mind: Misael in The Burning Fiery Furnace (1966) and the title role in The Prodigal Son (1968). For the EOG Tear also created the role of Private Todd in Gordon Crosse's The Grace of Todd (1969) and sang Arbace (1969) and later the title role (1973) in Mozart's Idomeneo. Tear was never a member of Britten's inner circle; he failed to treat the composer with the required reverence, and was seen as a threat to Pears's preeminence as leading tenor. When he chose, in 1970, to create the role of Dov in Michael Tippett's The Knot Garden for the Royal Opera rather than appearing in the premiere of Britten's Owen Wingrave he became one of Britten's "corpses" – former colleagues from whom he completely cut off contact once they had outlived their usefulness to him or offended him. He continued to perform in Britten's operas and concert works, but never saw the composer again. Peak years Concurrently with his developing operatic career, Tear built up a reputation as a concert singer. In 1965 he made his debut at the Edinburgh Festival, singing Tippett's song cycle The Heart's Assurance; in the same year he made the first of fifty-four appearances at the Proms, in Haydn's Paukenmesse, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent. His repertoire ranged from Tudor music to the most modern works. Tear sang with many opera companies in Britain, continental Europe, Australia and the US, but his principal base was Covent Garden. His voice was described by his obituarist in The Times as "typically British: less expansive than the Italian style and with little of the German heroic tenor in it, but pure, elegant, flexible, capable of sweetness and with a expressive quality at the service of fine musicianship and great intelligence." Italian opera did not appeal to him; his rare performances in that repertoire were Malcolm in Macbeth, Gastone in La traviata, the comic character roles of Dr Caius in Falstaff and Alcindoro in La bohème, and the one Italian role with which he became associated, the Emperor Altoum in Turandot, which he first sang at the Royal Opera House in 1984 and in which he made his final appearance there, in 2009. At Covent Garden and elsewhere he sang many leading roles, such as Captain Vere in Billy Budd, the title role in Peter Grimes, Aschenbach in Death in Venice, Lensky in Eugene Onegin, Herod in Salome, Loge