DOCSLIB.ORG

Download Booklet

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Download Booklet 120748bk McCormack2 11/12/03 3:17 PM Page 2 1. Killarney 3:38 7. Mother Machree 3:17 13. My Wild Irish Rose 3:07 17. Sweet Peggy O’Neill 2:08 (Edmund Falconer–Michael William Balfe) (Rida Johnson Young–Chauncey Olcott– (Chauncey Olcott–Ernest R. Ball) (Joseph P.Redding–Uda Waldrop) With orchestra Ernest R. Ball) With orchestra Orchestra conducted by Josef Pasternak Victor 74157, mx C 8594-1 With orchestra Victor 64426, mx B 14667-1 Victor 66028, mx B 23791-2 Recorded 3 January 1910, Camden Victor 64181, mx B 10069-1 Recorded 6 April 1914, Camden Recorded 30 March 1920, Camden 2. Come Back to Erin 3:49 Recorded 17 March 1911, New York 14. It’s a Long Way to Tipperary 3:10 18. The Barefoot Trail 2:37 (John William Cherry–Charlotte Alington 8. The Harp That Once Through Tara’s (Jack Judge–Harry Williams) (Marion Phelps–Alvin S.Wiggers) Barnard) Halls 2:19 With male chorus; orchestra conducted by Orchestra conducted by Josef Pasternak; With orchestra (Thomas Moore–Old Irish Air) Walter B. Rogers Howard Rattay, violin Victor 74158, mx C 8588-1 With orchestra Victor 64476, mx B 15415-1 Victor 64878, mx B 23901-1 Recorded 1 February 1910, Camden Victor 64259, mx B 11833-1 Recorded 23 November 1914, New York Recorded 1 April 1920, Camden 3. The Minstrel Boy 2:43 Recorded 5 April 1912, Camden 15. Ireland, My Sireland from Eileen 2:35 19. The Next Market Day 1:02 (Thomas Moore–Old Irish Air) 9. Where the River Shannon Flows 3:05 (Henry Blossom–Victor Herbert) (Traditional–Old Irish Air, arr. Herbert Hughes) With orchestra (James I. Russell) Orchestra conducted by Victor Herbert 20. A Ballynure Ballad 1:28 Victor 64117, mx B 8590-1 With orchestra Victor 64665, mx B 19447-1 (Traditional–Old Irish Air, arr. Herbert Hughes) Recorded 1 February 1910, Camden Victor 64311, mx B 12761-2 Recorded 5 April 1917, New York Edwin Schneider, piano 4. My Lagan Love 2:48 Recorded 2 January 1913, Camden 16. That Tumble Down Shack in Athlone Victor 64926, mx B 23904-1 (Joseph Campbell–Old Irish Air, arr. Sir 10. Molly Brannigan 2:45 2:55 Recorded 2 April 1920, Camden Hamilton Harty) (Traditional–Old Irish Air, arr. Sir Charles (Richard Pascoe–Monte Carlo–Alma M. 21. Little Town in the Old County Down With orchestra Villiers Stanford) Sanders) 3:18 Victor 64154, mx B 8751-1 Spencer Clay, piano Orchestra conducted by Josef Pasternack; (Richard Pascoe–Monte Carlo–Alma Sanders) Recorded 25 March 1910, New York Victor 64316, mx B 12765-1 Howard Rattay, violin Orchestra conducted by Josef Pasternak 5. Dear Little Shamrock 3:56 Recorded 3 January 1913, Camden Victor 64837, mx B 23456-5 Victor 64994, mx B 25353-2 (Andrew Cherry–William Shield) 11. The Foggy Dew 2:04 Recorded 10 December 1919, Camden Recorded 17 June 1921, Camden With orchestra (E. Milligan–C. Milligan Fox, arr. Spencer Victor 64153, mx B 8819-1 Clay) Transfers & Production: David O'Lennick Recorded 8 April 1910, Camden Spencer Clay, piano Digital Noise Reduction: Graham O'Newton 6. Believe Me If All Those Endearing Victor 64316, mx B 12767-1 Original monochrome photograph of John McCormack from Lebrecht Music Collection Young Charms 3:11 Recorded 3 January 1913, Camden (Thomas Moore–Old Irish Air) 12. The Low Backed Car 2:17 With orchestra (Samuel Lover–Old Irish Air) Victor 64180, mx B 8537-3 With orchestra Recorded 16 March 1911, New York Victor 64329, mx B 13031-1 Recorded 28 March 1913, Camden 5 8.120748 6 8.120748 120748bk McCormack2 11/12/03 3:17 PM Page 1 Three Ulster Airs – settings of Songs of Uladh, youngest tenor ever to undertake a leading Alley, while his identification with nostalgic 1914 already aspiring to American citizenship, JOHN McCORMACK Vol. 2 a folksong collection arranged by ‘Padraig role at the Royal Opera. The roster of great ballads in émigré-Celtic mode endeared him to but still fond of the country that had given Come Back To Erin Original 1910-1921 Recordings macAodh O’Neil’ (aka Herbert Hughes!) in singers who subsequently partnered him the record-buying middle-classes across the him his first break, that year he recorded Jack collaboration with ‘Seosamh macCathmhaoil’ onstage in London (and later in America with Atlantic, too. As a communicator, or Judge’s Great War anthem It’s A Long Way ‘Irish songs? … We all sang them – and got the prestigious Victrola and HMV Red Labels (otherwise Joseph Campbell (1879-1944), the Chicago Opera and elsewhere) included storyteller, in concert and on disc alike, To Tipperary, ostensibly to back the British the applause! I never could understand all (the very records restored on this CD) which noted Belfast-born poet, Irish folklorist, Melba,Tetrazzini, Sammarco,Vanni-Marcoux, McCormack was second to none. In his war-effort. this fuss about McCormack’s Irish songs … ensured that his voice would be heard in Secretary of the Irish National Literary Society Destinn, Dinh Gilly, Litvinne, Raïsa, Muzio and natural habitat, the concert platform, his Like his promoters McCormack was out to His Italian songs were much better!’ living-rooms around the world. and sometime Republican internee). Didur. His reputation as an operatic tenor was trademark ‘little black book’ in hand, he would make money, but he delivered the populist (Cavan O’Connor) John Francis McCormack was born of By 1905 funds were raised for McCormack high, notwithstanding his apparently regale his audiences with every kind of song repertoire with total sincerity and without mixed Scots-Irish extraction on 14 June 1884 to undertake further study in Milan with ‘indifferent’ acting and despite the fact that his from the elevatedly classical to the banally condescension, and in a way inconceivable All great singers – and others less-than-great – in Athlone, where his father,Andrew, was a Vincenzo Sabatini. He had, meanwhile, in career in opera was virtually over by 1914. He commercial (Ernest R. Ball’s My Wild Irish today even to the most dedicated devotees of have always benefited from localised forms of local wool-mill worker. Respectably God- London in September 1904, made his first made his American debut (as Alfredo in La Rose or tear-jerking Mother Machree or crossover. hero-worship, and in the days before radio and fearing, his upbringing was scarcely privileged. recordings, cylinders for Edison followed a traviata) in New York, in 1909, but Alma Sanders’ stage-Irish Little Town In The TV McCormack’s popularity hinged largely on At school, however, he was a bright student week later by discs for Fred Gaisberg’s acclimatising quickly to life in the USA he Old County Down are cases in point). By Peter Dempsey, 2004 the fact that he was an Irishman who arrived and was awarded various scholarships and by Gramophone & Typewriter Company – already perceived the concert platform as a in America at the right moment to delight 1902, despite parental opposition, he already predictably of Irish songs, Killarney, The truer and certainly more lucrative metier. On mass-audiences with his Irish yarns. Which had a burning ambition to become a singer, Minstrel Boy and Believe Me, If All Those the one hand there was a vast resident Irish may sound like an over-simplification or even a although after failing the entrance exam to the Endearing Young Charms, but these were audience wanting to hear songs of the ‘Ould solecism – for his vast and cultured repertoire Dublin College of Science he at first took up a vocally a far cry from the re-recordings that Country’ and in any case, like his contempo- was soon to span arias, art-song and lieder, all clerical job in the postal service. Through were to follow, beginning with the Odeons rary Peter Dawson, he probably regarded opera Also available in the Naxos Nostalgia series ... of which he sang with artistry and friends who already sensed the exceptional (from December 1906 onwards) and the as too much work for too little reward. commitment, if not always total idiomatical quality of his voice, however, he was Victors made after January 1910. From his first recording session (for the accuracy. The difference between McCormack introduced to his mentor and preceptor McCormack’s initial forays into opera in Italy Victor Company) in January 1910 McCormack and the others, however, resided in a superior Vincent O’Brien (1871-1948), then conductor in 1906 offered the ambitious young tenor no was hailed a master balladeer. Though technical perfection (his fine diction and of Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral’s celebrated sure road to stardom and his earliest career expensive, his recordings – after those of exemplary articulation were founded on the Palestrina Choir. O’Brien coached the raw was marked by struggle prior to his Caruso – were major sellers, a boom industry principles of bel canto) – and to these were McCormack and under his tutelage, in May appearances in London at the Boosey Ballad for Victor which reciprocally complemented added, fortuitously perhaps, certain other 1903, the tenor won the Gold Medal at the and National Sunday League Concerts and the the tenor’s regular and far-reaching concert ingredients: an outgoing, even forceful Feis Ceoil (Irish Music Festival). His opportune patronage he secured which tours. The highest-paid recitalist of his personality, an uncanny power to accompanist on that occasion was the Co. opened the door to Covent Garden and final generation, his massive audiences were treated communicate simple emotions and, no less Down-born composer-conductor Hamilton recognition of his talent. McCormack made in the same breath as Handel or Scarlatti and advantageous, connections in the right places Harty (1879-1941) and he here sings Harty’s his Covent Garden début in October, 1907 (as Schubert, or Thomas Moore and Stanford, to 8.120504 8.120639* 8.120640* – not least an exclusive contract to record for haunting My Lagan Love, from the 1909 cycle Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana), at 23 the the latest mock-Irish samples from Tin Pan * Not Available in the U.S.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • "Il Mio Tesoro" from "Don Giovanni"
    “Il mio tesoro” from “Don Giovanni”--John McCormack; orchestra conducted by Walter Rogers (1916) Added to the National Registry: 2006 Essay by Doreen M. McFarlane (guest post)* John McCormack Tenor John McCormack (1884-1945) was beloved throughout the English-speaking world. His music spanned from opera and concert music to popular songs of his time. He was one of the first to make cylinder recordings and then shellac records, and was one of the first opera singers to sing on radio. From a successful opera career, he moved on to become a beloved recitalist, touring the USA and the world, garnering huge and adoring audiences. He spotlighted upcoming composers, raised large donations to support America in both World Wars, and was a role model singer, husband, patriot and friend. On May 9, 10, and 11 of 1916, the renowned tenor made a total of 13 recordings for Victor/HMV in their Camden, New Jersey studio. Of these, ten were sung with orchestra conducted by Walter B. Rogers, and, the other three, with his accompanist Edwin Schneider at the piano. Of the 13, two were unpublished. In some cases, there were two takes with just one published. But, the aria recorded on May 9th, which is unsurpassed and seen as the consummate performance of this aria--unmatched by even the greatest of tenors--is his performance of “Il mio Tesoro” from the opera “Don Giovanni” by Mozart; it was accomplished in one “take.” This aria has been included in at least 22 different LP and CDs over many years. McCormack sang this aria in his concert programs from 1907 to 1917 and again from 1919 to 1921.
    [Show full text]
  • ROINN COSANTA. BUREAU of MILITARY HISTORY, 1913-21 STATEMENT by WITNESS. DOCUMENT NO. W.S. 1503 Witness Michael Mccormack Drumra
    ROINN COSANTA. BUREAU OF MILITARY HISTORY, 1913-21 STATEMENT BY WITNESS. DOCUMENT NO. W.S. 1503 Witness Michael McCormack Drumraney, Athlone, Co. Westmeath. Identity. Adjutant. Drumraney Battalion, I.R.A. Centre, Drumraney Circle, I.R.B. Subject. Activities of Drumraney Battalion, Irish Volunteers, Athlone Brigade, 1914-1921, and Brigade Flying Column, 1920-1921. Conditions, if any, Stipulated by Witness. Nil File No S.2819 Form B.S.M.2 STATEMENTBY MICHAEL McCORMICK, Drumraney, Athlone, County Westmeath. I was born in Drumraney and was educated at the local school there. There was nothing taught in school then that would serve as a foundation or build-up in young boys any deep sense of patriotism. father had been in Australia and there he had come in contact with many of the men who had been deported or had to leave Ireland because they loved it too well, according to English standards When we were children, he regularly discussed Irish History with us and enlightened us on the many crimes and wrongs perpetrated on our country by the English invader, and he often sang traditional folk songs for us. Thus we grew up in an atmosphere in which there was a love for everything Irish and with a great desire to see the country independent and in commandof her own destiny. I think my father was a Fenian. I had read and studied books such as "The Jail Journal" and "The last Conquest". In 1907 I became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Peter Malinn was organising the I.R.B. in County Westmeath at this time and later on w brother John continued to push the.
    [Show full text]
  • Pathetique Symphony New York Philharmonic/Bernstein Columbia
    Title Artist Label Tchaikovsky: Pathetique Symphony New York Philharmonic/Bernstein Columbia MS 6689 Prokofiev: Two Sonatas for Violin and Piano Wilkomirska and Schein Connoiseur CS 2016 Acadie and Flood by Oliver and Allbritton Monroe Symphony/Worthington United Sound 6290 Everything You Always Wanted to Hear on the Moog Kazdin and Shepard Columbia M 30383 Avant Garde Piano various Candide CE 31015 Dance Music of the Renaissance and Baroque various MHS OR 352 Dance Music of the Renaissance and Baroque various MHS OR 353 Claude Debussy Melodies Gerard Souzay/Dalton Baldwin EMI C 065 12049 Honegger: Le Roi David (2 records) various Vanguard VSD 2117/18 Beginnings: A Praise Concert by Buryl Red & Ragan Courtney various Triangle TR 107 Ravel: Quartet in F Major/ Debussy: Quartet in G minor Budapest String Quartet Columbia MS 6015 Jazz Guitar Bach Andre Benichou Nonsuch H 71069 Mozart: Four Sonatas for Piano and Violin George Szell/Rafael Druian Columbia MS 7064 MOZART: Symphony #34 / SCHUBERT: Symphony #3 Berlin Philharmonic/Markevitch Dacca DL 9810 Mozart's Greatest Hits various Columbia MS 7507 Mozart: The 2 Cassations Collegium Musicum, Zurich Turnabout TV-S 34373 Mozart: The Four Horn Concertos Philadelphia Orchestra/Ormandy Mason Jones Columbia MS 6785 Footlifters - A Century of American Marches Gunther Schuller Columbia M 33513 William Schuman Symphony No. 3 / Symphony for Strings New York Philharmonic/Bernstein Columbia MS 7442 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor Westminster Choir/various artists Columbia ML 5200 Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique) Philadelphia Orchestra/Ormandy Columbia ML 4544 Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 Cleveland Orchestra/Rodzinski Columbia ML 4052 Haydn: Symphony No 104 / Mendelssohn: Symphony No 4 New York Philharmonic/Bernstein Columbia ML 5349 Porgy and Bess Symphonic Picture / Spirituals Minneapolis Symphony/Dorati Mercury MG 50016 Beethoven: Symphony No 4 and Symphony No.
    [Show full text]
  • How Copyright Law Affects Reissues of Historic Recordings: a New Study
    TIM BROOKS How Copyright Law Affects Reissues of Historic Recordings: A New Study The following article looks at how U.S. copyright law affects the availability of older recordings. Among the issues covered are how many “historic” recordings are still under legal restrictions, how many are available to the public today via reissues, and what pro- portion of reissues are from rights holders vs. non rights holders. The article also suggests how to determine whether a specific older recording is controlled by a rights holder or is “abandoned,” and thus free to disseminate. The article is based on a paper presented at the 2005 ARSC Conference, with much of the information drawn from a study by the author commissioned by the Council on Library and Information Resources for the National Recording Preservation Board and the Library of Congress. The full study is available at www.clir.org. __________________________________________________________________________________ n recent years entertainment companies have secured sweeping expansion of copy- right laws and new limits on the public domain, making the subject of copyright Iincreasingly controversial. The world, they say, is changing and the law has to “keep up”. However, those who seek to care for and disseminate our recorded heritage feel jus- tifiably threatened by laws that seem to restrict their activities at every turn. While many in the academic and collecting communities lament these developments – witness the heavy attendance and passionate response at a session on “Music Downloading and File Swapping” at the 2004 ARSC Conference – there is surprisingly little solid data on the effects of current law on recordings.1 Such data is necessary to influence policymakers.
    [Show full text]
  • NI 7927-8 Book
    NI 7927/8 NI 7927/8 Regiment of Sambre et Meuse should have been delayed until two months after the war had ended I do not know, but there is no gainsaying thepanache with which he trumpets forth his tribute to those intrepid military men. A comparison of these later recordings of Caruso’s with those made back in 1902 and 1903 PALESTRINA makes it evident how his voice had darkened and grown more massive over the years. The M I S S A O S A C R U M C O N V I V I U M advances in the recording process naturally emphasise this change, but in any case such was Caruso’s technical mastery that even when his voice was at its heaviest it never became unwieldy. His very last stage appearance was in a role which had been a favourite from his earliest days, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, which calls for great vocal dexterity; and anyone who doubts Caruso’s ability to sing rapidcoloratura in his latter days should listen to the cadenza at the end of his recording ofMia Piccirella from the operaSalvator Rosa, made in September 1919. I would like to end these reflections, though, with a glance at one more track from the current selection. This is the duet entitledCrucifix, written by the eminent French baritone Jean-Baptiste Faure, in which Caruso is partnered by Marcel Journet, one of the most celebrated basses of the day. Journet’s is the first voice that we hear, and very fine it is too; but when Caruso enters the sound is one of incomparable beauty, rich and majestic but astonishingly gentle too.
    [Show full text]
  • Graves of Historical Interest in Dean's Grange Cemetery
    Graves of historical interest in Dean’s Grange Cemetery (Opened in 1865) First burial: Anastasia Carey, 41 years, Servant, St. Joseph’s Orphange on 27/1/1865. John McCormack (1884 – 1945): 120 – E – St. Patrick John McCormack was a world-famous Irish tenor and recording artist, celebrated for his performances of the operatic and popular song repertoires and renowned for his flawless diction and superb breath control. He ended his career at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1938. His greatest honour came in 1928 when he received the title of Papal Count from Pope Pius XI in recognition for his work for Catholic charities. To many the highlight of his career was his singing of Cesar Franck’s Panis Angelicus to the thousands who thronged Dublin’s Phoenix Park for the 1932 Eucharistic Congress. Sean Lemass (1899 – 1971): 38/39 – R – St. Patrick Sean Lemas was an Irish Fianna Fáil politican and third Taoiseach of Ireland from 1959 – 1966. He was born in Ballybrack, Co. Dublin. Lemass is remembered for his tireless work to develop Irish industry and for forging new links between the Republic and Northern Ireland in the 1960’s. He is regarded by many as the finest Taoiseach in the history of the Irish state and as “the architect of modern Ireland”. John A Costello (1891 – 1976): 119/120 – M – St. Patrick John Costello was a successful barrister, was one of the main legal advisors to the government of the Irish Free State after independence, Attorney General of Ireland from 1926 – 1932 and Taoiseach from 1948 – 1951 and 1954 – 1957.
    [Show full text]
  • S:\RECSND\RSREF\Finding Aids\Secrist.Wpd
    JOHN B. SECRIST, JR. PAPER COLLECTION 5.75 linear feet 18 boxes (1919-1973, n.d.) (bulk dates: 1949-1958) Series I: Correspondence (1949 Dec. 3-1958 Sept. 9, n.d.) Series II: Discographic Materials and Collection Notes (ca. 1941- 1958, n.d.) Series III: Photographs (1919-1932, n.d.) Series IV: Scrapbooks (ca. 1955-1973) Series V: Record Label Photographs Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division Library of Congress Processed by Jennifer Lewis, June 2004 Updated by Karen Fishman, April 2006 Biography/History Note Record collector and mathematician John Bert Secrist, Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas on August 14, 1918 to Florence and John B. Secrist. Secrist received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Richmond in 1939 and a Master of Arts in Mathematics from the University of Virginia in 1941. He taught math for several years at the United States Naval Academy, Emory University, and Columbia University where he continued his graduate course work. In 1953 he joined the staff of IBM in New York, working as a mathematician. His projects included computer technology, satellite communications and missile defense. Secrist began acquiring records as a high school student, and continued to have an interest in collecting vocal recordings throughout his college career. After moving to New York in 1945 and meeting others who shared his interests, he became a more avid collector, and was a founder and member of the Vocal Record Collectors’ Society, a non-profit organization for those interested in collecting classical vocal recordings of all eras.
    [Show full text]
  • John Mccormack 1924 the Gramophone Company Ltd
    ADD THE McCORMACK EDITION • 11 8.111402 John MCCORMACK 1924 The Gramophone Company Ltd. & Victor Talking Machine Company Recordings MOZART BRAHMS RACHMANINOV R. STRAUSS BERLIN New restorations by Ward Marston The Gramophone Company, Ltd. ! RACHMANINOV: 15 Romances, Op. 26: Appendix: ™ HIRSCH, Louis: The O’Brien Girl: The following are alternative takes which 1 BRAHMS: 6 Lieder, Op. 97: No. 10: Before My Window 2:02 Learn to Smile 3:20 were not issued on earlier Naxos volumes. No. 5: Komm bald 2:24 with Fritz Kreisler, Violin 17th June 1921; B-25351-3 (unpublished on 78 rpm) 19th September 1924; Bb5094-1 24th September 1924; Bb 5116-3 (Take 4 can be heard on Volume 9 (unpublished on 78 rpm) (unpublished on 78 rpm) The Gramophone Company, Ltd. [Naxos 8.111385], track 11) @ RACHMANINOV: 15 Romances, Op. 26: 2 BRAHMS: 6 Lieder, Op. 97: ) No. 7: To the Children 3:09 ROSSINI: Les Soirées Musicales: £ SANDERS, Alma: Little Town in the No. 5: Komm bald 2:20 No. 11: La Serenata: Mira la bianca luna 3:49 19th September 1924; Bb5094-2 (HMV DA635) with Fritz Kreisler, Violin Ould County Down 3:30 24th September 1924; Bb 5117-2 (HMV DA 680) with Emmy Destinn, Soprano 17th June 1921; B-25353-1 3 BRAHMS: 6 Lieder, Op. 86: 3rd July 1911; 5130f (unpublished) (unpublished on 78 rpm) # LARCHET, John: Pádraic the Fiddler 2:59 No. 2: Feldeinsamkeit 3:09 (The published take, matrix 5203f, can be found (Take 2 can be heard on Volume 9 with Fritz Kreisler, Violin 19th September 1924; Bb 5095-1 (HMV DA 635) on Volume 2 [Naxos 8.110329], track 20) [Naxos 8.111385], track 12) 24th September 1924; Bb 5118-2 (HMV DA 636) 4 MOZART: Ridente la calma, K.
    [Show full text]
  • John Mccormack 1843-1997 IM.M035.1998
    Frederick M. Manning Collection of John McCormack 1843-1997 IM.M035.1998 http://hdl.handle.net/2345/956 Irish Music Archives John J. Burns Library Boston College 140 Commonwealth Avenue Chestnut Hill 02467 library.bc.edu/burns/contact URL: http://www.bc.edu/burns Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 3 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................ 4 Biographical Note: John McCormack ........................................................................................................... 5 Biographical Note: Frederick M. Manning ................................................................................................... 5 Scope and Contents ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Arrangement ................................................................................................................................................... 6 Collection Inventory ....................................................................................................................................... 7 I: Correspondence ........................................................................................................................................ 7 II: Manuscripts and Typescripts by John McCormack
    [Show full text]
  • SYMPOSIUM RECORDS CD 1167 JOHN Mccormack – Volume 5
    SYMPOSIUM RECORDS CD 1167 JOHN McCORMACK – Volume 5 JOHN McCORMACK – “I hear you calling me” John McCormack was born on the 14th June 1884 in the town of Athlone which is at the very heart of Ireland. The Great Famine, a famine of truly biblical proportions that killed or forced into exile more than two and a half million of Ireland's population, was forty years in the past. Two years in the future was the rejection by the British Parliament, its Irish members were overwhelmingly nationalist proponents of an independent Ireland, of a proposal to grant Ireland a limited form of Home Rule. These events each had an enormous impact on John McCormack's life. The Great Famine triggered an emigration which guaranteed McCormack Irish audiences wherever he sang; whilst the failure of Home Rule led nationalist Ireland, in collaboration with the Roman Catholic church, to a conscious re-invention of a distinct Irish cultural identity. This was complete with its own language, literature, sporting traditions, and music. For McCormack, who grew up and was educated in the midst of this cultural cauldron, the new identity, and pride in Ireland and all things Irish, provided a confidence and an identity that helped to overcome his own natural shyness, and with his great gifts as a singer, helped him to become a world-class performer. This most remarkable son of Ireland was one of eleven children born to an Irish mill foreman and a Scottish Presbyterian mother. John McCormack had the good fortune to receive a first-rate education. At a time when most Irish children received a minimal amount of schooling, he won a scholarship that took him to a Catholic boarding school in Sligo, where the curriculum included languages, classics and music.
    [Show full text]
  • Anthony Kearns Operatic Tenor
    BIOGRAPHY Anthony Kearns Operatic Tenor Anthony Kearns, acknowledged as Ireland's Finest (Living) Tenor at the Dublin National Concert Hall's Silver Jubilee in 2006, performs an extraordinary repertoire, with music from Ireland to Broadway, to Viennese romance to Italian Classics, French art songs, and traditional German Lieder, the inspirational to the spiritual, and from operetta's light comedy to the sweeping drama of grand opera. With his rich lyrical tenor voice, flawless technique, and skillful interpretation of these many and varied musical genres, Anthony Kearns is becoming recognized as the heir apparent to John “Count” McCormack and Mario Lanza, as he takes his place on the world stage. Considered the best interpreter of Irish music alive today, he is also a respected ambassador of Ireland to the world and has presented the music of his homeland across the globe. Career Overview Thrust upon the world scene at the first 1999 U.S. PBS broadcast of the 1998 taping of NOTABLE QUOTES: “The Irish Tenors in Dublin,” Anthony Kearns and his two colleagues achieved instant stardom. As they began performing on the world's most prestigious stages,The Irish Tenors became a world-wide sensation as Ireland's most famous touring musicians, second only to the rock band, U2. Kearns, the group's only remaining original member, After singing a memorial has sung with the trio for over a decade, with 10 audio CDs to their credit, always listed recently for President John F. on Billboard's Top Ten upon release. Kennedy in County Wexford's Anthony Kearns is increasingly in demand as a solo performer world-wide.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Booklet
    110330 bk McCormack3 2/9/06 10:19 AM Page 8 TOSTI: DANKS: ADD ¡ My Dreams 3:21 ∞ Silver Threads Among the Gold 3:22 THE McCORMACK EDITION • 3 11th December 1912; B 12758-1 (Victor 64310) 3rd January 1913; B 11834-3 (Victor 64260) 8.110330 TUCKER: Track 14: Studio orchestra conducted by Percy Pitts ™ Sweet Genevieve 3:31 2nd January 1913; B 12759-2 (Victor 64309) All other tracks with the Victor Orchestra, conductor(s) unknown John CLAY: £ I’ll Sing Thee Songs of Araby 2:51 Tracks 1-13, 15, 19-25 sung in English 2nd January 1913; B 12760-1 (Victor 64375) Tracks 14, 16-18 sung in Italian McCORMACK RUSSELL: ¢ Where the River Shannon Flows 3:13 2nd January 1913; B 12761-2 (Victor 64311) 1912-13 Acoustic Recordings BIZET BOITO HERBERT TOSTI The Naxos historical label aims to make available the greatest recordings in the history of recorded music, in the best IRISH SONGS and truest sound that contemporary technology can provide. To achieve this aim, Naxos has engaged a number of respected restorers who have the dedication, skill and experience to produce restorations that have set new standards in the field of historical recordings. New restorations by Ward Marston 8.110330 8 110330 bk McCormack3 2/9/06 10:19 AM Page 2 John McCormack (1884-1945) AITKEN: NEVIN: The McCormack Edition Vol. 3 1 Maire, My Girl 3:28 ! The Rosary 2:13 2nd April 1912; C 11813-1 (Victor 74298) 5th April 1912; B 11825-2 (Victor 64257) “I have always thought”, Max de Schauensee wrote, “that friends in high places had counted more than sheer what Caruso was to grand opera, McCormack was to the musical merit.
    [Show full text]