Dictionary Articles

I have been writing short biographies about Irish composers and musicians since the early 1990s when I began to work for MGG and KdG (see below). My aim was initially to put Irish musicians on the map of international musicological research. The 'maps' are there now, but dictionary projects keep coming in. The following are the works I have been involved in for the past twenty-odd years.

 

 

Lexikon des Orchesters

The Lexikon des Orchesters (Dictionary [or Encyclopaedia] of the Orchestra, in German) was published in November 2021, edited by Frank Heidlberger, Gesine Schröder, and Christoph Wünsch in 2 volumes, 1,488 pages (Lilienthal: Laaber-Verlag). I was asked to write two articles only: "Irland" and "Stanford, (Sir) Charles Villiers". These were written in 2014 (!), and the "Irland" article would have been in urgent need of updating. But I've never seen proofs and didn't know about its publication before I saw the announcement of the publication. In other words: it's deprecated, and I am not proud of it.

 

EMIR - Encyclopedia of Music in Ireland

The Encyclopedia of Music in Ireland (EMIR) was published in Dublin by UCD Press in Oct. 2013 after many years of hard work. General Editors are Harry White and Barra Boydell. I acted initially as Subject Editor, later 'retreated' into being Advisory Editor and author of more than 80 articles:

Subject articles: Bibliography (art music); Biography (art music); Cantata and Oratorio; Chamber Music; 'Deirdre' in music; Discography (art music); Ireland: Ideas and Influences Abroad; Opera and Music Theatre; Orchestral Music; RTÉ.

Organisations, Groups: Dublin Operatic Society; Irish Festival Singers; National Operatic Society.

Biographies: Amy Beach; Walter Beckett; Earl of Belfast; Rutland Boughton; Michael Bowles; Louis Browne; Tom Burke; Daniel Joseph Burns; Thomas O'Brien Butler; James Carlile; B. Hobson Carroll; Rhoda Coghill; George M. Cohan; William Collier; Edmund Joseph Collins; Henry Cowell; Hastings Crossley; Edgar M. Deale; Mary Dickenson-Auner; Arthur Duff; John Dunne; Edward Elgar ('Grania and Diarmid'); Edmund Falconer; Eileen Farrell; Gerald and Otho Fitzgerald; James J. Gaskin; Richard Otto Gaudry; Joseph Geoghegan; Percy Grainger; Philip Green; Wellington Guernsey; William Hamerton; Norman Hay; Arthur Hervey; George Alexander Hodson; William Houghton; Josiah Andrew Hudleston; James Joyce; T.C. Kelly; Aylish Kerrigan; Michael Rophino Lacy; Elizabeth Maconchy; Adela Maddison; Cornelius Mahoney; Charles Manners; James Lynam Molloy; Delia Murphy; Ann Murray; Alicia Adelaide Needham; Vincent O'Brien; Cavan O'Connor; Robert O'Dwyer; Éamonn Ó Gallchobhair; O'Kelly family; Chauncey Olcott; Henry John O'Neill; Norman O'Neill; Tomás Ó Súilleabháin; Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer; William Harvey Pélissier; RTÉ; Michael Desmond Ryan; Margaret Burke Sheridan; Hope Temple; Horatio Townsend; Dermot Troy; Ernest Hamilton Whelan; Harold Robert White; Joseph M. and Robert White.

 

 

DIB - Dictionary of Irish Biography

edited by James Maguire and James Quinn

Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 2009 (9 volumes)

 

For the Dictionary of Irish Biography I contributed:

Heinrich Bewerunge; Rhoda S. Coghill; Edgar M. Deale

 

 

Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History

edited by James P. Byrne, Philip Coleman, Jason King

Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, 2008 (3 volumes)

 

For Ireland and the Americas I contributed:

Amy Beach; Henry Cowell; Dennis Day; Morton Downey; Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore; Frank Llewelyn Harrison; Irish Festival Singers; Paul McSwiney; Jane O'Leary; Frank Patterson; William Vincent Wallace.

 

 

MGG - Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (second edition)

edited by Ludwig Finscher

Kassel: Bärenreiter and Stuttgart: Metzler, 1994-2008

29 volumes, divided into 9 vols. subject part ('Sachteil') (1994-8), 1 vol. register for subject part (1999), 17 vols. biographical part ('Personenteil') (1999-2007), 1 vol. register for biographical part (2007), supplement vol. (2008)

 

For MGG I acted as the 'Irish' advisor ('Fachbeirat'), meaning I suggested the articles, consulted on revisions, commissioned authors, and edited many articles. I also translated English articles into German. Finally, I also wrote a lot of articles myself, and these were the following:

In the subject part: Irland

In the biographical part (incl. supplement): Michael William Balfe; Thomas Bateson (rev.); Heinrich Bewerunge (part); Seóirse Bodley; Brian Boydell; Turlough Carolan; Carter family (with Barra Boydell); Charles Coffey (rev.); Rhoda S. Coghill; Thomas S. Cooke (rev.); Frank Corcoran; Raymond Deane; Roger Doyle; Aloys Fleischmann; W.H.G. Flood; Tommaso Giordani; Carl G. Hardebeck; Hamilton Harty; Norman Hay; Dennis Hempson; Herbert Hughes; Michael Kelly; John Kinsella; John F. Larchet; Philip Martin; Frederick May; E.J. Moeran; Robert O'Dwyer; Kane O'Hara (with Brian Boydell); Jane O'Leary; Seán Ó Riada; Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer; Annie W. Patterson; A.J. Potter; Joseph Robinson; William Michael Rooke; Charles V. Stanford; George William Torrance (rev.); Joan Trimble; Gerard Victory; W. Vincent Wallace; Jennifer Walshe; Ian Wilson; James Wilson; Charles Wood.

 

 

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (second edition)

edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell

London: Macmillan, 2001 (now: Oxford: Oxford University Press)

See also Grove Music Online (subscription necessary)

 

For the New Grove Dictionary I contributed:

Seóirse Bodley; Jerome de Bromhead; Roger Doyle; John Kinsella; Jane O'Leary. I also "re-wrote" the one on Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer and revised the ones on W.H.G. Flood and A.J. Potter.

 

 

KdG - Komponisten der Gegenwart

edited by Hanns-Werner Heister and Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer

Munich: edition text + kritik, since 1992, currently 9 vols.

KdG is a loose-leaflet dectionary with two supplements annually.

 

For Komponisten der Gegenwart I have contributed:

Seóirse Bodley; Brian Boydell; John Buckley; Frank Corcoran (work-list, with Annette-Kreuziger-Herr); Aloys Fleischmann; Frederick May; E.J. Moeran; Gerard Victory; James Wilson.

To be continued.