Music at the Abbey Theatre

I am interested in this for quite some time, especially since, on the occasion of this important theatre's centenary in 2003, several books appeared which totally ignored music. But the theatre employed a music director for many decades and music played (and still plays) an integral part in many of the famous pieces performed at the Abbey by Yeats, Synge, ... you name them.

 

My key question is: If the music would have been of no importance, why would it have been written? Why would there have been a musical ensemble in most performances? And what about the Abbey Ballet School and the music it commissioned?

 

To put it plainly and directly: The non-existence of music in the international academic research on the history of the Abbey Theatre is an outright shame. It must be rectified.

 

With the advent of the website Abbey Theatre Music in 2013, the urgency of this issue for me has decreased somewhat, so I will concentrate on other things first. In addition, currently (2021-2) a DMus candidate at UCD is devoting himself to the subject.