Number 202: July 2011 - Wagner Society of England

FAREWELL TO ROBERT TEAR: 1939 – 2011
Not only a terrific tenor, Bob was also a great personality and a wonderful downto-earth
colleague at Covent Garden in the ‘80s and ‘90s. His mischievous sense of
humour could always be relied upon to put things in perspective and, as he often reminded
us, singing was “better than having to work for a living”.
Among the many acutely observed roles he performed, I particularly remember his
Rheingold Loge, whose urbane, smooth-talking veneer masked contempt for the folly of
the Gods, and his Meistersinger David, a boyish rogue with a healthy eye for the Mädel
von Fürth when Magdalene wasn’t looking. But it is as Tom Rakewell, as Captain Vere
and lastly as Aschenbach at Glyndebourne that I remember Bob at his performing peak.
With immaculate projection of the text, he engaged completely with the emotional and
intellectual struggles of these tormented characters.
As a beloved-then-rejected Britten protégé, Bob knew what it was like to become
an outsider. But he accepted that fate with typical equanimity and sang-froid. There were
always other things – family, painting, literature, philosophy and friends – that were more
important. David Edwards
Bright is the ring of words when the right man rings them.*
Such is how I remember the great Welsh tenor Bob Tear. We worked together over
many a year for Britten at Aldeburgh with the English Opera Group. The three Church
Operas, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Rape of Lucretia to name but a few works
were inevitably lively with Bob around.
The quality of both his brilliant musicianship and his excellent voice was
somehow kept under wraps by his wicked sense of humour and mimicry at these times to
get us through the tedium of the medium. I always felt that his tongue was firmly in his
cheek and that he was struggling to cope with the life of a singer, a mere pawn in the game
of music, when he, with the immense intelligence of a bishop and personality of a knight,
was cocooned in a world apart, yet wanting to belong. But to what? He was truly
enigmatic, a brilliant humorous writer and observer of human nature and a great teacher,
always helpful and mindful of his colleagues.
For members of this Society a short quote of warning from Bob “The Wagner
societies still exist, following the leader in his didactic, glamorous but vapid quest to
defeat the inevitable. They will find, as did Wagner, that death, especially in the face of
arrogance, always has domination”. A singer who made one think: “After the singer is
dead, and the maker buried”*. Malcolm Rivers
I first met Robert Tear in 1967 when he was rehearsing The Burning Fiery Furnace with
Benjamin Britten. In spite of his bonhomie and easy affability, one sensed immediately a
man apart. His recording of Britten’s Nocturne is beyond praise, and when I was
preparing my film about Vaughan Williams his recording of From far, from eve and
morning was a profound source of inspiration. Only two minutes long, but perfect. I think
he felt he never achieved the greatness perhaps he deserved, but miniature jewels are
infinitely more valuable than costume jewellery. He was such a perfect miniature.
Tony Palmer
* [Words from RL Stevenson’s “Bright is the Ring of Words” as sung by James
Rutherford at the Mastersingers Aldeburgh weekend as one of Vaughan Williams’ Songs
of Travel.]
– 42 –