Trivia

Naturalised British

Operatic Tenor

Richard's father, an actor, was Jewish. He converted, however, to Catholicism and wanted his son to become a priest at one point.

He had a slight but noticeable squint in his right eye which he disguised often by wearing a monocle.

Richard Tauber was born as a son of a Catholic singer and a Jewish actor.

Richard accompanied his mother on tour to theaters, but she found it increasingly difficult to cope, and left him with foster-parents in Urfahr, now a suburb of Linz.

He was touring South Africa when World War II broke out, and returned to Switzerland until receiving the papers allowing him to enter the UK in March 1940.

In 1938, he made his London operatic debut in Die Zauberflöte under Sir Thomas Beecham. Earlier that year, the Nazi government of Germany annexed Austria and Tauber left for good. In response, the Nazis withdrew the Taubers' passports and right of abode; because this left the couple technically stateless, Tauber applied for British citizenship.

Richard Tauber stood in England after the war where he lived with the actress and singer Diana Napier.

Richard Tauber was the darling of the women and his hits, operas and operettas got him glory and wealth. He enjoyed the live and spend his money effortlessly. When he died of lung cancer after his appearance in the opera "Don Giovanni" he left an enormous debt.

In 1947 Tauber entered Guy's Hospital to have his left lung removed to treat the cancer but it was too late.

Richard Tauber didn't only devote to the serious music but was also successful in operettas and tunes which was negative approved by relevant critics - wrongfully. His biggest hits were "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" and "Gern hab' ich die Frauen geküsst".

Like many other artists Richard Tauber had to emigrate in 1933 because of his Jewish origin. He went to England where he was able to continue his career smoothly.

When the talkies were established he was put into action into the film business with his impressive voice. His first cinematical work was as a singer in the movie "Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame" (1929), from 1930 he was also engaged as an actor.

Richard hoped to become a singer but failed to impress any of the teachers he auditioned for, probably because he chose to sing Wagner, for which his voice was not suited.

The famous opera singer Richard Tauber belonged to the greatest tenors of his time whose legendary reputation survived till today.

After an opera and operetta education he achieved first attention with songs written by Schubert and Mozart. After that followed an unique career which reached the height in the 20's and 30's. For the present he had his breakthrough with operas in the 20's, later followed huge successes with operettas. Especially his entrances for his house composer Franz Lehàr were very popular.

His parents were not married and his father was reportedly unaware of the birth as he was touring North America at the time.

Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth, a widow and an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theatre, and Richard Anton Tauber, an actor. The child was given the name Richard Denemy (Denemy was his mother's maiden name); he was sometimes known as [Carl] Richard Tauber, and also used his mother's married name, Seiffert. After he was adopted by his father in 1913, his legal name became Richard Denemy-Tauber.

Tauber made over 720 vocal recordings for the Odeon/Parlophone companies, plus several as an orchestral conductor, mainly of his own works, but also of music by Grieg and Johann Strauss, Jr. Of the 120 acoustic recordings, the most important are of arias by Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Kienzl, and songs by Schumann, Richard Strauss and Grieg. There are also five duets with Elisabeth Rethberg, arias by Verdi, Puccini etc., and excerpts from Korngold's Die tote Stadt, including a duet with Lotte Lehmann.