Richard Jose countertenor "Home, Sweet Home" = John Howard Payne lyrics & Henry Rowley Bishop music

Описание: Richard Jose sings "Home, Sweet Home"

Lyrics are by John Howard Payne.

Music is by Henry Rowley Bishop.

Mid pleasures and palaces though I may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,
Which, seek thro' the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.

Home. Home! Sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home.
There's no place like home.

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain,
Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again;
The birds singing gaily, that come at my call;
Give me them, with that peace of mind, dearer than all.

To thee, I'll return, overburdened with care,
The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there.
No more from that cottage again will I roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

Writing the lyrics, Payne was recalling a cottage in East Hampton, Long Island.

The song was first heard in London in Payne's play "Clari" in 1823.

The melody had appeared in an early collection of Bishop's as a Sicilian tune.

Richard Jose was the first countertenor to make records, including brown wax cylinders in 1892, such as "Poor Blind Boy." He had the perfect voice for sentimental tunes and hymns.

The terms "alto" and "contra-tenor" were used more often in the 1890s than "counter-tenor."

Sheet music for Monroe R. Rosenfeld's "Remember Your Father and Mother" (1890) states, "Written for and sung by America's Most Famous Alto, Mr. Richard José."

Most of Jose's discs, including the earliest with Monarch and Deluxe labels (Victor used these words on early ten- and twelve-inch discs, respectively), identify him as "counter-tenor" though on some labels Jose is identified as "tenor." Jose was more often billed as a tenor than as a countertenor in minstrel shows.

A countertenor's pitch like a contralto's.

Whereas nearly all modern countertenors rely on falsetto, which is a "head voice" with little or no chest resonance. Jose achieved an unusually high range without reliance on falsetto, instead using full lung power.

Jose could color his voice's tone in a way that is difficult for anyone using falsetto. No singer relying on falsetto could have produced the volume needed to fill concert halls, as Jose did. Newspapers at the time insisted that Jose had the voice of a boy, which may have been true in terms of tone. But Jose could project his voice and be heard throughout an auditorium as no boy soprano could.

A book titled "Silver Threads Among the Gold in the Life of Richard J. Jose" was self-published by Grace M. Wilkinson. Copyright date is February 8, 1945.

Only once does Wilkinson refer to Jose as a countertenor: "His popularity in vaudeville as a contra-tenor was very much like that of Caruso in Italian grand opera." Jose's range is noted: "Mr. Jose's compass was from D above middle C to E above high C." The book also notes that when he sang "Goodbye, Dolly Gray," Jose's principle "working note was high 'D,' two half-steps above the sacred high 'C' of Italian tenordom."

He was born in England in a Cornish village, Lanner, on June 5, 1862. Various sources give later dates since Jose (and his wife) pretended that Jose was younger than he really was.

Wilkinson refers to a home built in Lanner by Captain James Francis and writes, "In this home, all of Captain Francis' children were born. His daughter, Elizabeth...was now being courted by a young Spanish miner, Richard Jose. His ancestors had come from Spain to work in the tin mines at Cornwall."

Jose's baptismal record is dated September 17, 1862. On it, the surname is "Joce" (a phonetic spelling--pronounce it like "Joes"?). Richard Jose senior was a copper miner who died in late 1876. The son traveled to Nevada to locate an uncle.

A Virginia City reporter named Alfred Doten kept a detailed journal, mentioning Jose several times. On July 4, 1887, two years after first mentioning Jose, Doten again refers to Jose, calling him "Reno's favorite tenor" and writes, "In response to encores and vociferous calls he sang 'Grandfather's Footsteps' in his clearest, sweetest, most sympathetic voice, and was rapturously applauded."

Victor recorded nothing from Jose after 1906. In that year he suffered an accident that led to his decline. A stage curtain fell on Jose with enough force to cause severe head injuries. But Jose eventually toured with a company that presented a "pastoral play" titled "Silver Threads." Jose left the theater around 1919.

Jose was appointed Assistant Enrolling and Engrossing Clerk of the California Legislature. During the 1930s, Jose served as California Real Estate Commissioner. He sang occasionally in the years of retirement, including on radio's Shell Hour.

Jose lived at 795 Sutter St. in San Francisco for decades until his death at age 79 on October 20, 1941.

He had no children.

He was buried in Colma, California.



Richard Jose countertenor "Home, Sweet Home" = John Howard Payne lyrics & Henry Rowley Bishop music