Description

ORVILLE HARROLD (COWAN, INDIANA, 17 NOVEMBER, 1878 – NORWALK, CONNECTICUT, 23 OCTOBER, 1933)

 

 

 

 

He had a notable singing voice even as a child. He sang in church choirs, singing clubs, and traveled with a boys’ choir in 1893 to the World’s Fair in Chicago, where he was christened “the boy wonder of Muncie” for his performance there. He also played in a band in Muncie and took violin lessons, hoping one day to become a professional violinist. Those dreams did not come true, and as an adult Orville went to work for the Ball brothers glass factory. He later became a driver for a casket company and impressed his fellow workers by singing arias as he worked. In 1906 he was “discovered” by Mme. Ernestine Shumann-Heink, a noted contralto, who was on a concert tour of her own and heard Orville singing with the Apollo Club, an amateur singing group in Muncie. She encouraged him to pursue a singing career, and, through friends in Muncie who had contacts in New York City, an audition was arranged. Orville left Muncie to begin a career in vaudeville and the musical theater, a decision that would take him to the greatest heights in his profession, but would cost him his marriage to Euphamia Evaline Kiger, who would divorce him in 1913. In 1908 he toured with a production of “Wine, Women, and Song” at which time he caught the attention of Oscar Hammerstein and Oscar Sanger. This meeting resulted in a contract with Hammerstein’s Manhattan Opera Company. During the year 1910 he sang with the Manhattan company and also with Hammerstein’s Philadelphia Opera Company. He toured with these groups and was invited to join the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1919. He performed with the Met until 1924, taking the lead tenor rolls in “La Boheme,” “Parsifal”, “Lohengrin”, “Louise”, “Tosca”, “The Barber of Seville,” and many other productions. He made solo tours of his own, singing in cities throughout the United States, sometimes accompanied by his daughter, Adelina Patti Harrold, who had inherited her father’s gifts and who would go on herself to star in musical comedy in Los Angeles. After leaving the Met, Orville toured Europe, appearing at the London Opera House as a lead tenor, and returned to America to join the Century Opera Company for a United States tour. He also authored a book of 200 songs for children titled “Nimble Bunny,” that concerned a musical adventure trip around the world. At the time of his death from a cerebral hemorrhage, he had planned to join his daughter in California for a series of radio broadcasts. Orville’s career was short, compared to the other great tenors of his day, perhaps due to his lack of rigorous formal training at an early age.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Absent (Metcalf) D9708 38668 Columbia, 3 3 1913 New York, New York

Aida (Verdi) Gems from Aida 35428 C-13995 Victor, 12 8 1914 Camden, New Jersey

Awake, dearest one (Ball) with Lydia Locke A5813 48514 Columbia, 12 23 1915 New York, New York

Bohème (Puccini) Che gelida manina 74624 C-23716 Victor, 4 16 1920 Camden, New Jersey

Come back to Erin (Claribel) BA 28179 Edison 4-min cylinders, New York 1912

Elisir d’amore (Donizetti) Una furtiva lagrima A5432 36424 Columbia, 7 30 1912 New York, New York

Favorita (Donizetti) Spirto gentil (Eng) BA 28182 Edison 4-min cylinders, New York 1912

Fleurette, I shall never forget (Wood) 980 B-25558 Victor, 9 13 1921 Camden, New Jersey

For you alone (Geehl) D9708 38384 Columbia, 10 29 1912 New York, New York

I hear you calling me (Marshall) 28110 Edison 4-min cylinders, New York 1912

Jocelyn (Godard) Berceuse A5439 36483 Columbia, 10 29 1912 New York, New York

Les Saltimbanques (Ganne) C’est l’amour 66017 B-25557 Victor, 9 13 1921 Camden, New Jersey

Life (Stanton)  64916 B-24302 Victor, 7 6 1920 Camden, New Jersey

Lohengrin (Wagner) Mein lieber Schwan 74813 C-27379  Victor 1 11 1923 Camden, New Jersey

Louise (Charpentier) Depuis longtemps j’habitais cette chambre with Eva Gauthier 74716 C-25555 Victor 9 12 1921 Camden, New Jersey

Martha (Flotow) Ah! So pure Columbia 36425 36425 7 20 1912 New York, New York

Martha (Flotow) Ah, so pure 82005 Edison 4-min cylinders, New York 1912

Mary (Richardson) BA 28129 Edison 4-min cylinders, New York 1912

My Mother (Wagstaff-White) 66071 B-25930 Victor, 4 7 1922 Camden, New Jersey

My wonderful love for thee (Ball) A-2056 46869 Columbia, 6 21 1916 New York, New York

On the banks of the Wabash (Dresser) 1014 B-29883 Victor, 4 16 1924 Camden, New Jersey

Ride on! Ride on in majesty! (Eville) 74795 C-27016 Victor, 11 10 1922 Camden, New Jersey

Tell her I love her so (Weatherly-De Faye) 669 B-26545 Victor 6 15 1922 Camden, New Jersey

That is why! (Krahmer) 980 B-28427 Victor, 8 27 1923 Camden, New Jersey

The great awakening (Kramer) 66052 B-25758 Victor, 12 30 1921 Camden, New Jersey

The living God! (O’Hara) 74737 C-25554 Victor, 11 9 1921 Camden, New Jersey

The secret (-) BA 28191 Edison 4-min cylinders, New York 1912

The snowy breasted pearl (arr. Robinson) A5439 36422 Columbia, 7 30 1912 New York, New York

The snowy breasted pearl (arr. Robinson) BA 28112 Edison 4-min cylinders, New York 1912

The sunshine of your smile (Ray) with Lydia Locke A5813 48711 Columbia, 4 19 1916 New York, New York

The sweetest story ever told (Stults) BA 28169 Edison 4-min cylinders, New York 1912

Values (Another hour with thee) (Rittenhouse-Vanderpool) 64892 B-23944 Victor, 4 16 1920 Camden, New Jersey

Way down in old Indiana (Dresser) 1014 B-29884 Victor, 4 16 1924 Camden, New Jersey

When your ship comes in (Strickland) 64909 B-24196 Victor, 8 12 1920 Camden, New Jersey

You’re the best little mother that God ever made (Ball) A2056 46870 Columbia, 6 21 1916 New York, New York