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Lawrence Tibbett
Note by Andrew Farkas |
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| Lawrence Mervil Tibbett was born in Bakersfield, California, on 16 November 1896.
When his father, the sheriff of Kern county, was killed by an outlaw, his mother moved with seven year old Larry and his three older siblings to Los Angeles.
The boy's theatrical ambitions blossomed early.
He took part in high school productions, and after graduation he performed in musicals, plays, and toured with the Shakespearean company of Tyrone Power, Sr.
Tibbett's performances in the Los Angeles area attracted the attention of the poet Rupert Hughes, who raised a $2,500 loan that enabled him to go to New York to study with Frank La Forge. Soon after Tibbett began his studies, he replaced Giuseppe de Luca on the Met Quartet and toured with Frances Alda, Giovanni Martinelli and Carolina Lazzari from 1922 to 1925. After his second audition with the Metropolitan in May 1923, Tibbett was hired at $60 a week. He made his debut as Lavitsky in Boris Godounov, with Chaliapin in the title role, on 24 November 1923. After singing several small roles, he was assigned Ford in a new production of Falstaff opposite Antonio Scotti. At the première, on 2 January 1925, left alone on stage to deliver Ford's monologue, as Tibbett later wrote, "I let myself go with all I had". The audience went wild and a ten-minute ovation halted the performance until he took a solo bow. The incident was reported in the national press, and Tibbett became a celebrity overnight. More challenging assignments followed, among them Wolfram, Telramund, Amonasro, Scarpia and Simon Boccanegra, the last role a great personal success for Tibbett. He also created the title roles in several world premières, among them Louis Gruenberg's The Emperor Jones (Met, 1933), and Eugene Goossens' Don Juan de Mañara (Covent Garden, 1937). Tibbett's film and radio career began in 1930-31, and the triple exposure - stage, film, radio - made him a household name. While Tibbett often appeared with the Chicago and San Francisco opera companies and in concert, the Metropolitan remained his artistic home for 27 seasons. He earned high praise for his portrayals of Rigoletto, Iago and Falstaff. During his first international tour in 1937, he appeared in Rigoletto and Otello, and gave solo recitals in England, France, Hungary and the Scandanavian countries. He toured Australia and New Zealand in 1938, Italy in 1946 and London and South Africa in 1947. Tibbett's vocal decline began in 1940, following an undisclosed illness. His last performance at the Met was as Ivan Khovansky in Khovanshchina, on 24th March 1950. He then sang the elder Germont in a condensed TV version of La Traviata in English in 1950, and appeared in Broadway plays and musicals. He died on 15th July 1960 in New York City. Tibbett's multifaceted talent has been preserved on recordings and film. They show the quintessential American artist, the first American-born American-trained male opera singer to achieve star status without prior European stage experience. His powerful, virile voice, a true bass-baritone with a range from high B down to low F, was equal to the demands of the roles in his large repertory. He was acclaimed for his acting, and the large number of recordings show him an imaginative performer who could create a mood and project a character by vocal means alone. The selection on this disc provides an operatic portrait of Lawrence Tibbett. Chosen from recordings made during his golden years of 1926-1939, they are a showcase of his remarkable talent and versatility. His deeply felt, introspective Wotan's Farewell is just as impressive as his model interpretations of the Toreador Song from Carmen and the Te Deum from Tosca, renditions seldom equalled, never surpassed. They clearly demonstrate why the voice and artistry of Lawrence Tibbett occupy a unique place in the annals of opera. |
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