Richard Mohr (June 13, 1919 inSpringfield, Ohio – November 23, 2002 inWest Milford, New Jersey) was one ofRCA Victor’s most prominent producers of classical and operatic music recordings from 1943 through 1977. His producing credits included[1] recording the casts of the world premieres ofSamuel Barber'sVanessa andGian Carlo Menotti'sAmahl and the Night Visitors, as well as the first LP recordings ofErnani,Luisa Miller andLucrezia Borgia and three versions each ofRigoletto,Aida,La Traviata andIl Trovatore.
Mohr's orchestral repertory began with the last of the historical performances ofArturo Toscanini and theNBC Symphony Orchestra and continued over the years with such conductors asLeopold Stokowski,Pierre Monteux,Charles Munch,Fritz Reiner,Arthur Fiedler,Erich Leinsdorf,Tullio Serafin,Jean Morel,Georges Prêtre,Zubin Mehta,James Levine,Georg Solti,Fausto Cleva andNello Santi, conducting some of the world's most prestigious orchestras, such as TheChicago Symphony Orchestra, TheBoston Symphony Orchestra, ThePhiladelphia Orchestra, TheLondon Philharmonic Orchestra, theNew Philharmonia Orchestra, and theLondon Symphony Orchestra.
The recorded legacy he left behind contains more than 80 complete opera recordings, including the landmark,La Bohème withVictoria de los Angeles andJussi Bjoerling, conducted byThomas Beecham. Other operas featured many of the glorious voices of the era includingLeontyne Price,Montserrat Caballé,Martina Arroyo,Fiorenza Cossotto,Ruggero Raimondi,Leonard Warren,Risë Stevens,Licia Albanese,Robert Merrill,Roberta Peters,Zinka Milanov,Jan Peerce,Richard Tucker,Fernando Corena,Nan Merriman,Renata Scotto,Rosalind Elias,Shirley Verrett,Anna Moffo,Plácido Domingo,Sherrill Milnes,Carlo Bergonzi,Alfredo Kraus,Giorgio Tozzi,Ezio Flagello,Gabriel Bacquier,Nicolai Gedda,Giuseppe di Stefano,Cesare Valletti,Judith Blegen andMirella Freni.
Writing of Mohr,Martin Bernheimer, former music critic of theLos Angeles Times, said:[2] "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 pussycats."
His body of work earned him fiveGrammy Awards for Best Opera Recording of the year and at least twenty-five Grammy nominations. He is also widely known for his appearances on theMet Opera Quiz broadcasts as a panelist and later as producer of the SaturdayMetropolitan Opera radio broadcast intermission features.
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