Richard Jose - Killarney (1904)

Richard Jose sings "Killarney" on Victor 31343, issued in 1904.

Recorded Dec. 9, 1904

Music is by Michael William Balfe.

Lyrics by Edmund Falconer.

Richard Jose was the first countertenor to make records, including brown wax cylinders in 1892, such as "Poor Blind Boy."

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.

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. The surname is "Joce" (a phonetic spelling). Richard Jose senior was a copper miner who died in late 1876. The son traveled to Nevada to locate an uncle.