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Great Artists: The
Magnificent Richard Tucker |
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"Richard Tucker
made his European debut with Maria
Callas (and got better reviews than she), then went on to
perform for nearly three decades opposite an incredible
roster of other great singers as well as with conductors
like Toscanini."
"Tucker not only thrived in this heady company, but on
through the 1950s and 1960s he continued to grow and develop
as a performer in ways that amazed even his most devoted
fans. Luciano Pavarotti recalled Tucker's singing of Canio
near the end of his life as 'one of the truly great
performances I have ever seen--not merely of Canio in
Pagliacci, but any performance, anywhere.'" |
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RICHARD TUCKER IN
ROME
Courtesy of Mrs. Richard Tucker |
The former
Ruby Tucker (Ticker) was a coat lining salesman in
Manhattan's fur district and had never even been to an opera
when he announced to Sara (then his bride-to-be, later his
wife of thirty years), 'You mark my words, someday I'm going
to make it big in opera.' He proved to be a man of his word.
Tucker knew he was gifted, and this knowledge was his own
mandate for success. But Tucker was no overnight sensation.
First, he worked tirelessly to become a successful cantor,
beginning at a small New Jersey synagogue and progressing at
last to the prestigious Brooklyn Jewish Center. Yet he
weathered several disappointments before an operatic career
finally blossomed....Ultimately all this hard work paid off
handsomely in the form of an indomitable singing technique
that left him still going strong into his sixties....
In 1975, two weeks short of his thirtieth anniversary at the
Metropolitan (Opera), Richard Tucker died while on concert
tour with Robert Merrill. It had been an extraordinary
thirty years. This is the story of one of the longest and
most fruitful careers in Metropolitan Opera history; of the
warm, gifted, and gutsy man Time magazine called 'the
greatest tenor in the world.'
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Great
Artist Series
The Yiddish World
Richard Tucker
as Andrea Chénier
in Giordano's
"Andrea Chénier"
Richard Tucker
as Tamino
in Mozart's
"Magic Flute"
Richard Tucker
as Turridu
in Mascagni's
"Cavalleria Rusticana"
Richard Tucker
as Riccardo
in Verdi's
"Ballo in Maschera"
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