One of the greatest and most famous of twentieth-century operatic
tenors; he is considered by many the greatest tenor since
Enrico Caruso, and some have even called him the greatest tenor ever. He sang
with many great orchestras and conductors such as
Arturo Toscanini and
Fritz Reiner
(he sang the tenor part in Toscanini's 1940 radio broadcast of
Ludwig van Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis"). He made many operatic recordings both of
single arias and complete operas,including what many people consider
the definitive recordings of
Giacomo Puccini's "La Boheme" and
Giuseppe Verdi's "Il
Trovatore". His career began in the late 1930's and ended with his
premature death in 1960.
