Tag

Richard Tucker

Cav & Pag – Corelli and Tucker Alternate Roles

February 23, 2023

Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci have been paired more often than Southwest Airlines has had recent on time flights. The two leading Italian style tenors at the Metropolitan Opera who sang the leading roles in these operas during the 1960s were Franco Corelli and Richard Tucker. Both had virile spinto tenors that […]

Cav & Pag – Corelli and Tucker Alternate Roles

More on Mario Lanza

August 26, 2022

Mario Lanza has been dead for more than 60 years, yet with the passage of each one he seems to get even better. This is an excuse to post a few more of his recordings. What’s clear is both the beauty of his voice and its ability to resonate and move the listener. ‘O Tu […]

Richard Tucker Foundation Removes Late Tenor’s Son From Its Board

August 9, 2020

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation, the largest of its kind in the U.S. and the venue for young American singers to compete for the funding and publicity to pursue an operatic career, has come under media scrutiny for a lack of diversity among the winners of its top award. As an apparent first response to […]

Richard Tucker Foundation Removes Late Tenor’s Son From Its Board

The Hard Bargain – Book Review

August 28, 2018

Richard Tucker (1913-75) was the greatest operatic tenor America has so far produced. He had three sons. David (b 1941) was the second child and the only one who aspired to take up his father’s profession. He ended up in medicine as an ophthalmologist. The Hard Bargain is his account of how he went from […]

Recording of the Week: Richard Tucker – America’s Best Tenor

October 27, 2016

Amazon is currently selling this 10 CD set for $16.98. Many of the selections are from Met broadcasts. The rest were made in the studio. There is some duplication with the multi-CD sets release three years ago in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Tucker’s birth. The 1st Act duet from Lucia Di Lammermoor is […]

Recording of the Week: Richard Tucker – America’s Best Tenor

Yonghoon Lee in Cavalleria Rusticana at the Met

January 22, 2016

Last night Yonghoon Lee sang his first performance as Turiddu in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana at the Met. The Korean has been increasingly impressive since his debut at the New York house is 2010. Before the performance an assistant manager made an announcement that Lee was suffering from a cold, but would sing nevertheless. It’s a […]

Yonghoon Lee in Cavalleria Rusticana at the Met

Andrea Chenier Act 2 Duet

January 29, 2012

Here for no other reason than it’s beautiful is the second act duet from Giordano’s most performed opera. It’s not as well known as the duet for the the same characters that concludes the opera, though it contains almost the same material. It’s taken from the Dec 28, 1957 performance of Chenier at the Met. […]

Or Son Sei Mesi

September 19, 2010

Puccini’s cowboy opera, La Fanciulla del West, is returning to the Met this season after an absence of 17 years. 2010 is the 100th anniversary of the opera’s world premiere at the Met. Emmy Destinn and Enrico Caruso sang the leads under the direction of Arturo Toscanini. Puccini supervised the production which was directed by […]

E Lucevan le Stelle

July 3, 2010

Everybody know this tune and every tenor sings it. Below is the Italian text followed by an English translation. Just in case anyone is new to opera, the aria occurs near the beginning of the third act of Puccini’s Tosca. E lucevan le stelle, ed olezzava la terra stridea l’uscio dell’orto ed un passo sfiorava […]

La vita è inferno all’infelice…O tu che seno agli angeli

May 8, 2010

Verdi’s apotheosis to misery and self pity is one of opera’s greatest arias. The recitative which starts the scena is better than most composers’ best arias. The aria itself is sublime. It requires an extraordinary tenor to bring it off. For no reason other than I like it so much here are three performances of […]

La vita è inferno all’infelice…O tu che seno agli angeli

Hoffmann’s Epilogue

December 24, 2009

As promised, here are five different versions of the conclusion of Offenbach’s Les Contes D’Hoffmann. They are presented in chronological order. The first is taken from the 1948 recording of the opera under Andre Cluytens. Hoffmann Epilogue – Cluytens Jobin. This is a French production and my favorite. The Hoffmann was the French-Canadian tenor Raoul […]