Seóirse Bodley

David C.F. Wright DMus

Here is an Irish composer of deserved stature. He was introduced to me by my friend Gerard Victory and Bodley’s Symphony no 3 is one of his many works that I value highly.

Seóirse Pascal Lauri Bodley was born on the 4 April 1933 at home, 90 Phibsboro Road, Dublin. He had an older brother, Dermot, who was born on 15 March 1922.

Seóirse’s father  was George James Bodley, an office clerk who was born on 28 September 1879. He married Mary Frances Gough, born 17 September 1891 and this wedding was in Dublin on 14 July 1920.

School for young Bodley began when he was six years of age at a private school where he was for one year. Then he was at the Holy Faith Convent School at Glasnevin, in Dublin. From the age of nine to seventeen he attended an Irish-speaking school run by the Christian Brothers in Dublin. His final year at school was at the College of commerce, Rathmines.

At school, he won the Dublin Corporation Scholarship. He had studied both the violin for a while and the mandolin  with his father who was a member of a mandolin band.

He began piano lessons at the age of nine to the age of eleven and then from the age of thirteen upwards he resumed his studies. At first, it was with private teachers before he became  a pupil of Dina Copeman at the Royal Irish Academy and then piano and composition with Dr Hans Waldemar Rosen who was Polish and a conductor, choir master and well-admired teacher. Bodley was at University College, Dublin from 1951-1955 successfully taking his BMus.

He undertook two years of study in Stuggart between 1957 and 1959 on a postgraduate studentship from the National University of Ireland studying composition with the Austrian composer Johann Nepomuk David who was devoted to Bach and Mozart. Bodley returned to his alma mater, UCD, to teach there until his retirement.

In the early 1960s  on a Macauly Fellowship in Composition he spent three summers at the Ferienkurse and heard many avant garde works including those by Stockhausen and Ligeti.

His parents were not initially supportive of their son’s desire to have a career in music but later came round to this. Bodley had been  sent to a respectable art  class but the sound of scratching pencils and nervous breathing was too much and so he decided to pursue music. He had composed some juvenilia from the age of thirteen.

From a child, Bodley adored Mozart. In his teens he embraced Dvořak, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. The literary works that impressed  him included James Joyce with his books, Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

His first work with a serious performance was given by the Radio Eireann  Men’s Octet of a text by Milton entitled See, how from afar conducted by Rosen and broadcast  by Radio Eireann on Christmas Day 1950. Bodley is grateful to Rosen, Brian Boydell and John Larchet for their help and encouragement.

However, he regards the first work of his maturity to be his Music for Strings of 1952.

At the age of nineteen, he changed his first name from George to  Seóirse.

He has been married twice. From his first marriage, he had three children namely  Blanald  born 22 June 1958 , Evelyn born 5 September 1961 and Ronan born 21 July 1962. From his second marriage there was Dar born 15 October 1989 but died on 16 November 1958 and Ruairi born 21 December 1991.

But to return to music, he won the Oireachtas prize for  a part song in 1956 and, again, this prize for  his Symphony no 1  in 1959. There was an Emmy award for a film for which he composed the music in 1982.

In the 1980s his style changed from the modern to be more friendly. Parts of his Mass for Peace was performed during the Papal Mass celebrated by JOhn Paul II at Phoenix Park in 1979.

His Symphonie no 4 was commissioned by  the Orchestra Sinfonie dell’Emilia Romangra ‘Arturo Toscanini’ and premiered on 21 June 1991. It is a curious work in that it is very good in parts but not consistently good. It contains some glorious romanticism.

His Symphony no 5 subtitled the Limerick symphony was also premiered in 1991 and is in five movements. Its inspiration is the Siege of Limerick in 1690 and relating events. Limerick was a Jacobite fortress attacked by the forces of William III. The Jacobites  won the conflict while William’s army suffered heavy losses including about 2000 men who died of  disease during very cold weather. 

This symphony is also good in parts but some sections seem to get nowhere.

I often wonder about whether it is always wise to write music on political and historic subjects particularly if it indicates  a military victory. There are some Irish works which give the strong impression of their victories over the English crown and, consequently, do not travel much out of Ireland. Fleischmann’s Clare’s Dragoons is a splendid work bit is a tribute to Ireland’s émigré soldiers who, among other things, made the French yield on Families’ field.  The Dragoons operated in the 17th and 18th centuries

In the late 1990s Bodley returned to his more avant garde style but with the String Quartet no 4 of 2007 his music has become strongly tonal. He seems to have had a problem with style reconciling Irish traditional music with European art music. He helped found the Folk Music society of Ireland in 1970 and always had an interest in sean nos singing which is a complex highly ornamented style of Gaelic singing particularly in the west and south of Ireland.

In general, the critics may not have savaged his works for when he receives a bad review he also receives positive reviews. He explains that he is a musician and not a musicologist. Personal events do not inspire him to write  music but he has composed music for personal occasions as presents for people but nothing as shown, for example, in the Violin Concerto by Berg.

He used to be  a smoker but it did not stimulate composing. His drinking is moderate by Irish standards  and that does not stimulate composition either. He has an interest  in art exhibitions, the theatre and films an basic fitness. He maintains an interest in contemporary music stating that even less able works have an inherent interest and an adjustment of a viewpoint can lead to some aspect of good in he music. He does not have ‘pet hates’ in music.

Naturally he has an interest in poetry particularly that of Patrick Kavanagh. Bodley’s song cycles are worthy of great attention.

His appreciation of music and forms is wide. Serial music was an important development and aleatory music can achieve good effects and is useful unless it is used as a refuge from compositional responsibility. Electronic music has impressed Bodley since he founded the UCD electro-acoustic studio and has taught students about this.

He composes at a midi keyboard which has taken the place of a piano and once a work has been written he does not revise. Occasionally he scraps a work only to find later that someone else has found value in it and rediscovered it.

His assessment of composers is astute. Bach is superb and always gives enjoyment; apart  from some of the lesser known works,  Mozart is the greatest of them all;  Beethoven is wonderful especially that late quartets; Brahms is treated unfairly as by people by Nietzsche but Brahms has human warmth; Schubert has written a few fine pieces whereas Schumann is better in his piano music and songs and his orchestral works are good on spite of the orchestration; hearing Tchaikovsky in Moscow was a revelation; Liszt was the great innovator and works like Via Crucis is wholly admirable; Webern was a great master; Berg was a genius and listening to Schoenberg is like having a cold shower on a muggy day; Bartók and Stravinsky are exceptional but Vaughan Williams has little appeal.

Bodley received other prizes such as the Arts Council Prize for composition and the Marten Toonder award. In 2008 he was elected as a member of Aosdana.

He is clearly very proud to be Irish and is patriotic and, perhaps, a little biased. He loves Ireland as proved in his Symphony no 2 and other works. Nationalism is inherent in many composers works.

• A Cradle Song                                  1950              Soprano, pf                            2’
• O Mistress Mine                                1950              Baritones pf                           3’
• Music for Strings                               1952              17’
• A Drinking Song                                1953              Baritone/pf                             3’
• Cré                                                     1953              Baritone/pf                             3’
• Deire Fomhair                                   1953              Baritone/pf                             3’
• Do Bhádhasa Uair                             1953              Baritone/pf                             3’
• Ná Déan Gáire                                  1953              Baritone/pf                             3’
• Paidir                                                  1953              Baritone/pf                             3’
• Stróll                                                   1953              Baritone pf                             3’
• The Fairies                                        1953              Baritone/pf                             3’
• Four Little Pieces                              1954              Piano                                      4’
• Cúl an Tí                                            1954              satb                                         3’
• An Bhliain Lán                                   1956              Tenor satb                           11’
• Salve Maria Virgo                              1957              orchestra                                8’
• Sonata                                               1958              violin/pf                                 12’
• Gogaí-ó-Gaog                                   1960              cor anglais/ pf  3’
• An Bás is an Bheatha                       1960              satb                                      12’
• An Teicheadh go hÉigipt                  1960              ssa                                         1’ 
• Caoineadh na dTrí Muire                  1960              ssa                                          4’
• Cuirfimid Deaindí Deaindí                1960              ssa                                          2’
• Gogaí-ó-Gaog                                   1960              voice /pf                                 3’
• Divertimento                                      1961              strings                                 17’ 
• Trí Aortha                                          1962              satb                                         6’
• Prelude, Toccata and Epilogue       1963              pf                                            6’
• Chamber Symphony No. 1               1964
• Never to have lived is best               1965              soprano and orchestra
• Configurations                                   1967              for orchestra
• Scintillae                                            1968              2 harps [Irish]                         6’
• String Quartet No. 1                          1968              24’ 
• Ariel’s Songs                                     1969              soprano/ pf                             6’
• Meditations on Lines from Patrick Kavanagh        1971
• ( A-solo and orchestra)
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North                     1972                                    2pf  5’
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North                     1972                                       pf  6’
• September Preludes                        1973              fl pf                                       17’
• A Small White Cloud Drifts over Ireland                1975                     for orchestra
• The Tightrope Walker Presents a Rose                1976                                       pf  3’
• Mass of Peace                                  1976              unison choir org                   12’
• Aislingí                                               1977              pf                                         25’ 
• A Chill Wind                                       1977              satb [div.]                              15’
• From Ireland’s Past                          1978              for ensemble  13’
• A Girl                                                  1978              mezzo/ pf                             35’
• The ‘O’ Antiphons                             1978              satb org
• Mass of Joy                                       1979              unison voices, org               12’
• The Radiant Moment                        1979              satb                                      13’
• I Have Loved the Lands of Ireland:
• ( Symphony No. 2 for orchestra)      1980                                                            40’
• Ceol: Symphony No. 3                     1980              Soprano, Mezzo, Tenor, Baritone, satb, speaker, semi-chorus, children’s choir and orchestra25’ 
• James Joyce Film Music                  1981 for ensemble
• Chamber Symphony No. 2               1982 for orchestra 30’
• I will walk with my love                      1982              Soprano, sa satb                   3’
• The Banshee                                     1983              S-solo, Mez-solo, T-solo, B-solo, live electronics
• Celebration Music                             1983              3 tpt 2 vn va vc                     17’
• Celebration Music                             1983              3 tpt str                                 17’
• A Concert Mass                                1984              Soprano, Mezzo, Tenor, Bass, satb, strings               30’
• A Passionate Love                           1985              Mezzo / pf                              8’
• Trio for Flute, Violin and Piano         1986              30’
• Canal Bank Walk                               1986              Mezzo-so, pf                          3’
• The Fiddler                                        1987              vn va vc speaker +opt. chorus, perc, instr.
• The Naked Flame                             1987              medium voice/ pf                 40’
• A Carol for Christams Day               1988              Mezzo, harp [Irish]
• A Carol for Twelfth Day                    1988              Mezzo, harp [Irish]
• Ar Éireann ní neosfainn Cé hÍ          1988              Mezzo, harp [Irish]
• Bí 'Íosa im Chroíse                           1988              Mezzo, harp [Irish]
• Carta Irlandesa                                  1988              medium voice, pf                 15’
• In Bethlehem City                             1988              Mezzo, harp [Irish]
• Let Folly Praise What Fancy Loves                       1988         Mezzo , harp [Irish] 
• Song for Jerusalem                          1988              Mezzo, harp [Irish]
• Suantraí na Maighdine                      1988              Mezzo, harp [Irish]
• The Enniscorthy Christmas Carol    1988              Mezzo, harp [Irish]
• Upon My Lap My Sovereign Sits      1988              Mezzo, harp [Irish]
• Phantasms                                        1989              fl cl hrp vc                             20’
• Symphony No. 5 ( Limerick)             1991              40’
• String Quartet No. 2                          1992              25’
• Ceremonial Music                             1995              2 tpt hn trb tuba                    15’
• By the Margin of the Great Deep     1995              medium
• voice/ pf                   5’
• Fraw Musica                                      1996              Mezzo, satb, , organ, strings30’
• Fraw Musica                                      1996              Mezzo, /pf                              7’
• Look to this Day!                               1997              voice/ pf                                2’ 
• Pax Bellumque                                  1997              soprano, fl cl vn pf "            14’
• Sinfonietta  for orchestra                  1999                                                            20’
• Chiaroscuro                                       1999              pf                                            5’
• News from Donabate                        1999              pf                                          50’
• In Quiet Celebration...                       2000              pf                                            3’
• An Exchange of Letters                    2002              pf                                          27’
• Wandrers Nachtlied                          2003              Mezzo-solo/ pf                       2’
• String Quartet No. 3                          2004              18’
• Metamorphoses on the name Schumann for orchestra                                 2004  11’
• Mignon and the Harper                     2004              Soprano, Baritone/ pf          20’
• Islands                                               2006              guitar
• Squall                                                 2006              Soprano/ pf                            4’
• String Quartet No. 4                          2007              10’
• Remember                                        2011              voice/ pf                                4’ 
• The Hiding Places of Love               2011              Soprano/ pf                          40’
• Gretchen                                            2012              Soprano, Mezzo, voices/ pf25’
• Movement for Orchestra                  1955 - 1956  8’
• Symphony No. 1                               1958 - 1959  20’
• Three Congregational Masses        1977-1981
• Symphony No. 4                               1990 - 1991  25’ 
• Earlsfort Suite                                   1999 - 2000  Soprano/ pf                          12’
• An Dreóilín                                                              ssaa                                        2’