Barton McGuckin
Encyclopedia
Barton McGuckin was an Irish
tenor
singer of renown, who made his career principally in Britain
with the Carl Rosa Opera Company
, but also gained a wide success in oratorio and concert.
. He appeared in concerts from 1874, and made a debut at the Crystal Palace
Concerts in 1875. He then went to study further at Milan
, under Trevulsi.
in 1880, and remained with them at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
until 1887, singing in London and the provinces. He achieved great success, both for brilliant singing and for his acting. In this period he created several important roles, notably Phoebus in A. Goring Thomas
's Esmeralda (with Georgina Burns, Clara Perry, James Ludwig, Ben Davies (his operatic debut) and Leslie Crotty, in 1883; next Orso, the hero, in Alexander Mackenzie's Colomba, with Alwina Valleria
and Franco Novara, again in 1883; then Waldemar in Goring Thomas's Nadeshda, much acclaimed, with Alwina Valleria, Josephine Yorke and Leslie Crotty in 1885, and also Oscar in Frederick Corder
's Nordisa in 1887. All were under the baton of Alberto Randegger
and the artistic direction of Augustus Harris
. In January 1885 he played Des Grieux in the first performance in England (at Liverpool
) of Massenet's Manon
, with Marie Roze
. In 1887 and 1888 he visited the United States, and sang in opera there.
in Hubert Parry
's oratorio Judith
, composed for the Birmingham
Festival of that year. Corno di Bassetto
heard it and found his singing in the Handel
ian manner rousing, but commented mainly on his poor diction, in reducing all vowel sounds to 'aw'. In May 1889 he was to sing Lohengrin
with Lilian Nordica, Mme Fürsch-Madi and Francisco d'Andrade, but was indisposed and Antonio d'Andrade took his place under Sig. Mancinelli's baton.
After Carl Rosa's death, Augustus Harris made efforts to maintain the policy of developing the English school of composition, and at Easter 1890 made a renewed visit for the Carl Rosa company to Drury Lane. Frederick Cowen had produced his Thorgrim
, based on an episode in the Iceland
ic tale of Viglund the Fair. It was produced in April with McGuckin, Zélie de Lussan
and Frank Celli.
In June 1891 McGuckin sang on Selection day in the Handel Festival under Sir August Manns
at the Crystal Palace, performing 'Waft her, angels' (Jephtha) (which he spoiled by holding the high note at the end too long, but otherwise had a very distinguished success with it) and 'Love sounds the alarm' (which was 'excellent'). In the same month Mrs Moore Lawson was Venus to his Tannhäuser
in the first scene of that opera as presented in English at a concert of Hans Richter
, and was, according to Shaw, capable of holding his own with the majority of continental singers to whom he might be compared. Again in October 1891 at the Palace he sang 'Lend me your aid' (Gounod) and some songs by Bemberg.
In January 1892, McGuckin was called in to sing Berlioz' Damnation of Faust in two concert performances in London given by the Hallé Orchestra, with George Henschel
and Mrs Henschel as Mephisto and Marguerite:
In early 1892 he was in a revival of Arthur Sullivan
's Ivanhoe
, in the title-part, with Medora Henson as Rowena. This had been through several successful runs since its first production a year previously, and Richard D'Oyly Carte
now produced it to alternate with André Messager
's La Basoche
, in which David Bispham
made his London debut. But Ivanhoe had exhausted its drawing-power, and was taken off almost at once. McGuckin's other principal roles were in Lohengrin, in Faust (Gounod), as Don José (Carmen
) and Eleazar in Halévy
's La Juive
.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
singer of renown, who made his career principally in Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
with the Carl Rosa Opera Company
Carl Rosa Opera Company
The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl August Nicholas Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company survived Rosa's death in 1889, and continued to present opera in English on tour until 1960, when it was...
, but also gained a wide success in oratorio and concert.
Training and early days
McGuckin was a choirboy in Armagh Cathedral, where he received instruction in singing, organ, violin and pianoforte. In 1871 he became first tenor at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was a pupil of Sir Joseph RobinsonJoseph Robinson
Joseph Robinson may refer to:*Joseph Robinson , judge and politician in Prince Edward Island*Joseph Taylor Robinson , Democratic United States politician...
. He appeared in concerts from 1874, and made a debut at the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
Concerts in 1875. He then went to study further at Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, under Trevulsi.
With Carl Rosa 1880-1887
He made his stage debut with the Carl Rosa Opera CompanyCarl Rosa Opera Company
The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl August Nicholas Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company survived Rosa's death in 1889, and continued to present opera in English on tour until 1960, when it was...
in 1880, and remained with them at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
until 1887, singing in London and the provinces. He achieved great success, both for brilliant singing and for his acting. In this period he created several important roles, notably Phoebus in A. Goring Thomas
Arthur Goring Thomas
Arthur Goring Thomas was an English composer. He was the youngest son of Freeman Thomas and Amelia, daughter of Colonel Thomas Frederick.He was born at Ratton Park, Sussex, and educated at Haileybury College...
's Esmeralda (with Georgina Burns, Clara Perry, James Ludwig, Ben Davies (his operatic debut) and Leslie Crotty, in 1883; next Orso, the hero, in Alexander Mackenzie's Colomba, with Alwina Valleria
Alwina Valleria
Alwina Valleria was an American-born soprano. She was the first American-born singer to appear in principal roles with the Metropolitan Opera....
and Franco Novara, again in 1883; then Waldemar in Goring Thomas's Nadeshda, much acclaimed, with Alwina Valleria, Josephine Yorke and Leslie Crotty in 1885, and also Oscar in Frederick Corder
Frederick Corder
Frederick Corder was an English composer and music teacher.-Biography:Corder was born in Hackney, the son of Micah Corder and his wife Charlotte Hill. He was educated at Blackheath Proprietary School and started music lessons, particularly piano, early. Later he studied with Henry Gadsby...
's Nordisa in 1887. All were under the baton of Alberto Randegger
Alberto Randegger
Alberto Randegger was an Italian-born composer, conductor and singing teacher, best known for promoting opera and new works of British music in England during the Victorian era and for his widely-used textbook on singing technique.-Life and career:Randegger was born in Trieste, Italy, the son of...
and the artistic direction of Augustus Harris
Augustus Harris
Sir Augustus Henry Glossop Harris , was a British actor, impresario, and dramatist.-Early life:Harris was born in Paris, France, the son of Augustus Glossop Harris , who was also a dramatist, and his wife, née Maria Ann Bone, a theatrical costumier...
. In January 1885 he played Des Grieux in the first performance in England (at Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
) of Massenet's Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
, with Marie Roze
Marie Roze
Marie Rôze , , was a French operatic soprano.She was born in Paris. At the age of 12, she was sent to be educated in England for two years. She then studied with Mocker and Auber at the Paris Conservatoire, where she received the first prize in singing in 1865...
. In 1887 and 1888 he visited the United States, and sang in opera there.
Carl Rosa, 1889-1896
In December 1888 McGuckin was back in London and appeared in the role of Manasseh at the Crystal Palace with the Novello's oratorio choir under Alexander MackenzieAlexander Mackenzie
Alexander Mackenzie, PC , a building contractor and newspaper editor, was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878.-Biography:...
in Hubert Parry
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
's oratorio Judith
Judith (oratorio)
Judith was an oratorio written by Thomas Arne and Isaac Bickerstaff. It was first performed at Drury Lane Theatre on 27 February 1761. It is based on the Book of Judith....
, composed for the Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
Festival of that year. Corno di Bassetto
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
heard it and found his singing in the Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
ian manner rousing, but commented mainly on his poor diction, in reducing all vowel sounds to 'aw'. In May 1889 he was to sing Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
with Lilian Nordica, Mme Fürsch-Madi and Francisco d'Andrade, but was indisposed and Antonio d'Andrade took his place under Sig. Mancinelli's baton.
After Carl Rosa's death, Augustus Harris made efforts to maintain the policy of developing the English school of composition, and at Easter 1890 made a renewed visit for the Carl Rosa company to Drury Lane. Frederick Cowen had produced his Thorgrim
Thorgrim
Thorgrim is an opera in four acts with music by the British composer Frederic H. Cowen to a libretto by Joseph Bennett after the Icelandic tale Viglund the Fair, first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre, London on 22 April 1890. The premiere cast included the mezzo-soprano Zélie de Lussan and the...
, based on an episode in the Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
ic tale of Viglund the Fair. It was produced in April with McGuckin, Zélie de Lussan
Zélie de Lussan
Zélie de Lussan was an American opera singer of French descent who was successful in her native country but made most of her career in England. The wide range of her voice allowed her to sing both mezzo-soprano and soprano roles. Among de Lussan's most famous roles was the title role in Georges...
and Frank Celli.
In June 1891 McGuckin sang on Selection day in the Handel Festival under Sir August Manns
August Manns
Sir August Friedrich Manns was a German-born conductor who made his career in England. After serving as a military bandmaster in Germany, he moved to England and soon became director of music at London's Crystal Palace. He increased the resident band to full symphonic strength and for more than...
at the Crystal Palace, performing 'Waft her, angels' (Jephtha) (which he spoiled by holding the high note at the end too long, but otherwise had a very distinguished success with it) and 'Love sounds the alarm' (which was 'excellent'). In the same month Mrs Moore Lawson was Venus to his Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
in the first scene of that opera as presented in English at a concert of Hans Richter
Hans Richter (conductor)
Hans Richter was an Austrian orchestral and operatic conductor.-Biography:Richter was born in Raab , Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire. His mother was opera-singer Jozsefa Csazenszky. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory...
, and was, according to Shaw, capable of holding his own with the majority of continental singers to whom he might be compared. Again in October 1891 at the Palace he sang 'Lend me your aid' (Gounod) and some songs by Bemberg.
In January 1892, McGuckin was called in to sing Berlioz' Damnation of Faust in two concert performances in London given by the Hallé Orchestra, with George Henschel
George Henschel
Sir George Henschel , was a British baritone, pianist, conductor, and composer of German birth....
and Mrs Henschel as Mephisto and Marguerite:
'Mr Barton McGuckin had to take Mr LloydEdward Lloyd (tenor)Edward Lloyd was a British tenor singer who excelled in concert and oratorio performance, and was recognised as a legitimate successor of John Sims Reeves as the foremost tenor exponent of that genre during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.- Early training in choral tradition :Edward...
's place, at the disadvantage of a very superficial acquaintance with a difficult part. His words were quite unintelligible; and in the invocation, at the very climax of the tremendous burst into C sharp minor, he altered the cadence in a way that robbed me of breath. I see no reason why Mr McGuckin should not some day make an excellent Faust - quite as good as Mr Lloyd, who is not at his best in the part - as soon as he learns it.'
In early 1892 he was in a revival of Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
's Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe (opera)
Ivanhoe is a romantic opera in three acts based on the novel by Sir Walter Scott, with music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Julian Sturgis. It premiered at the Royal English Opera House on 31 January 1891 for a consecutive run of 155 performances, unheard of for a grand opera...
, in the title-part, with Medora Henson as Rowena. This had been through several successful runs since its first production a year previously, and Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era...
now produced it to alternate with André Messager
André Messager
André Charles Prosper Messager , was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator. His stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas, among which Véronique, had lasting success, with Les p'tites Michu and Monsieur Beaucaire also enjoying international...
's La Basoche
La Basoche
La Basoche is an opéra comique in three acts of 1890, with music by André Messager and a French libretto by Albert Carré.-History:Messager's 1889 opérette Le mari de la reine at Bouffes-Parisiens was a disappointment, and the composer and his wife were struggling to afford even basic necessities...
, in which David Bispham
David Bispham
David Scull Bispham was the first American–born operatic baritone to win an international reputation.- Early life and family:...
made his London debut. But Ivanhoe had exhausted its drawing-power, and was taken off almost at once. McGuckin's other principal roles were in Lohengrin, in Faust (Gounod), as Don José (Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
) and Eleazar in Halévy
Fromental Halévy
Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy , was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive.-Early career:...
's La Juive
La Juive
La Juive is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra, Paris, on February 23, 1835.-Composition history:...
.
Later career
McGuckin continued to sing into the early 20th century, and made some recordings. He sang at Philharmonic and Monday Popular Concerts, and at provincial festivals. In 1905 he became director of an amateur operatic society in Dublin, and was conductor of orchestral concerts at the Irish Exhibition of 1908.Sources
- A. Eaglefield-Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
- H. Klein, Thirty Years of Musical Life in London (Century Co., New York 1903).
- H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music (OUP, London 1974 printing).
- G. B. Shaw, Music in London 1890-1894, 3 vols. (Constable, London 1932).
- G. B. Shaw, London Music in 1888-1889 as heard by Corno di Bassetto (Constable, London 1937).