Tauber, Richard (1892-1948), was an Austrian-born British tenor. Tauber became famous for his performances in the operas of the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the operettas of the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehar. Tauber’s voice had a sweet quality that made it more suitable for lighter, lyrical roles than for grand, dramatic ones. He was also a gifted performer of Lieder (German art songs) by such composers as Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann.
Tauber was born on May 16, 1892, in Linz, Upper Austria. His original name was Richard Denemy. He studied singing in the German cities of Freiburg and Frankfurt and in 1913 made his operatic debut at Chemnitz, playing Tamino, the hero of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute. Tauber won a contract with the Dresden Opera and embarked on a career that took him to the major opera houses of Germany and Austria, as well as to England. Beginning in 1922, he increasingly performed in operettas, appearing in such works as Lehar’s The Land of Smiles.
In 1931, Tauber made his first United States appearance in New York City. He moved to England in 1938 and made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in the same year singing Tamino. He later became a British citizen. In 1943, he sang in Old Chelsea, a stage musical that he composed himself. His last appearance was at Covent Garden in 1947, where he sang the part of Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Tauber died on Jan. 8, 1948.
