JOSE MOSSESGELD-SANTIAGO
an annotated version of a document prepared for the Guerrero Clan reunion
Jose Mossesgeld-Santiago is the second son of Simon Mossesgeld-Santiago y Gonzalez of San Miguel de Mayumo in Bulacan and Rosa Font y Guerrero of Manila.
Befitting his stature, Simon Mossesgeld-Santiago was called Kapitan (Captain), an honorific title given to prominent gentlemen and land-owners. His family name was originally Santiago and Mossesgeld must have been selected (and appended) from the Catalogo Alfabetico de Appellidos (Alphabetical Catalogue of Family Names), in accordance with Governor Claveria’s November 21, 1849 decree. Simon’s only sibling, Tomasa, married Simon Tecson, also of San Miguel.
Rosa was a daughter of Petra Guerrero y Leogardo and Gaspar Font, a Spaniard from Palma de Mallorca where his relatives, the Fonteroys, still reside today.
Jose, fondly known as Pepito, took the road less traveled by choosing classical opera as his vocation and career. He left the Philippines in 1926 to pursue his dream and brought honor and fame to the family and to the country before World War II. Using the stage name Jose Santiago-Font, he sang in opera houses in Italy, South America and the United States. He had a wide repertoire that included a majority of the main operatic roles for bass: Wotan in Die Walküre, Viandante in Siegfried, and roles in Lohengrin, Mignon, Simon Boccanegra, Forza del Destino, La Gioconda, Don Carlos, Faust, Mefistofeles, etc. He sang for a couple of years in the Roxy Theater in New York. Jose also recorded Filipino songs for Columbia records in the United States.
But his greatest achievement is his performing in one of the world’s most famous opera houses, Teatro alla Scala (or La Scala as it is known), made possible when he won the Enrico Caruso vocal competition in the United States. The official La Scala publication of the operas and performers of the 1932-33 season describes Jose as follows: “…voice of rare power and beautiful in its entire range …. Magnificent actor…with acute artistic sense and aplomb.” In La Scala, he sang the roles, among others, of Ramfis in Aida and Sparafucile in Rigoletto. To date, he is the only Filipino opera singer who has performed in this world-renowned theater.
Jose’s son Enrico married Sabina Castillo y Legaspi and they had two children, Simon and Rosa Maria (my mom).
Jose married Isabel Llewellyn and they had two sons, Joseph and Phillip. He and Isabel divorced in 1941 and after a couple of years in South America with the La Scala touring company, he came home to Manila where he taught classical singing and produced and directed operas. He also worked as a real estate broker.
He has three other children, Mila Santiago, Teresita and Sigfrido, the latter two with Genoveva Perlas.
Jose passed away on March 5, 1959.
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My mom said Lolo Pepito was the first person to record the Lupang Hinirang. We actually still have a copy of that record. The lyrics were different then though, probably used the original.
Lolo Pepito also sang a kundiman on the radio - "Hibik ng Pilipinas" during the war which "was a thinly veiled call for independence" (from: Elizabeth Enriquez, "The Filipino Appropriation of American Broadcasting: A History of Radio).
