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Biography
Richard Alexander Crooks (June 26, 1900 – September 29, 1972) was an United States|American tenor and a leading singer at the New York Metropolitan Opera .
Biography
He was born on June 26, 1900 in Trenton, New Jersey . Following several concert seasons as an oratorio and song recital specialist, including the American premier of Gustav Mahler|Mahler 's Das Lied von der Erde , he traveled to Germany where he made his opera tic debut in Hamburg as Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini|Puccini 's Tosca in 1927. After his tour in other European cities such as Berlin , Crooks returned to the United States and made his American 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 Acetate disc|transcription disc s. Citation needed|date=September 2011 From 1928 to 1945, Crooks was the host of " The Voice of Firestone " radio broadcasts, in which he sang operatic arias, patriotic songs, Folk music|folk songs , and popular hits such as "People Will Say We're in Love" from Rodgers and Hammerstein 's Oklahoma! in 1943. He also appeared on radio broadcasts with Bing Crosby , who remained a friend until Crooks's death. Citation needed|date=September 2011 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 sweetheart and spent his later years in Portola Valley, California . 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 Björling . Citation needed|date=September 2011
Death
He was diagnosed with cancer in the mid-1960s and battled the disease until his death. He died on September 29, 1972 in Portola Valley, California , aged 72.cite news|title=Richard Crooks, Tenor at the Met, Dies|url= http://news.google.com/newspapers? id=Rt1QAAAAIBAJ& sjid=6V8DAAAAIBAJ& pg=7110,2444870& dq=richard+crooks& hl=en|quote=Richard Crooks, the tenor who was for many years a star of the Metropolitan Opera in New York and for 14 years the featured singer on the "The Voice of Firestone|newspaper= New York Times |date=October 1, 1972|accessdate=2011-03-28
Legacy
For his work in recording, Crooks was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame ; exactly where his star is located, however, is a mystery. The Los Angeles Times , which has documented and photographed every star on the Walk as part of its ongoing Hollywood Star Walk project, has been unable to find Crooks' star (or the one for the film career of Geraldine Farrar ). It is unknown if Crooks' star has been removed, or was never installed in the first place, or was simply overlooked by the Times crew.}
Crook's peculiar diction (in English) which made him sound more Germanic than Tauber is not often commented on; but it is apparent that his diction is flawed.
Recordings
Aside from an unreleased disc for Columbia Records|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's 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's 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 (opera)|Lohengrin and the "Prize Song" from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg . Crooks recorded a complete version of Franz Schubert|Schubert 's Die schöne Müllerin in c.1934 (one of the early attempts to do so) with his teacher Frank LaForge at the piano, of which only numbers 1-3, 7-8, and 13-19 of the 20 songs were issued, and that not until 1941: the complete recording with the missing titles was issued on CD in 1997.Originals: RCA Victor Red Seal 78rpm 11-9251 to 9253: reissue Delos CD B00000072Q. See Uncle Dave Lewis, Allmusic http://www.answers.com/topic/richard-crooks-classical-musician Crooks also enjoyed making an album of Stephen Foster songs, which used authentic arrangements to recapture a vanished era of American music. In early 1942, he released a recording of César Franck 's " Panis Angelicus " in the original Latin; the recording has been included in Nimbus Records ' Prima Voce Christmas compilation The Spirit of Christmas Past . Among his last commercial recordings, made in January 1945, was a patriotic song called The Americans Come , which he had actually recorded as a teenager for Columbia. Citation needed|date=September 2011 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 Charles Gounod|Gounod 's Faust (opera)|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 ( Johann Sebastian Bach|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 International|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, California|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 Crooks's operatic arias from the 1920s and 1930s. In 1969, RCA released a recording of John Stainer|Stainer ’s The Crucifixion (Stainer)| 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 International|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's recordings, including selections from operettas and popular songs.
Sources
Delos International|Delos CD and liner notes
RCA Victrola LP and liner notes
Interviews with Crooks, 1967-72
References
reflist
External links
http://historyofthetenor.com/page.php? 136 History of the Tenor - Sound Clips and Narration
Persondata | NAME = Crooks, Richard Alexander | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = American opera tenor | DATE OF BIRTH = June 26, 1900 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Trenton, New Jersey , U.S. | DATE OF DEATH = September 29, 1972 | PLACE OF DEATH = Portola Valley, California , U.S. DEFAULTSORT:Crooks, Richard Category:American opera singers Category:People from Trenton, New Jersey Category:Operatic tenors Category:Classical music radio personnel Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:1900 births Category:1972 deaths
