Richard Tauber
Born 1891, Linz, Austria
Died 1948, London, UK
Richard Tauber’s Vienna debut, as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohéme, took place in 1920. Here he is singing the role in 1924:
So, what did you think of his high C? In a bit of vocal illusion, he never sang it! Rather than transpose the aria, as many tenors insecure of their high C have done, Tauber “suggested” the note, relying on the listener’s mind to fill in the gap. Tauber was what is sometimes called a “short tenor,” not in height but in terms of range. On a good day he had a high B-flat, but he avoided anything above that.
After thirteen years at the Vienna and Berlin State Operas, Tauber, as a Jew, had to leave central Europe in 1938, and he moved to London. In his career he performed over 100 roles in opera and operetta and made over 720 gramophone records for Odeon/Parlophone, firmly establishing him as a leading tenor of his era.
His singing was characterized by elegant phrasing, exceptional breath control, accurate coloratura, a flawless messa di voce, a beautiful head voice, lovely pianissimi, and a distinctive timbre that immediately identified him. His first operetta, in 1920, was Zigeunerliebe by Franz Lehár, and he was so successful in that genre that Lehár wrote six more especially for him. Hit songs from these operettas, like “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz,” became wildly popular and known as “Tauberlied.”
In April 1947, Tauber was diagnosed with lung cancer. Nonetheless, when the Vienna State Opera came to London for the first time since the war, they invited him to sing Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Listen to Tauber singing the role at an earlier date.
He sang one performance with them on September 27, 1947, and entered the hospital three days later to have a lung removed. On January 8, he died of complications from the surgery.