Thomas O'Brien Butler (3 November 1861 – 7 May 1915; lost on the ''
Lusitania''), was an Irish composer who wrote the Irish-language opera ''
Muirgheis'' (1903).
Biography
O'Brien Butler, as he was generally known, was born in
Caherciveen,
County Kerry
County Kerry ( gle, Contae ChiarraÃ) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the cou ...
, the youngest child of Pierce Butler (c.1804–1873), a shopkeeper in the village, and Ellen Webb (c.1818–1876). There is no source for his correct surname. Baker's Dictionary
[''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' (New York: Schirmer, 1940; also in 5th edition, 1958)] indicates that his surname was Whitwell; when he registered at the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...
in London, his name was noted as Thomas Whitwell-Butler. He does not seem to have been directly related to another O'Brien Butler family from Ireland who lost three brothers in World War I. He does however claim heritage to Lady Margaret O'Brien in his collection ''Seven Original Irish Melodies'' dedicating the first song 'Kincora; or the Lament for King Brian' to "My Great Mother Lady Margaret O'Brien, daughter of Donough O'Brien, Earl of Thomond."
Before going to London he grew up in an environment steeped in traditional music. His musical education began in Italy,
[ but it is not known when and where exactly. He enrolled at the ]Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...
in February 1897 at the rather advanced age of 35 and stayed for three terms only, studying composition with Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was educated at the Un ...
and Walter Parratt
Sir Walter Parratt (10 February 184127 March 1924) was an English organist and composer.
Biography
Born in Huddersfield, son of a parish organist, Parratt began to play the pipe organ from an early age, and held posts as an organist while sti ...
. Baker's Dictionary also says that Butler travelled extensively and spent some time in India, where his opera ''Muirgheis'' was written, but it is not certain whether these travels took place before or after his London studies. A song composition published in Dublin in 1900 is dedicated to "His Highness Rajendrah Singh, Maharajah of Patiala
Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the '' Qila Mubarak'' (the 'Fortunate Castle') constru ...
" (see 'Selected works'). In an obituary, the ''Kerry Evening Post'' confirms that ''Muirgheis'' was written in Kashmir, northern India. After around 1900 he mainly lived in Kilmashogue, in the mountains above Rathfarnham, Dublin, in a house he had called ''Muirgheis''.
After settling in Dublin, O'Brien Butler tried to align himself with some of Ireland's leading cultural figures. The diary entries of Lady Gregory
Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (''née'' Persse; 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932) was an Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Thea ...
indicate that in May 1900 he met with W.B. Yeats and George Moore in order to join the Celtic movement, although both were unimpressed by his talents. He did however find more support from the Gaelic League
(; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it em ...
, which promoted his opera Muirgheis in their publication An Claidheanh Soluis.
Butler died during World War I, when a German torpedo hit the passenger vessel '' Lusitania'' on 7 May 1915 just off the southern Irish coast near Kinsale. Butler was on his way back from New York. Baker's Dictionary (1958 edition) claimed that he was on his way home from a concert performance of ''Muirgheis'' in New York, while other sources suggest he was returning from making "tentative arrangements for the production of his opera the following year". A photograph of the composer from the ''Cork Examiner'', 11 May 1915, was reprinted in a 2004 documentary book. The ''Evening Ledger'' newspaper reported on 8 April 1915 under a photo of a moustachioed O'Brien Butler in a fez that "He wrote the music for the first purely Irish opera which has been produced in this country".
A friend of Thomas MacDonagh
Thomas Stanislaus MacDonagh ( ga, Tomás Anéislis Mac Donnchadha; 1 February 1878 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish political activist, poet, playwright, educationalist and revolutionary leader. He was one of the seven leaders of the Easter Rising ...
, O'Brien Butler was working on a trio of operas in Irish with him when he died in the ''Lusitania''; MacDonagh died the next year, executed by a British Army firing squad after the Easter Rising.
Music
Butler wrote a number of songs and some chamber music, but ''Muirgheis'' remained his only major score. The plot of the opera abounds in Celticist clichés featuring "names redolent of Irish mythology such as Diarmuid, Donn, and a number of sea fairies", taking place "at the dawn of Christianity". The music makes use of pentatonic scales and numerous melodic and rhythmic allusions to Irish traditional music, but only once quotes from an original Irish lament in a tune Butler claimed he had known from his childhood. ''Muirgheis'' was promoted as "The first Irish opera." The libretto was written by Nora Chesson in English, and was translated to Irish by Tadhg Ó Donnchadha
Tadhg Ó Donnchadha (1874 – 1949) was an Irish writer, poet, editor, translator and a prominent member of the Gaelic League (''Conradh na Gaeilge'') and the Gaelic Athletic Association. He was editor of ''Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge'' (The ...
in 1909. The vocal score of 1910, published by Breitkop and Hartel contains both the English libretto and Irish translation. As the opera was only performed in 1903, using the English libretto, the first opera to be performed in the Irish language was actually ''Eithne
Eithne is a female personal name of Irish origin, meaning "kernel" or "grain". Other spellings and earlier forms include Ethnea, Ethlend, Ethnen, Ethlenn, Ethnenn, Eithene, Ethne, Aithne, Enya, Ena, Edna, Etney, Eithnenn, Eithlenn, Eithna, Ethni ...
'' (1909) by Robert O'Dwyer.
The reception of the work, particularly in terms of its musical quality, was highly controversial – both after a performance of excerpts in June 1902 and after its full performance in December 1903. A critic in the ''Irish Times'' wrote: "One would fain encourage Irish art, but it must be confessed that ''Muirgheis'' does not possess the elements of popularity. We do not think that it is more characteristically Irish than Stanford's ''Shamus O'Brien''. ��Mr O'Brien Butler has not yet attained the art of writing a good opera." Another critic wrote "We are very sorry to have to criticise so severely a work intended to be thoroughly Irish. But it would be a bad service to Irish music to praise a composition merely because it is Irish." Others including John Millington Synge
Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, collector of folklore, and a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival. His best known play '' The Playboy of the Western World'' was poorly ...
[Klein (2005), p. 56; see Bibliography.] and Edward Martyn
Edward Martyn (30 January 1859 – 5 December 1923) was an Irish playwright and early republican political and cultural activist, as the first president of Sinn Féin from 1905–08.
Early life
Martyn was the elder son of John Martyn of Tullira ...
had more positive views.
The few other compositions by Butler that survived are small-scale chamber music pieces and songs, which, like the opera, make obvious attempts at reconciling Irish and European musical traditions. His ''Irish Sonata'' (1904) for violin and piano was championed by Arthur Darley for many years, while the song ''Kincora'' from the ''Seven Original Irish Melodies'' (1903) was a test piece for soprano at the ''Feis Ceoil'' (Irish competitive music festival) in May 1915.
Selected works
*''My Little Red Colleen'' (''Mo Cailin Beag Ruadh''), Irish Song ("Ita's Laureate"), Dublin: Pohlmann & Co. 1900 ("Dedicated to His Highness Rajendrah Singh, Maharajah of Patiala G.C.S.I."). See score a
DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin.
*''Muirgheis'' (Thadgh O'Donoghue, English version by Nora Chesson and George Moore), "(The First Irish Opera) in three acts" (1903). First performance: Dublin, Theatre Royal, 7 December 1903 (New York: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1910; plate no. L. 206.). Dedicated "To Clann na hÉireann".[See score at IMSLP.]
*''Seven Original Irish Melodies'' (texts by James Clarence Mangan, Denny Lane, Dan Lynch, P.J. McCall, Ethna Carbery, J.J. Callanan, Edward Walsh; with Irish translations by Dan Lynch) for voice and piano (Dublin: Pigott, Gaelic League Offices, 1903).
*''Fódhla. Irish Sonata'' for violin & piano (London: Charles Woolhouse, 1904).
Bibliography
*Obituary: ''The Musical Times'' 56 (1915) 868 (1 June), p. 352.
*Joseph J. Ryan: ''Nationalism and Music in Ireland'' (PhD thesis, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, 1991; unpublished).
*Axel Klein: ''Die Musik Irlands im 20. Jahrhundert'' (Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1996).
*Axel Klein: "Stage-Irish, or The National in Irish Opera 1780–1925", in: ''Opera Quarterly'' 21 (2005) 1, p. 27–67.
*Axel Klein: "Butler, Thomas O'Brien", in: ''The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland'', ed. Harry White & Barra Boydell (Dublin: UCD Press, 2013), p. 142–143.
* David Scott: ''"Examining the Irish Art Song: Original Song Settings of Irish Texts by Irish Composers, 1900-1930"'' (MPhil, DIT, 2018).
External links
Biography
(Irish)
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Thomas OBrien
1861 births
1915 deaths
20th-century classical composers
20th-century male musicians
Alumni of the Royal College of Music
Deaths on the RMS Lusitania
Irish Anglicans
Irish classical composers
Irish male classical composers
Irish music arrangers
Irish opera composers
Male opera composers
Musicians from County Kerry
People from Cahersiveen