Widely recognised as one of the greatest ever tenors, Austrian Richard Tauber
made his name in the early 20th century, mastering a series of roles in Mozart's
operas, notably 'The Magic Flute'. He was born in humble circumstances in Linz,
Austria in 1891, the illegitimate son of an actor and a singer and had an
unsettled upbringing on the road with his mother, Elisabeth Seiffert, and then
going to live with his father, also called Richard Tauber. Idolising Richard
Wagner, he was trained in singing by Professor Carl Beines, who persuaded him
his voice was more suited to Mozart and...