John William Glover (19 June 1815 – 19 December 1899) was an Irish composer, conductor, organist, violinist, and teacher.

Life and music

Glover was born in Dublin, where he initially became an orchestral violinist as early as 1830. In 1848, he succeeded Haydn Corri as organist of

St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral St Mary's Church ( ga, Leas-Ardeaglais Naomh Muire), known also as St Mary's Pro-Cathedral or simply the Pro-Cathedral, the Chapel in Marlborough Street or the Pro, is a pro-cathedral and is the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop ...

, Dublin, and also became professor of music at the Central Model Schools of the Board of National Education. An experienced choral conductor, he established the short-lived Choral Institute of Dublin in 1851. He presented a series of "National Concerts" in 1853 to commemorate

Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852) was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist celebrated for his ''Irish Melodies''. Their setting of English-language verse to old Irish tunes marked the transition in popular Irish culture from Irish ...

one year after the poet's death, and also co-organised and conducted large musical performances on the occasion of the centenaries of

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

(1875) and Thomas Moore (1879). As a composer, Glover was one of a handful of native composers who cultivated (classical) musical life in Dublin in the mid-19th century – and among these the only one of Roman Catholic denomination. A personal friend of the émigrés

Michael William Balfe Michael William Balfe (15 May 1808 – 20 October 1870) was an Irish composer, best remembered for his operas, especially ''The Bohemian Girl''. After a short career as a violinist, Balfe pursued an operatic singing career, while he began to co ...

and

William Vincent Wallace William Vincent Wallace (11 March 1812 – 12 October 1865) was an Irish composer and pianist. In his day, he was famous on three continents as a double virtuoso on violin and piano. Nowadays, he is mainly remembered as an opera composer of n ...

, he, too, was inclined towards opera, despite the incomparably more difficult circumstances in Ireland in this period. His most ambitious work was the three-act opera ''The Deserted Village'' (libretto by

Edmund Falconer Edmund Falconer (c.1814 – 29 September 1879), born Edmund O'Rourke, was an Irish poet, actor, theatre manager, songwriter and playwright, known for his keen wit and outstanding acting skills. Early life Edmund O'Rourke was born in Dublin arou ...

after

Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, dramatist and poet, who is best known for his novel ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1766), his pastoral poem ''The Deserted Village'' (1770), and his pl ...

's novel of the same name), performed in Dublin in 1880 and published in London. In it, "Glover uses a very direct diatonic language that is not sentimental but speaks to his assured facility for setting words to music", it was also described as a "populist style". To a very limited extent he makes use of Irish traditional music, but even so it is an important work in the canon of Irish national opera. Other large-scale works include the "national oratorio" ''St Patrick at Tara'' (1875), written for the O'Connell Centenary, and the cantata ''One Hundred Years Ago'' (1879) for the Moore Centenary. He also wrote a violin concerto (date unknown) Glover was also an expert on Irish traditional music. He lectured widely on this subject in Dublin, London, and Paris. Among his publications is one of the earliest collective volumes of Thomas Moore's ''Irish Melodies'' (to Glover's accompaniments, 1859), and he collaborated with

Patrick Weston Joyce Patrick Weston Joyce, commonly known as P. W. Joyce (1827 – 7 January 1914) was an Irish historian, writer and music collector, known particularly for his research in Irish etymology and local place names of Ireland. Biography He was born i ...

, providing the piano accompaniments to his ''Ancient Irish Music'' (1873). Glover died in Dublin. He was the grandfather of

Jimmy Glover James Mackey Glover (18 June 1861 – 8 September 1931), originally James Mackey, and known as Jimmy Glover, was an Irish composer, conductor, music critic, and journalist, most notable as Director of Music and conductor at the Theatre Royal, Drur ...

, director of music at the

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...

, from 1893 to 1920.M. C. Rintoul, ''Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction'', p. 447.

Selected works

Stage

* ''St. Patrick at Tara'' (Dublin, 1875), cantata * ''One Hundred Years Ago. Ode to Thomas Moore'' (1879), cantata * ''The Deserted Village'' (libretto: Edmund Falconer, after Oliver Goldsmith), opera in 3 acts (London: Duncan Davison & Co., 1880)

Sacred music

* ''First Mass for Four Voices'', for 1st and 2nd trebles, tenor, bass, organ (London: Richard Butler, c.1860) * ''Ave Maria (Duetto-coro)'' (London, 1864) * ''Salve Sancta Parens (Hymn of the Blessed Virgin)'' (London, 1864) * ''O Jesu bone Pastor (Offertorium)'' (London, 1865) * ''Responses at High Mass'' (London, 1865) * ''Have Mercy Upon Me O Lord (Sacred song) (London, 1866) * ''Ecce Sacerdos Magnus (Motet) (London, 1867) * ''O Salutaris Hostia (Solo & quartett)'' (London, 1868) * ''Sixth Mass for Four Voices'' (London, 1872)

Piano music

* ''Brilliant Fantasia on Airs from Donizetti's Opera Don Pasquale'' (London: B. Williams, 1860) * ''Galop di Bravura on a Favorite Air by Auber, as a Fantasia'' (London, 1865) * ''A Planxtae'', "National Irish dance tune … founded upon an ancient Irish melody" (London: Duncan Davison & Co., 1870) * ''La Bella Sorrentina'', "Romanza Napolitaine" (London, 1870) * ''The Cruiskeen Lawn'', "descriptive fantasia" (London, 1870) * ''The Skedaddle Galop'' (London, 1873) * ''Brilliant Fantasia … on the celebrated Irish melodies …'' (London: Edwin Ashdown, c.1891)

Organ music

* ''Professor Glover's Organ Book'' (London, 1870) * ''Voluntaries for the Organ'' (1892)

Songs

* ''Old Erin's Lovely Girls'' (T. A. Ogle) (London, 1864) * ''The Heart that Loves Me Dearest'' (T. A. Ogle) (London, 1864)

Folk-song arrangements

* ''Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies'' (Dublin: James Duffy, 1859) * ''Ancient Irish Music'', collected by

(Dublin: McGlashan & Gill, 1873)

Bibliography

In addition to the works cited in the References below, of interest may also be: * Ita Beausang: "From National Sentiment to Nationalist Movement, 1850–1900", in: ''Music in Nineteenth-Century Ireland'' (''Irish Musical Studies'' vol. 9), ed. M. Murphy & J. Smaczny (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007), p. 36–51.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glover, John Williams 1815 births 1899 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century conductors (music) 19th-century Irish people Classical composers of church music Composers for piano Composers for pipe organ Irish choral conductors Irish classical composers Irish conductors (music) Irish male classical composers Irish music arrangers Irish organists Male organists Musicians from Dublin (city) Romantic composers 19th-century organists