A few days ago Mr. Robert Tuggle, Director of Archives at the Metropolitan opera passed away. For those of us fortunate enough to have known him he was a one of a kind, generous, wonderful man. A man with great enthusiasm and passion for life and for his work.
It is important for us at the Kirsten Flagstad Museum to properly convey how much Mr. Tuggle has meant, and continues to mean for this establishment and for the legacy of Kirsten Flagstad.
His knowledge was unsurpassed, for us he was a mentor and a fount of knowledge that we could draw on for aid and inspiration. He was and is an integral part of properly cleansing Kirsten Flagstad’s name from the post war difficulties and to give her her proper place in opera history.
In his death we have lost a pillar in the opera world. He enriched our life through his constant thirst for knowledge and his willingness to share that knowledge with the rest of us.
Our deepest most heartfelt condolences go out to his family and friends and all those who feel this immense loss.
In expressing my gratitude for the life of this great man I am joined by Kirsten Flagstad’s Grandson Sigurd Dusenberry and his wife Elizabeth Ann Dusenberry, Ragnhild Nyhus, former director of The Kirsten Flagstad Museum, Flagstad biographer Ingeborg Solbrekken, The Kirsten Flagstad International Society headed by Oddvar Gundersen and Bjørn Simensen artistic director emeritus, The Norwegian National Opera.
Annika E. Åsen, Director Kirsten Flagstad Museum
23.01.2016, Hamar Norway
Mr. Tuggle,
a Princeton University graduate, quickly found his way in the operaworld and started his life long career at the Metropolitan Opera as the Director of Education for the Metropolitan Opera Guild in his early 20’s. In 1981 he stepped in to the position as Director of Archives at the Metropolitan Opera, a position he held till the end. Among many of his great accomplishments we find the magnificent “The Golden Age of Opera” a book outlining over a century of Met history. These the last years Mr. Tuggle has been working on an extensive biography about Kirsten Flagstad.