{"id":3761,"date":"2019-02-09T13:01:35","date_gmt":"2019-02-09T13:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kildare.ie\/ehistory\/?p=3761"},"modified":"2025-01-21T14:47:54","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T14:47:54","slug":"john-mccormack-1884-1945","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/john-mccormack-1884-1945\/","title":{"rendered":"JOHN McCORMACK 1884-1945"},"content":{"rendered":"

John McCormack\u00a01884-1945<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Symposium of Tributes<\/strong><\/p>\n

John McCormack was the chief international artist that came from Ireland\u2019s shores.\u00a0 If there be any feelings which more than others excite the human heart they are the emotions of joy and pride, and by the power of his natural gifts he gave his people immense pleasure and joy, and at the same time, enabled them to be justly proud of their countryman\u2019s fame in the realm of music.<\/p>\n

My first impression on meeting John was that he seemed to love and imbibe knowledge with a great and vehement love.\u00a0 Music, languages, poetry, paintings, writings \u2013 art in its every form \u2013 appeared to be part of himself.\u00a0 A deeply religious man, his artistry in song was Godgiven.\u00a0 I always felt while listening to him that he never failed to praise and thank God in his vocal melodies for the great gifts bestowed upon him.<\/p>\n

In the elusive gift that one calls interpretation he shone supreme.\u00a0 It was not with the lips alone, so to speak, that he sang, but with every vibration of his soul.\u00a0 He sang with spirit and with complete understanding.\u00a0 Those of us who were privileged to hear his rendering of the Panis Angelicus<\/em> in the Pheonix Park in 1932 \u2013 a whole expression of homage and adoration \u2013 cannot fail to realise the deep fervour lying underneath all his performances.<\/p>\n

Many of the world\u2019s best-known musicians have not possessed what may be termed the \u201call-round\u201d brains of John McCormack; for instance, his unerring skill in programme building.\u00a0 Never, to the best of my recollection, did I hear a suspicion of criticism of the songs chosen by him for his listeners.\u00a0 He was perfection in his choice.\u00a0 On many occasions he actually suggested items to instrumentalists assisting at his recitals, so broad was his knowledge of string music.\u00a0 I know also his great familiarity with the many orchestral symphonies and works \u2013 not only did he know them but could rarely be puzzled in the various movements, which he could place immediately on hearing and name their composers and opus numbers.\u00a0 Many conductors envied John his retentiveness on this particular point.\u00a0 I understand he would have chosen \u2013 were it possible \u2013 to be a great conductor!<\/p>\n

To my mind comes yet another aspect of this fine artist\u2019s character \u2013 it remained unalterable and even strengthened through the flattering falsities of the glamorous life that pursued him.\u00a0 I refer to his complete devotion to his charming and clever wife, Lily.\u00a0 No praise was too lavish, no jewel too scintillating for the partner who had helped and contributed so much to the making of his brilliant and successful career.\u00a0 I once remarked to him that the greatest thing he had done in his lifetime was to marry Lily Foley.\u00a0 With the quickness for which he was famed he replied, \u201cI know that, but why don’t you say it before her?\u201d<\/p>\n

John McCormack\u2019s contributions to charity have, I fear, never been fully appreciated or realised.\u00a0 How many of us remember his work for our White Cross Fund in 1920?\u00a0 This fund was for the relief of the people of Ireland during the Black and Tan terror.\u00a0 John\u2019s American tour realised \u00a335,000.\u00a0 This sum was acknowledged and published by the White Cross Committee in 1922.<\/p>\n

Other concerts at the old Theatre Royal resulted in a sum of \u00a31,200 for the Mater Hospital and \u00a31,813 for the St. Vincent de Paul Society.<\/p>\n

In aid of the poor of Athlone \u2013 his native town \u2013 he gave a concert by which they benefited to the amount of \u00a31,466.\u00a0 This concert was especially interesting for one reason \u2013 it was the only time that a serious rival appeared at one of John\u2019s concerts!\u00a0 On this occasion it was his son, Cyril, then a young boy who, in an Irish costume, canvassed the entire house selling programmes with his father\u2019s autograph, and returned a record sum for his work.<\/p>\n

There was also a concert in aid of the Benedictine nuns of the Kylemore Abbey. In addition, his readiness to help various international charities such as the Red Cross Society, French Tubercular Soldiers, etc., kept him with a never-ending list of requests from those in need.<\/p>\n

He has passed from amongst us a man of splendid character and supreme artistry \u2013 one who always gave generous help and encouragement to those about to embark on the difficult road of artistic achievement of which none knew the difficulties and disillusionments better than he.<\/p>\n

The memory of him shall not depart and his name shall go down from generation to generation as the greatest Irish singer.\u00a0 Many a prayer will be raised here, as elsewhere, for the soul\u2019s happiness of John McCormack.<\/p>\n

MAUD AIKEN<\/p>\n

Capuchin Annual 1946-47<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Postcard of Moore Abbey where McCormack lived for some years in Co. Kildare – taken from the Local Studies Collection]<\/p>\n


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John McCormack\u00a01884-1945 A Symposium of Tributes John McCormack was the chief international artist that came from Ireland\u2019s shores.\u00a0 If there be any feelings which more than others excite the human heart they are the emotions of joy and pride, and by the power of his natural gifts he gave his people immense pleasure and joy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":3759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","category-places"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Moore-Abbey-PCard-used-1905small.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Moore-Abbey-PCard-used-1905small.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7257,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761\/revisions\/7257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}