John McCormack sings 'Salut, demeure, chaste et pure," from Gounod's Faust. 1910 (In Italian)

The great Irish tenor lends his beautiful voice and immaculate diction to this classic tenor aria. Many tenors rely on devices of one kind or another to navigate the tessiture of this aria, especially the exposed high C, which has been the death, on stage, of many a tenor. These tricks include a barely noticeable modulation in chord progression in the early part of the aria, or the use of a reasonably substantial head voice. McCormack simply sings the aria transposed one half tone down. It is still a lovely piece of singing, even if the transposition throughout the piece can lead to a certain sleepy kind of tenderness of which Gounod would probably have disapproved. He would, I suspect, simply have recommended taking the C in head voice, which was the tradition in France at that time. Techniques aside, McCormack sings it beautifully, which is all the audience then or now would really care about.

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Category:

Music

Tags:

• John
• McCormack
• sings
• Salut
• demeure
• chaste
• et
• pure
• Faust
• Gounod
• irish
• tenor
• opera

[meltzerboy]

Beautiful tone, pure legato, artistic phrasing, stellar technique, perfect breath control, and crystal-clear diction (particularly in English) pervade nearly all of McCormack's large number of recordings. This one is no exception. Thanks, Edmund!

[EdmundStAustell]

Thank you. Yes, all you say is true. A wonderful tenor, in every way.

[Bivolari]

Lovely singing and an impeccable legato. As for transposition, well, they all do it. Why not. Why should the performance hang on one note.

[EdmundStAustell]

I absolutely agree.

[EdmundStAustell]

@hiyadroogs Lovely anecdote! Thank you very much!

[hiyadroogs]

@EdmundStAustell I love the story of McCormack greeting his idol, Caruso, in the hotel lobby in which they were both staying, one morning. 'Hello, Enrico' said John, '& how is the world's greatest tenor this morning?' - To which Caruso instantly replied with a humility that only inhabits the prodigiously gifted; 'And since when, John, did you become a baritone?' - Two great singers, whose ability to move & empathise obviously sprang from big & humble souls.

[AulicExclusiva]

McCormack did not make a sexy sound, like Thill or Di Stefano, but he sings this lovely cavatina with such rapt tenderness and silken-smooth phrasing that he certainly seduces me.

Gounod would have loved his Mozartian elegance and subtle rubato.

[EdmundStAustell]

Thank you. Yes indeed. I don't believe any tenor singing primarily in English (with the possible exception of Mario Lanza) ever attracted as vast an audience of adoring fans.