10th December 2002

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Northern Ireland’s classical composers – unlike virtually every other section of the arts community here – have avoided the Troubles of the last 30 years as a source of inspiration for their work, according to research from the University of Ulster.

Hilary Bracefield, senior lecturer at the UU’s school of Media and Performing Arts, said the composers are only now beginning to address the conflict after the violence has largely ended.

She added: “Composers from other countries might envy the Northern Ireland musician for living through a period which offers the possibility of ready-made material. The stance of the composers from the province, however, suggests a blanking out of the conflict, as in common with many of their fellow citizens.”

At best local composers only made oblique references to the conflict or modern politics in their works. One, Kevin O’Connell, who was commissioned to write a piece commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Siege of Derry, based his work on a Polish poem about an ancient siege. “Without finding that poem I am not sure that he would have completed the commission”, Mrs Bracefield commented.

She studied the work of eight composers who all grew up during the Troubles and who have gone on to national or international success.

She noted that their passion for music distanced them to an extent from other children and other pursuits and while some had direct memories of violence none felt their early lives were greatly affected by the conflict.

“They first really confronted their nationality when they moved from the province for further studies or performances. While it may have made them discuss and question the politics of the place they came from, perhaps for the first time, it did not necessarily inspire them to want to write music about the conflict,” she added.

“Perhaps the peculiar nature of the Northern Ireland Troubles has inhibited Northern Ireland composers from writing directly about them. But this has not been so for other artists.

“To some extent composers have felt that the time was not right for serious music to confront the problem. The most abstract of all the arts perhaps needs time or distance to make its statements. If peace has really come, then the composer can reflect on what the conflict was all about. Those few pieces that suggest this so far have largely appeared after the first ceasefire in 1995.”

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