Richard Crooks

Richard Alexander Crooks (June 26, 1900, Trenton, New Jersey–September 29, 1972, Portola Valley, California) was an American tenor and a leading singer at the New York Metropolitan Opera. He was a fine musician with a sweet-toned voice and many critics consider him to be the best lyric tenor ever produced by the United States.

Biography

After several busy concert seasons as an oratorio and song recital specialist, including the American premier of "Das Lied von der Erde", Crooks traveled to Germany where he made his operatic debut in Hamburg as Cavaradossi in Puccini's "Tosca" in 1927. After his tour in other European cities such as Berlin, Crooks returned to the United States and made his America debut in 1930 in Philadelphia. He became a star of the Metropolitan Opera, specializing in French and Italian operas. He participated in the farewell gala on March 29, 1936, for Italian soprano Lucrezia Bori, which was broadcast nationally and preserved on transcription discs.

From 1928 to 1945, Crooks was the host of "The Voice of Firestone" radio broadcasts, in which he sang operatic arias, patriotic songs, folk songs, and popular hits such as "People Will Say We're in Love" from Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" in 1943. He also appeared on radio broadcasts with Bing Crosby, who remained a friend until Crooks' death.

Serious health problems forced Crooks to retire in early 1945. He continued to sing, however, at his church and elsewhere. Some of his performances were taped. He had married his childhood sweeetheart and spent his later years in the rustic, wooded community of Portola Valley, California, south of San Francisco. An entire room in his house was devoted to framed, autographed photographs of singers, conductors, and U.S. presidents he had known. In conversations, he often praised two of the other great tenors he had heard in person: Enrico Caruso and Jussi Bjoerling. Like other singers of his generation, he was not impressed with many of the opera singers in the 1950s and 1960s. He was diagnosed with cancer in the mid-1960s and battled the disease until his death.

After years of singing, Crooks died at the age of seventy-two, leaving his own legacy.

For his work in recording, Crooks has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Recordings

Aside from an unreleased disc for Columbia, Crooks recorded primarily for the Victor Talking Machine Company, which was renamed RCA Victor in 1929. His first recordings date from the mid-1920s and were devoted mainly to operetta, especially ensemble medley recordings by the "Victor Light Opera Company." Among these early electric recordings was a medley of "The Student Prince" by Sigmund Romberg, in which Crooks and Lambert Murphy alternated on the "Serenade." Most of Crooks' early Victor recordings appeared on the popular music black label. Crooks also made some recordings for Victor's German subsidiary, Electrola, in Germany during the late 1920s.

By the late 1920s, when Crooks' operatic recordings were released, he was promoted to the prestigious "Red Seal." Crooks often said that his personal favorite was a 1928 recording of two arias by Richard Wagner: "In fernem Land" from "Lohengrin" and the "Prize Song" from "Meistersinger". Crooks recorded a series of Schubert songs in the early 1930s, most of which RCA never released, that have now appeared on a Delos CD. Crooks also enjoyed making an album of Stephen Foster songs, which used authentic arrangements to recapture a vanished era of American music. Among his last commercial recordings, made in January 1945, was a patriotic song called "The Americans Come", which he had actually recorded as a teenger for Columbia.

The Metropolitan Opera has issued a number of recorded performances featuring Crooks on LP and CD. One of his most memorable radio broadcasts was a 1940 Met performance of Gounod's "Faust" with Crooks in the title role; Helen Jepson sang Marguerite and Ezio Pinza sang Méphistophélès. Naxos Records issued the performance on CD, conducted by Wilfrid Pelletier, as taken from the original NBC master transcriptions. [ [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gounod-Faust-Charles/dp/B0000267OU Amazon.co.uk: Gounod: Faust: Charles Gounod, Wilfrid Pelletier, New York Metropolitan Opera Chorus, New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Richard Crooks, Helen Jepson, Ezio Pinza, Leonard Warren: Music ] ]

His final, private recordings were made in 1967 and 1968. The recordings of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (J.S. Bach) and "For You With Love" (Elinor Remick Warren) were made at a wedding in Southern California on April 8, 1967. The notes for the Delos CD erroneously state that these were Richard Crooks last recordings. Actually, on November 15, 1968, Crooks sang in a performance with the Portola Valley United Presbyterian Church Choir at the Sequoias in Redwood City. On the recording, he sings "Panis Angelicus" (in English) and "Seek Ye The Lord". [Charles A. Riddell] About the same time, RCA Victrola released an LP highlighting some of Crook's operatic arias from the 1920s and 1930s. In 1969, RCA released a recording of Stainer’s "The Crucifixion", recorded in 1929, which featured Lawrence Tibbett, the Trinity Choir, and Mark Andrews at the organ, along with Crooks; this recording was distributed in the RCA Victrola "Immortal Performances" series (VIC-1403).

Delos has released a two-CD set of vintage Crooks recordings, produced in cooperation with the Stanford Archives of Recorded Sound, including some performances that were never issued commercially. They also included the 1967 recordings. There have been additional CDs released by ASV and Jewel, which show the great diversity of Crooks' recordings, including selections from operettas and popular songs.

ources

*Delos CD and liner notes
*RCA Victrola LP and liner notes
*Interviews with Crooks, 1967-72

References

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiozOCvORcA YouTube - Richard Crooks - Una Furtiva Lagrima - 1937 - From 78 RPM] Richard Crooks sings Donizetti's "Una Furiva Lagrima."