Richard Tucker

Artist: Hebald, Milton

With: Abramowitz, Harris, Kingsland, architect

Status: In Situ

Title: Richard Tucker (sculpture)

Dates: Cast 1979. Dedicated April 20, 1980.

Medium: Bronze on granite pedestal. 

Dimensions: H. 7 ft.

Inscription: On bust: Hebald 1979/ 

South side:

RICHARD TUCKER / AUGUST 28 1913 JANUARY 8 1975 / METROPOLITAN OPERA TENOR /

South side, lower:

GIFT TO THE CITY OF NEW YORK / IN LOVING MEMORY OF RICHARD TUCKER / FROM / MRS RICHARD TUCKER AND FAMILY /

North side:

IL TROVATORE / LA BOHEME / LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST / LA FORZA DEL DESTINO / LA GIOCONDA / LA JUIVE / LA TRAVIATA / LUCIA DE LAMMERMOOR / LUISA MILLER / MADAMA BUTTERFLY /

West side:

MANON LESCAUT / MARTHA / RIGOLETTO / SAMSON ET DELILA / SIMON BOCCANEGRA / THE MAGIC FLUTE / THE TALES OF HOFFMAN / TOSCA / TURANDOT / BALLO EN MASCHERA /

East side:

AIDA / ANDREA CHENIER / BORIS GODUNOV / CARMEN / CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA / COSI FAN TUTTE / DIE FLEDERMAUS / DON CARLOS / EUGENE ONEGIN / FAUST / I PAGLIACCI /

Description: Bust (over life-size) on pedestal

Owner: Located at Richard Tucker Park, 66th Street, Broadway & Columbus Avenue, New York 10023

Donor: Richard Tucker Music Foundation

Remarks: Located in a small park triangle known formerly as Empire Park North and adjacent to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, this large portrait bust depicts opera star Richard Tucker (1913–1975). Installed on an inverted, tapered and polished granite pedestal on which are inscribed the titles of thirty-one operas that Tucker performed. Tucker was born in Brooklyn in 1913 and he worked as a cantor before making his debut with New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1945. Tucker enjoyed a thirty-year career with the organization, specializing in Italian operatic works. The monument was a gift of Tucker’s wife, Sarah, and a similar bust was unveiled in Tel Aviv, Israel, also  in 1979.

References:Gayle, Margot & Michele Cohen, Guide to Manhattan’s Outdoor Sculpture, New York: Prentice Hall, 1988, p. 275.