Richard Mohr
Encyclopedia
Richard Mohr was one of RCA Victor’s most prominent recording producers of classical and operatic music from 1943 through 1977. His producing credits included recording the casts of the world premieres of Samuel Barber
's Vanessa
and Gian Carlo Menotti
's Amahl and the Night Visitors
, as well as the first LP recordings of Ernani
, Luisa Miller
and Lucrezia Borgia
and three versions each of Rigoletto
, Aida
, La Traviata
and Il Trovatore
.
His orchestral repertory began with the last of the live, historical performances of Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra and continued over the years with such conductors as Georg Solti
, Erich Leinsdorf
, Leopold Stokowski
, Tulio Serafin, Pierre Monteux
, Charles Munch, Arthur Fiedler
, Fritz Reiner
, Jean Morel, Zubin Mehta
, James Levine
, Fausto Cleva
and Nello Santi
, conducting some of the world's most prestigious orchestras, such as The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Boston Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, New Philharmonia, and the London Symphony Orchestra.
The recorded legacy he left behind contains more than 80 complete opera recordings, including the landmark, La Bohème with Victoria de los Angeles and Jussi Bjoerling, conducted by Thomas Beecham. Other operas featured many of the glorious voices of the era including Leontyne Price, Monserrat Caballe, Martina Arroyo, Fiorenza Cossotto, Ruggero Raimondi, Leonard Warren, Licia Albanese, Robert Merrill, Roberta Peters, Zinka Milanov, Jan Peerce, Renata Scotto, Renata Tebaldi, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Nicolai Gedda, Giuseppe di Stefano, Anna Moffo and Mirella Freni.
Martin Bernheimer, former music critic of the Los Angeles Times said of him that "He had a great eye and ear for talent and for putting important people together for projects that had lasting value to the music lover. He was an enabler with great imagination and great taste. My impression was he got (the artists) to behave like pussy-cats."
His body of work earned him five Grammy Awards for Best Opera Recording of the year and at least twenty-five Grammy nominations. He is also widely known for his legendary appearances on the Met Opera Quiz broadcasts as a panelist and later as producer of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast intermission features.
Samuel Barber
Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
's Vanessa
Vanessa (opera)
Vanessa is an opera in three acts by Samuel Barber with an original English libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti. It was composed in 1956–1957 and was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 15, 1958 under the baton of Dimitri Mitropoulos in a production designed by...
and Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
's Amahl and the Night Visitors
Amahl and the Night Visitors
Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti with an original English libretto by the composer. It was commissioned by NBC and first performed by the NBC Opera Theatre on December 24, 1951, in New York City at NBC studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, where it was broadcast...
, as well as the first LP recordings of Ernani
Ernani
Ernani is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Hernani by Victor Hugo. The first production took place at La Fenice Theatre, Venice on 9 March 1844...
, Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich von Schiller. The first performance was given at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on December 8, 1849...
and Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia (opera)
Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramma, or opera, in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan with...
and three versions each of Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
and Il Trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
.
His orchestral repertory began with the last of the live, historical performances of Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra and continued over the years with such conductors as Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
, Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf was a naturalized American Austrian conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a reputation for exacting standards as well as an acerbic personality...
, Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
, Tulio Serafin, Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux was an orchestra conductor. Born in Paris, France, Monteux later became an American citizen.-Life and career:Monteux was born in Paris in 1875. His family was descended from Sephardi Jews who came to France in the wake of the Spanish Inquisition. He studied violin from an early age,...
, Charles Munch, Arthur Fiedler
Arthur Fiedler
Arthur Fiedler was a long-time conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, a symphony orchestra that specializes in popular and light classical music. With a combination of musicianship and showmanship, he made the Boston Pops one of the best-known orchestras in the country...
, Fritz Reiner
Fritz Reiner
Frederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:...
, Jean Morel, Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
, James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...
, Fausto Cleva
Fausto Cleva
Fausto Cleva was an Italian-born American operatic conductor.After studies at the Conservatorio in his native city and Milan, Cleva made his debut conducting La traviata in Carcano, near Milan, before emigrating to the United States in 1920, becoming an American citizen in 1931...
and Nello Santi
Nello Santi
Nello Santi is an Italian conductor. He is often called "Papa Santi" by his fellow musicians to show their high respect for his work.-Biography:...
, conducting some of the world's most prestigious orchestras, such as The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Boston Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, New Philharmonia, and the London Symphony Orchestra.
The recorded legacy he left behind contains more than 80 complete opera recordings, including the landmark, La Bohème with Victoria de los Angeles and Jussi Bjoerling, conducted by Thomas Beecham. Other operas featured many of the glorious voices of the era including Leontyne Price, Monserrat Caballe, Martina Arroyo, Fiorenza Cossotto, Ruggero Raimondi, Leonard Warren, Licia Albanese, Robert Merrill, Roberta Peters, Zinka Milanov, Jan Peerce, Renata Scotto, Renata Tebaldi, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Nicolai Gedda, Giuseppe di Stefano, Anna Moffo and Mirella Freni.
Martin Bernheimer, former music critic of the Los Angeles Times said of him that "He had a great eye and ear for talent and for putting important people together for projects that had lasting value to the music lover. He was an enabler with great imagination and great taste. My impression was he got (the artists) to behave like pussy-cats."
His body of work earned him five Grammy Awards for Best Opera Recording of the year and at least twenty-five Grammy nominations. He is also widely known for his legendary appearances on the Met Opera Quiz broadcasts as a panelist and later as producer of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast intermission features.