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John
McCormack, Icon of an Age in November
27
September 2007
There's
a good chance that unless you are of a certain age
or know your operatic history, the name of tenor
John McCormack may be unfamiliar to you. Born in
Athlone in the heart of Ireland, he went on to capture
the hearts of millions worldwide with his performances
and recordings. In 1907 at the age of just 23 he
became the youngest ever tenor to perform a lead
role at Covent Garden. He performed there for eight
consecutive years with the great sopranos of the
time, Melba, Terazzini and Destinn in a run that
only ended with the outbreak of the First World
War.
He
raised funds for the the Red Cross and war widows
during the war years and was awarded the Legion
D'Honneur in France and was made a Papal Count by
the Vatican. By the 1920s his popularity was immense
and he was moving away from opera in favour of the
concert stage. His career saw him perform in Europe,
the Far East, and New Zealand, but it was in Britain
and America that his popularity was greatest, and
in 1932 he performed to a record crowd of one million
people at the Eucharistic Congress in Phoenix Park
in Dublin. His total record sales are said to have
exceeded 200 million. he was a genuine icon of his
age, rivaled only by his great friend and fellow
tenor Enrico Caruso. I could go on.
To
celebrate his life and career, Eureka! have announced
John McCormack 1884-1945: Icon of an Age
- The Anthology, a 5-disc box set consisting
of 4 CDs and 1 DVD. The set includes the following:
- The
People's Tenor
- a documentary that charts his meteoric rise
to fame from humble beginnings in Athlone, Ireland;
- A
100 page book featuring, for the first time ever,
unpublished letters by McCormack;
- 2
CDs containing the best from his recording legacy,
one featuring opera, lieder, oratorio and art
songs, the other featuring popular songs and Irish
ballards;
- 4
recently discovered and unpublished recordings
by McCormack, being made public here for the first
time;
- 5
unpublished recordings by McCormack's children
Cyril and Gwen;
- Golden
Voices, a CD with recordings by contemporaries
of McCormack who he admired, worked with or mentioned
in his letters, such as Nellie Melba, Caruso,
etc.
Release
date is set for 19th November 2007 at the RRP of
£29.99.
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