Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill

(Filed: 28/10/2004)

Robert Merrill, who died on Saturday aged 87, was one of the foremost American opera singers in the middle years of the 20th century; a baritone with a richly resonant voice and a handsome presence, he followed in a line of great principal baritones at th 16416i811q e Metropolitan Opera that began with Lawrence Tibbett in the 1920s.

Over a period of some 30 years, Merrill sang no fewer than 787 times with the Met in 20 different roles.

He began his career in the house in what became his most celebrated role, that of father Germont in La Traviata, at the age of 24, becoming the youngest baritone ever to appear at the Met. He caused a sensation. As a result of that initial success, Arturo Toscanini sought him out to take the same role in his recording of the opera in 1946. It reveals Merrill at his most youthful and most mellifluous.

Germont was also the role of his European debut in 1961, at La Fenice in Venice. He again took it at his much delayed Covent Garden debut in 1967. The strength and warmth of his singing won him immediate acclaim, although his acting left something to be desired. Sadly, that remained his only appearance in opera in Britain.

Merrill was happiest at his home house and seldom strayed far from it. Why should he, when he was such a success there, and could choose his parts at will? Although he was never a particularly original interpreter, his advantages as a singer pure and simple were enough to ensure his continued success.

He sang Germont there some 100 times, and Escamillo in Carmen on 75 occasions. He was also noted as Renato in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, Rodrigo in Don Carlos and Amonasro in Aida. All these he recorded in a long career with RCA Victor, so his art is well-documented for future generations to enjoy.

Born Moishe Miller in the tenements of Brooklyn, on June 14 1917, he was driven by an ambitious mother to pursue a career as a singer, though he found life difficult with his friends, who preferred to be playing stickball in the streets. To earn a living he worked in a factory while earning more by singing in synagogues, touring what was known as the "borscht circuit".

It was an invitation to sing on a radio programme that really launched Merrill's career. In 1945 he won the Metropolitan Auditions, the passport to working in the parent opera house. Soon he was so successful that, as he declared in his autobiography: "I was able to buy a house on Long Island, and move myself and my parents in - after we burned all our Brooklyn furniture." He then married his Met colleague, the soprano Roberta Peters, in a blaze of publicity - but the marriage lasted only 10 weeks.

In 1945 Merrill sang duets at the White House - with President Truman's daughter, Margaret, as Truman turned the pages at the piano. Merrill's fame also took him on to television, where he appeared with popular artists such as Louis Armstrong and Danny Kaye. He later commented that he loved showbiz and celebrity, but his one appearance in a film (Senorita From The West, 1945) was something of a disaster.

Much later, in 1958, he had a triumph on stage in Fiddler on the Roof. Also, his 1950 recording of the famous duet, with tenor Jussi Björling, from Bizet's Pearl Fishers remains a best-seller in the CD era. In the theatre, Merrill's generous, powerful voice penetrated with ease to the furthermost corner of the gallery, first at the old Met, then at the company's new theatre at Lincoln Center, and his performances were greatly admired by connoisseurs of great singing. His recordings ensure that his name and voice will linger on as examples of exemplary voice-production.

In October 1993, President Clinton awarded Merrill the National Medal of Arts.

In 1954 Robert Merrill married his second wife, the pianist Marion Machno, who often accompanied him at recitals.

She and their son and daughter survive him.