Arthur O'Leary was an Irish composer, pianist and teacher.
Biography
O'Leary was born in Tralee, County Kerry, both his father and uncle Daniel having been talented musicians, too. Arthur Senior was said to be first cousin to Arthur Sullivan's grandfather in an obituary for O'Leary written by W. H. Grattan Flood. When young Arthur's talents were discovered at the age of ten, a visiting barrister, Wyndham Goold became his patron: in May 1844 he sent him to school in Dublin and secured private piano tuition. With financial backing from others, including John Stanford, and with letters of introduction from William Sterndale Bennett, O'Leary was able to study at the conservatory in Leipzig, where he arrived in 1847 to study piano, organ, violin, and harmony. During this time he was invited several times to musical dinners where he met, besides Moscheles, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Joseph Joachim. He also attended Mendelssohn's funeral in 1847. Between February 1852 and December 1854 O'Leary studied the piano with Cipriani Potter and Sterndale Bennett at the Royal Academy of Music, London. He became an assistant professor at the RAM in 1856 and elected a fellow in 1864, teaching piano and composition. Among his more notable pupils were Alicia Adelaide Needham, Charles Villiers Stanford, and Arthur Sullivan. He also had other teaching positions in London at institutions including the National Training School for Music, the Guildhall School, the Crystal Palace School of Science and Art, and the Beckenham School of Music. He resigned from the RAM and other positions in 1903. He was elected a member of the Philharmonic Society in 1875. O'Leary had married Rosetta Vinning on 5 November 1860 and they had two daughters, Catherine Wyndham and Annette Elizabeth. Annette married Harry Pye, son of Kellow Pye in 1897. Arthur and Rosetta both died in London, and they are buried in Aghadoe cemetery near Killarney, Ireland. Annette and Harry Pye had one son, Edmund Arthur Pye, born in 1902. He was educated at Epsom College and studied Medicine at Cambridge and St. George's Hospital, London. He married Dorothy Neville in London in 1928, separating after three years, having had one son. Edmund Arthur Pye left his medical career behind after the second world war when, along with his second wife Anne Welsh, he embarked on his better-known career as yachtsman and writer, using the name Peter Pye. His son Patrick Pye was raised in Dublin by his mother and became an artist.
Selected compositions
Arthur O'Leary's largest work is a symphony performed in London in 1853 and 1864. Although he wrote a number of other orchestral pieces, his main work consists of piano music and songs. Raymond Deane commented: "At the very least, he was a superior drawing-room composer who occasionally touched deeper chords." The following list is based on Fitzsimons, p. 132–6. Orchestral
Six Songs op. 6. London: Leader & Cock, 1861. Contains: I Dream of Thee, Ask Me Not, The Return, Spring, Silent Evening, The West Wind '.
Kate of Aberdeen. London: Ewer & Co., 1864.
Listening. London: Novello, Ewer & Co., 1868.
The Maiden's Suspense. London, 1870.
The Tree's Early Leaflets. London: Lamborn, Cock & Co., 1870.
For Rosabelle. London: Lamborn, Cock & Co., 1871.
Church music
Mass of St John for chorus and organ. London: Burns, Oates & Co., 1869.
Mass for Two Voice Parts and Organ, London: Novello & Co., 1903.
Regina Coeli, A Marian Antiphon in 4 parts, London: Cary and Co., No. 715, before 1898
Recordings
Arthur O'Leary: Piano Music from the Victorian Age, performed by Anthony Byrne, GDD 001. Contains : Scène rustique, Twilight Shadows , Waving Ferns op. 23/1, Barcarolle, Fleurs et pleurs op. 9, Pastorale op. 13, Minuet in B flat op. 11, Fête rustique op. 8, Les Pèlerins op. 23/5, Zwei Clavierstücke op. 2, Rondo grazioso op. 1, Valse heureuse.
Fallen Leaves from an Irish Album, performed by Una Hunt, . Contains: Valse heureuse.
