On January 25th 1912, Constance Markievicz appeared in the leading role of Catherine Devlin in a new play called “Grangecolman” at the Abbey Theatre, directed by her husband Casimir.
It was an aptly cast role, as Constance portrayed the ‘new Irish woman’, who although born into gentry, struggled to establish herself as a champion of women’s rights. The new play was written by Edward Martyn, a wealthy Galway landowner, born at Tulira near Loughrea in 1859. Martyn was educated at Belvedere College in Dublin, later at Christ Church Oxford, and became heavily involved in the establishment of the Irish Literary Theatre and The Abbey alongside Lady Gregory and W.B.Yeats.
But Martyn and Yeats had a troubled relationship, constantly disagreeing about the direction of Irish theatre. Yeats was an advocate of Irish peasant and mythological dramas, whereas Martyn’s storylines were often inspired by his gentry background. Yeats’ undying opposition to Martyn’s ideas caused him to exclude the performance of any of Martyn’s works after the playright’s death, a ban which has somehow managed to remain in existence to this day.
It was while travelling in Europe in the late 19th century that Martyn found himself deeply affected by sacred music in the cathedrals of Köln and St.Gervais. This deep love of liturgical music followed him home and became the main driving force in his life. Martyn was further moved by a performance of “Missa Papae Marcelli” by Palestrina (arguably the father of liturgical music) in Clarendon Street Church, performed by a male choir. Together with the choir’s director, Vincent O’Brien, Edward Martyn set up an all-boy choir in 1900. Three years later that choir was firmly established in Dublin’s Pro Cathedral. In 1904, a young Athlone tenor and ex-Summerhill College boy called John McCormack joined the choir’s tenor line. Other ex-choristers who have moved on to pursue a full-time career in singing include Emmanuel Lawler, Martin Higgins and Andrew Murphy.
A century on, when church attendance seems to be on a downward spiral, the 11 o’clock sung Mass at Dublin’s Pro Cathedral remains packed to the rafters. In the endless rush of 21st Century living, the eternal appeal and timeless quality of polyphony, chant and fine choral singing still attracts huge numbers. The Cathedral also receives hundreds of applications for chorister positions. When the choir was founded, it was clearly stated by it’s sexist founders that it was to be an all-male choir. However, no-one said anything about it’s conductors, and in it’s 100 years, three of the seven choir directors have been women.
Ite O’Donovan transported the choir to a whole new level, and now the talented Blánaid Murphy continues to maintain those high standards. Blánaid graduated in music and organ from Selwyn College Cambridge, furthering her studies in Stuttgart, Bayreuth and Salzburg. Born in London of Irish parentage, Blánaid somehow never really felt English. Since her move to Dublin, she has conducted many of the country’s leading choral societies, as well as being choral director on the chart-topping “Faith of our Fathers” and “Ireland’s Voices for Peace”. Like Edward Martyn, Blánaid is proud and passionate about her Palestrina Choir, in particular as she watches her young 8 year-old probationer boys progressing to senior level. When the young voices break, some later return to the fold as tenors and basses,or sometimes in other Cathedral posts.The choir perform across the globe, and have several recordings to their name, as well as a few in the pipeline. Blánaid’s long-term goal is to establish the Palestrina Choir as one of Europe’s premier choral groups.
On June 12th, before they head off on an Austrian and Slovakian tour, the Palestrina Choir will give a recital in the Great Hall of Tulira Castle, the home of it’s founder, at the invitation of it’s new owners – the Dutch couple Ruud and Femmy Bolmeijer. A newly commissioned work by Michael McGlynn will be premiered on the evening, and a bust of Martyn by John Coll will be unveiled.
But W.B would not have approved. Maud Gonne publicly acnowledged Martyn’s huge contribution to choral music in Ireland. Maybe Yeats was bitter about the £10,000 endowment given by Martyn to the Choir (around €1 million in today’s money), instead of helping to build a National Theatre? But by contributing to Ireland’s musical heritage in such a significant way, Edward Martyn was every inch as good an Irishman.
