Word: mets
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...famed sopranos give the Met its glamour, but its roster of first-class male singers provides the backbone. As box-office attractions, none of them can compare with a Callas or Tebaldi, and certainly not one of them commands the fanatical personal devotion Caruso once enjoyed. But their presence at the Metropolitan means the difference between a minor and a major opera house. Among the Met's best...
Mario Del Monaco, 39, tenor, singing opposite Tebaldi in this week's opening Tosca. Endowed with the most glorious top register in all opera, Del Monaco came to the Met in 1952 after serving in the Italian army and making his big-time debut at Covent Garden. Short, stocky and a shouter, Del Monaco commands ringing B-flats that have made a name for him in all the roles-Pagliacci's Canio, Samson, Aïda's Radames-in which vocal volume, height and brilliance are needed simultaneously. His interpretation of Otello, by critical consensus...
Richard Tucker, 44, today the world's best tenor. A Brooklyn boy, Tucker sang as a cantor in the neighborhood synagogue, for years owned his own textile business, broke into the Met in 1945 with almost no previous operatic experience. He freely confesses his lack of acting talent, but under proper direction he has produced some fine dramatic characterizations, e.g., Don José, Turiddu, Farrando in Così Fan Tutte. He has a big, warm, sensuous tenore robusto...
Robert Merrill, 40, baritone. Before he reached the Met in 1945 via the Auditions of the Air, Brooklyn-born Bob Merrill crooned with bands on the borscht circuit, made a famous recording of The Star-Spangled Banner for Fox Movietone News (from which he got the nickname "The Star-Spangled Baritone"), pitched a few seasons of semi-pro baseball. He still sings regularly in Las Vegas nightclubs, once explained his devotion to opera: "I'd like to be a comedian, but their material wears out so fast. Me, I've got the best writers in the world writing...
Cesare Siepi, 34, bass. Born in Milan, Siepi started out to be a boxer, switched to singing during the war, was brought to the U.S. by the Met's Bing. An excellent actor, he is particularly effective in the roles of such sorrowing old men as Boris and Don Carlo's Philip II, has also won acclaim for his Don Giovanni and The Barber's Basilio. His resonant, warm bass and trim good looks make him the leading contender for Ezio Pizza's place...