Richard Tucker was one of the greatest tenors to ever sing for the Metropolitan Opera. He was also an orthodox Jewish cantor. He ranked as one the best. I have one of his recordings of a Passover Seder, tremendous! He was definitely a role model for me when I sang. Everything that he was as an opera singer/cantor, I wanted to be when I sang.
When I lived in Cleveland, Ohio, the Metropolitan Opera would come every year for a week. If Richard Tucker came, I was sure to be there. His renditions of standard operas were superb. I knew that as a cantor, he was committed to God also.
I read a story about him having to do with a certain conductor. Because he sang in other opera houses, such as La Scalla, in Milan, Italy, he refused to work with a conductor who was known to be a Nazi sympathizer. He asked for someone else, and the opera house changed conductors.
Richard Tucker died of a heart attack at the height of his career. Not only was he one of
the world's greatest tenors, but a man of compassion and conviction.
Picture originally found here
