110329 Bk Mccormack 12/01/2005 02:20Pm Page 5

110329 bk McCormack 12/01/2005 02:20pm Page 5

The discographic data for the original Romophone CD issue is taken from John McCormack - A Comprehensive 1 CHERRY: Dear Little Shamrock 4:05 $ BLUMENTHAL: An Evening Song 4:30 8 iv 1910; B 8819-1 (Victor 64153) 30 iii 1911; C 10135-1 (Victor 74243) ADD Discography by Worth, Paul W. and Cartwright, Jim. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986). THE McCORMACK EDITION • 2 2 VERDI: Bella figlia dell’amore % She is Far from the Land (Old Irish Air) 4:23 8.110329 (from Rigoletto) 3:50 31 iii 1911; C 10138-1 (Victor 74242) Producer’s Note with Nellie Melba, soprano, Edna Thornton, contralto, and Mario Sammarco, baritone ^ PARELLI: The Happy Morning Waits In assembling the first recordings made by John McCormack for the Victor Talking Machine and Gramophone 11 v 1910: 4189f (HMV 2-054025) (L’Alba Nascente) 2:50 31 iii 1911; B 10136-2 (Victor 64250) John (HMV) Companies, I have made every effort to secure the finest primary sources available, and have paid 3 GOUNOD: All’erta! All’erta (from Faust) 2:52 scrupulous attention to the correct pitching of each disc. All the records are presented in chronological order except with Nellie Melba, soprano, & BIZET: Del tempio al limitar where noted, and all alternative or unpublished takes which have been traced are included. Vocally and artistically, and Mario Sammarco, baritone (from Les Pêcheurs de Perles) 3:11 these 1910-11 acoustic recordings stand among McCormack’s finest. The sound quality of the records is 11 v 1910; 4188f (unpublished on HMV) with Mario Sammarco, baritone McCORMACK remarkably full; there is none of the piercing, constricted quality found in many of the tenor’s later acoustic Victor 31 iii 1911; C 8738-2 (HMV 2-054018; records. All the records play at the usual speeds, ranging from 76 to 77.5 rpm. 4 GOUNOD: All’erta! All’erta (from Faust) 2:51 unpublished on Victor) It is worth noting that four of McCormack’s rarest Victor records, I Hear You Calling Me and Molly Bawn, with Nellie Melba, soprano, and Mario Sammarco, baritone * BIZET: Del tempio al limitar 1910-11 both recorded in 1910, were replaced within a year by alternative versions. The 1911 recording of Molly Bawn, 11 v 1910; 4190f (IRCC 7B; unpublished on HMV) (from Les Pêcheurs de Perles) 3:04 incidentally, is sung in E, a semitone higher than the 1910 version in E flat. McCormack’s recording of The Happy with Mario Sammarco, baritone Morning Waits is another of his most elusive records, but the rarest item from this period is the twelve-inch disc of 5 BARKER: The Irish Emigrant 4:00 4 iv 1911; B 8738-2 (Victor 87082) Acoustic Recordings Bizet’s Pearl Fishers duet with Mario Sammarco. Although Victor never issued this recording, it appeared on the 16 iii 1911; C 10060-1 (Victor 74237) affiliate HMV label for a very brief period. The re-recording of this duet made four days later on a ten-inch disc is ( ROSSINI: Li Marinari the version most commonly found. 6 CROUCH: Kathleen Mavourneen 3:43 (No. 12 from Les Soirées Musicales) 3:20 16 iii 1911; C 10061 -1 (Victor 74236) with Mario Sammarco, baritone I am greatly indebted to John Bolig and Jim Cartwright for their discographic assistance, and especially to 4 iv 1911; B 10137-3 (Victor 87078) Lawrence Holdridge for providing me with pristine copies of much of the published material. 7 MARSHALL: I Hear You Calling Me 3:49 16 iii 1911; B 8695-2 (Victor 64120) ) ROSSINI: Mira la bianca luna VERDI Ward Marston (No. 11 from Les Soirées Musicales) 3:28 8 Believe Me If All Those Endearing with Emmy Destinn, soprano Young Charms (Old Irish Air) 3:20 18 vii 1911; 5203f (HMV 2-054019) 16 iii 1911; B 8537-3 (Victor 64180) GOUNOD ¡ ROSSINI:O il meglio mi scordavo ... 3:27 9 LEHMANN: Ah! Moon of My Delight Numero quindici (from Il Barbiere di Siviglia) (from In a Persian Garden) 4:22 with Mario Sammarco, baritone 16 iii 1911; C 10063-1 (Victor 74232) 18 vii 1911; 5205f (HMV 2-054021) BIZET 0 Molly Bawn (Old Irish Air; arr MacMurrough) 3:39 ™ PONCHIELLI: Badoer questa notte… 17 iii 1911; C 8752-2 (Victor 74175) O grido di quest’anima (from La Gioconda) 4:19 with Mario Sammarco, baritone ROSSINI ! OLCOTT and BALL: Mother Machree 3:19 18 vii 1911; 5206f (HMV 2-054022) 17 iii 1911; B 10069-1 (Victor 6418 1) Tracks 1 & 5-19 with the Victor Orchestra; The Naxos historical label aims to make available the greatest recordings in the history of recorded music, in the best @ HERBERT: I’m Falling in Love with Someone 3:14 tracks 2 - 4 with the New Symphony Orchestra and truest sound that contemporary technology can provide. To achieve this aim, Naxos has engaged a number of 17 iii 1911; B 10062-1 (Victor 6417 4) conducted by Sir Landon Ronald; tracks 20-22 respected restorers who have the dedication, skill and experience to produce restorations that have set new standards with symphony orchestra conducted by Percy Pitt in the field of historical recordings. # MacMURROUGH: Macushla 3:06 30 iii 1911; B 10134-1 (Victor 64205) Tracks 1, 5-16 sung in English Tracks 2-4, 17-22 sung in Italian New restorations by Ward Marston 8.110329 5 6 8.110329 110329 bk McCormack 12/01/2005 02:20pm Page 2

John McCormack (1884-1945) McCormack and his wife were on their way to Austria (one year he even outsold Caruso). tenor we hear no nineteenth-century mannerisms, no trills A Note on the Song Texts The McCormack Edition Vol. 2 when war was declared. The singer spent the war years in The present recording documents the second year of held too long for special effect, no vibrato in the place of the United States and decided to become an American McCormack’s great career in the United States. It also true emotion. Despite the timeless quality of his singing Throughout his career John McCormack’s managers were ‘Presumably,’ Robert Tuggle writes in The Golden Age Odéon company between 1906 and 1909 clearly indicate citizen. It was a decision that would cause him great reports on his twin careers in opera and concert, and McCormack did record more than one selection that falls repeatedly advised to save money by not printing the of Opera, ‘there were Irish tenors before John that Sabatini’s instruction, coupled with McCormack’s difficulty. The British viewed him as a traitor, and he indicates how early he began to favour the recital hall into the category known as ‘Victorian singing’. One of words to songs in the concert programmes; the singer’s McCormack ... just as there have been pale imitations innate musicality and sense of language, had been a solid became so unpopular in England that he was unable to over the opera house. The recorded output for 1910 is these is also one of the singer’s most famous records, the diction was so clear that his audiences did not need the ever since’. It is a graceful way to express a simple truth: foundation. His ability to emulate his fellow tenors, give a London recital until 1924. equally divided between songs and arias, but in 1911 Ah! Moon of My Delight. The lush McCormack tone is texts. Every record McCormack made proves this point, namely, that John McCormack is unique among the especially Bonci and De Lucia, along with his capacity Following the war McCormack gave concerts in songs outnumber arias threefold. As an opera singer heard here to its fullest advantage, with pianissimi that but words and phrases in some of his Irish songs are small but cherished band of Hibernian tenors. This for sheer hard work, led to a rapid artistic growth that is Paris, toured central Europe (giving a memorable recital McCormack soon realised that he would never be a flow evenly and effortlessly from the rest of the voice. We rather removed from modern English and require Irishman also holds a special place among the great without parallel in the history of the gramophone. in Berlin) and made what would be his final opera Caruso. He did not have to emulate the great Italian, are also struck by the authority and the imagination of the explanation. A number of these words come directly from singers of our time. In his vocal prime he was not only By 1909 McCormack was a fully matured artist appearances in Monte Carlo. His 1923 creation of the rôle however, for the enormous enthusiasm of his concert singer’s phrasing. Listen, for example, to the melting Gaelic, while others are Anglicised spellings that retain one of the finest tenors on the operatic stage, but also a looking for fresh opportunities, one of which presented of Gritzko in the newly edited La foire de Sorotchintzi by audiences, whose demand for encores often doubled the combination of tone and phrasing in the line ‘Turn down the sounds and meanings of the ancient language. For supreme Handel and Beethoven stylist. Later he would itself when Oscar Hammerstein, at Luisa Tetrazzini’s Mussorgsky was his farewell to the opera stage. Three length of his programmes, led him virtually to abandon an empty glass...’. Something of the same lushness is also McCormack’s Irish-American audiences and record develop into a remarkable interpreter of German lieder. insistence, invited McCormack to sing at his Manhattan years later he would make an extended tour of the Orient, opera in favour of concert tours. It was a wise and to be heard in another example of this now lost style of buyers, these echoes of an Ireland filled with lore and However, it was McCormack’s unique ability as an Opera House. In November 1909 the tenor made his and in 1929 he answered the call of Hollywood, starring profitable decision. singing, his recording of Blumenthal’s An Evening Song. legend were precious reminders of the culture they had interpreter of songs in English that made him one of the New York operatic début opposite Tetrazzini in La in Song O’ My Heart, the only film in which he had a As a recitalist, McCormack brought his audiences Ever mindful of his Irish-American record buyers, left behind; for his other listeners they were beautifully greatest recitalists of all time and, for nearly three traviata. He was well received and virtually all the critics leading rôle. His co-star was the young Maureen into the heart of every song. Francis Robinson expressed McCormack was careful to include many Irish selections produced musical sounds, exotic hints of another world decades in the twentieth century, the most popular praised his singing, with one commenting indirectly on O’Sullivan, then at the beginning of her film career. After it best when he recalled McCormack’s total immersion in in the Victor Red Seal catalogue. Although some of these they would never experience directly. concert artist in the world. his poor acting ability by noting that this young Irishman several more seasons of touring the United States and the music of each song: ‘He looked the mood of the were closer to Tin Pan Alley than to Dublin, all were Predictably most of these old Irish words are terms of Born in the small Irish town of Athlone on 14th June came close to making Alfredo a likeable character. England, McCormack bade farewell to his public at instrumental introductions’. When we realise that this was redolent of the Emerald Isle. No one could sing Thomas endearment. For example, in Kathleen Mavourneen, 1884, John McCormack seemed destined for a life in the McCormack enjoyed an advantage in the United London’s Albert Hall in 1938. He continued to record the atmosphere he created before he sang, we begin to Moore’s Irish melodies as McCormack did. This has ‘Mavourneen’ means ‘my love’ or ‘my dear’, and in civil service until he won the gold medal in a Dublin States that few other singers could hope for: when he until 1942, and made fund-raising tours and BBC understand the effects he could create through his art. The added significance when we realise that during this period Mother Machree ‘Machree’ is from the Gaelic ‘mo music festival in 1903. For the first time he realised that a arrived he had an enthusiastic audience ready and broadcasts in support of the war effort. He retired to two different recordings of Molly Bawn give us a rare the singer preserved almost as much Moore as he chroldhe’- ‘of my heart’ in Irish. A similar transformation singing career was possible. With the help of local waiting for him. The large number of Irish immigrants Ireland where he died just outside Dublin on 16th insight into McCormack’s exploration of a song’s published during the rest of his recording career. The of a Gaelic word forms part of the title of the song Molly supporters, he travelled in 1905 to Milan where he began living in America may have left their native land, but September 1945. possibilities. The first take from 1910 [Naxos 8.110328] composers of such songs as Mother Machree and Bawn. Samuel Lover, writing in the nineteenth century, his only sustained period of vocal training. This was their emotional ties to hearth and home were deep. In When Calvin Childs of the Victor Company heard shows a beautifully shaped vocal line, but the second Macushla were clearly exploiting the long-distance preserved the sound and meaning of the original Gaelic under Vincenzo Sabatini, the father of the novelist, and McCormack they found their ideal minstrel. From his McCormack shortly after the singer’s arrival in America, version, made a year later, reveals a more polished sentiment of a vast Irish-American population, but they ‘bain’ (meaning ‘light’ or ‘fair’) by spelling it ‘bawn’ for by 1906 the fledgling tenor was deemed ready for his earliest days in London, McCormack had often sung in he realised that this lyric tenor would fit extremely well approach to the piece. Not only has the phrasing become never imagined the level to which McCormack would the convenience of his many English-speaking readers. first appearance in opera, in Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz in concert and had earned a reputation as a singer of songs, into the Red Seal catalogue. The commercial potential of more fluid but the last part of the song has been reshaped. raise their creations. In no other singer’s recording of One final title needs clarification, and Mr Padraic Savona, a small town on the Gulf of Genoa. The a reputation that was quite separate from his work as an the singer’s nationality was also not lost on the record McCormack’s single recording session with Nellie Mother Machree is there more perfectly expressed (and O’Hara has provided its meaning. Macushla is derived following year, after his Covent Garden début in opera singer. In fact, it has been said that the real company’s executives. After hearing McCormack’s test Melba was a stormy one, with tenor and soprano loudly perfectly controlled) emotion, and no one else has infused from the Anglicized forms of two Gaelic words, “mo Cavalleria rusticana, McCormack quickly gained beginning of what would become his more important records of Killarney and Fra poco a me ricovero - so exchanging insults, just as they did at Covent Garden and more beauty of tone and lavished such undeserved chuisle”, meaning “my darling” or “my beloved”, recognition with the London public in such operas as La career as a recitalist dates from 1907, when McCormack successful that Victor at once upgraded them to regular on tour in Australia. In both takes of the final trio from virtuosity than McCormack does on Macushla. Seldom, if “chuisle” being Gaelic for “pulse” or “heartbeat”. sonnambula, Rigoletto, Lakmé, Roméo et Juliette and first sang Samuel Liddle’s A Farewell and caused issues - they approached HMV to ask if they would share Faust, McCormack is barely audible (surely Dame ever, have the principles of bel canto served the world of Macushla is another Irish term of endearment, but one Lucia di Lammermoor. His attempts to establish a career something of a minor sensation in London. the cost of buying out the singer’s contract with Odéon. Nellie’s revenge), and the quartet from Rigoletto displays song so beautifully and so well. may be forgiven for thinking it is a young woman’s name, in Italy met with failure, however, and by 1909 he was Until the beginning of the First World War, The British affiliate, headed by HMV’s Fred Gaisberg, less than effective ensemble singing. For a better insight so warmly and so intimately does McCormack sing it. forced to admit that he simply did not have the weight McCormack continued to be heard in opera and concert refused to do so, and McCormack never forgave that lack into the tenor’s reading of Faust’s music we must turn to and quality of voice that Italian audiences demanded. on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1914 Lilli Lehmann of faith; to the end of his career he would openly insult his almost introspective 1910 rendition of Salve, dimora, John Scarry It was during these early years in London that invited the tenor to sing his already legendary Don Gaisberg at every opportunity. HMV had ample time to sung in his preferred Italian [Naxos 8.110328]. McCormack undertook a period of further study. This Ottavio in her forthcoming production of Don Giovanni regret this error of judgement, as McCormack went on to One striking quality of McCormack’s singing is the time he was self-taught. The recordings he made for the in Salzburg. It was a dream destined not to come true; become one of the best-selling recording artists in history utter modernity of his technique. When we listen to this 8.110329 2 3 8.110329 4 8.110329 110329 bk McCormack 12/01/2005 02:20pm Page 2

NAXOS Historical McCORMACK EDITION • 2: The Acoustic Recordings 8.110329 , Les . , and beloved ime Rigoletto T 78:41 Playing Playing , Bizet’s , Bizet’s Believe Me If Molly Bawn e several Il Barbiere di Faust singing’, the Irish singing’, the She is Far from , and , , are featured on this featured , are Described by Jean de Reszke by Jean Described redeemeras ‘the true of bel canto tenor had an extensive (1884-1945) McCormack John operatic career in his early at Covent years, singing and both the Garden Manhattan and Metropolitan York. opera houses in New his Many of the arias from early rôles, including excerpts Verdi’s from Gounod’s Gounod’s Pêcheurs de Perles Rossini’s Siviglia Along with the operatic disc. ar items there Irish songs, including such Irish songs, including favourites as Young All Those Endearing Charms the Land 3:11 3:50 2:52 2:51 3:04 4:05 4:19 4:00 3:43 3:49 4:22 3:14 3:06 4:30 2:50 3:20 3:28 3:27 3:19 John McCormack John The McCormack Edition, Vol. 2 Vol. Edition, McCormack The The Acoustic Recordings (1910-11) Recordings Acoustic The (Old Irish Air)(Old Irish 4:23 Mother Machree Macushla An Evening Song : Badoer … questa notte I Hear Calling Me You il meglio mi scordavo … Numero quindici quindici Numero il meglio mi scordavo … (Old Irish Air; arr(Old Irish MacMurrough) 3:39 I’m Falling in Love with Someone I’m Falling in Love with : Ah! Moon of My Delight Ah! Moon of My Delight : Kathleen Mavourneen Dear Little Shamrock The Irish Emigrant : All’erta! All’erta : All’erta! All’erta : The Happy Morning Waits Waits The Happy Morning : : Li Marinari : Mira la bianca luna :O : Bella figlia dell’amore dell’amore : Bella figlia : Del tempio al limitar : Del tempio al limitar ADD 8.110329 ARELLI O grido di quest’anima HERBERT: HERBERT: MacMURROUGH: BLUMENTHAL: She is Far the Land from P BIZET BIZET ROSSINI ROSSINI ROSSINI PONCHIELLI CHERRY: CHERRY: VERDI GOUNOD GOUNOD BARKER: CROUCH: MARSHALL: Charms Young Those Endearing All If Believe Me Air)(Old Irish LEHMANN Molly Bawn OLCOTT AND BALL: 3:20 complete track list can be found on page 6 of the booklet illiam Moran, John Scarry and the Metropolitan Opera Archives illiam Moran, John Scarry and the Metropolitan Opera @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) ¡ ™ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ! www.naxos.com Producer and Audio Restoration: Ward Marston • Production Coordinator: Jeffrey Miller Restoration: Ward Audio Producer and Peter Lack, Special thanks to John Bolig, Jim Cartwright, Lawrence Holdridge, W Previously released on Romophone A Collection) Potter Cover image: John McCormack (1884-1945) (The Tully

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AXOS Historical AXOS N 8.110329 McCORMACK EDITION • 2: The Acoustic Recordings Acoustic The 2: • EDITION McCORMACK 110329 rr McCormack EU 12/01/2005 02:20pm Page 1 02:20pm EU 12/01/2005 rr McCormack 110329