Seóirse Bodley
Seóirse Bodley is an Irish composer and former associate professor of music at University College Dublin. He has been Saoi of Aosdána since 2008.
Biography
Bodley was born in Dublin and studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. In 1955, he obtained a Bachelor of Music degree from UCD. From 1957 to 1959, he studied composition 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. 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.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. Among his subsequent works are seven symphonies, five for full orchestra and two for chamber ensemble. He has also composed a wide range of instrumental and vocal music, including the orchestral piece A Small White Cloud Drifts over Ireland, A Girl, a setting for mezzo-soprano and piano of poems by Brendan Kennelly, and four string quartets, the most recent composed in 2007.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". In more recent years, Bodley's compositions have reflected both Irish and European influences. Examples of his mature style can be found in Phantasms, a 20-minute chamber piece for flute, clarinet, harp, and cello, and his String Quartet No. 2.
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
- Movement for Orchestra
- Symphony No. 1
- Chamber Symphony No. 1
- Configurations
- A Small White Cloud Drifts over Ireland
- Symphony No. 2: I Have Loved the Lands of Ireland
- Chamber Symphony No. 2
- Symphony No. 5: The Limerick Symphony
- Sinfonietta
- Metamorphoses on the Name Schumann
- Mediations on Lines from Patrick Kavanagh
- Ceathrúintí Mháire Ní Ógáin
- Fraw Musica
- Earlsfort Suite
- Violin Sonata
- Scintillae for 2 Irish harps
- String Quartet No. 1
- In Memory of Seán Ó Riada for flute and piano
- September Preludes for flute and piano
- Trio for flute, violin and piano
- The Fiddler' for string trio and speaker
- Phantasms for flute, clarinet, harp and cello
- String Quartet No. 2
- String Quartet No. 3: Ave atque vale
- Islands for guitar
- String Quartet No. 4
- Dancing in Daylight for violin, cello, piano
- Four Little Pieces
- Prelude, Toccata and Epilogue
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North for 2 pianos, for piano solo
- The Tightrope Walker Presents a Rose
- Aislingí
- News from Donabate
- An Exchange of Letters
- Trí hAmhráin Grá
- Cúl an Tí
- An Bhliain Lán
- Trí Aortha
- A Chill Wind
- The Radiant Moment
- The Fairies
- A Drinking Song
- Never to have Lived is Best
- A Girl, song cycle
- A Passionate Love
- Canal Bank Walk
- The Naked Flame, song cycle
- Carta Irlandesa, song cycle
- By the Margins of the Great Deep
- After Great Pain
- Mignon und der Harfner for soprano, baritone and piano
- Zeiten des Jahres for soprano and guitar
- Squall
- Remember
- Gretchen'' for soprano, mezzo-soprano, cello, chamber choir and piano
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
Recordings
Based on Klein, with more recent ones as linked below.- Music for Strings, Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra, Milan Horvat, on: Decca DL 9843.
- Iníon an Phailitínigh, Radio Éireann Light Orchestra, Éimear Ó Broin, on: Gael-Linn CEF 001, re-issued as .
- Táim Gan Im Gan Ór, Radio Éireann Light Orchestra, Éimear Ó Broin, on: Gael-Linn CEF 004.
- I Will Walk with My Love, RTÉ Singers, Hans Waldemar Rosen, on: Harmonia Mundi HMS 30691.
- Prelude, Toccata and Epilogue, Charles Lynch, on: New Irish Recording Company NIR 001.
- String Quartet No. 1, RTÉ String Quartet, on: New Irish Recording Company NIR 006.
- Chamber Symphony no. 1, New Irish Chamber Orchestra, André Prieur, on: New Irish Recording Company NIR 012.
- I Will Walk with My Love, Culwick Choral Society, Eric Sweeney, on: New Irish Recording Company DEB 002.
- Mass of Peace, Clonliffe College Choir, Seóirse Bodley, on: Network Tapes NTO 55C.
- Mass of Joy, Hymn to St. John of God, , on: Network Tapes NTO 102C.
- A Girl, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Bernadette Greevy, John O'Conor, Gael-Linn CEF 085.
- Laoi Chainte an Tombac, Cór Naomh Mhúire, Fintan Ó Murchu, on: Corkfest Records 94.
- The Naked Flame, Carta Irlandesa, By the Margin of the Great Deep, Aylish Kerrigan, Seóirse Bodley, on: .
- Symphony No. 4, Symphony No. 5: The Limerick Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Colman Pearce, on: .
- A Small White Cloud Drifts over Ireland, Chamber Symphony No. 1, Symphony No. 2: I Have Loved the Lands of Ireland, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Robert Houlihan, on: .
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Isabelle O'Connell, on: .
- Islands, John Feeley, on: ].
- Dancing in Daylight, Fidelio Trio, on: .
- String Quartet No. 1, performed by RTÉ ConTempo Quartet, on: .
- After Great Pain, Remember, The Tightrope Walker Presents a Rose, performed by Aylish Kerrigan and Dearbhla Collins, on: .
- A Girl, performed by Aylish Kerrigan and Dearbhla Collins, on: .