John McCormack

Note by Theo Mortimer











John McCormack was born on June 14, 1884 in Athlone, a country town in the centre of Ireland. His parents were Scottish, his father being employed in a local woollen mill. Early in life he showed great interest in singing, but it was not until his arrival in Dublin in 1902 that his interest was professionally nurtured. McCormack joined the Palestrina Choir, attached to Dublin's Pro-Cathedral, and was taught by Dr. Vincent O'Brien, the Choir's conductor, and an eminent singing teacher. By 1904 he was entered for the tenor class in the Feis Ceoil, Ireland's premier musical competition, where he easily outclassed his rivals, won the Denza Medal and was quickly recruited to make his first recordings in London. During an early visit to the Royal Opera House to hear Caruso in La Bohème he commented that if he ever got a foot on that stage it would take an awful lot to get it off again!

McCormack then went to Italy to study with Vincenzo Sabatini and made his operatic debut at Savona in L'Amico Fritz on January 15, 1906. On returning to London he had some difficulty in obtaining engagements but, eventually, on October 15, 1907, he made his debut at the Royal Opera House singing Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana. At 23 he was the youngest tenor ever to sing a leading role there. On November 6 he first appeared as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni .

His career at Covent Garden continued until the theatre was temporarily closed in 1914 due to the outbreak of World War I. His repertoire consisted of fifteen operas:- Cavalleria Rusticana, Don Giovanni, Faust, Lakmé, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, La Bohème, La Sonnambula, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Tosca, Mefistofele, Roméo et Juliette, Madama Butterfly, La Figlia del Reggimento and Otello, the only opera in which he sang a secondary role. His partners included Tetrazzini, Melba, Destinn, Muzio, Didur, Vanni-Marcoux and Sammarco. He also made appearances in Royal Command Gala Performances.

On November 10, 1909, McCormack opened the autumn season at the Manhattan Opera House in La Traviata with Tetrazzini and Sammarco. Other successes there included La Bohème, Rigoletto, Lakmé and In 1910-11 he appeared as leading tenor to Dame Nellie Melba on her opera tour of Australia. His first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera House was with Melba in La Traviata on 29th November 1910 and he later appeared in the première of Victor Herbert's American opera Natomah in 1911. He did not return to the Met until the 1917-18 season when he sang in Tosca , La Bohème and Madama Butterfly .

The greatest disappointment of the tenor's career was the cancellation of the Salzburg Festival of 1914 due to the outbreak of World War I. The cast of Don Giovanni was to have included Lily Lehmann, Geraldine Farrar, Andreas de Segurola and McCormack.

His final appearances in opera took place at the Monte Carlo Opera House in 1923, where he sang in Martha, Tosca, Il Barbiere di Siviglia , Madama Butterfly, and created the role of Gritzko in the world première of Mussorgsky's The Fair at Sorotchintzi on March 17, 1920.

McCormack's glorious voice enhanced his operatic performances, even if his acting did not (he once said "I am the world's worst actor!"). The operatic recordings stand today as a monument to one of the greatest bel canto singers of his own or any other generation. The Il mio tesoro from Following his retirement from the operatic stage, McCormack's career continued for another fifteen years on the concert platform and in recording sessions, specialising in Lieder, oratorio, operatic arias and ballads. He sang to huge audiences and his records sold in millions. He was created a Papal Count in 1928, one of his many international honours. His farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall in November 1938 was a sell-out and a very emotive occasion.

John, Count McCormack died on September 16, 1945 at Booterstown, Co. Dublin. In a tribute in the Sunday Times, the music critic Ernest Newman wrote - "he was the supreme example of the art that conceals art. He never stooped to small and modest things; he invariably raised them to his own high level. He was a patrician artist with a respect for art that is rarely met with among tenors. There is no one to take his place."


© 1991 Theo Mortimer

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