Richard crooks tenor biography definition

American opera singer

For the American chemist, see Richard M. Crooks.

Richard Alexander Crooks (June 26, – September 29, ) was an American tenor and a leading singer at the New York Metropolitan Opera.^[1]

Biography

Crooks was born the second son of Alexander and Elizabeth Crooks on June 26, , in Trenton, New Jersey, and attended Trenton Central High School. Following several concert seasons as an oratorio and song recital specialist, including the American premier of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, he traveled to Germany where he made his operatic debut in Hamburg as Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca in After his tour in other European cities such as Berlin, Crooks returned to the US and made his American debut in 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, , for Spanish soprano Lucrezia Bori, which was broadcast nationally and preserved on transcription discs. ^{[citation needed]}

From to , 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 and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! in He also appeared on radio broadcasts with Bing Crosby, who remained a friend until Crooks's death. ^{[citation needed]}

Health problems forced Crooks to retire in early 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]}

The Crooks family now resides in South Carolina.

Recordings

Aside from an unreleased disc for Columbia, Crooks recorded primarily for the Victor Talking Machine Company/RCA Victor. His first recordings date from the mids 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 recordings were issued on the popular Victor black label, rather than the classical and operatic Red Seal label. Crooks also made some records for Victor's German affiliate, Electrola, during the late s.

In the late s, Crooks was promoted to Victor's prestigious Red Seal label. He often said that his personal favorite was a recording of two arias by Richard Wagner: "In fernem Land" from Lohengrin and the "Prize Song" from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Crooks recorded a complete version of Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin in c (one of the early attempts to do so) with his teacher Frank LaForge at the piano, of which only numbers , , and of the 20 songs were issued, and that not until the complete recording with the missing titles was issued on CD in ^[2] Crooks also enjoyed making an album of Stephen Foster songs, which used authentic arrangements to recapture a vanished era of American music. In early , 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 , was a patriotic song called The Americans Come, which he had actually recorded as a teenager for Columbia. ^{[citation needed]}

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 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.^[3]

His final private recordings were made in and 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, The notes for the Delos CD erroneously state that these were Richard Crooks last recordings. Actually, on November 15, , 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.^[4]

Throughout the LP era, RCA Victor issued several albums highlighting many of Crooks's operatic arias and songs from the s and s, as well as a popular recording of Stainer’s The Crucifixion, recorded in , which featured Crooks, Lawrence Tibbett, the Trinity Choir, and Mark Andrews at the organ. Delos has released a two-CD set of Crooks recordings, produced in cooperation with the Stanford Archives of Recorded Sound, including some performances that were never issued commercially and the 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.

Death

He was diagnosed with cancer in the mids and battled the disease until his death. He died on September 29, , in Portola Valley, California, aged ^[1]

Legacy

For his work in recording, Crooks was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; located at Vine St. 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.

Sources

• Delos CD and liner notes
• RCA Victrola LP and liner notes
• Interviews with Crooks, –72

References

External links