For nearly 40 years, this bronze portrait bust has
been, like the Brooklyn-born tenor it honors, a mainstay of the Lincoln Center neighborhood. It
is, in fact, the main element of Richard Tucker Square, a small triangular park at the intersection of Broadway and
West 66th Street. I took this photo three weeks ago, while in the area.
A former cantor, Richard Tucker (1913–1975) made his debut with
New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1945, and went on to a 30-year career with
that institution. The bust, created by Milton Hebald and unveiled in 1979, sits
on a granite pedestal.
The titles of 31 productions in which Tucker
appeared, leaning heavily toward his specialty in Italian opera, are inscribed
on the pedestal, including Rigoletto,
Tosca, Turandot, The Magic Flute, Manon Lescaut, and Samson et Dalila.
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