to ban a number of "naughty" words, including "b*m", "b*tty", "kn*ckers", "kn*ckers", "p*x" and "w**-w**". The final prohibited word, a puzzling and random addition to the list, was "Semprini". Immediately when the action resumed, the chemist (