James McCracken
Encyclopedia
James McCracken was an American opera
tic tenor
. At the time of his death The New York Times
stated that McCracken was "the most successful dramatic tenor yet produced by the United States and a pillar of the Metropolitan Opera
during the 1960s and 1970s."
, McCracken's earliest musical experiences were singing in his church choir as a child. While he was in the US Navy during World War II
, he sang in the Blue Jacket Choir. He studied music at Columbia University
and with Elsa Seyfert in Konstanz
, Germany, and then with Joyce McLean in New York City until his death.
McCracken made his professional opera debut in 1952 with the Central City Opera
in Colorado as Rodolfo in Puccini
's La bohème. He sang minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera
from 1953 to 1957, while he was still a student. In 1957, he moved to Europe and made his debut at the Vienna State Opera
. He had great success with the Zürich
Opera.
Otello
was one of his signature roles. Starting in 1963, he became one of the Met's principal dramatic tenors. New productions that starred James McCracken were Otello (1963 and 1972), Carmen (1972), Aida (directed by John Dexter
, 1976), Le prophete (1977) and Tannhaeuser (1978, his only leading Wagnerian role). Feeling slighted about being passed over for the September 1978 telecast of Otello, McCracken walked out on the Met, only to return to a rousing ovation in October 1983 for the Centennial Gala, during which he performed Otello's Act 3 soliloquy, "Dio! mi potevi scagliar". The following season, he took part in a live telecast of Verdi's Aida, on January 3, 1985, which was historic in that it was Leontyne Price
's farewell to the operatic stage.
He was married to the mezzo-soprano Sandra Warfield
, with whom he performed Saint-Saëns
' "Samson and Delilah
," at the Met. He returned to the Met only weeks before his death at the age of 61. He was a member of the Metropolitan Opera's final U.S. tour, where he sang the role of Canio in Pagliacci
.
McCracken left behind a number of recordings, such as "Le prophète
" (with Marilyn Horne
and Renata Scotto
, c1976), "Carmen
" (conducted by Leonard Bernstein
, 1972), "Fidelio
" (with Birgit Nilsson
, 1964), "Otello
" (with Dame Gwyneth Jones, 1968) and "Pagliacci
" (1967), as well as Schoenberg
's Gurre-Lieder
(with Jessye Norman
, Tatiana Troyanos
and David Arnold, 1979).
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
. At the time of his death The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
stated that McCracken was "the most successful dramatic tenor yet produced by the United States and a pillar of the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
during the 1960s and 1970s."
Biography
Born in Gary, IndianaGary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...
, McCracken's earliest musical experiences were singing in his church choir as a child. While he was in the US Navy during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he sang in the Blue Jacket Choir. He studied music at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and with Elsa Seyfert in Konstanz
Konstanz
Konstanz is a university city with approximately 80,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany, bordering Switzerland. The city houses the University of Konstanz.-Location:...
, Germany, and then with Joyce McLean in New York City until his death.
McCracken made his professional opera debut in 1952 with the Central City Opera
Central City Opera
Central City Opera is the fifth-oldest opera company in the United States, founded in 1932. Each festival is presented in the 550-seat historic Central City Opera House built in 1878 in the gold mining era town of Central City, Colorado. Pelham G...
in Colorado as Rodolfo in Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's La bohème. He sang minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
from 1953 to 1957, while he was still a student. In 1957, he moved to Europe and made his debut at the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
. He had great success with the Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
Opera.
Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
was one of his signature roles. Starting in 1963, he became one of the Met's principal dramatic tenors. New productions that starred James McCracken were Otello (1963 and 1972), Carmen (1972), Aida (directed by John Dexter
John Dexter
John Dexter was an English theatre, opera, and film director.- Theatre :Born in Derby, England, Dexter left school at the age of fourteen to serve in the British army during World War II. Following the war, he began working as a stage actor before turning to producing and directing shows for...
, 1976), Le prophete (1977) and Tannhaeuser (1978, his only leading Wagnerian role). Feeling slighted about being passed over for the September 1978 telecast of Otello, McCracken walked out on the Met, only to return to a rousing ovation in October 1983 for the Centennial Gala, during which he performed Otello's Act 3 soliloquy, "Dio! mi potevi scagliar". The following season, he took part in a live telecast of Verdi's Aida, on January 3, 1985, which was historic in that it was Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price
Mary Violet Leontyne Price is an American soprano. Born and raised in the Deep South, she rose to international acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s, and was one of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera.One critic characterized Price's voice as "vibrant",...
's farewell to the operatic stage.
He was married to the mezzo-soprano Sandra Warfield
Sandra Warfield
Sandra Warfield was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who performed with New York City's Metropolitan Opera from the 1950s through the 1970s....
, with whom he performed Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
' "Samson and Delilah
Samson and Delilah (opera)
Samson and Delilah , Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire...
," at the Met. He returned to the Met only weeks before his death at the age of 61. He was a member of the Metropolitan Opera's final U.S. tour, where he sang the role of Canio in Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
.
McCracken left behind a number of recordings, such as "Le prophète
Le prophète
Le prophète is an opera in five acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe.-Performance history:...
" (with Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
and Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto is an Italian soprano and opera director.Recognized for her sense of style, musicality and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation, specializing in the bel canto repertoire with excursions into the verismo and Verdi...
, c1976), "Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
" (conducted by Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, 1972), "Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
" (with Birgit Nilsson
Birgit Nilsson
right|thumb|Nilsson in 1948.Birgit Nilsson was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano who specialized in operatic and symphonic works...
, 1964), "Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
" (with Dame Gwyneth Jones, 1968) and "Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
" (1967), as well as Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
's Gurre-Lieder
Gurre-Lieder
Gurre-Lieder is a massive cantata for five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra, composed by Arnold Schoenberg, on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen...
(with Jessye Norman
Jessye Norman
Jessye Norman is an American opera singer. Norman is a well-known contemporary opera singer and recitalist, and is one of the highest paid performers in classical music...
, Tatiana Troyanos
Tatiana Troyanos
Tatiana Troyanos was an American mezzo-soprano of Greek and German descent.-Early life:...
and David Arnold, 1979).