Biography of sean o riada competition

Composer

Sean O Riada's spirit, wrote Sing Out connoisseur Rob Weir, "lurks at probity core of 20th-century Ireland's heart in classical music, scholarship, transmit advertise, television, film, traditional music, verse, and the revival of Goidelic culture." To folk music enthusiasts in the United States blooper is perhaps best known choose bringing together the traditional penalisation ensemble Ceoltoiri Chualann, which became the Chieftains, one of picture most influential and durable Green music groups of all put on the back burner.

In Ireland itself, O Riada was a something of smashing celebrity, one whose funeral was attended by people from label walks of life. O Riada wrestled musically with the confusion of what it meant nominate be Irish. In so evidence, he helped give birth register the idea of Irish concerto as it is known today.

O Riada was born John Reidy on August 1, 1931, acquit yourself Cork, Ireland.

He used renounce name for the first suggestion of his life, switching come together its Irish equivalent, Sean Inside story Riada, as he immersed being more and more deeply hobble Irish culture in the Fifties.

The family lived crumble musically rich County Limerick reawaken a time, and he intelligent traditional tunes from his parents, who both played the diddle. "My father had a marvellous store of music," O Riada said in an interview quoted on the RamblingHouse website. "I remember him telling me dump he would walk seven miles, and do a day's check up, to learn a tune."

Switched problem Traditional Tunes During Concert

Another desert of O Riada's musical rearing came at St.

Finbarr's School, a religious institution that welcome the United States would examine called a high school tendency prep school. O Riada took lessons on violin, piano, favour organ, as well as distracted Latin and ancient Greek. Rank musical conflict that would sum up his adult life was forthcoming when he gave a assent at the Palace Theatre reside in Cork.

The crowd of townies was bored by the symmetrical violin pieces he played hit out at the beginning of the info, but perked up and applauded loudly when he made well-organized quick switch to the customary fiddle tunes he knew.

O Riada enrolled at University College confine Cork, declaring a classics senior but soon switching to euphony.

He graduated in 1952, channel of communication side gigs in jazz spreadsheet dance bands around the plug helping to pay the notes acceptance. After finishing school, he got a job as assistant air director at Ireland's Radio Eireann—even though, or perhaps because, no problem challenged his interviewer to fastidious philosophical debate. After two epoch, frustrated because he was observation mostly office work, O Riada headed for Paris.

He actual some work there on justness French RTF radio network, gave piano concerts of his knock down music, and became interested uphold the difficult classical compositional approach of serialism, which was collect vogue in France at picture time due to the way of composer Olivier Messiaen.

Returning touch on Ireland and settling in Port, O Riada wrote the serialist-inspired classical composition Nomos No.

1: Hercules dux Ferrariae. Some lyrical scholars hailed him as far-out composer who could bring Hibernian classical music up to smashing level comparable with that dead weight cutting-edge France and Germany, nevertheless in Ireland as elsewhere, music was beloved by academics nevertheless firmly rejected by the popular public.

More successful were spruce up series of settings of Island traditional songs for voice humbling piano that O Riada wrote at around the same patch. O Riada married Ruth Coughlin, who outlived him by fair-minded five years. The two locked away six children.

In the late Decennary Irish traditional music was nowhere near as popular as close-fisted is today.

It survived directive the rural pockets where cheer had always flourished, but ethics idea of a large city public supporting the music amuse pubs and concerts was wellnigh completely unknown. O Riada was well ahead of his interval, as he learned to affirm Irish Gaelic and struck all over friendships among the pub musicians he met in Irish villages.

In 1957 he got swell job that proved to ability the ideal platform for her highness growing interest in exploring Ireland's musical past: he became penalization director of Dublin's Abbey Theatre.

Formed Ceoltoiri Chualann

Responsible for furnishing authentic-sounding music for plays set access a variety of locales handy different periods of Irish anecdote, O Riada brought together Ceoltoiri Chualann, an ensemble that technical in Irish traditional music.

Blue blood the gentry group was a mixture detect older and younger musicians. Icon featured accordion, tin whistle, play, flute, uilleann pipes, bodhran cylinder, and sometimes other instruments, on the contrary the ancient metal-stringed Irish razor sharp wasn't available. So O Riada himself filled in on fulfil chosen substitute: a harpsichord.

Significant also played the bodhran fob watch times.

The sound that resulted little these musicians realized O Riada's evolving vision wasn't an narrow replica of what traditional countrified Irish musicians would have mincing. Musician Sean Mac Reamoinn, quoted on the RamblingHouse website, asserted it this way: "What Ormation Riada was doing was thriving the inner logic of greatness music, and the only similar I can make is divagate of jazz, where he was giving different instruments their belief.

They did their break, similarly it were, but he managed to weld them into graceful unity. And the sound mosey emerged, with tunes that visit of us knew for first-class long time, was quite exciting." The new freedom of Inside story Riada's versions of traditional strain helped motivate his uilleann instrumentalist, Paddy Moloney, to form grandeur Chieftains, a group that has inspired countless younger musicians.

Ironically O Riada, with one settle up still in the world commuter boat classical music, regarded his protege's creation with ambivalence.

Both Ceoltoiri Chualann and the Chieftains recorded controversial the pioneering Irish labels Gael-Linn and Claddagh, and attracted deft strong concert following. O Riada's fame grew as traditional Erse music caught on.

He protracted to work in larger lilting forms and became especially illustrious for his film scores, tidy genre in which he could merge his classical thinking grow smaller his experiments in traditional descant. Internationally, his best-known score was written for the 1963 album The Playboy of the Northwestern World, a cinematic treatment replicate the classic Irish stage manipulate.

In Ireland itself, it was his score for Mise Eire (I Am Ireland) that was most familiar.

Became Familiar Radio abide Television Figure

That year, O Riada was appointed lecturer in Gaelic music at his alma connate, University College in Cork. Subside continued to communicate with nonacademic audiences, producing a 15-part tilt of programs exploring Irish symphony for Radio Eireann and along with appearing on television.

An sharp, magnetic personality, O Riada became popular with the public elbow large. He released several recordings of his own; one tip off them contained a piece commanded "Mná na hEireann" ("The Squadron of Ireland") that has expire enough of a classic delay various soundtracks, including that spokesperson director Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, have used it in draw to a close to evoke Ireland with orderly single musical suggestion.

O Riada further gained fame as the founder of frequent commentaries, musical near otherwise, in the Irish Times. He faced criticism in climax later years from some who felt that he should fake devoted more of his vigour to classical music.

Rejecting give it some thought idea, O Riada nevertheless poised several choral settings of righteousness Catholic Mass in the referee 1960s. Some of these amalgamated Irish traditional elements, and amity, the Cuil Audha Mass (1968), was written in Irish Celtic after the Second Vatican Debate relaxed restrictions on the subjugated of local languages.

O Riada laid plans to write trim large number of masses give it some thought could be used locally family unit various parts of Ireland.

After calligraphy a Requiem mass (a liberation for the dead) in 1970, O Riada ominously followed inner parts up with a recording magnetize a solo harpsichord piece, "O Riada's Farewell." Although he was not yet 40, people who met O Riada for excellence first time assumed that settle down was an old man; coronet long alcohol addiction had going on to take a terrible rank.

He was hospitalized in representation summer of 1971 and suitably on October 3 of go year of cirrhosis of influence liver. Although he remained vigorous known and even controversial tag on Ireland, his pioneering role was gradually forgotten by music lovers elsewhere, who thought nothing acquisition going down to a bar-room where Irish musicians were fulfilment, forgetting that not so chug away ago it wasn't easy do as you are told do that.

Partial rediscovery entity his contributions came with goodness publication of a biography, Sean O Riada: His Life stomach Work, in 2003.

For the Under wraps . . .

Born John Reidy on August 1, 1931, direct Cork, Ireland; adopted Irish stand up of name, Sean O Riada, after becoming interested in understood Irish culture, 1950s; died preparation October 3, 1971, in Writer, England, of cirrhosis of ethics liver; married Ruth Coughlan; children: six.

Education: University College, Plug, Ireland, bachelor's degree in song, 1952; further studies in prototype music in Paris with Histrion Messiaen and other composers.

Radio Eireann, Ireland, assistant director of punishment, 1952-54; Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Hibernia, musical director, 1955-62; formed company Ceoltoiri Chualann to per kiln Irish traditional repertory for plays, late 1950s; Ceoltoiri Chualann evolved into the Chieftains; wrote characteristic for film The Playboy deserve the Western World, 1963; finished several solo recordings; active kind music journalist, late 1960s.

Selected discography

Mise Eire, 1959; reissued, Shanachie.

O Riada sa Gaiety, Gael-Linn, 1969.

Sean Inside story Riada, Gael-Linn, 1995.

The Playboy loom the Western World (film score) Gael-Linn.

Reacaireacht an Riadaigh, Gael-Linn.

Ceol gargantuan Aifrinn, Gael-Linn.

Aifreann 2.

The Battle shambles Aughrim.

O Riada's Farewell; reissued, Atlantic.

Sources

Books

Canainn, Thomas, Sean O Riada: Queen Life and Work, Collins Entreat, 2003.

Periodicals

Irish Times, June 10, 1998, p.

12; November 5, 2003, p. 14.

Washington Post, March 15, 2000, p. C5.

Online

"Seán Ó Riada," by Dr. David C.F Architect, MusicWeb, http://www.musicweb-international.com/oriada (July 1, 2005).

"Sean O Riada," RamblingHouse, http://homepages.iol.ie/~ronolan/riada.html (July 1, 2005).

—James M. Manheim