Background

Richard Tucker was born Rubin Ticker on August 28, 1913 in Brooklyn, N. Y. , youngest of the six children of Israel Ticker, a furrier, and Fannie Chiperwodska.

Education

After attending New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn and entering the fur business as a salesman, he changed his name to Richard Tucker. He began to study voice and think seriously of a musical career beyond the world of cantorial singing, which provided his first professional engagements. By 1937, Tucker was singing on the radio, and in 1940 he began to study with the distinguished tenor Paul Althouse, who from then on was his only vocal instructor. Althouse was undoubtedly responsible for the technical finish of Tucker's singing and for the style that refined his naturally beautiful voice.

Career

In 1941, Tucker made his operatic debut with the small Salmaggie Opera Company, as Alfredo in La Traviata.

In 1942, he failed to win the "Metropolitan Auditions of the Air, " but in 1943 Edward Johnson, general manager of the Metropolitan, came to the Brooklyn Jewish Center, where Tucker was singing, and asked him to prepare a special audition; it was a great success, but Tucker declined the "cover" assignments and small parts that were offered.

In 1944, the Metropolitan's shortage of tenors led to a contract for starring parts that began with Tucker's debut as Enzo in La Gioconda on Jan. 25, 1945. Tucker's success was so marked that he was able not only to survive but also to flourish at a Metropolitan Opera that in the immediate postwar years saw in the Italian repertoire the return of Jussi Bjoerling and the advent of such luminaries as Ferruccio Tagliavini, Giuseppe di Stefano, and Mario del Monaco.

Part of his longterm success, and the secret of his vocal survival in full splendor to the end of his life, was his insistence on never attempting a part too demanding for his voice. Thus, in these early Metropolitan years he sang the roles of Enzo, Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), the Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), and Rodolfo (La Boheme), while firmly declining such roles as Don Alvaro (Forza del destino), Manrico (Il Trovatore), and Radames (Aeda), all of which he sang later when his voice had matured.

In 1947, Tucker made his European debut at the Arena di Verona as Enzo, under the baton of Tullio Serafin, to the Gioconda of Maria Callas--her Italian debut. This was the first of many European trips that took him to Vienna, Milan, Parma, Rome, Florence, Barcelona, and London. There were also tours to Israel, South Africa, and the Far East. Nevertheless, Tucker's career remained centered on the Metropolitan Opera, which after 1950 was under the direction of Rudolf Bing. The two got on well, and Tucker's solid professionalism and reliability were appreciated by a management content to let his career develop naturally and healthily.

In the 1950's, Tucker added new roles--Ferrando in Cose fan tutte, Don Jose in Carmen, Alfred in Fledermaus, Don Alvaro in Forza del destino, and Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut. His voice was, quite naturally, heavier at forty than at thirty; he was now able to sing roles that earlier would have damaged his voice. But problematic for Tucker, as an artist on the lyric stage, was the quality of his acting; he rarely seemed able to achieve spontaneity on stage and sometimes failed to rise above stock gestures. His comic roles were better than his tragic ones, though much depended on the effectiveness of the directors with whom he worked; later in his career his Canio in Pagliacci, under Franco Zeffirelli, was a resounding dramatic success.

Tucker continued to hold his own against rival tenors in the late 1950's and the 1960's--Carlo Bergonzi, Franco Corelli, Jon Vickers--and further expanded his repertoire as his voice grew in depth and solidity. At the same time he maintained the lyric quality that enabled him to continue singing the lighter roles of his earlier career.

Tucker starred in the events that celebrated the Metropolitan's move from the old house (built in 1883) to the glamorous new setting of Lincoln Center in 1966, and his twenty-fifth anniversary with the company was marked with a glittering gala in January 1970.

Although Tucker had sustained a heart attack in 1962, his career showed no diminution of energy; in fact, the last years of his life were busier than ever--more operas, more concerts.

Achievements

• Richard Tucker was regarded as one of America's greatest tenor opera singers. Richard Tucker Music Foundation was established by his widow, sons, colleagues, and friends, "to perpetuate the memory of America's greatest tenor through projects in aid of gifted young singers. " In the intervening decades, the Richard Tucker Foundation, whose annual televised concerts have been hosted by Luciano Pavarotti and other opera stars of the past and present, has consistently awarded the largest vocal-music grants and scholarships. A street corner near Lincoln Center is named for him.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Richard Tucker & Robert Merrill Live from Carnegie Hall

    (For anyone who loves Opera this is a hidden gem of the hi...)

  • Sorrento

    (vinyl album)

  • Richard Tucker: The Song and Cantorial Album Collection
  • America's Best Tenor-Verdi Puccini Bizet etc.
  • Richard Tucker - Kol Nidre Service
  • Richard Tucker: The Opera Recital Album Collection
  • Lebendige Vergangenheit - Richard Tucker (Vol.2)
  • Richard Tucker Sings Arias from 10 Verdi Operas
  • Softly as in a Morning Sunrise
  • Kiddush (Prayer of Sanctification)
  • Kol Nidre Service
  • La Forza del Destino

Religion

Throughout his opera career, Tucker maintained a Jewish identity. He kept kosher, and regularly officiated as a cantor on Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and other sacred events in the Jewish liturgical calendar, especially in Chicago. He oversaw the religious development of his three sons.

Connections

Tucker married Sara Perelmuth, the sister of the distinguished tenor Jan Peerce, on February 11, 1936; they had three children. He had three sons: Berel (Barry, b. 1938); David N. Tucker, M. D. (b. 1941); and Henry (b. 1946).

Father:

Israel Ticker

Mother:

Fannie Chiperwodska.

Spouse:

Sara Perelmuth

Son:

Berel

(Barry, b. 1938)

Son:

David N. Tucker

(b. 1941)

Son:

Henry

(b. 1946)

References

• THE STORY OF THE METROPOLITAN OPERA 1883-1950, A CANDID HISTORY-----Signed-----
• Richard Tucker: A Biography