Seóirse Bodley

Seóirse Bodley (first name pronounced [ˈʃoːɾˠʃə]; born 4 April 1933) is an Irish composer and former associate professor of music at University College Dublin (UCD). He has been Saoi of Aosdána since 2008.[1]

Biography

Bodley was born in Dublin and studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.[2] In 1955, he obtained a Bachelor of Music degree from UCD. From 1957 to 1959, he studied composition (with Johann Nepomuk David) and conducting at the Musikhochschule, Stuttgart, and a year later obtained a Doctorate in Music from UCD. From 1959 until his retirement in 1998, Bodley lectured at the university's music department.[3] During the 1960s, Bodley was conductor of the Culwick Choral Society. In 1982, he became a founder-member of Aosdána and was conferred with the distinction of Saoi by President Mary McAleese in November 2008.[4]

Music

Bodley's first significant composition was his Music for Strings, given its première on 10 December 1952 by the Dublin Orchestral Players under the baton of Brian Boydell.[5] Among his subsequent works are seven symphonies, five for full orchestra and two for chamber ensemble.[6] He has also composed a wide range of instrumental and vocal music, including the orchestral piece A Small White Cloud Drifts over Ireland (1975), A Girl, a setting for mezzo-soprano and piano of poems by Brendan Kennelly (1978), and four string quartets, the most recent composed in 2007.[7]

Bodley's early compositional style was initially influenced by Irish traditional music. In the 1960s, following several participations in the Darmstadt New Music Summer School, Bodley's music became more avant-garde. For the remainder of the decade, he was, according to the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians "the principal Irish exponent of post-serial compositional procedures".[7] In more recent years, Bodley's compositions have reflected both Irish and European influences. Examples of his mature style can be found in Phantasms (1989), a 20-minute chamber piece for flute, clarinet, harp, and cello, and his String Quartet No. 2 (1992).[7]

Probably Bodley's most widely heard work is his orchestral arrangement of the traditional Irish tune The Palatine's Daughter, which was used as the theme music for RTÉ's rural drama series The Riordans. He also wrote the music for the RTÉ television series Caught in a Free State.

Selected works

Orchestra

  • Music for Strings for string orchestra (1952)
  • Movement for Orchestra (1956)
  • Symphony No. 1 (1959)
  • Chamber Symphony No. 1 (1964)
  • Configurations (1967)
  • A Small White Cloud Drifts over Ireland (1975)
  • Symphony No. 2: I Have Loved the Lands of Ireland (1980)
  • Chamber Symphony No. 2 (1982)
  • Symphony No. 5: The Limerick Symphony (1991)
  • Sinfonietta (2000)
  • Metamorphoses on the Name Schumann (2004)

Voice with orchestra

Chamber music

  • Violin Sonata (1959)
  • Scintillae for 2 Irish harps (1968)
  • String Quartet No. 1 (1968)
  • In Memory of Seán Ó Riada for flute and piano (1971)
  • September Preludes for flute and piano (1973)
  • Trio for flute, violin and piano (1986)
  • The Fiddler' for string trio and speaker (1987)
  • Phantasms for flute, clarinet, harp and cello (1989)
  • String Quartet No. 2 (1992)
  • String Quartet No. 3: Ave atque vale (2004)
  • Islands for guitar (2006)
  • String Quartet No. 4 (2007)
  • Dancing in Daylight for violin, cello, piano (2014)

Piano music

  • Four Little Pieces (1954)
  • Prelude, Toccata and Epilogue (1963)
  • The Narrow Road to the Deep North for 2 pianos (1972), for piano solo (1977)
  • The Tightrope Walker Presents a Rose (1976)
  • Aislingí (1977)
  • News from Donabate (1999)
  • An Exchange of Letters (2002)

Choral Music (a capella)

  • Trí hAmhráin Grá (anon.) (1952)
  • Cúl an Tí (Seán Ó Ríordáin) (1955)
  • An Bhliain Lán (Tomás Ó Floinn) (1956)
  • Trí Aortha (anon.) (1960)
  • A Chill Wind (B. Kennelly) (1977)
  • The Radiant Moment (Thomas MacGreevy) (1979)

Songs, Song cycles (for voice and piano, if not otherwise mentioned)

  • The Fairies (William Allingham) (1953)
  • A Drinking Song (William Butler Yeats) (1953)
  • Never to have Lived is Best (W.B. Yeats) (1965)
  • A Girl (B. Kennelly), song cycle (1978)
  • A Passionate Love (Seóirse Bodley) (1985)
  • Canal Bank Walk (1986)
  • The Naked Flame, song cycle (M. O'Siadhail) (1987)
  • Carta Irlandesa, song cycle (Antonio González-Guerrero) (1988)
  • By the Margins of the Great Deep (George Russell) (1995)
  • After Great Pain (Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman) (2002)
  • Mignon und der Harfner (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) for soprano, baritone and piano (2004)
  • Zeiten des Jahres (J.W. von Goethe) for soprano and guitar (2004)
  • Squall (M. O'Siadhail) (2006)
  • Gretchen (J.W. von Goethe) for soprano, mezzo-soprano, cello, chamber choir and piano (2012)

Arrangements Numerous arrangements of Irish traditional music for orchestra; choir & orchestra; solo voice, choir & orchestra; solo voice and piano/harp; unaccompanied choirs; choir & organ; choir & piano; and others[8]

Recordings

Based on Klein (2001),[9] with more recent ones as linked below.

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ "Achill artist honoured by President McAleese". Mayo Advertiser. 5 December 2008.
  2. ↑ "Seoirse Bodley wins £1,000 Macauley Fellowship", in: The Irish Times, 2 July 1962.
  3. ↑ Axel Klein: Irish Classical Recordings: A Discography of Irish Art Music (Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 2001).
  4. ↑ Irish Independent, "Presidential approval for honoured artists", 25 November 2008.
  5. ↑ "Symphony Concert", in: The Irish Times, 11 December 1952.
  6. ↑ Contemporary Music Centre profile
  7. 1 2 3 Grove Music Online
  8. ↑ Details in Cox (2010), pp. 180–4.
  9. ↑ Axel Klein: Irish Classical Recordings. A Discography of Irish Art Music (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001), p. 12-4.
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