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34-523: Since those early years, the Feis Ceoil has undergone many changes to accommodate the development of music in Ireland. It has expanded to more than 185 competitions in all instruments, including voice, and covering all ages from 7 years upwards. Famous competitors over the festival's history include tenor John McCormack , author James Joyce (as a singer), tenor Finbar Wright , broadcaster Seán Óg Ó Ceallacháin ,

68-624: A benefit recital in 1928. Bibliography Savona Savona ( Italian: [saˈvoːna] ; Ligurian : Sann-a [ˈsaŋːa] ) is a seaport and comune in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria , capital of the Province of Savona , in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea . Savona is the main center of the Italian Riviera . One of

102-628: A best-selling version of another popular World War I tune " Keep The Home Fires Burning " in 1917. He also sang songs expressive of Irish nationalism — his recording of " The Wearing of the Green ", a song about the Irish rebellion of 1798 , encouraged 20th-century efforts for Irish Home Rule — and endorsed the Irish Nationalist estrangement from the United Kingdom . McCormack was associated particularly with

136-500: A blockade; the fortress surrendered on 15 May. Subsequently, Savona was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia -Piedmont (1815). Eventually, it became part of the unified Kingdom of Italy , now a republic. During the 20th century Savona became a regional industrial hub. The town is situated 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Genoa and circa 150 km (93 mi) (east) of Nice , in France, on

170-844: A square newly named in his honour outside the Civic Centre in Athlone on 24 October 2014. The sculpture, created by the Irish artist Rory Beslin, was celebrated by free admission to an exhibition of the celebrated singer's memorabilia. In 1984, a street in Washington, D.C. , was named in his honour. The street is near the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and commemorates McCormack's role in supporting its construction by singing

204-508: A tenor of the Italian style—and he sang (and recorded) French operatic arias in the Italian language. Steane ("The Grand Tradition" 1971) stresses that, for all his later devotion to the concert platform (and his Irish identity), he was (for albeit a relatively brief period) in essence an Italian operatic tenor. In February 1911, McCormack played Lieutenant Paul Merrill in the world premiere of Victor Herbert 's opera Natoma with Mary Garden in

238-612: A very opulent lifestyle by Irish standards. He also owned apartments in London and New York. He hoped that one of his racehorses, such as Golden Lullaby, would win The Derby , but they never did. McCormack also bought Runyon Canyon in Hollywood in 1930 from Carman Runyon . McCormack saw and liked the estate while there filming Song o' My Heart (1930), an early all-talking, all-singing picture. McCormack used his salary for this movie to purchase

272-573: Is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery , St. Patrick's section, plot reference E/120. McCormack was much honoured and decorated for his musical career. In 1928, he received the title of Papal Count from Pope Pius XI in recognition of his work for Catholic charities. He had earlier received three papal knighthoods, Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (KHS), Knight of the Order of St. Gregory

306-581: The Feis Ceoil that year, where the not yet famous writer was awarded the Bronze Medal (3rd prize). Fundraising activities on his behalf enabled McCormack to travel to Italy in 1905 to receive voice training by Vincenzo Sabatini (father of the novelist Rafael Sabatini ) in Milan . Sabatini found McCormack's voice naturally tuned and concentrated on perfecting his breath control, an element that would become part of

340-580: The Punic wars in which the city had been allied to Carthage . After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , it passed under Lombard rule in 641 AD (being destroyed in the attack), after a short period as an Ostrogoth and then Byzantine possession. Later it recovered as a county seat in the Carolingian Empire . In the 10th century its bishops were Counts of Savona, but later the countship passed to

374-509: The Republic of Genoa before being definitively conquered in 1528. The Genoese destroyed the upper town and buried the port. It then shared the fortunes of the Republic of Genoa until Napoleonic times. In 1809 the city received Pope Pius VII , prisoner of Napoleon Bonaparte, for a few years. Between April and mid-May 1800, Austrian forces besieged the city while a small British naval force maintained

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408-607: The Victor Talking Machine Company during the 1910s and 1920s. He was Victor's most popular Red Seal recording artist after tenor Enrico Caruso . In the 1920s, he sang regularly on radio and later appeared in two sound films , Song o' My Heart , released in 1930, playing an Irish tenor, and as himself appearing in a party scene in Wings of the Morning (1937), the first British three-strip Technicolor feature. McCormack

442-556: The operatic and popular song repertoires, and renowned for his diction and breath control. He was also a Papal Count . McCormack became a naturalised American citizen before returning to live in Ireland. John Francis McCormack was born on 14 June 1884 in Athlone , County Westmeath , Ireland, the second son and fifth of the 11 children (five of whom died in infancy or childhood) of Andrew McCormack and his wife Hannah Watson. His parents were both from Galashiels , Scotland and worked at

476-741: The 1932 Eucharistic Congress . A life-sized bronze statue of McCormack by sculptor Elizabeth O'Kane was established in Dublin on 19 June 2008. The statue stands in the Iveagh Gardens , close to the National Concert Hall. In his hometown of Athlone, he is commemorated by the Athlone Institute of Technology who named their performance hall after him, the John McCormack Hall. He is also commemorated by an English Heritage blue plaque on

510-569: The Athlone Woollen Mills, where his father was a foreman. He was baptised in St Mary's Church, Athlone , on 23 June 1884. McCormack received his early education from the Marist Brothers in Athlone and later attended Summerhill College , Sligo . He sang in the choir of the old St Peters church in Athlone under his choirmaster Michael Kilkelly. When the family moved to Dublin , he sang in

544-623: The Dohenys. After his farewell tour of America in 1937, the McCormacks deeded the estate back to Carman Runyon expecting to return to the estate at a later date. World War II intervened and McCormack did not return. McCormack originally ended his career at the Royal Albert Hall in London, during 1938. However, a year after that farewell concert, he was back singing for the Red Cross and in support of

578-498: The Great (KSG) and Knight of the Order of St. Sylvester (KSS). He was also a Knight of Malta and a Privy Chamberlain of the Sword and Cape, an honour which is known now as a Gentlemen of His Holiness . One of the most famous performances of McCormack's Irish career was his singing of César Franck 's Panis angelicus to the hundreds of thousands who thronged Dublin 's Phoenix Park for

612-540: The Irish composers Vincent Kennedy (as a trumpet player) and Robert O'Dwyer , and violinist Cora Venus Lunny . Performers have included Margaret Burke Sheridan , Suzanne Murphy , Bernadette Greevy , Eithne Robinson, Hugh Tinney , Philip Martin , John O'Conor , John Ronayne, Emma Murphy, Geraldine O'Grady, Ann Murray , Mary Hegarty , Cara O'Sullivan , Celine Byne, Orla Boylan, Finghin Collins , Cora Venus Lunny, Tara Erraught , Joseph Dalton, and Claudia Boyle. In 2021

646-714: The Marquesses of Montferrat (981) and afterwards to the Marquesses Del Vasto  [ it ] (1084). After a long struggle against the Saracens , Savona acquired independence in the 11th century, becoming a free municipality allied with the Holy Roman Emperor (similar to a free imperial city ). Savona was the center of religious culture (13th to 16th centuries) due to the work of two important monasteries: Dominican and Franciscan . Subsequently, it fought against

680-596: The basis of his renown as a vocalist. In 1906, he made his operatic début at the Teatro Chiabrera, Savona . The next year, he began his first important operatic performance at Covent Garden in Mascagni 's Cavalleria rusticana , becoming the theatre's youngest principal tenor. In 1909, he began his career in America. Michael Scott ("The Record of Singing" 1978) writes that at this stage of his career, he should be considered

714-533: The choir of St Mary's Pro-Cathedral where he was discovered by Vincent O'Brien . In 1903, he won the coveted gold medal of the Dublin Feis Ceoil . In March 1904, McCormack became associated with James Joyce , who at the time had singing ambitions himself. Richard Ellmann , in his biography of Joyce, states that "Joyce spent several evenings with him" (i.e. McCormack), practising; along with Joyce's acquaintance Richard Best; McCormack persuaded Joyce to enter

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748-461: The competition had to be run online due to the COVID-19 pandemic with all entrants submitting their pieces via the website. This music festival-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . John McCormack (tenor) John Francis McCormack , KSG , KSS , KHS (14 June 1884 – 16 September 1945), was an Irish lyric tenor celebrated for his performances of

782-446: The day and 5 °C (41 °F) at night. In the warmest month – July and August – the average temperature is 28 °C (82 °F) during the day and 20 °C (68 °F) at night. Generally, a typical summer season lasts about 4 to 6 months, from May/June to September/October. The daily temperature range is limited, with an average range of about 7 °C (13 °F) between high and low temperatures. Rain occurs mainly in autumn,

816-462: The estate and built a mansion he called "San Patrizio", after Saint Patrick . McCormack and his wife lived in the mansion until they returned to England in 1938. McCormack toured often, and in his absence, the mansion was often let to celebrities such as Janet Gaynor and Charles Boyer . The McCormacks made many friends in Hollywood, among them Errol Flynn , Will Rogers , John Barrymore , Basil Rathbone , Ronald Colman , Charles E. Toberman and

850-553: The house near Hampstead in London, 24 Ferncroft Avenue, where he lived from 1908 until 1913. A silver €10 collectors coin with a mintage of 8,000 pieces was issued by the Central Bank of Ireland in January 2014 featuring a portrait of McCormack; the coin was issued as part of the EUROPA star series in keeping with the 2014 theme of European musicians. A statue of the tenor was unveiled in

884-531: The most celebrated former inhabitants of Savona was the navigator Christopher Columbus , who farmed land in the area while chronicling his journeys. 'Columbus's house', a cottage situated in the Savona hills, lay between vegetable crops and fruit trees. It is one of several residences in Liguria associated with Columbus. Inhabited in ancient times by Ligures tribes, it came under Roman influence in c. 180 BC, after

918-581: The operatic stage until after his performance of 1923 in Monte Carlo (see biography below), although by then the top notes of his voice had contracted. Famous for his extraordinary breath control, he could sing 64 notes on one breath in Mozart's " Il mio tesoro " from Don Giovanni , and his Handelian singing was just as impressive in this regard. McCormack made hundreds of recordings, his best-known and most commercially successful series of records being those for

952-745: The song " Calling Me Home to You ". In 1917, McCormack became a naturalised citizen of the United States. In June 1918, he donated $ 11,458 ($ 215,296 in 2022) towards the USA's World War I effort. By then, his career was a huge financial success, earning millions in his lifetime from record sales and appearances. By 1920, Edwin Schneider had become McCormack's accompanist and the two were "inseparable". When Schneider retired, Gerald Moore took over as accompanist from 1939 to 1943. In 1927, McCormack moved into Moore Abbey , Monasterevin , County Kildare , and adopted

986-527: The songs of Thomas Moore , notably "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls", " The Minstrel Boy ", "Believe Me If All (Those Endearing Young Charms)", and " The Last Rose of Summer ". Between 1914 and 1922, he recorded almost two dozen songs with violin accompaniment provided by Fritz Kreisler , with whom he also toured. He recorded songs of Hugo Wolf for the Hugo Wolf Society in German. In 1918, he recorded

1020-482: The summers being generally dry. Sunshine hours total above 2,097 per year, from an average 4 hours of sunshine duration per day in winter to average 9 hours in summer. Savona usually sees snow once or twice per year. Rari Nantes Savona is an aquatic sports club, mainly known for its professional men's water polo team, which competes uninterruptedly in the Serie A1 , the top division of Italian championship, since 1982;

1054-540: The title role. Later that year, he toured Australia after Dame Nellie Melba engaged him, then at the height of his operatic career, aged 27, as a star tenor for the Melba Grand Opera Season. He returned for concert tours in subsequent years. By 1912, he was beginning to become involved increasingly with concert performances, where his voice quality and charisma ensured that he became the most celebrated lyric tenor of his time. He did not, however, retire from

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1088-555: The war effort. He gave concerts, toured, broadcast and recorded in this capacity until 1943 when poor health finally forced him to retire permanently. McCormack married Lily Foley in 1906; they had two children, Cyril and Gwen. Ill with emphysema , he bought a house near the sea, "Glena", Booterstown , Dublin. After years of increasingly poor health, and a series of infectious illnesses, including influenza and pneumonia, McCormack died at his home in Booterstown on 16 September 1945. He

1122-515: The western Italian Riviera , between the Ligurian Sea and the Ligurian Alps . Savona has a borderline humid subtropical ( Cfa ) and Mediterranean climate ( Csa ). The average yearly temperature is around 19 °C (66 °F) during the day and 12 °C (54 °F) at night. In the coldest months: January, February and December, the average temperature is 11 °C (52 °F) during

1156-399: Was one of the first artists to record the popular ballad " I Hear You Calling Me ", written in 1908 by Harold Harford and Charles Marshall; he recorded it twice for Odeon starting in 1908 and a further four times for Victor between 1910 and 1927 – it became his best seller. He was the first artist to record the famous World War I song " It's a Long Way to Tipperary " in 1914; He also recorded

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