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 Defi ...

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 gen ...

.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 fo ...

" 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 List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

written by him.

Biography

Speaks was born in Canal Winchester, Ohio, the son of a

grain merchant The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals and other food grains such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other ...

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 r ...

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, and t ...

, 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&n ...

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 variety an ...

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 mus ...

s. Speaks began to write songs, many with religious themes. He studied composition with Will Macfarlane and

Max Spicker Max Spicker (August 16, 1858 – October 15, 1912) was a German American organist, Conducting, conductor and composer.''Baker's Biographical Dictionary'', Seventh Edition, p. 2177 Biography Spicker was born in Königsberg, Prussia. He studied p ...

. 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 North ...

and British territories worldwide, and was boosted by the recording by

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

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 Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting an ...

, the Austrian tenor Richard Tauber, the Swedish tenor

Jussi Bjorling Jussi () is a male given name. In Finnish language, Finnish originally it is short for Juhani or Juho, Finnish for Johannes/John (first name), John, but is also recognized as a name in its own right for official purposes. It can also be short for Ju ...

and the American singer Nelson Eddy were among the singers who recorded "Sylvia". The Irish

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, 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 lo ...

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

Thomas Hampson Thomas Walter Hampson (born June 28, 1955) is an American lyric baritone, a classical singer who has appeared world-wide in major opera houses and concert halls and made over 170 musical recordings. Hampson's operatic repertoire spans a range ...

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, 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 soundtrack o ...

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 The Road to Mandalay can refer to: * "Mandalay" (poem), of 1890 by Rudyard Kipling, whose chorus begins "On the road to Mandalay" * "On the Road to Mandalay" (song), a 1907 musical setting by Oley Speaks of the Kipling poem * ''The Road to Mandal ...

'', a 1926 film) * '' China Seas'' (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 York ...

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'' (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 cr ...

, 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 * by

& Oley Speaks as sung by Tessa Folch * by

& Oley Speaks as sung by Webster Booth
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