Finn Georg O’Lochlainn B.Mus, B.A., H.D.E. (b. 9 February 1921 – d. 21 December 1991) was appointed as College of Music librarian in 1969, with “ten hours be devoted to Library duties and that this time be taken off Mr O Lochlainn’s teaching time” in piano and composition. He was elected Chairman of the Teachers’ Council in 1975.
The collection comprises mostly nineteenth-century piano scores: some of Irish origin, some with beautifully coloured lithographic covers and some European military music (national anthems and war songs). The collection also contains some nineteenth-century Irish vocal and choral music.
Within the collection is featured a score for Three Irish melodies : for violoncello or violin and pianoforte / arranged by Eileen and William Reidy. The score is inscribed: "I loved these. You played them splendidly. Your friend, John McCormack. 12th Aug. 1925". Both Eileen and William Reidy were teachers at the College of Music: Eileen taught piano c.1915 and William (or Willie) taught violoncello c.1952 and was school librarian from 1959, preceding Finn O Lochlainn in the position. Professor Gerard Gillen remembers William as a ‘tall, gentlemanly, Victorian figure’. Brighid Mooney recalls that he was ‘tall and thin and he wore rimless glasses. He was quiet-spoken, very gentle and encouraging. He told me that policemen frequently saluted him; mistaking him for Éamonn de Valera” (Jim Cooke: Colaiste an Cheoil College of Music: A Musical Journey 1890 – 1993, 1994). Eileen Reidy accompanied John McCormack and James Joyce in concert in 1904, famously leaving mid-concert; Joyce fictionalized the event in ‘The Mother’ in the Dubliners (http://jamesjoyce.ie/on-this-day-27-august/).
For a full catalogue of the O'Lochlainn collection, see here.
