An Irishman's Diary

Today's Irishman's Diary is written by Tom McCarthy, a member of the Irish Dominican province.

Well done Tom.

An Irishman's Diary
Thomas McCarthy
IT'S BLOWING a gale out there - no chance of a sailing to Ireland tonight! Not exactly sweet music to the ears of George Frederick Handel on an autumn day in 1741: he was all set for a visit to Dublin, on the invitation of the Duke of Devonshire, to present a series of charity concerts.

A fresh score of his latest oratorio was the precious item among his luggage, and he wondered what kind of performance it could expect to receive.

The cancelled sailing on the Irish Sea meant he would have to stay a couple of days more, at least, in Chester. Could he try out one or two numbers from the new oratorio, he wondered, with good sight-readers suggested by the organist of Chester Cathedral? Why, of course! But the story goes that the gentlemen had trouble finding their way accurately through the chorus And with His Stripes we are Healed.

One of the basses in particular, Janson by name, turned out not to be up to the mark. "You scoundrel!" Handel bellowed. "Didn't you tell me you could sing at sight?"

"Aye, and I can, Sir," came the pleading reply, "but not at first sight!"

What has changed, singers will ask? Like so many choral groups, the ladies and gentlemen of Tallaght Choral Society have more than a second and third look at material; and, yes, the result will be to the music director's satisfaction, eventually - as well as, hopefully, true to the composer's intent.

The 100-plus members of TCS come, not just from Tallaght, but from various Dublin and Wicklow locations that are within either Luas or easy driving distance of the Dominican Priory there. It is 40 years now since Donal Sweeney, a student for the priesthood, set up a church choir in the priory. It was a group destined to grow and take wing.

After Donal's ordination and transfer to Rome, Liam Fitzgerald, who had sung in the tenor line, became musical director, and just two years later he brought the choir to Trinity College to sing Messiah in the Examination Hall in November 1971.

As the fruitful years went on with Liam at the helm (he was conductor also of the Dublin Baroque Players), the choir sang Haydn's Creation, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Bruckner's Mass in F-minor, Brahms's Requiem, as well as the Seven Last words of Christ by Dubois and Mozart's Requiem.

In 1982, David Jones took over as musical director, and the choir learned further new repertoire, marking the tercentenary in 1985 of J.S. Bach's birth by singing his St John Passion at the National Concert Hall. It was under David's direction that the choir also sang Vivaldi's Gloria and gave a concert performance of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

David left Ireland to take up a conducting fellowship in the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, and has recently been appointed conductor in residence at the Welsh College of Music and Drama.

The choir continued to grow in numbers and in musical maturity, and James Cavanagh and Gráinne Gormley had successive - and successful - spells in charge. Under Jimmy's 10-year leadership, the choir branched out into premières of works by Rhona Clarke and John Buckley. Mozart, Schubert and Haydn Masses were also regular features, as well as the Beethoven's Mass in C and the haunting Fauré Requiem. Tallaght also sang Carl Orff's Carmina Burana (with the Belfast Philharmonic) and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms. Jimmy is now director of the symphony orchestra at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Gráinne Gormley, who had been the first female conductor of the UCD Choral Society, came to Tallaght in 1996. She had an inspiring tenure, bringing her passionate expertise in encouraging the best use of the voice; each week many worshippers in Clarendon Street Church hear the ravishingly beautiful tone of her choir there.

This Thursday, May 29th, the choir will celebrate its 40 years of singing with a performance at the National Concert Hall of the Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cécile by the exuberant French master Charles Gounod. There are many moments in this sublime setting of the Mass where you hear the eloquent dramatist who produced the great opera Faust in 1859. When the orchestra's best efforts at imitating the heavenly harpists accompany the final words of the Creed - "We look for the resurrection of the body and life everlasting" - you appreciate what Gounod himself said about where the true action in music lay: in the theatre.

Many readers of this article will also be aware of another influence on Gounod's sacred music, notably his Ave Maria - Johann Sebastian Bach. It is fitting, then, that this week's concert will also feature Alan Smale, leader of the National Symphony Orchestra, in Bach's concerto for violin and oboe, with Ruby Ashley as the oboist. John Rutter's rhythmically exciting Magnificat completes the anniversary programme, which will be conducted by Mark Armstrong, Tallaght's music director since 2002.

By the way, when Handel finally did sail to Dublin back in 1741, where did he find hospitality while a guest of the Duke of Devonshire? All together now: Tallaght!