Robert Tear facts for kids

Robert Tear (say it like "beer"), who was awarded the CBE, was a famous Welsh tenor singer, teacher, and conductor. He was born on March 8, 1939, and passed away on March 29, 2011.

Robert Tear first became well-known in the mid-1960s for singing in operas by Benjamin Britten. From the 1970s until he retired in 1999, he mainly performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London. He also sang with other opera companies in the UK, Europe, the US, and Australia. Robert Tear usually avoided Italian operas because they didn't suit his voice. Instead, he became famous for singing important and unique roles in German, British, and Russian operas.

His concert performances covered a wide range of music, from the 1600s to modern works by composers like Britten and Tippett. For some years starting in the mid-1980s, he also worked as a conductor. However, he found that conducting didn't suit his personality. He was much happier teaching at the Royal Academy of Music, where his colleagues and students thought highly of him.

Robert Tear's Life and Career

Early Life and Studies

Robert Tear was born in Barry, Glamorgan, Wales. His father, Thomas Tear, worked for the railway. When Robert was a schoolboy at Barry Boys' Grammar School, he sang in a local church choir. At just seven years old, he took part in the very first show by the Welsh National Opera. This was Cavalleria Rusticana in Cardiff in April 1946.

In 1957, he won a special scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, where he studied English. His biographer, Raymond Holden, said that important people who influenced him at university included the critic F. R. Leavis, the writer E. M. Forster, and the conductor David Willcocks.

Robert Tear finished his studies in 1960 and moved to London. In 1961, he became a vicar choral at St Paul's Cathedral. His duties with the choir left him time to learn from singing teacher Julian Kimbell. He also sang with the Ambrosian Singers. In January 1961, he married Hilary Thomas, and they had two daughters.

Working with Benjamin Britten

Robert Tear played Peter Quint in an opera called The Turn of the Screw. After this, he joined Benjamin Britten and the English Opera Group (EOG) for a four-week tour of the Soviet Union in 1964. Britten wrote two roles especially for Robert Tear's voice. These were Misael in The Burning Fiery Furnace (1966) and the main role in The Prodigal Son (1968).

For the EOG, Robert Tear also created the role of Private Todd in Gordon Crosse's The Grace of Todd (1969). He also sang Arbace (1969) and later the main role (1973) in Mozart's Idomeneo.

Robert Tear was not part of Britten's closest group of friends. He didn't show the composer the respect Britten expected. He was also seen as a challenge to Peter Pears, who was Britten's main tenor singer. In 1970, Robert Tear chose to sing the role of Dov in Michael Tippett's The Knot Garden for the Royal Opera. This meant he couldn't be in the first performance of Britten's Owen Wingrave. After this, Britten stopped all contact with him. Even so, Robert Tear continued to perform in Britten's operas and concert pieces, but he never saw the composer again.

Becoming a Top Performer

While his opera career was growing, Robert Tear also became a well-known concert singer. In 1965, he performed for the first time at the Edinburgh Festival. He sang Tippett's song cycle The Heart's Assurance. In the same year, he made his first of 54 appearances at the Proms. He sang in Haydn's Paukenmesse, led by Sir Malcolm Sargent. His performances included music from the Tudor era to the most modern works.

Robert Tear sang with many opera companies in Britain, Europe, Australia, and the US. However, his main home was Covent Garden. The Times newspaper described his voice as "typically British." It was less powerful than the Italian style and not like the strong German tenor voices. But it was pure, elegant, flexible, and could be sweet. It also had a very expressive quality that showed his great musical skill and intelligence.

Italian opera did not really appeal to him. He rarely performed in Italian roles. These included Malcolm in Macbeth, Gastone in La traviata, and the funny character roles of Dr Caius in Falstaff and Alcindoro in La bohème. The one Italian role he became known for was the Emperor Altoum in Turandot. He first sang this at the Royal Opera House in 1984 and it was his last performance there in 2009.

At Covent Garden and other places, he sang many main roles. These included Captain Vere in Billy Budd, the main role in Peter Grimes, Aschenbach in Death in Venice, Lensky in Eugene Onegin, Herod in Salome, Loge in Das Rheingold, Belmonte in The Seraglio, and David in Die Meistersinger. A larger part of his opera work was in character roles. In these, The Times said, "his humour and his sharp human perceptions were given free rein." These roles included Monostatos in The Magic Flute, Don Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro, Jaquino in Fidelio, Spalanzani in The Tales of Hoffmann, Valzacchi in Der Rosenkavalier, and Aegisth in Elektra.

Later Years and Teaching

In 1980, Robert Tear started conducting with the Thames Chamber Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. He later conducted other famous groups like the London Mozart Players, the Minneapolis, English Chamber, London Symphony, and Philharmonia orchestras. However, he found that conducting was not for him. His friendly and easy-going nature made it hard for him to be as strict and authoritative as conductors need to be.

He found more happiness in teaching. He was the first person to hold the international chair of singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He held this position from 1987 to 1989. Students and staff thought he was a great teacher.

After he officially retired, Robert Tear made a special guest appearance at the Proms in 2009. He played Bunthorne's solicitor in a performance of Patience. This performance was conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, who was also making his final Proms appearance.

Robert Tear passed away from bronchopneumonia, which was caused by oesophageal cancer, at his home in Hammersmith, London, on March 29, 2011. A special service to remember him was held in September of that year at St Martin-in-the-Fields. At this service, his former colleagues, including Dame Janet Baker, Sir Thomas Allen, John Mark Ainsley, Sir John Tomlinson, and Dame Felicity Palmer, performed readings and songs.

Awards and Books

In 1984, Robert Tear was given the CBE award. He was also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and of King's College, Cambridge.

Robert Tear wrote two books about his life: Tear Here (1990) and Singer Beware (1995). Robert Ponsonby, in a tribute to Tear, said that both books were written in a very unusual and personal style. He noted that Tear's serious nature and interest in spiritual things (he had discovered Buddhism) were clear in his writing, as they were in his paintings and drawings.

Recordings

Robert Tear made more than 250 recordings. In his Who's Who entry, he wrote that he had worked for every major recording company. The roles he sang on recordings ranged from Uriel in Haydn's The Creation to the painter in Berg's Lulu. He also recorded Pitichinaccio in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann and Sir Harvey in Donizetti's Anna Bolena.

His many classical recordings include music by Bach, Handel, Monteverdi, Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Bruckner, Stravinsky, Janáček, Wagner, and Messiaen. In English music, he also recorded songs by Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Butterworth, and Britten.

See also

In Spanish: Robert Tear para niños

• Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro (Georg Solti recording)