INTRODUCTION
- McCormack’s 24 extant recordings for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company (G & T) were all recorded within two weeks of the sessions which produced the Edison Bell cylinders. There were nine issued from 7-inch matrices and another nine from 10-inch matrices. Six further 10-inch recordings were issued on the Zonophone label.
- Discographic details for McCormack’s G & T recordings, including the dates, derive largely from extant files in the EMI Archives, supplemented by the research of several scholars who have studied the activities of this company in its early years, and from actual discs owned by individual collectors and libraries.
- The original source for the data on these records is a bound, handwritten ledger in the EMI Archives. Evidence suggests that it represents a copy made from earlier sheets whose contents were somewhat hard to decipher. The ledger is a listing by matrix number and includes the artist and title of the record, as well as its issue number (if it was published). Some entries are marked “destr.,” which seems to mean that the wax was discarded on the spot, destroyed and that no test pressings were made. Other matrix numbers have no entry at all regarding either publication or destruction. A few lines in the ledger have a matrix number but no other data at all.
- In this discography, we have followed the contents of this ledger exactly, guided by the comments and caveats of Alan Kelly and his collaborator, the late John Perkins. In only one instance, discussed below, does our listing deviate from that of the original G & T ledger.
- The Roe discographies did not list matrix numbers for the G & T records. In both, however, he indicates that disc 3-2520 is “When Shall the Day Break in Ireland.” The matrix number was listed in the 1974 article by Ward, Kelly, and Perkins as 6464a, and extant copies in fact show this number in the wax. The G & T ledger, though, shows the matrix number for this disc as 6463a. The next title, “Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms,” is shown with the 6464 serial number in the ledger, but the two entries for this title are given with the extensions “Ei” and “WD2.” According to Alan Kelly, these entries represent two separate recordings beyond that represented by 6464a.
- Published copies of disc 3-2519 also show the matrix number 6464a in the wax, but this is apparently an erroneous marking in the light of the ledger entries for this.title. Thus two different discs bear the matrix number 6464a, but for disc 3-2519 the actual matrix number is 6464WD2. No copies of either disc are known to the compilers to bear the matrix number 6463a in the wax. This matrix number was in all probability not used for any artist. It has not been possible to explain these departures from the G & T numbering system, other than to be sure that 6464Ei and 6464WD2 represent two separate and distinct takes. Should disc 3-2519 turn up bearing 6463a in the wax, it might well be an alternate take of “When Shall the Day Break in Ireland,” but to date, this has not happened.
- Our designation of 76 rpm as the proper playing speed for the G & T records is based on the sound of McCormack’s voice at that speed and on the fact that it seems consistent with the playing speeds of other G & T records of this period. Since for records of this era a change in playing speed of four rpm causes a change in pitch of a half step, the only other speed possible for McCormack’s G & T records is 72 rpm, one which some collectors prefer. This speed to the present compilers, however, makes him sound too baritonal, and it is inconsistent with the speeds for other G & T records of this time. (For example, Melba’s May 1904 recordings definitely play at 76 rpm.)
- Notes in the Recording Chronology indicate those matrix numbers for which the G & T ledger offers only a blank line. We have listed only those entries which are undoubtedly by McCormack. As best as can be determined, those matrix numbers not listed are not by him.
- One of the most interesting discoveries in research on McCormack since the second edition of Roe’s discography was that of the six G & T matrices published under the pseudonym “John O’Reilly” on Zonophone. It was only after their existence was hypothesized by Ward, Kelly, and Perkins that the discs bearing this name were credited to McCormack. It was not uncommon for G & T matrices to be issued on Zonophone in this period (cf. Lauder’s discography, for example), as well as for pseudonyms to be used as label credits. (Peter Dawson comes to mind in this regard.) The intermeshing of the two sets of matrix numbers, along with the sound of the voice, can only lead to the conclusion that the performances are sung by the same artist. All six are now thought to have been issued; four have been discovered and transferred to LP and/or CD.
- Several of the G & T labels list a violin obbligato where in fact none can be heard. We have noted this accompaniment only when it is audible on the record.
- Only credit relating to the melody is shown after each selection. See the alphabetical section for more information on lyricists, arrangers, etc.
- Guide to matrix and issue codes for records of the Gramophone and Typewriter Company and its descendants.
Opal Compact Disc Set CDS 9847
This important set of two compact discs was issued in 1991. Until that time McCormack’s cylinder and Gramophone & Typewriter recordings were largely unavailable to the public, except in cases where collectors had made tapes of individual items in their collections for other collectors. The community of McCormack fans and record collectors owes a debt of gratitude to Pavilion Records and to Brian Fawcett-Johnston, who has coordinated the project since its inception, for this important part of the McCormack Re-issue Series that has streamed forth from Pearl/Opal/Pavilion since 1977.
Compact.
Matrix G & T Zonophone Long-Play Disc
Issue # Issue # Re-issue Re-issue
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
19 Septemeber 1904, London. (7-inch single-face discs).
Fred Gaisberg may have provided piano accompaniment.
Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms (Traditional)
5882b unpublished
6453[a] unpublished
23 September 1904, London. (7-inch single-face discs).
Fred Gaisberg may have provided piano accompaniment. 76.00 rpm:
Love Thee, Dearest, Love Thee (Traditional) 6462a 3-2513 ----- Opal 841/2 Opal CDS 9847 When Shall the Day Break in Erin? (Fox) 6464a 3-2520 ----- Opal 841/2 Opal CDS 9847 Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms (Traditional) 6464Ei unpublished Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms (Traditional). 6464WD2 3-2519 ----- Opal 841/2 Opal CDS 9847 Killarney (Balfe). With violin obbligato. 6466a 3-2514 ----- Opal 841/2 Opal CDS 9847 Norah, the Pride of Kildare (Parry) 6467a 3-2515 ----- Opal 841/2 Opal CDS 9847 Come Back to Erin (Claribel) 6468a 3-2516 ----- Opal 841/2 Opal CDS 9847 Eileen Allanah (Thomas) 6469a 3-2521 ----- Opal 841/2 Opal CDS 9847 The Irish Emigrant (Barker) 6470a 3-2525 ----- Opal 841/2 Opal CDS 9847 The Minstrel Boy (Traditional) 6471a 3-2522 ----- Opal 841/2 Opal CDS 9847 The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls (Traditional) 6472a unpublished
26 September 1904, London. (10-inch single-face discs).
Fred Gaisberg may have provided piano accompaniment. 76.00 rpm:
Eileen Allanah (Thomas) 5938b ----- X-42318 Pearl GEMM 275 Opal CDS 9847 5939b unpublished Hath Sorrow Thy Young Days Shaded (Traditional) 5940b ----- X-42210 ----- ----- The West's Awake (Traditional) 5941b unpublished 5942b unpublished The Irish Emigrant (Barker) 5943b unpublished The Foggy Dew (Traditional) 5944b 3-2171 ----- Opal 841/2 Opal CDS 9847 The Minstrel Boy (Traditional) 5945b ----- X-42209 Pearl GEMM-275 Opal CDS 9847 Kathleen Mavourneen (Crouch) 5946b unpublished 5947b 3-2139 ----- Opal 841/2 Opal CDS 9847
Notes:
There is no entry in the G & T Recording'Ledger for matrices 6461a, 6465a,and 6473a and there is no evidence that matrix 6463a was actually used. There is no entry in the G & T Recording Ledger for matrix 5929b. Matrices 5936b, 5936b, and 5937b are of unpublished violin records by an unknown artist. There is no entry in the G & T Recording Ledger for matrices 5948b and 5949b. Matrix 5950b is of the Coldstream Guard Band.
John McCormack Society 