Tauber, Richard

Tauber, Richard, eminent Austrian-born English tenor; b. Linz, May 16, 1891; d. London, Jan. 8, 1948. He was the illegitimate son of the actor Richard Anton Tauber; his mother was a soubrette singer. He was christened Richard Denemy after his mother’s maiden name, but he sometimes used the last name Seiffert, his mother’s married name. He took courses at the Hoch Cons, in Frankfurt am Main and studied voice with Carl Beines in Freiburg im Breisgau. He made his operatic debut at Chemnitz as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte (March 2, 1913) with such success that he was engaged in the same year at the Dresden Court Opera; made his first appearance at the Berlin Royal Opera as Strauss’s Bacchus in 1915, and later won particular success in Munich and Salzburg for his roles in Mozart’s operas. About 1925 he turned to lighter roles, and won remarkable success in the operettas of Lehár. He made his U.S. debut on Oct. 28, 1931, in a N.Y. recital. In 1938 he settled in England, where he appeared as Tamino and Belmonte at London’s Co vent Garden. In 1940 he became a naturalized British subject. He wrote an operetta, Old Chelsea, taking the leading role at its premiere (London, Feb. 17, 1943). He made his last American appearance at Carnegie Hall in N.Y. on March 30, 1947.

Bibliography

H. Ludwigg, ed., R. T (Berlin, 1928); D. Napier-Tauber (his 2^nd wife), R. T.(Glasgow, 1949); W. Korb, R. T.(Vienna, 1966); C. Castle and D. Napier-Tauber, This Was R. T.(London, 1971).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire