Ó Gallchobhair (anglicised O’Gallagher) studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (1927-1935) and was a prolific composer of easy listening songs, piano and chamber music with a very strong Irish traditional influence. He was the most outspoken opponent of modernism in Irish music, publishing articles in the 1930’s arguing for an insular atavistic approach to Irish music. He also wrote a number of Gaelic operattas between 1944 and 1962 as well as some ballets on folklore themes, the largest being the 2.5 hour production Catháir Linn (1942). He held short-time positions as conductor of the Radio Éireann Light Orchestra (1948) and as music director of the Abbey Theatre (1962).
Axel Klein, with permission from Greenwood Press
