Manys the quarrel and fight we’ve had
And many a time you made me mad
But while I’ve a heart---it can never be sad
When you smile at
me full on the table
Surely you are my wife and brother
My only child---my father and mother
My outside coat---I have no other
Oh! I’ll
stand by you---while I am able
Turlough O’Carolan
John McCormack
Of the Irish tenors of the twentieth century, John McCormack (1884 - 1945) was the most
versatile. His performances of Opera, oratorio and Irish ballads were unequalled.
In Dublin, 1902, at the Feis Cheoil
competitions, McCormack enjoyed his first of many triumphs, taking the tenor gold medal. In a disappointing second place was
James Joyce. While Joyce would, perhaps, become the greatest writer of the twentieth century, McCormack would emerge as one
of its greatest tenors.
John Francis McCormack was born in Athlone, Co., Westmeath, in a row house (now a Chinese restaurant)
in “The Bawn,” close by the river. A quiet place then, Athlone had been the most war-ravaged of Irish towns, it's Shannon River
bridge the strategic objective of many a clashing army. A musical town, it would ring to the glorious tones of John’s tenor,
singing his way into the hearts of the world, acclaimed as the greatest lyric tenor of his time.
In Milan, after studying under
Sabatini, he made his Italian stage debut under the name “Giovanni Foli” in 1906 (his fiance was a Miss Foley). In 1907 he debuted
at Covent Garden, London, in “Cavelleria Rusticana,” at twenty-three the youngest principal tenor ever to sing there. A few
weeks later in “Don Giovanni” he showed his purity of tone and polished phrases, as well as his innate musicality and powers as a
classical singer.
