Richard Alexander Crooks (June 26, 1900, Trenton, New Jersey – September 29, 1972, Portola Valley, California) was an American tenor and a leading singer at the New York Metropolitan Opera. He had a sweet-toned voice and many critics consider him to be the best lyric tenor ever produced by the United States.
After several busy concert seasons as an oratorio and song recital specialist, including the American premier of Mahler's Das Lied von der E...
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Richard Alexander Crooks (June 26, 1900, Trenton, New Jersey – September 29, 1972, Portola Valley, California) was an American tenor and a leading singer at the New York Metropolitan Opera. He had a sweet-toned voice and many critics consider him to be the best lyric tenor ever produced by the United States.
After several busy concert seasons as an oratorio and song recital specialist, including the American premier of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, Crooks traveled to Germany where he made his operatic debut in Hamburg as Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca in 1927. After his tour in other European cities such as Berlin, Crooks returned to the United States and made his American debut in 1930 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, 1936, for Italian soprano Lucrezia Bori, which was broadcast nationally and preserved on transcription discs.
From 1928 to 1945, Crooks was the...
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