John E. Rutherford (1927-2023)
by Mike Dicecco & Mike Bryan
John Rutherford, Toronto Star, November 16, 1992
|
|
Edison’s favorite invention was the
It is with great sadness that we learned of the recent
passing of one of CAPS' longest surviving members,
John Rutherford.
John had been a member of CAPS since February
1978, and contributed so much
during the many
years that he was
involved. He
served as President from 1984
to 1988, then as
Past President for
a further four
years. John returned to the Executive as our
Vice President for
1992-1994, and
was later granted
the honour of being nominated as
a "Life Member"
in 2000.
During this period John also greatly contributed by giving more than 23 presentations at CAPS meetings and
authored more than 57 articles that were published in
Antique Phonograph News. Fortunately these have
been preserved and are available on line via the CAPS
website. John had a different and thought provoking
manner in which to research and present a varied line
of topics, which made you think about possibilities that
were not always obvious at first.
Some of the items that John brought to our auction
table were simply unique, and rarely had a minimum
bid on them. I count some of the best records in my
collection as being supplied by John throughout the
years.
I recall John coming to the majority of our meetings
when he lived in the Toronto area. We always connected well and he would greet me with his famous John
Rutherford smile. It doesn’t matter what we were discussing, he always had this cheerful persona about
him, which made him such a pleasure to know.
John touched the hearts of all who knew him, and he
will be greatly missed by those of us who were fortunate to have met him.
Mike Dicecco
John and his wife Ann drove in from Ottawa to attend a
CAPS meeting in February 2020
|
|
What a different world from first encounter with John
Rutherford in a Toronto meeting room when I joined
CAPS in 1990 to
my last with him
in 2022 when he
joined our meeting from Gatineau, QC via the
internet and
Zoom. To the end
John stood out
from the crowd
because of the
way he held himself and because
of his deep very
"English Gentleman" voice. There
was an air of authority about him,
too, but I soon
saw that it came
with large doses
of humility and
kindness. One of my enduring memories is of John often showing up at CAPS with treasures for the auction
table that he had picked up for a song on his regular
tours of Goodwill stores and garage sales. He was always quite happy to see them auctioned to another
CAPS member for a song, too, with nary a mention of a
reserve price. Talking of songs, John’s passion was
opera and I suspect that his main reason for joining
CAPS in its early days might have been to source operatic records for what became his huge collection of
music. I’m sure he would smile if he heard me say that
he didn’t have much competition among CAPS members when operatic records came up for auction.
John Rutherford’s many presentations at CAPS meeting revealed him as an intellectual, a thinker and a
contrarian. He would challenge his audience with novel
theories about things like the famous Nipper and His
Master’s Voice painting. He would share obscure revelations such as the apparent synchronicity between the
Wizard of Oz and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
His meticulously prepared presentations were always
entertaining, informative and thought-provoking, leaving his audience well-satisfied and sometimes
bemused.
John contributed to CAPS
as an accomplished presenter and writer for
nearly 40 years, as well as
filling the official roles of
Program Convenor 1980
- 1983, President 1984 –
1988 and Vice President
1992 – 1994. He delivered more than 50 articles and many presentations, spanning nearly 40
years and continuing into
his nineties.
John was one of the few
people I have known who make statements that cause
me to think, with a sense of admiration, "how do they
know that?". I’m impressed that they seem to live in a
different world of knowledge and understand things
that I’m not even conscious of. It was during one of
John’s presentations that he mentioned a particular
famous painting and the different interpretations of its
meaning. That piqued my interest and prompted me to
attend one of John’s lectures in a church hall
somewhere in Toronto,
where his knowledge
and understanding of art
was revealed in a way
that changed the way I
look at art for ever. Only
then, after all those
years of thinking that I
knew John, did I discover
that he was an artist
himself, a teacher of art
and an accomplished
poet, too.
Although I knew John for
many years, his passing
causes me to reflect on
how much of him I didn’t
know. Nevertheless, what I do know was all good and I
have no doubt that my warm memories of this true
gentleman and stalwart of CAPS will stay with me forever.
Mike Bryan
Some Early Recordings
by John E. Rutherford
Violet Essex
|
|
Figure 1
|
|
I present here four different labels, all of which were current during the second
decade of the 20th century. All are dark blue or black in colour with gold lettering, and many of the labels announce that they are proudly British, which might
indicate that they were issued during World War I. For example, the Grammavox
label (see Figure 1) informs us that it was "made entirely in England throughout
all processes."
The singer on this disc is Violet Essex who sang at Covent Garden before she
was 20. During the war, she sang in London’s
"Chu-Chin-Chow" for 5 ½ years. On my record, she
gives a very good performance of an operatic aria
called "No, No, No", composed by Mattei.
There is an aria in Meyerbeer’s opera "Les Huguenots" called "No, No, No, No, No", but it bears no
resemblance to the Grammavox version.
There is a story that another aria to replace the
"No, No ……" was composed especially for Emma
Albani’s debut in London. Could the Grammavox recording be Albani’s version?
Madam Jomelli
|
|
Figure 2
|
|
The "Stella-Gramophone-Record" (see Figure 2) was
"Recorded in England, pressed in Dresden". (Pre-World War I?) The singer is Madam Jomelli (1879-1932), who was best known as a leading soprano
with the Oscar Hammerstein Opera Company. Her
choice of song here is Lisa Lehmann’s "The Cuckoo",
a very popular concert piece during the Edwardian
Age. Today, it is often sung for the unintended humorous title.
The Victory Record (see Figure 3) contains two songs
sung by Wilfred Virgo. Wilfred who? I couldn’t find
much information about him. One computer entry said "Wilfred Virgo, active 1911.
Probably British."
And now the bad news! Years ago, before I had heard of Wilfred Virgo, I met an
elderly woman in a small town north of Toronto, who claimed to be the daughter
of Mr. Virgo. It was a passing remark to which I paid no attention. Shame! Later,
when I had come across several of Virgo’s recordings, I attempted to find his
daughter – without success. A treasure trove – perhaps gone forever.
Figure 4
|
|
Figure 3
|
|
Mr. Virgo had an appealing "Irish tenor" voice. On the record illustrated here, he
sings "There is a Flower that Bloometh" from Wallace’s English opera,
"Maritana". It is a love song and suitable for his voice. When he tries something
more "operatic", such as the tenor part in the Duel Trio from "Faust", he has to
take the high notes in "falsetto", which today would not be considered acceptable. He also recorded for the "Winner" and "Popular" labels.
The "Diploma Record" (British Manufacture") (see Figure 4) is a pure delight. Not
only is it in superb condition, but the singer is Miss E. Vine, about whom, I
shamefully admit, I know nothing. Her voice is true and strong, and she could be
either a soprano or a contralto. Her two numbers on the record, "The Songster’s
Awakening" and "Silver Birds" are Victorian concert pieces, but in my opinion,
Miss E. Vine could probably sing anything and make it rememberable.
Here is a list of other singers who recorded on one or more of the labels shown:
T.F. Kennelburgh, a fine Scotch basso; Amy Augarde, mezzo-soprano (1868-
1959); Grace Ivell, a mezzo-soprano, sings "Kathleen Mavourneen", dated 1912;
Herbert Williams, tenor; Bertram Ellis, baritone; A Chapman, baritone; Hilda Mulligan, soprano (sings "Jewel Son" from "Faust"); R. Carr, basso; Norman Williams,
basso, (you can see and hear him on the computer singing "I am the Leader of
the Band"); Carrie Lanceley, soprano; Harry Thornton, baritone; Horace Mather,
tenor, who sings a good "I’ll Sing Thee Songs of Araby"; Vincent Hards, tenor; and Henry Turnpenny, baritone.
Mr. Lempriere Pringle
|
|
Figure 5
|
|
The above list is not to suggest that all these singers are "top-drawer", but there is one more singer to name who
had a distinguished career – Mr. Lempriere Pringle, basso. He was Australian by birth, but he became well-known
for his singing at Covent Garden in London in the 1890s. Around 1895, he moved to the United Sates and sang
small roles at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, but by 1898, he was given leading roles, including Mephistopheles ("Faust"), Dr. Bartolo ("Marriage of Figaro"), and Hunding ("Die Walkure").
Altogether, he sang in 19 different operas which included many by Richard Wagner. His only recording that I have is
of "The King’s Prayer" from the opera "Lohengrin". It is on a Grammavox record (see Figure 5) and the voice is rich,
powerful and steady. I do not know when he made this recording but it must have been recorded in or before
1914, as that is the year of his death.
The name "Pringle" rings another bell in the
minds of opera lovers. In 1883, a Miss Pringle (Lempriere’s sister? Cousin? Aunt?) was
hired by Richard Wagner to sing the role of
Rhinemaiden in the opera "Das Rhinegold".
One day, when Wagner was very ill and confined to bed, Miss Pringle visited him, and
there was a heated argument. A short time
later, Wagner took a turn for the worst and
died.
Here’s a conjecture. If the two Pringles were
related, it would be a strange coincidence
indeed where one member of a family promoted admiration of Wagner’s music by
means of a wonderful voice while another member helped to kill him by shouting.
Harry Joseph’s "Perrot Troupe"
|
|
Figure 6
|
|
Finally, a person noted:
In the late 1800’s it was quite common in England for Vaudeville groups to put on shows on the beaches of seaside towns. Some of their performances took place every day throughout the summer, and a single group might be
associated with one town for years. Permanent stages were common with a defined area for the audience who
would pay three-pence each for the use of a deck chair, or one could choose to stand further away and pay nothing.
Harry Joseph’s "Perrot Troupe" was one such permanent group. In the late 1890s they began entertaining on the
sandy beach of Littlehampton on the south coast of England. By 1911, they were good enough to win first prize in
a National competition at the Palladium Theatre in London, and at that time, they recorded four choruses for Grammavox Records (see Figure 6).
In 1939, as a boy of 12, I was living in Littlehampton where a "troupe" performed daily during the summer. I don’t
know if this group had any connection to the "Joseph" show, but it was jolly good entertainment – and free.
The last time I heard them was
at 11 o’clock on the morning of
September 3. During the show,
the Air Raid sirens sounded for
the first time – Britain was at
war with Germany – and, of
course, the show was stopped.
It turned out that the alarm was
false. Someone had seen a flock
of geese flying in a V formation – and panicked.
Eighty years have now gone by
and the world has changed – and I sometimes wonder if some
troupe still sings on the beach of Littlehampton.
|