W. H. Grattan Flood

William Henry Grattan Flood
Born (1857-11-01)1 November 1857 (baptism)
Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland
Died 6 August 1928(1928-08-06) (aged 68)
Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland

William Henry Grattan Flood (baptised 1 November 1857[1] – 6 August 1928) was a noted Irish author, composer, musicologist, and historian. As a writer and ecclesiastical composer, his personal contributions to Irish music produced enduring works, although he is regarded today as a very controversial figure. As an historian, his output was prolific on topics of local and national historical or biographical interest.

In 1917, Flood was awarded the papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by Pope Benedict XV and in 1922 was elevated by Pope Leo XIII to the Order of St Gregory with the title Chevalier,[2] thereafter he was often called "Chevalier Flood". He is not to be confused with the unrelated Irish statesmen Henry Flood or Henry Grattan.

Biography

Flood was born in Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland.[3] His family had a great influence on his education. He was born to William and Catherine (FitzSimon) Flood, the Master and Matron of the Lismore Union Workhouse. He had one older sister (Maria), and five brothers (Francis (his twin brother), Patrick, Frederick, George and James (who died in infancy). Flood received his elementary education at his grandfather's (Andrew FitzSimon) boys academy in Lismore, and was given music lessons by his aunt, Elizabeth FitzSimon. He quickly became an accomplished pianist and, at the age of nine, was invited to give a recital for the Duke of Devonshire at Lismore Castle. He entered Mount Melleray in 1872 and graduated in 1876. During this time, he received private tuition in music from Sir Robert Prescott Stewart (1825–1894) and developed proficiency on other musical instruments. He was organist of St. Peter's Pro-Cathedral in Belfast (1878–82), the Cathedral of the Assumption in Thurles, Co. Tipperary (1882–8), Monaghan Cathedral (1888–94) and St. Aidan's Cathedral, Enniscorthy (from September 1895).[4] A devout Catholic, Flood entered St. Patrick's in Carlow, Co. Carlow and spent several years studying for the priesthood.[5] He taught music at the Jesuit Colleges of Tullabeg, Co. Offaly (1882–4), Clongowes Wood College (from 1884), St MacCartan's College, Monaghan (from 1888), and St. Kieran's College in Kilkenny. During his long residency at Enniscorthy (1895–1928) Flood authored the majority of his musical compositions and historical publications. Flood was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music (DMus) from the Royal University of Ireland in 1907.[6]

In December 1898, he was wed to Margaret Delaney and, over the next 12 years, the couple had six children, including Catherine (Kathleen), Mollie, Agnes, William, Patrick and Margaret (Rita). Following his death, his daughter, Kathleen, assumed the position of organist at St. Aidan's until her death in 1956.

Flood is a highly controversial figure in Irish musicology. He has undoubtedly inspired a lot of more recent research, but "his appreciation of detail was enthusiastic rather than thorough, and the contents of his books were often distorted by his national and religious commitment".[7] Although he is known to have had access to sources in the Public Record Office which burnt down in the Irish Civil War in 1922, "he renders himself untrustworthy by the fact that, where his sources can be checked, he sometimes misquotes or misinterprets them; and he is too ready to jump to conclusions which are presented as if they were facts."[8] On the other hand, he wrote "at a time when it [i.e. Irish music] was either scorned or ignored, except by a few enthusiasts."[9] Flood's most adventurous claims included an "Irish Ancestry of Garland, Dowland, Campion and Purcell".[10] Therefore, his writings on Irish musical history must be treated with extreme caution.

Selected publications

Musicology

General and local history

Compositions

Worklist from Boydell (2013), p. 395; with additions taken from the online catalogues of the National Library of Ireland and the British Library.

Church music

Songs

Editions

Memorial

ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF

CHEVALIER WILLIAM HENRY GRATTAN FLOOD, ENNISCORTHY, IN RECOGNITION OF HIS INVALUABLE SERVICES TO IRISH MUSIC AND LITERATURE. DIED AUGUST 6TH 1928. ”Irish orators of rival fame – Combine to mould his memorable name; – But music was his first love and his last –

And links in him our present with our past." — Epitaph by Alfred Perceval Graves.

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Not 1859; see Antoinette Baker: Chevalier William Henry Grattan Flood Mus. Doc. K.S.G., unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University College Dublin, 1989
  2. ↑ Boydell, Barra: "Flood, W(illiam) H(enry) Grattan", in: The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland, ed. H. White & B. Boydell (Dublin: UCD Press, 2013), p. 394–8.
  3. ↑ "Some New Facts About the Creator of The Nocturne - JOHN FIELD of Dublin". The Etude. April 1922. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  4. ↑ Boydell (2013), p. 394.
  5. ↑ Flood (1974); see Bibliography.
  6. ↑ Boydell (2013), p. 395.
  7. ↑ New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie (London: Macmillan, 1980), p. 643.
  8. ↑ Boydell (2013), p. 395.
  9. ↑ Walsh, Thomas J., in the introduction to his Opera in Dublin 1705-1797, the Social Scene (Dublin: Allen Figgis, 1973), p. xiv.
  10. ↑ This is the title of an article published in Music and Letters 3 (1921) 1, pp. 59–65.
  11. ↑ Modern edition in: A Historical Anthology of Irish Church Music (= Irish Musical Studies vol. 6), ed. G. Gillen & A. Johnstone (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001), pp. 180–8.
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