Music man

Published: December 2009

John McCormack, Tenor: Celebrating 125 years,” an exhibition at the Burns Library from September 8 to December 11, marked the birth of the Irish-born U.S. tenor whose record sales on occasion eclipsed Caruso’s. McCormack’s repertoire ranged from Mozart to Tin Pan Alley. He first performed in America at the “Irish Village” exhibition of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. In 2006, the Library of Congress placed his recording of “Il Mio Tesoro” from Don Giovanni in the National Recording Registry. McCormack recorded until 1942. He died in 1945, as the “full-voiced” method of singing he epitomized was giving way to a style modulated for the microphone.

Slideshow:

Memorabilia from the Library’s Frederick M. Manning and Michael Meagher collections. Click to view

Video:

Irish musician Mick Moloney and Klezmer musician Hankus Netsky discuss America’s early 20th-century popular music scene at a symposium held in conjunction with the McCormack exhibition (1:38:33) Click to view

Audio:

Signature performances, from YouTube


McCormack, circa 1903; the 19-year-old gained prominence by winning gold in the tenor competition at Ireland’s Feis Ceoil Festival.


McCormack as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s <i>Don Giovanni</i>, at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1907. At 23, he became the youngest principal tenor ever to sing at the venue.


An RCA 78 rpm disk with McCormack’s 1916 performance of Mozart’s "Il Mio Tesoro"—the "standard by which other performances of this aria have been measured," according to the Library of Congress, which in 2006 selected this recording for the National Recording Registry.


McCormack in 1907 as Turrid, the male lead in Pietro Mascagni’s <i>Cavalleria Rusticana</i> at London’s Royal Opera House. McCormack played principal roles in several productions at Covent Garden that year.


Family photo, circa 1909, in McCormack’s hometown of Athlone, Ireland, with (from left) parents Andrew and Hannah McCormack, son Cyril (there was also a daughter, Gwen), McCormack, and his wife, Lily, also a Feis Ceoil gold medalist.


Sheet music cover for "I Hear You Calling Me," which McCormack first sang as Sean O’Callaghan, the lead in the 1930 musical film Song o’ My Heart. His fee for the film was $500,000.


McCormack’s lyric book, containing the words to some 70 songs. Reportedly he assembled the book after memory failed him during a performance.


McCormack, at age 42, in front of Tokyo’s Imperial Theatre during a 1926 concert tour of China and Japan. In 40 years of near constant touring, his destinations also included the United States (where he became a citizen in 1919), Australia, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Monaco, and South Africa.


With accompanist Gerald Moore at the piano, McCormack gave a farewell concert at Royal Albert Hall in London on November 27, 1938. He returned to the stage a year later to perform in support of the war effort, continuing until 1942 when poor health forced a final retirement. He died in 1945, at the age of 61.

This feature was posted on Friday, December 18, 2009 and is filed under Slideshows.


© 2005-2019 THE TRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE | BOSTON COLLEGE HOME PAGE | BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE