Oley Speaks (June 28, 1874 – August 7, 1948) was an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

.Oley Speaks at IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1672696/bio His compositions include many religious songs, as well as his best-known success, " On the Road to Mandalay", which takes its lyrics from the poem "

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fou ...

" by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

. The Canal Winchester Area Historical Society Museum has exhibits about the life of Oley Speaks, including original

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, ...

written by him.

Biography

Speaks was born in

Canal Winchester, Ohio Canal Winchester is a city in Fairfield and Franklin counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The city is one of the suburbs that make up the Columbus metropolitan area. The population was 9,107 at the 2020 census. History Canal Winchester was foun ...

, the son of a grain merchant and contractor.Echols, ''New Grove American'', v. IV, p. 280 He was ten when his father Charles W. died, and his mother Sarah and family moved to

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

soon afterwards. He learned the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

as a boy, and was praised for his

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the ...

voice as early as 1891 by ''

The Columbus Dispatch ''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in 19 ...

''. In the 1890s he began his career as a railroad clerk at a station in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

, until he decided to pursue his musical passions. He was developing a reputation as a fine baritone singer in churches in Columbus before he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1898 and started taking lessons. One of his voice teachers was the American

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880& ...

Emma Thursby.Villamil, p. 347 Speaks had a successful career as a singer, touring the United States giving

recital A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide var ...

s and also appearing in

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...

s. Speaks began to write songs, many with

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

themes. He studied composition with Will Macfarlane and Max Spicker. In 1907, he wrote " On the Road to Mandalay" using the words of

's poem "

", which sold over one million copies. The song was a popular parlour

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, particularly in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

and British territories worldwide, and was boosted by the

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...

which was released on the ''Come Fly with Me'' album in 1958. However, after some resistance from the Kipling estate over the omission of several verses, this version of the song remained embargoed in the British

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

until it appeared on the digitally-remastered release of the album many years later. Speaks had two further million-selling successes, "Morning" to a lyric by

Frank Lebby Stanton Frank Lebby Stanton (February 22, 1857 – January 7, 1927), frequently credited as Frank L. Stanton, Frank Stanton or F. L. Stanton, was an American lyricist. He was also the initial columnist for the ''Atlanta Constitution'' and became the ...

in 1910 and "Sylvia" to a lyric by

Clinton Scollard Clinton Scollard (1860–1932) was an American poet and writer of fiction. He was a Professor of English at Hamilton College. Professional career Scollard was born at Clinton, Oneida County, New York on September 18, 1860, son of James Isaac ...

in 1914. The American

Robert Merrill Robert Merrill (June 4, 1917 – October 23, 2004) was an American operatic baritone and actor, who was also active in the musical theatre circuit. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1993. Early life Merrill was born Moishe Miller, ...

, the Austrian tenor

Richard Tauber Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948) was an Austrian tenor and film actor. Early life Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth (née Denemy), a widow and an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theat ...

, the Swedish tenor Jussi Bjorling and the American singer

Nelson Eddy Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor and baritone singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclub ...

were among the singers who recorded "Sylvia". The

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

John McCormack's recordings of all three famous titles are available on CD. More recently, American

Thomas Hampson has also recorded "On the Road to Mandalay". Speaks was a prominent member of

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

, where he was elected director in 1924 and served until 1943. He was also a National Patron of

Delta Omicron Delta Omicron () is a co-ed international professional music honors fraternity whose mission is to promote and support excellence in music and musicianship. History Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity was founded on September 6, 1909 at ...

, an international professional music fraternity.

In the movies

Speaks can be described as a "

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder or viral hit is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music p ...

", but his most famous work was included in the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

of several films: * ''Paul Tremaine and His Aristocrats'' (1929) (sung by Paul Tremaine) * ''Metro Movietone Revue'' (1929/II) (sung by George Dewey Washington) * ''Mandalay'' (1934) (played during opening credits) (not to be confused with '' The Road to Mandalay'', a 1926 film) * ''

China Seas The China Seas consist of a series of marginal seas in the Western Pacific Ocean, around China. They are the major components signifying the transition from the continent of Asia to the Pacific Ocean.Pinxian Wang, Qianyu Li, Chun-Feng Li, ''Geolog ...

'' (1935) (variation played as part of the score during the opening credits and at the end) * ''

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

'' (1935) (sung by

Lawrence Tibbett Lawrence Mervil Tibbett (November 16, 1896 – July 15, 1960) was an American opera singer and recording artist who also performed as a film actor and radio personality. A baritone, he sang leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera in New Yor ...

with piano accompaniment by

Luis Alberni Luis Alberni (October 4, 1886 – December 23, 1962) was a Spanish-born American character actor of stage and films. Early years Alberni was born in Barcelona, Spain, on October 4, 1886. He acted in stock theater for four years in Marseille ...

(who both appeared) in the score during the end credits) * ''

They Met in Bombay ''They Met in Bombay '' is a 1941 American adventure drama film directed by Clarence Brown, and starring Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell, with Peter Lorre.''Variety'' film review; June 25, 1941, page 16.''Harrison's Reports'' film review; July 5 ...

'' (1941) (played several times as part of the score) S.O.B. (1981) Robert Preston sings a few seconds of ''Mandalay'': "And the dawn comes up like thunder..." at 1:46

Musical Works

Over 250 songs, originally published by

G. Schirmer G. Schirmer, Inc. is an American classical music publishing company based in New York City, founded in 1861. The oldest active music publisher in the United States, Schirmer publishes sheet music for sale and rental, and represents some well-know ...

or The John Church Company, including: Sacred Anthems, including: * Gently, Lord, Oh, Gently Lead Us (

Thomas Hastings Thomas Hastings may refer to: *Thomas Hastings (colonist) (1605–1685), English immigrant to New England *Thomas Hastings (composer) (1784–1872), American composer, primarily of hymn tunes * Thomas Hastings (cricketer) (1865–1938), Australian c ...

, arr. Lucien Chaffin) (Schirmer, 1914) * Now the Day is Over (Schirmer) Choral Partsongs, including: * In Maytime (Frank L. Stanton) (John Church)

Footnotes

References

* * * *

External links

Canal Winchester Area Historical Society

* by

& Oley Speaks as sung by

Eleanor Steber Eleanor Steber (July 17, 1914October 3, 1990) was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States. Biography Eleanor ...

* by

& Oley Speaks as sung by Tessa Folch * by

& Oley Speaks as sung by

Webster Booth Webster Booth (21 January 1902 – 21 June 1984) was an English tenor, best remembered as the duettist partner of Anne Ziegler. He was also one of the finest tenors of his generation and was a distinguished oratorio soloist. He was a chorister ...

Free Oley Speaks sheet music
from the Ball State University Digital Media Repository {{DEFAULTSORT:Speaks, Oley 1874 births 1948 deaths American baritones American male composers People from Canal Winchester, Ohio Singers from Ohio Songwriters from Ohio 20th-century American singers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male singers American male songwriters