Lawrence Mervil Tibbett

Background

Tibbett was born on November 16, 1896 in Bakersfield, Calif. He was the son of William Edward Tibbet, a sheriff, and Frances Ellen Mackenzie.

Education

He grew up in Long Branch, Calif. , where after his father's death his mother ran a hotel and where he received his elementary schooling. While attending the Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, he acted in school plays, sang in the glee club, appeared as soloist with a church choir, and acquired fundamental instruction in voice and piano.

After graduating from high school in 1915, he acted with several professional companies in Los Angeles, among them the Tyrone Power Shakespearean Players.

In 1923, with financial support from the writer Rupert Hughes, he went to New York to continue his training with Frank La Forge and Ignaz Zitomirsky, supporting his family by singing in a church in New Rochelle.

Career

Singing became Tibbett's sole source of income, as a member of a male quartet that he had formed. They sang at weddings, funerals, and church services. Tibbett also sang at the Grauman Theater in Hollywood and as a member of a light-opera company. In September 1923 he assumed his first operatic role: Amonasro in Verdi's Aida at the Hollywood Bowl. In California he continued his vocal studies with Basil Ruysdael and Joseph Dupuy.

A successful audition at the Metropolitan Opera that year brought him a contract; his debut with that company took place on November 24, 1923, in a minor role, that of Lovitsky, in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. (A typographical error on the program that evening led him from that point on to spell his last name with two t's. ) He continued appearing in lesser parts without attracting much interest until January 2, 1925, when he was hastily recruited to substitute for an indisposed singer as Ford in Verdi's Falstaff. His powerful dramatic interpretation of that role, together with his full command in using the resources of his voice, brought down the house, inspiring at one time a sixteen-minute ovation. This performance was reported on the front page of the New York Times, which pointed out that this was the first time in Metropolitan Opera history that an American-born singer, without any foreign training, had created such a furor.

During the next quarter of a century he firmly solidified his reputation by his successful realizations of Neri in Giordano's La Cena della Beffe (1926), the title role in Simon Boccanegra (1932), Amonasro in Aida (1928), the elder Germont in La Traviata (1925), and Iago in Otello (1937). Appearances in the world premieres of American operas were also of consequence: as Eadgar in The King's Henchman (1927) and as Colonel Ibbetson in Peter Ibbetson (1931), both by Deems Taylor; as Brutus Jones in Louis Gruenberg's The Emperor Jones (1933); as Wrestling Bradford in Howard Hanson's Merry Mount (1934); and as Guido in Richard Hageman's Caponsacchi (1937).

His remarkable versatility was further demonstrated by the fact that, in addition to the traditional French and Italian repertory and the premieres of American operas, he was also successfully cast in Wagner's Tannhäuser (1926) and Lohengrin (1927) and Ernst Krenek's Johnny spieltauf! (1929). His twenty-fifth anniversary as a member of the Metropolitan Opera was commemorated in January of 1949 in Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes; and his last appearance on the stage of the Metropolitan was on March 24, 1950, in Mussorgsky's Khovanchina. By then he had been heard 396 times in New York and 163 times on tour. He enjoyed success abroad as well, beginning with his first tour of Europe in the spring of 1937, when he made his debut at Covent Garden in London as Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca, following which (on June 24, 1937) he appeared in the title role of Eugene Goossens's Don Juan de Mañara, a world premiere.

Tibbett also enjoyed a long and fruitful career as a recitalist; as a performer on radio; on television, where he became a pioneer in the presentation of televised operas; and in motion pictures.

On the screen he was starred in The Rogue Song (1930), The New Moon (1930), The Southerner (1931), Cuban Love Song (1931), Metropolitan (1935), and Under Your Spell (1936).

After his retirement from opera Tibbett continued to appear in concerts, on television, and, in 1956, in the Broadway musical Fanny when he replaced Ezio Pinza as César.

During World War II he served on the executive committee for camp shows for the United Service Organization (USO) and made numerous appearances for the armed forces and at Red Cross and war bond drives. He was invited to sing at the inauguration ceremonies of Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

He died in New York City, where he had been operated on for a head injury sustained many years earlier.

Achievements

• Lawrence Mervil Tibbett was a famous American opera singer and recording artist who also performed as a film actor and radio personality. A baritone, he sang leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera in New York more than 600 times from 1923 to 1950. He performed diverse musical theatre roles, including Captain Hook in Peter Pan in a touring show. In Stockholm, in 1937, he was presented with the Litteris et Artibus medal by King Gustav, an honor rarely conferred on a foreigner. In Vienna he was acclaimed as "a great, outstanding artist, amazing in the scope of his talents. " He received a gold medal for diction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1933. Lawrence Tibbett was pictured on a set of United States postage stamps in the "Legends of American Music series", celebrating opera singers. The year he died, Tibbett was made a posthumous member of the charter class of honorees in the "Hollywood Walk of Fame. " His star is located at 6300 Hollywood Boulevard, recognizing his contributions to the music industry. Though he was a pioneer in musical film, his star honors him as a recording artist.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Lawrence Tibbett (Baritone): (1896-1960) A Tribute To Tibbett - 3 Records

    (Lawrence Tibbett (Baritone): (1896-1960) A Tribute To Tib...)

  • De Glory Road: Ballads & Songs from Films & Operetta Vol. 2 by Lawrence Tibbett (2002-03-11)

    (Brand New)

  • Star of Stage & Screen by Tibbett, Lawrence (2001-04-24)
  • Carmen, GB 9: Chanson du Toréador (Recorded 1929)
  • Lawrence Tibbett Star of Stage and Screen
  • Don't Fence
  • The Legendary Baritone - Lawrence Tibbett
  • Lawrence Tibbett: Portraits in Memory
  • From Broadway to Hollywood
  • Lebendige Vergangenheit - Lawrence Tibbett
  • Dear Rogue
  • The Song Is You

Membership

Tibbett was one of the founders of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) in 1936, serving as president from 1940 to 1952 and as honorary president from 1952 on.

Connections

On May 19, 1919 he married Grace Mackay Smith, and a year later they had twin sons.

Tibbett divorced his wife in 1931, and on January 1, 1932, he married Jennie Marston Burgard; they had a son.

Father:

William Edward Tibbet

(1860–1903)

Mother:

Frances Ellen McKenzie Tibbett

(1863–1931)

Spouse (2):

Jennie Marston Burgard

Spouse (1):

Grace Mackay Tibbett

(1892–1972 (m. 1919))

References

• DEAR ROGUE: A Biography of the American Baritone Lawrence Tibbett (Opera Biography Series, No. 6)
• Men and Women Who Make Music
• Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera