Italian Operetta Collector and Buffo Ernesto G. Oppicelli Passed Away

At the end of July 2024, operetta collectors around the world lost a point of reference: Ernesto G. Oppicelli passed away. The Italian operetta expert Pino Nugnes – author of Il Primo Libro Dell’Operetta – pays tribute to him here.

Almost unbelievable news if we think that some of us considered him a sort of “immortal”. Oppicelli was there when we were children, he was there and always will be. Instead, it didn’t go that way.

This gentleman from Genua so fond of his city, so keen on operetta and musicals had a triple role: amateur comedian, theater critic and writer of specialized books on the “Light Muse”. He wrote theater programs, but in his heart he had hoped that theaters would have called him to play the buffo roles.

Oppicelli was severe. When you were in front of him, it seemed like as if he was telling you “I know how to do operetta. I don’t care about your opinion”. He could sometimes be a bit intimidating … and one minute after he was happy as a child when he proudly said he had (this was already 20 years ago) more than 2,000 operetta recordings …. is that possible?

2’000 video recordings? Maybe so, if what he had said was true: that is, that the head of the Ohio Light Opera company had provided him with video recordings of all their productions since 1979 onwards … if you consider that at OLO they show about eight titles a year … well, it must be a few hundreds.

He had operetta librettos (in Italian) by the thousands and an incredible number of voice/piano scores found who knows where. An example? When I was a boy I went to his house and he played the chorus of the First Act from Arizona Lady on the piano … but it was not an usual thing because up until that time (late 70′s) Arizona Lady had only had one radio edition and a production in Switzerland in the 50′s! … it was very rare to have the complete score … but Oppicelli had it!

He had everything … but he did not willingly lend. He was jealous of his infinite material. He wrote to artists all over the world, and when Italian operetta artists passed away, he wrote to their widows. And then he took the train and filled suitcases with scores, prose scripts of operettas, photographs, even stage costumes. They told him “Oppicelli, take everything!” And without spending a cent he took possession of everything that the heirs generously gave him.

He was happy to know that other collectors did not have the amount of material that he possessed. He also played funny roles and perhaps his greatest regret was not being the number 1 operetta buffo. But in Italy he was still the number 1 operetta reviewer. His performances can be seen on YouTube:

Ernesto Oppicelli was full of fire, passion, angry outbursts and sudden generous outbursts … but perhaps the thing that characterized him most was the fact that, when he was embarrassed, his face turned red … And as an adult, if you still turn red, it means that deep down inside you are not so bad.

R.I.P.!

PS: Of course th interesting question that follows is what will happen with his archive? So far there seems to be now news about this.