John Count McCormack
Mon, Mar 29 2010, 5:53PM
Two vexing questions concerning the legendary Irish tenor that I hope someone can address:
1. Was any sound recording made of McCormack's creator performance as Gritzko at Monte Carlo in 1923 in Mussorgsky's unfinished opera La Foire de Sorochintzi (Sorochinsk Fair)?
2. Is any sound film available of McCormack singing Franck's "Panis Angelicus" at the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin's Phoenix Park in June, 1932? My information is that British Pathe filmed this event, but I have not been able to put hands on a film copy. Evidently, the Park attracted over one million attendees at that time, and the Mass during which McCormack sang was broadcast by radio all over the British Isles.
Hi Pventura, I will not be a lot of help to you, but as nobody else has replied, here goes. McCormack definitely did not record any thing from the Mussorgsky opera. That by the way was his last appearance on the opera stage. The Dublin "Panis angelicus" is more problematic. The mass in the Phoenix Park at whic he sang was certainly filmed, and I have seen portions of it on TV from time to time. My guess is that it has never been made available commercially but is buried in the Irish radio and TV archives. There is an Irish John McCormack Society and I have tried to get an address for you but without luck. They do not have a website or Email address. The Irish TV website is:- http://www.rte.ie/ You should be able to contact them through that and they should be able to answer you query as if anyone has that film, they have.. Good luck. Fintan
Fintan