Description

COLIN O’MORE (LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, 20 JANUARY 1890 – LAKELAND, FL, 21 SEPTEMBER 1956)

Born James Harrod Hornberger, O’More was first heard as a pianist and tenor in a motion picture theater and was then accepted as a scholarship student at the Cincinnati College of Music. He subsequently studied in France (1911) with Oscar Seagle and Jean De Reszke and in England with Sir Henry Wood. He returned to the U.S. in 1913 and was a soloist in oratorio and operetta. He later toured with the San Carlo Opera singing roles such as Rodolfo and Pinkerton and also appeared as soloist with the Boston Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. Recording for Columbia and Edison as James Harrod in the ‘teens, he changed his name to Colin O’More sometime around 1919. He became particularly popular via recordings made for Vocalion, which heightened demand for appearances. These featured a variety of interesting performances, including tenor soloist in the 1923 American premiere of Stravinsky’s Les Noces, under the direction of Leopold Stokowski (with the four piano parts taken by Germaine Tailleferre, Alfredo Casella, Georges Enesco and Carlos Salzedo). Brunswick took over Vocalion in 1924 and O’More continued to record for them into the early electric period. A group of records for Victor then followed. O’More was seen and heard in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance on NBC television, June 20, 1939, likely the first Gilbert and Sullivan telecast. He was also on an NBC telecast of HMS Pinafore, September 5, 1939, garnering excellent reviews but likely not many viewers. Around the same time, he recorded Trial By Jury for Royale (eight discs), a set I’ve never seen. In 1944 he moved to Florida where he was on the faculty of Florida Southern College in Lakeland as a Professor of Music.

TRACKLIST

1. Believe me if all those endearing young charms (Moore) B 24018 Vocalion, New York
2. Coleen Aroon (Strickland) B 24055 Vocalion, New York
3. Foggy Dew (C. Milligan Fox) A 24018 Vocalion, New York
4. For the sake of auld lang syne (Ball) B 24032 Vocalion, New York
5. Good night, little girl, good night ( Hays-Macy) B 24058 Vocalion, New York
6. I passed by your window (May H. Brane) B 24011 Vocalion, New York
7. I’ll take you home again, Kathleen (Westendorf) A 24004 Vocalion, New YORK
8. Manon (Massenet) Le rêve B24031 Vocalion, New York
9. Mary (Richardson) B 24004 Vocalion, New York
10. My heart is waitng (Gates) A 24056 Vocalion, New York
11. Roses (Weatherly-Adams) A 24058 Vocalion, New York
12. The harp that once through tara’s halls (O’More) A 24055 Vocalion, New York
13. The Old Refrain (Kreisler-Mattulath) B 24035 Vocalion, New York
14. Three o’clock in the morning (Robledo-Terriss) A 24032 Vocalion, New York
15. Werther (Massenet) Lied d’Ossian A24031 Vocalion, New York
16. Wonderful world of Romance (Simpson-Wood) B 24046 Vocalion, New York
17. Ziegfeld Follies (Buck-Hirsch-Stamper) Neath the south sea moon B 24037 Vocalion, New York