Richard Tucker

Richard Tucker - No, Pagliaccio non son (Live), Richard Tucker: HaTikvah , Kiddush (Pesach ) , Richard Tucker sings the Kol Nidre כל נדרי.

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• Portrait with parents and siblings, Family Photos

Brooklyn-born tenor Richard Tucker had a unique dual career. As one of the great voices of the Metropolitan Opera, Tucker made his debut there as Alfredo Germont in Verdi's "La Traviata" in January, 1945, and became a specialist in the Italian and French lyric roles. Among his most famous roles with the company were Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme," B.F. Pinkerton in the same composer's "Madama Butterfly," Don Jose in Bizet's "Carmen," and Radames in Verdi's "Aida." The latter, in addition to many performances at the Met, was also a role he sang in a televised concert performance under Arturo Toscanini and on a special Met broadcast performance in honor of Enrico Caruso's centeniary in February, 1973.

Concurrently with his operatic career, Tucker, an Orthodox Jew, was regarded as one of the finest cantors ever, ranked in the company of the great Josef Rosenblatt and Moishe Oysher. His recordings of the cantorial literature on American Columbia records are regarded as among the finest of their kind, and he traveled to Vietnam to preside over High Holy Day services there at the behest of the USO. Although he recorded the role of Canio in Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci" in 1953, he did not perform it on stage until 1970, at which time he scored one of his last great triumphs.

Privately, Tucker was regarded as a warm, friendly man who was devoted to his God and his family. He and the former Sarah Perelmuth (the sister of his Met colleague and rival, Jan Peerce) were married for over thirty years and had three sons and numerous grandchildren.

He was also well known for his waggish sense of humor. During the protracted death scene for the baritone in Verdi's "Don Carlo," Tucker, in the title role, leaned over to baritone Robert Merrill and whispered, "Will you hurry up and die? I've got to catch the train for Great Neck in 45 minutes!" Merrill, one of Tucker's closest friends off-stage, had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. I

Today, the most successful American tenor ever to sing with the Met, and one of the greatest American tenors ever, is honored with a portrait at the Met's Founder's Hall. That, and his considerable recorded legacy, will ensure that his name will live forever in operatic and cantorial annals.

Family Photo:

Proud patriarch Israel (Sam) Ticker (center) with his family in 1926. Seated (left to right)  are Daniel Nacman, holding his infant daughter, Ruth; Claire Nacman; Claire Parness; Abe Parness, holding his infant son, Larry; Daniel Parness.
Standing (left to right) are Minnie (Mrs. Daniel Nacman);  Celia (Mrs. Louis) Tucker; Louis Tucker; Fannie Ticker; Rubin (Richard Tucker), then thirteen; Norma (Mrs. Abe Parness): and Rae Tucker. (courtesy of Mrs. Richard Tucker)

Richard Tucker was born Rivn (Rubin) Ticker in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of immigrants from Bessarabia (then a province in the Russian Empire) - Samuel and Fanya-Tsipa Ticker. His musical aptitude was discovered early, and was nurtured under the tutelage of Samuel Weisser at the Tifereth Israel synagogue in lower Manhattan. As a teenager, Tucker's interests alternated between athletics, at which he excelled during his high-school years, and singing for weddings and bar mitzvahs as a cantorial student. Eventually, he progressed from a part-time cantor at Temple Emanuel in Passaic, New Jersey, to full-time cantorships at Temple Adath Israel in the Bronx and, in June 1943, at the large and prestigious Brooklyn Jewish Center. Until then, Tucker's income derived mainly from his weekly commissions as a salesman for the Reliable Silk Company, in Manhattan's garment district.

On February 11, 1936, Tucker married Sara Perelmuth, the youngest child (and only daughter) of Levi and Anna Perelmuth, proprietors of the Grand Mansion, a kosher banquet hall in Manhattan's Lower East Side. At the time of Tucker's wedding to their daughter, the Perelmuths' musically-gifted eldest son, Yakob, had progressed from a part-time jazz violinist and lyric tenor vocalist to a national radio star who had already set his sights on an operatic career.

Under the management of the legendary Sol Hurok, the eldest of the Perelmuth offspring, now re-named Jan Peerce, reached his goal when the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera Company, Edward Johnson, offered him a contract after an impressive audition. When Peerce made his much-acclaimed debut at the Met on November 29, 1941, his sister and her new husband were living with Peerce's parents while Tucker was trying to make a success as the sole proprietor (and only employee) of a silk-lining sales business, while also officiating at Temple Adath Israel in the Bronx.

Although Peerce remained skeptical of Tucker's ability and did not overtly encourage his operatic ambitions (which led, unfortunately, to a permanent rift between the two brothers-in-law and their families), Peerce did play a role in introducing Tucker to conductor and arranger Zavel Zilberts, who coached Tucker until he came to the attention of Paul Althouse, a notable tenor whose operatic career had begun during the last years of Enrico Caruso's long reign at the Met. Althouse became Tucker's only teacher. In a rare moment of the pupil disregarding the teacher's advice, Tucker entered the Metropolitan Opera "Auditions of the Air" in 1941, but did not win.

When Met general manager Edward Johnson came unannounced to the Brooklyn Jewish Center to hear Tucker sing, however, Johnson offered the tenor another audition and soon awarded him a contract. On December 15, 1945, under the baton of Emil Cooper, Tucker made his debut as Enzo in La Gioconda. The debut, one of the most successful in the annals of the Met, foretold Tucker's 30-year career as the leading American tenor of the postwar era.

Two years after his Metropolitan debut, Tucker was invited to reprise his success in La Gioconda at the cavernous amphitheater in Verona, Italy, for which the retired tenor and Verona native, Giovanni Zenatello, had also engaged a young overweight, unknown Greek-American soprano named Maria Callas.

Contemporary reviews of the 1947 Verona performances of La Gioconda verify that Tucker's success considerably surpassed Callas's, a fact overshadowed by the soprano's eventual worldwide acclaim. Two years later, in 1949, Tucker's rapidly ascending career was confirmed when Arturo Toscanini, the most celebrated Italian conductor of the twentieth century, engaged Tucker to sing the role of Radames for the NBC simulcasts of a complete performance of Aida opposite Herva Nelli in the title role, an event heard and seen on radio and television, and eventually released on LP, CD, VHS, and DVD. This was the first full opera performance ever broadcast on national television.

In the ensuing years, Tucker's ample lyric voice evolved into a lirico-spinto voice of near-dramatic proportions. If his signature stylistic devices, especially his affection for Italianate sobs, were not always lauded by the critics, the distinctive timbre of his ringing voice, his unfailingly secure technique, impeccable diction, and native-sounding pronunciation were universally acclaimed in every role he undertook.

During an era in which a plenum of legendary tenors including Jussi Björling, Giuseppe Di Stefano and Mario del Monaco (and, eventually, Jan Peerce) came and went during the years in which (Sir) Rudolf Bing led the Metropolitan, Tucker remained a dominant tenor and steadily took on new challenges. Although an indifferent actor throughout most of his career, Tucker made a strong dramatic impression with veteran critics when he re-conceived the role of Canio in Pagliacci under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli in January 1970. The tenor was nearly 60 years old at the time.

Before and after each Metropolitan Opera season, Tucker appeared on concert stages through the U.S. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, his appearances in a series of "Puccini Night" open-air concerts at the landmark Lewisohn Stadium in New York City, under the direction of Alfredo Antonini, often attracted audiences of over 13,000 enthusiastic guests.

Through his opera career, Tucker also officiated as a cantor during Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and other sacred events in the Jewish liturgical calendar. A devoted but strict patriarch, Tucker oversaw the religious development of his three sons

1. Barry (Beryl) Tucker, b. 1938;
2. David N. Tucker, M.D.,b. 1941;
3. Henry R. Tucker, Esq., b. 1946),

and arranged for them to sing with him on a popular television program hosted by Sam Levenson in the early 1950s.

Tucker had a long-running contract with Columbia Records, and eventually recorded for RCA Victor as well. But measured against the sheer length of his career, Tucker's commercial recordings are proportionately sparse and inadequately convey the power and roundness of his voice, according to most of his artistic colleagues. Many of his commercial recordings, as well as private recordings of his concerts and broadcast performances, have been digitally remastered and are available in CD and online downloadable formats. A number of his national television appearances on "'The Voice of Firestone'" and "'The Bell Telephone Hour'" were preserved in kinescope and videotape form, and have been reissued in VHS and DVD format.

Regrettably, a complete video performance of the tenor's searing portrayal of Canio in the Zeffirelli production of Pagliacci, which was to be paired with Cavalleria rusticana featuring Tucker's friend and tenor colleague Franco Corelli as Turiddu, was never telecast and has not been issued commercially because of legal reasons.

Although Tucker's well-crafted public image was that of a competitive, overwhelmingly self-confident performer, his offstage demeanor was that of an inherently private but unfailingly considerate man, especially where fans and colleagues were concerned. Never prone to looking back upon his career, Tucker always lived in the moment and maintained a boyish outlook on life. He also displayed a propensity for playing pranks on some of his fellow singers, often provoking a smile at some inappropriate moment in a performance; once during a broadcast of La forza del destino with baritone Robert Merrill, Tucker had sneaked a nude photograph into a small trunk that Merrill was supposed to open onstage. In later years, Merrill described his tenor friend as "an original, right out of the pages of a Damon Runyon story."

Ironically, Merrill was touring with Tucker in a national series of joint concerts when, on January 8, 1975, Richard Tucker died of a heart attack while resting before an evening performance in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is the only person whose funeral has been held on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. In tribute to his legacy at the Met, the city of New York designated the park adjacent to Lincoln Center as Richard Tucker Square.

Shortly after his death, the 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. Recipients include Renée Fleming, Deborah Voigt, Alessandra Marc and other opera singers of international renown. Source.

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FAMILY

Israel and Fannie Ticker--immigrant Jewish parents who, like hundreds of thousands of others, had crossed the Atlantic in steerage, leaving behind the oppression and intolerance of Eastern Europe, choosing instead the boundless optimism of life in America. They and the other threadbare European Jews who crowded the decks of the ferryboats that steamed past Liberty Island were soon shunted from the Ellis Island processing center to the swollen streets, decaying tenements, and tinderbox sweatshops of the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

The Tickers made their way into the maelstrom of lower Manhattan with no money, no place to live, and four children to feed. A farmhand and for a time a peddler in Sucharan, a shtetl in the Carpathian Mountains near the Russian border of northern Rumania, Israel Ticker entered the New World with no appreciable trade.

Only the generosity of a Rumanian synagogue, whose congregation he joined, and a nearby settlement house on the Lower East Side, helped him sustain his family until he earned his first American dollars--selling chocolate squares at a candy stand. Following the accepted Melting Pot practice, Israel soon anglicized his biblical name to 'Sam,' though he resisted the Americanized 'Tucker' that his children would eventually adopt."

"Sam Ticker was an Orthodox Jew in a fundamental Old World sense of the term. He remained devout and observant despite the sunrise-to-sunset workdays he endured to be able to feed and clothe his family. His religious devotion gave his younger son lifelong memories of the importance of rituals in everyday life. Each morning, young Rubin (later Richard) watched his father don a prayer shawl and tefillin and thank God for creating the new day and for renewing his strength through the night's sleep. At dinner each night--however meager the meal and no matter how late it was served--Sam recited the Hebrew blessing, giving thanks to 'the King of the Universe, Who dost bring bread out of the ground...'

A reasonably literate woman, she (Sam's wife Fannie) fulfilled her responsibilities for her children's upbringing by reciting the biblical verses she had learned from her own mother, and reading them snippets of Yiddish and Hebrew wisdom from New York City's then-prosperous Jewish newspapers.

Though Sam was dutiful, it was Fannie who reinforced her children's identities as Jews, underscoring the meaning of the Book of Jonah: 'I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of Heaven, Who hath made the sea and the dry land.'

To foster in her children a sense of communal responsibility as Jews, Fannie Ticker used what she had learned of the Talmud. A gem she frequently quoted to her younger son--her 'Ruby' (Rubin/Richard), as she called him, was the parable of men in a boat at sea. Far from the shore, the parable went, one man began to bore a small hole in the bottom of the boat. When the others admonished him to stop, the man responded, 'But I am boring the hole under my own seat.' Only when his comrades pointed out that he would cause all of them to drown did the self-centered man stop what he was doing. 'So it is with Israel,' the Talmud declares, 'Its wealth or its woe is in the hands of every individual Israelite.'" Source

ריצ'רד טאקר

' (באנגלית: Richard Tucker;‏ 28 באוגוסט 1913 - 8 בינואר 1975) היה חזן וזמר אופרה יהודי-אמריקאי.

תוכן עניינים 1 ביוגרפיה 2 קריירה אופראית 3 חזנות ושירה יהודית 4 טאקר וישראל 5 מותו ומורשתו 6 לקריאה נוספת 7 קישורים חיצוניים 8 הערות שוליים ביוגרפיה טאקר נולד כראובן טיקר בברוקלין, ניו יורק למשפחה יהודית דתית. בגיל צעיר בלט כשרונו המוזיקלי, והוא החל לשיר כאלט במקהלת בית הכנסת שליוותה את החזן שמואל וויזר במנהטן. החזן וויזר היה למורו ורבו בחזנות. בתיכון הצטיין באתלטיקה, ושילב בין הספורט לשירה. מגיל 14 ועד גיל 18 מיעט בשירה בעקבות חילוף קולו. קצת לפני גיל 18 חזר לשיר במקהלת בית הכנסת, הפעם במקהלה שליוותה את החזן המפורסם יוסף רוזנבלט, ואף השתתף בהקלטות של רוזנבלט. בגיל 22 התקבל כחזן בעצמו בבית כנסת בניו יורק וכיהן בשנים הבאות בכמה בתי כנסת (כטמפל עמנואל בניו ג'רזי, טמפל עדת ישראל ברובע הברונקס).

בשנת 1936 נשא לאישה את שרה פרלמוטר, בת למשפחה שהייתה בעלת אולם אירועים כשר בלואר איסט סייד של מנהטן. באותו זמן, אחיה הגדול של שרה, יעקב, שהיה כנר ג'אז וטנור לירי, נכנס לתחום השירה הקלאסית, התפרסם כ"כוכב" ברדיו הלאומי, והתכונן לקראת קריירה אופראית. בשנת 1941 לאחר אודישן מרשים, התקבל יעקב פרלמוטר למטרופוליטן אופרה, ומאז התפרסם בשם יאן פירס. באותו זמן התגוררו הזוג טאקר אצל משפחת פרלמוטר, וראובן ניסה את מזלו בעסק של מצעי משי, בשילוב עם משרת החזן. על אף שלא האמין בהצלחת גיסו באופרה, ואף ניסה לצנן את שאיפותיו (מה שבהמשך הביא לסכסוך בין הגיסים ומשפחותיהם), היה ליאן פירס תפקיד בסלילת הדרך של טאקר לאופרה, בהציגו לפני המנצח והמלחין היהודי זאבל זילברטס. זילברטס אימן והכשיר את טאקר, והציג אותו לפני הטנור פאול אלטהאוס מהמטרופוליטן, שהחל להכשיר אותו והיה למורו היחיד. בתקופה זו שילב בין משרתו בבית הכנסת לבין הכנה אינטנסיבית לקראת קריירה באופרה. בשנת 1941, ברגע נדיר בו התעלם מעצת מורו, פנה לאודישן במטרופוליטן, אך לא הצליח להותיר רושם מיוחד. הציעו לו תפקיד קטן באופרה אביר הוורד וכמה תפקידים כ"זמר כיסוי". טאקר, בקורטוב חוצפה, סירב להצעה זו, ואמר כי יכנס לבית האופרה רק מהדלת הראשית, ולא בכניסה צדדית. טאקר חתם על חוזה הופעות בתוכניות רדיו, ובשנת 1943 קיבל משרת חזן יוקרתית ב"במרכז היהודי של ברוקלין", שם החל שיתוף הפעולה הפורה עם המלחין והמפיק המוזיקלי שלום סקונדה, ששיתף אותו בהפקות יהודיות וכתב עבור טאקר לחנים ליטורגיים. בסופו של דבר, הוזמן לאודישן נוסף במטרופוליטן לאחר שהמנהל המוזיקלי של בית האופרה, אדוארד ג'ונסון, הגיע לשמוע את טאקר בבית הכנסת. לאחר האודישן, שעלה יפה הפעם, הוחתם טאקר על חוזה, והופיע בהופעת בכורה, מהמוצלחות שידע המטרופוליטן, באופרה לה ג'וקונדה מאת אמילקארה פונקיילי. היה זה פתיח מוצלח לקריירה בת 30 שנים, בהן היה טאקר לאחד מגדולי הטנורים באמריקה.

קריירה אופראית שנתיים לאחר פריצתו לעולם האופרה, הוזמן טאקר לורונה לשחזר את הצלחת לה ג'וקונדה. לתפקיד הסופרן הראשי בהפקה זו לוהקה זמרת לא ידועה אז, בשם מריה קאלאס. מהדיווחים מ-1947, למדים כי הצלחתו של טאקר עלתה על זו של קאלאס. בשנת 1949 הוזמן טאקר על ידי המנצח האגדי ארטורו טוסקניני לשיר את תפקיד רדמס באופרה אאידה של ורדי בהפקה של NBC, אשר שודרה ברדיו והייתה האופרה הראשונה ששודרה באורך מלא בטלוויזיה.

על אף שטאקר הופיע גם בבתי אופרה אחרים, הן בארצות הברית והן באירופה, הקריירה שלו התרכזה במטרופוליטן. בתקופה בה עלו וירדו מבמת המטרופוליטן זמרים גדולים כיוסי ביירלינג, ג'וזפה די סטפנו, מריו דל מונקו ויאן פירס, נשאר טאקר תמיד הטנור הדומיננטי ותר אחר אתגרים חדשים. בכל שנות פעילותו הופיע טאקר עם המטרופוליטן אופרה 724 פעמים, והרפרטואר שלו כלל מעל ל-30 תפקידים. לפני ואחרי כל עונה במטרופוליטן הופיע טאקר בקונצרטים ברחבי ארצות הברית, והופיע תקופה בקונצרטים "לילות פוצ'יני", קונצרטים אלו נערכו תחת כיפת השמים ומשכו קהל עצום של מאזינים, לעיתים אף 13,000.

עם השנים, קול הטנור ה"לירי מלא" של טאקר, הפך ל"ליריקו ספינטו" (ראו: סיווג קולות הטנור). חלק מהניואנסים המיוחדים לסגנון של טאקר, בפרט חיבתו ל"יפחות איטלקיות", לא ענו ביותר על טעמם של המבקרים, אבל הגוון המובהק של קולו החם המצלצל, הטכניקה הבטוחה שמעולם לא אכזבה אותו, הדיקציה המושלמת והמבטא האותנטי, קצרו שבחים בכל תפקיד ששר. לעומת שירתו, המשחק של טאקר נחשב לאדיש במידת מה, אך כאשר שר בינואר 1970 את תפקיד קאניו באופרה ליצנים בבימויו של פרנקו זפירלי, הותיר רושם עז על ותיקי המבקרים בהופעתו הדרמטית. טאקר נודע בעיקר בזכות שירת אופרות איטלקיות, אופרות של ורדי בפרט, אך הוא שר גם תפקידים באופרות גרמניות, ובסוף חייו הוסיף לרפרטואר שלו גם את תפקיד אלעזר באופרה הצרפתית היהודיה מאת הלוי.

אחד הקולגות שטאקר הרבה להופיע עמו, הן באופרות והן כצמד בקונצרטים היה זמר הבריטון רוברט מריל. מריל, גם הוא יהודי יליד ברוקלין (נולד כמשה מילר) שעשה את דרכו אל האופרה בדומה לטאקר והגיע לפרסום רב, השניים היו לחברים. טאקר, שהיה בעל נטייה למעשי קונדס, הטמין, לפני ביצוע של האופרה "כוחו של גורל" ששודרה בשידור חי, תמונת עירום בתוך קופסה, אותה היה אמור מריל לפתוח על הבמה במהלך האופרה. מריל הגדיר את טאקר כמי שהיה "דמות אורגינלית הישר מדפי סיפור של דיימון ראניון, ועבורי - הטנור הגדול ביותר בעולם".

טאקר הופיע בעשרות תוכניות רדיו, גם בשידורים חיים של אופרות מלאות. גם בטלוויזיה הופיע רבות. לטאקר היה שנים רבות חוזה הקלטות עם חברת קולומביה, והוא הקליט לעיתים עם חברת RCA-ויקטור. הוא אמנם הקליט לא מעט, אך ביחס לקריירה המפוארת והארוכה שלו, לא מדובר בהקלטות מסחריות מרובות, ויש הטוענים, כי ההקלטות אינן משקפות את היקף ועוצמת הקול של טאקר. קיימות בשוק גם הקלטות לא מסחריות של רסיטלים קונצרטים ואף אופרות, חלקן עברו עריכה דיגיטלית.

חזנות ושירה יהודית

טאקר לבוש בבגדי חזן מסורתיים הצלחתו הגדולה, והקריירה האינטנסיבית באופרה, הביאה את טאקר לעזוב את בית הכנסת בו כיהן כחזן קבוע, אך הוא המשיך כל השנים להתפלל בימים הנוראים ובחגים בבתי כנסת שונים. טאקר ידע איך לשלב טכניקות משירת אופרה לחזנות, אך לא פגם בטעמה האותנטי היהודי של החזנות. נאמר בשמו כי גם לביצוע האופרה וגם החזנות "נחוצים דם ואומץ". אמנם נהג לשיר כנער וחזן צעיר, בבר מצוות ובחתונות יהודיות, אך גם כשהיה כבר לכוכב אופרה עולמי, לא התבייש לערוך טקס חופה, במגבלות הזמן שאפשרה הקריירה. טאקר תרם את קולו למטרות יהודיות, כך למשל בסיור שעשה בסייגון בזמן מלחמת וייטנאם, ערך את הסדר לחיילים יהודיים.[1] טאקר הקליט מספר תקליטי חזנות, שירי יידיש ואף שירים עבריים בהפקתו ובליווי תזמורת בניצוחו של שלום סקונדה. סקונדה אף כתב 2 קנטטות על נושאים יהודיים, וטאקר היה הסולן בהן כאשר בוצעו ושודרו ברדיו. גם המלחין מארוין דוד לוי כתב בשנת 1973 עבור טאקר אורטוריה ארוכה על "מצדה", אך הוא לא הספיק לבצע אותה.

טאקר וישראל טאקר ביקר בישראל לראשונה ב-1959 בעקבות הזמנה מהתזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית. עד 1967, הוא הוזמן שוב מדי שנה. בקיץ 1967, כאשר חזר מסבב הופעות בפני חיילים אמריקאים בסייגון (תקופת מלחמת וייטנאם), עצר בישראל, לסבב קונצרטים. הקונצרט האחרון תוכנן למוצאי שבת ה-3 ביוני, הייתה זו שיאה של תקופת ההמתנה, האווירה בארץ הייתה מתוחה מאד כאשר כל צבאות ערב התאגדו להשמיד את ישראל. השגרירות האמריקאית בישראל, הפצירה בפני טאקר לעזוב לאלתר את הארץ הנתונה בסכנה, אך טאקר סירב בטענה כי לא נוטשים אחים בשעה כזו, ואף התעקש לקיים את הקונצרט. בשבת התברר כי אין מנצח שינצח בקונצרט, לכך התגייס ברגע האחרון המנצח הרומני-ישראלי סרג'יו קומיסיונה. טאקר סיפר מאוחר יותר, כי על אף שהוא נחשב לאמן שאינו מחצין את רגשותיו, ומסוגל "להכניס דמעה בקול אך להשאיר עין יבשה", בקונצרט זה הוא התקשה להחזיק את עצמו. בשירו שירי שבת וקטעי חזנות כ"הדרנים", תיאר את כי התחושה לעמוד בשעה כזו, בישראל, לפני קהל ישראלים ולשיר את המילים בעברית וביידיש, כמעט והכריעה אותו. הוא החליט לסיים ב"שיר החירות" שיר הלל לחלוצים העבריים, אך הוא לא אבה ללכת, והקהל לא פסק ממחיאות הכפיים. על אף שהעיד כי לא היה מסוגל, עלה בכל זאת לבמה ושר את התקווה. על פי התוכנית המקורית היה אמור לחזור לארצות הברית דרך פירנצה, לשיר שם אנדראה שנייה (מאת המלחין אומברטו ג'ורדאנו). טאקר נסע, ומיד חזר לישראל, וניצל את הזמן לביקור יחד עם אשתו שרה, אצל פצועים מהמלחמה. טאקר סיפר כי המראות שראה השפיעו עליו עמוקות למשך שארית חייו.

מותו ומורשתו ב-8 בינואר 1975, היה טאקר באמצע סבב הופעות בארצות הברית יחד עם רוברט מריל. בזמן מנוחה לקראת הופעה בערב, בעיר קלמאזו במישיגן, מת טאקר מהתקף לב. טאקר הוא האדם היחיד שההלוויה שלו התקיימה באולם המטרופוליטן אופרה. את תפילת אל מלא רחמים נשא תלמידו זמר הטנור והחזן הרמן מלמוד. בסיום הטקס נותר ארונו במרכז הבמה והמסך ירד עליו בפעם האחרונה.

לאחר מותו הקדישה לכבודו עיריית ניו יורק פארק קטן בשדירות ברודוויי בואכה לינקולן סנטר, כ"פארק ריצ'רד טאקר", שם מוצב פסלו.

מיד לאחר מותו הקימו אלמנתו, בניו וקולגות, את "קרן המוזיקה על שם ריצ'רד טאקר" (Richard Tucker music foundation), במטרה "להנציח את זכרו של גדול הטנורים באמריקה, על ידי פרויקטים לעזרתם של זמרים צעירים ומחוננים". מאז ועד היום, הקונצרט השנתי של הקרן הוא אחד האירועים הנוצצים באופרה באמריקה, ומשודר בטלוויזיה. בקונצרטים הופיעו גדולי זמרי האופרה, ורבים מהזמרים המובילים בעולם כיום נעזרו בקרן.

לקריאה נוספת Richard Tucker ביוגרפיה מאת James A. Drake, הוצאת 1984 E. P. Dutton, Inc קישורים חיצוניים ויקישיתוף מדיה וקבצים בנושא ריצ'רד טאקר בוויקישיתוף MusicBrainz Logo 2016.svg ריצ'רד טאקר , באתר MusicBrainz (באנגלית) ריצ'רד טאקר , באתר Discogs (באנגלית) Songkick logotype.svg ריצ'רד טאקר , באתר Songkick (באנגלית) ריצ'רד טאקר , באתר בית לזמר העברי IMDB Logo 2016.svg ריצ'רד טאקר , במסד הנתונים הקולנועיים IMDb (באנגלית) האתר הרשמי

של קרן המוזיקה ע"ש ריצ'רד טאקר (Richard Tucker music foundation) ביוגרפיה ותמונות נדירות

באתר The museum of family history דיסקוגרפיה

של טאקר וידאו

מתוך האופרה ליצנים, 1970, ביו טיוב דף על פסלו של טאקר המוצב בניו יורק

באתר הקובל על מצב המונומנטים בניו יורק (באנגלית) ריצ'רד טאקר , באתר "Find a Grave" (באנגלית) https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%A6%27%D7%A8%D7%93_%D7...

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Richard Tucker - No, Pagliaccio non son (Live), Richard Tucker: HaTikvah , Kiddush (Pesach ) , Richard Tucker sings the Kol Nidre כל נדרי.

• Museum of Family History
• Richard Tucker Music Foundation
• Richard Tucker Bio - Wikipedia
• Biography
• Portrait with parents and siblings, Family Photos

Brooklyn-born tenor Richard Tucker had a unique dual career. As one of the great voices of the Metropolitan Opera, Tucker made his debut there as Alfredo Germont in Verdi's "La Traviata" in January, 1945, and became a specialist in the Italian and French lyric roles. Among his most famous roles with the company were Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme," B.F. Pinkerton in the same composer's "Madama Butterfly," Don Jose in Bizet's "Carmen," and Radames in Verdi's "Aida." The latter, in addition to many performances at the Met, was also a role he sang in a televised concert performance under Arturo Toscanini and on a special Met broadcast performance in honor of Enrico Caruso's centeniary in February, 1973.

Concurrently with his operatic career, Tucker, an Orthodox Jew, was regarded as one of the finest cantors ever, ranked in the company of the great Josef Rosenblatt and Moishe Oysher. His recordings of the cantorial literature on American Columbia records are regarded as among the finest of their kind, and he traveled to Vietnam to preside over High Holy Day services there at the behest of the USO. Although he recorded the role of Canio in Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci" in 1953, he did not perform it on stage until 1970, at which time he scored one of his last great triumphs.

Privately, Tucker was regarded as a warm, friendly man who was devoted to his God and his family. He and the former Sarah Perelmuth (the sister of his Met colleague and rival, Jan Peerce) were married for over thirty years and had three sons and numerous grandchildren.

He was also well known for his waggish sense of humor. During the protracted death scene for the baritone in Verdi's "Don Carlo," Tucker, in the title role, leaned over to baritone Robert Merrill and whispered, "Will you hurry up and die? I've got to catch the train for Great Neck in 45 minutes!" Merrill, one of Tucker's closest friends off-stage, had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. I

Today, the most successful American tenor ever to sing with the Met, and one of the greatest American tenors ever, is honored with a portrait at the Met's Founder's Hall. That, and his considerable recorded legacy, will ensure that his name will live forever in operatic and cantorial annals.

Family Photo:

Proud patriarch Israel (Sam) Ticker (center) with his family in 1926. Seated (left to right)  are Daniel Nacman, holding his infant daughter, Ruth; Claire Nacman; Claire Parness; Abe Parness, holding his infant son, Larry; Daniel Parness.
Standing (left to right) are Minnie (Mrs. Daniel Nacman);  Celia (Mrs. Louis) Tucker; Louis Tucker; Fannie Ticker; Rubin (Richard Tucker), then thirteen; Norma (Mrs. Abe Parness): and Rae Tucker. (courtesy of Mrs. Richard Tucker)

Richard Tucker was born Rivn (Rubin) Ticker in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of immigrants from Bessarabia (then a province in the Russian Empire) - Samuel and Fanya-Tsipa Ticker. His musical aptitude was discovered early, and was nurtured under the tutelage of Samuel Weisser at the Tifereth Israel synagogue in lower Manhattan. As a teenager, Tucker's interests alternated between athletics, at which he excelled during his high-school years, and singing for weddings and bar mitzvahs as a cantorial student. Eventually, he progressed from a part-time cantor at Temple Emanuel in Passaic, New Jersey, to full-time cantorships at Temple Adath Israel in the Bronx and, in June 1943, at the large and prestigious Brooklyn Jewish Center. Until then, Tucker's income derived mainly from his weekly commissions as a salesman for the Reliable Silk Company, in Manhattan's garment district.

On February 11, 1936, Tucker married Sara Perelmuth, the youngest child (and only daughter) of Levi and Anna Perelmuth, proprietors of the Grand Mansion, a kosher banquet hall in Manhattan's Lower East Side. At the time of Tucker's wedding to their daughter, the Perelmuths' musically-gifted eldest son, Yakob, had progressed from a part-time jazz violinist and lyric tenor vocalist to a national radio star who had already set his sights on an operatic career.

Under the management of the legendary Sol Hurok, the eldest of the Perelmuth offspring, now re-named Jan Peerce, reached his goal when the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera Company, Edward Johnson, offered him a contract after an impressive audition. When Peerce made his much-acclaimed debut at the Met on November 29, 1941, his sister and her new husband were living with Peerce's parents while Tucker was trying to make a success as the sole proprietor (and only employee) of a silk-lining sales business, while also officiating at Temple Adath Israel in the Bronx.

Although Peerce remained skeptical of Tucker's ability and did not overtly encourage his operatic ambitions (which led, unfortunately, to a permanent rift between the two brothers-in-law and their families), Peerce did play a role in introducing Tucker to conductor and arranger Zavel Zilberts, who coached Tucker until he came to the attention of Paul Althouse, a notable tenor whose operatic career had begun during the last years of Enrico Caruso's long reign at the Met. Althouse became Tucker's only teacher. In a rare moment of the pupil disregarding the teacher's advice, Tucker entered the Metropolitan Opera "Auditions of the Air" in 1941, but did not win.

When Met general manager Edward Johnson came unannounced to the Brooklyn Jewish Center to hear Tucker sing, however, Johnson offered the tenor another audition and soon awarded him a contract. On December 15, 1945, under the baton of Emil Cooper, Tucker made his debut as Enzo in La Gioconda. The debut, one of the most successful in the annals of the Met, foretold Tucker's 30-year career as the leading American tenor of the postwar era.

Two years after his Metropolitan debut, Tucker was invited to reprise his success in La Gioconda at the cavernous amphitheater in Verona, Italy, for which the retired tenor and Verona native, Giovanni Zenatello, had also engaged a young overweight, unknown Greek-American soprano named Maria Callas.

Contemporary reviews of the 1947 Verona performances of La Gioconda verify that Tucker's success considerably surpassed Callas's, a fact overshadowed by the soprano's eventual worldwide acclaim. Two years later, in 1949, Tucker's rapidly ascending career was confirmed when Arturo Toscanini, the most celebrated Italian conductor of the twentieth century, engaged Tucker to sing the role of Radames for the NBC simulcasts of a complete performance of Aida opposite Herva Nelli in the title role, an event heard and seen on radio and television, and eventually released on LP, CD, VHS, and DVD. This was the first full opera performance ever broadcast on national television.

In the ensuing years, Tucker's ample lyric voice evolved into a lirico-spinto voice of near-dramatic proportions. If his signature stylistic devices, especially his affection for Italianate sobs, were not always lauded by the critics, the distinctive timbre of his ringing voice, his unfailingly secure technique, impeccable diction, and native-sounding pronunciation were universally acclaimed in every role he undertook.

During an era in which a plenum of legendary tenors including Jussi Björling, Giuseppe Di Stefano and Mario del Monaco (and, eventually, Jan Peerce) came and went during the years in which (Sir) Rudolf Bing led the Metropolitan, Tucker remained a dominant tenor and steadily took on new challenges. Although an indifferent actor throughout most of his career, Tucker made a strong dramatic impression with veteran critics when he re-conceived the role of Canio in Pagliacci under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli in January 1970. The tenor was nearly 60 years old at the time.

Before and after each Metropolitan Opera season, Tucker appeared on concert stages through the U.S. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, his appearances in a series of "Puccini Night" open-air concerts at the landmark Lewisohn Stadium in New York City, under the direction of Alfredo Antonini, often attracted audiences of over 13,000 enthusiastic guests.

Through his opera career, Tucker also officiated as a cantor during Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and other sacred events in the Jewish liturgical calendar. A devoted but strict patriarch, Tucker oversaw the religious development of his three sons

1. Barry (Beryl) Tucker, b. 1938;
2. David N. Tucker, M.D.,b. 1941;
3. Henry R. Tucker, Esq., b. 1946),

and arranged for them to sing with him on a popular television program hosted by Sam Levenson in the early 1950s.

Tucker had a long-running contract with Columbia Records, and eventually recorded for RCA Victor as well. But measured against the sheer length of his career, Tucker's commercial recordings are proportionately sparse and inadequately convey the power and roundness of his voice, according to most of his artistic colleagues. Many of his commercial recordings, as well as private recordings of his concerts and broadcast performances, have been digitally remastered and are available in CD and online downloadable formats. A number of his national television appearances on "'The Voice of Firestone'" and "'The Bell Telephone Hour'" were preserved in kinescope and videotape form, and have been reissued in VHS and DVD format.

Regrettably, a complete video performance of the tenor's searing portrayal of Canio in the Zeffirelli production of Pagliacci, which was to be paired with Cavalleria rusticana featuring Tucker's friend and tenor colleague Franco Corelli as Turiddu, was never telecast and has not been issued commercially because of legal reasons.

Although Tucker's well-crafted public image was that of a competitive, overwhelmingly self-confident performer, his offstage demeanor was that of an inherently private but unfailingly considerate man, especially where fans and colleagues were concerned. Never prone to looking back upon his career, Tucker always lived in the moment and maintained a boyish outlook on life. He also displayed a propensity for playing pranks on some of his fellow singers, often provoking a smile at some inappropriate moment in a performance; once during a broadcast of La forza del destino with baritone Robert Merrill, Tucker had sneaked a nude photograph into a small trunk that Merrill was supposed to open onstage. In later years, Merrill described his tenor friend as "an original, right out of the pages of a Damon Runyon story."

Ironically, Merrill was touring with Tucker in a national series of joint concerts when, on January 8, 1975, Richard Tucker died of a heart attack while resting before an evening performance in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is the only person whose funeral has been held on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. In tribute to his legacy at the Met, the city of New York designated the park adjacent to Lincoln Center as Richard Tucker Square.

Shortly after his death, the 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. Recipients include Renée Fleming, Deborah Voigt, Alessandra Marc and other opera singers of international renown. Source.

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FAMILY

Israel and Fannie Ticker--immigrant Jewish parents who, like hundreds of thousands of others, had crossed the Atlantic in steerage, leaving behind the oppression and intolerance of Eastern Europe, choosing instead the boundless optimism of life in America. They and the other threadbare European Jews who crowded the decks of the ferryboats that steamed past Liberty Island were soon shunted from the Ellis Island processing center to the swollen streets, decaying tenements, and tinderbox sweatshops of the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

The Tickers made their way into the maelstrom of lower Manhattan with no money, no place to live, and four children to feed. A farmhand and for a time a peddler in Sucharan, a shtetl in the Carpathian Mountains near the Russian border of northern Rumania, Israel Ticker entered the New World with no appreciable trade.

Only the generosity of a Rumanian synagogue, whose congregation he joined, and a nearby settlement house on the Lower East Side, helped him sustain his family until he earned his first American dollars--selling chocolate squares at a candy stand. Following the accepted Melting Pot practice, Israel soon anglicized his biblical name to 'Sam,' though he resisted the Americanized 'Tucker' that his children would eventually adopt."

"Sam Ticker was an Orthodox Jew in a fundamental Old World sense of the term. He remained devout and observant despite the sunrise-to-sunset workdays he endured to be able to feed and clothe his family. His religious devotion gave his younger son lifelong memories of the importance of rituals in everyday life. Each morning, young Rubin (later Richard) watched his father don a prayer shawl and tefillin and thank God for creating the new day and for renewing his strength through the night's sleep. At dinner each night--however meager the meal and no matter how late it was served--Sam recited the Hebrew blessing, giving thanks to 'the King of the Universe, Who dost bring bread out of the ground...'

A reasonably literate woman, she (Sam's wife Fannie) fulfilled her responsibilities for her children's upbringing by reciting the biblical verses she had learned from her own mother, and reading them snippets of Yiddish and Hebrew wisdom from New York City's then-prosperous Jewish newspapers.

Though Sam was dutiful, it was Fannie who reinforced her children's identities as Jews, underscoring the meaning of the Book of Jonah: 'I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of Heaven, Who hath made the sea and the dry land.'

To foster in her children a sense of communal responsibility as Jews, Fannie Ticker used what she had learned of the Talmud. A gem she frequently quoted to her younger son--her 'Ruby' (Rubin/Richard), as she called him, was the parable of men in a boat at sea. Far from the shore, the parable went, one man began to bore a small hole in the bottom of the boat. When the others admonished him to stop, the man responded, 'But I am boring the hole under my own seat.' Only when his comrades pointed out that he would cause all of them to drown did the self-centered man stop what he was doing. 'So it is with Israel,' the Talmud declares, 'Its wealth or its woe is in the hands of every individual Israelite.'" Source