Cathal Gannon

Cathal Gannon in his workshop

Cathal Gannon (1 August, 1910 - 23 May, 1999), was an Irish harpsichord maker, a fortepiano restorer and an amateur horologist.

Beginnings and education

Gannon was born in Dublin, Ireland, into a working-class family of carpenters, many of whom worked in the famous Guinness Brewery. His education, in two local schools, was rudimentary and at the age of fifteen he started working as an apprentice carpenter in the Brewery. His apprenticeship involved learning to make office furniture and attending evening classes in nearby colleges, where he was able to improve his education in a more congenial atmosphere. A love of music and the arts had been encouraged by two maiden aunts – his parents subsequently bought an upright piano and he learned to play it at the Read Pianoforte School – and consequently, when his apprenticeship was completed and he was on the dole for some years, he spent much of his spare time buying pictures, books, antiques and old clocks and watches in the various auction rooms and antique shops in Dublin city centre, most of which are now all gone. He also read voraciously.

Societies and acquaintances

During the mid 1930s, Gannon became a member of several Dublin-based societies, most notably the Old Dublin Society, and there befriended well-known people such as Professor Kevin B. Nowlan of University College Dublin (then just a teenager) and Grace Plunkett (née Gifford), the widow of Joseph Mary Plunkett (who had been executed after the Easter Rising of 1916).[1] At around this time, Cathal was also introduced to Carl Hardebeck, a noted arranger of Irish traditional music.[2] At a later stage in Cathal’s life, he met the Hon. Desmond Guinness and his wife Mariga, founders of the Irish Georgian Society, which he subsequently joined. [3]

Harpsichords

Gannon’s interest in harpsichords began in an unusual way. Whilst reading a series of articles about Tibet in a magazine, he stumbled across an article, which, he believed, was by Violet Gordon Woodhouse, a famous British harpsichordist and clavichord player of the period.[4] The article was about the revival of the harpsichord, which interested young Cathal greatly. He asked permission to examine the harpsichords on display in the National Museum, Dublin, but was given no encouragement by the staff, who regarded the fourteen-year-old boy as a nuisance.[5] He was finally allowed to see the instruments when he was in his early twenties. Dismayed, he concluded that they were too expensive to buy and too complicated to make.

Whilst on holidays in Glengarriff in the West of Ireland during August, 1936, Cathal met his future wife, Margaret Key from Harrow in London; they married in 1942.

Cathal seated at his first harpsichord, completed in 1952.

In London with Margaret, who was visiting her parents, Cathal went to the Benton Fletcher collection of keyboard instruments, which was then in Chelsea, and measured a harpsichord by Jacob and Abraham Kirckman (1777) that had taken his fancy.[6] Back home, he managed to make a copy of the instrument in a tiny conservatory at the back of his house, in the Dublin suburb of Rialto. The harpsichord was played by John Beckett for the first time in public in 1959 as the continuo for Bach's 'Saint Matthew Passion' and was praised in the national press. John subsequently persuaded the authorities in the Guinness Brewery to provide Cathal with a special workshop, in which he made five harpsichords and restored several antique pianos. The first harpsichord made in the Brewery was donated to the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, the second was sold to Harrods of London and the third was sold to Ireland's national radio and television station, RTÉ. This third instrument was used regularly by the RTÉ Symphony and Concert orchestras and also by the well-known composer and performer of Irish traditional music, Seán Ó Riada.

Retirement and hobbies

Cathal’s Brewery career, which was enlivened by the colourful characters he encountered and the pranks he played on them, came to an end when he retired in 1970. He continued to make many more harpsichords and restore more pianos during the years to come. In all, he completed 20 harpsichords during his lifetime – the final four were completed by a friend, Patrick Horsley, in England. One of the harpsichords made by Gannon-Horsley returned to Ireland and was presented to NUI Maynooth. A piano of note that Cathal restored was a Broadwood square piano owned by the poet and composer, Thomas Moore, which belonged to Lord and Lady Elveden (later Iveagh).

Cathal was the subject of several RTÉ radio programmes, three RTÉ television programmes (including The Late Late Show) and a television programme made by BBC Northern Ireland. He befriended a great many people, including the artist, writer and consevationist, Peter Pearson, and regualr musical evenings were held at the family home, in Bryan Guinness's grounds in the suburbs of Dublin. Because of his interest in antique clocks and watches, he became a much-respected member of the Irish branch of the Antiquarian Horological Society, founded by his friend William Stuart.[7]

Honorary degrees

In 1978, Trinity College Dublin gave Cathal an honorary MA degree for his contribution to the authentic performance of early music in Ireland. Two years later, Cathal was invited to travel with the New Irish Chamber Orchestra to China, where he tuned and maintained one of his harpsichords and celebrated his seventieth birthday. In 1989, a second honorary MA was given to him, this time by NUI Maynooth.

Decline

Following his 80th birthday, which was attended by fifty people and celebrated in style, Cathal finally took things easy and settled down to proper retirement. A series of minor strokes followed, which eventually led to dementia and ultimately to his death, aged 88, in May, 1999.

Information and References

The Cathal Gannon Early Music Room was opened in the Royal Irish Academy of Music in May, 2003. It contains a harpsichord and clavichord made by Cathal, a Broadwood grand piano restored by him, a square piano and information about Mr Gannon and his career.

Entries dedicated to Cathal Gannon can be found in the books by Al Byrne and W. J. Zuckermann mentioned below and there are many references to his long friendship with Grace Gifford Plunkett in Marie O'Neill's book, also mentioned below.

Part of a recently transmitted RTÉ programme, Nationwide (17 January, 2007), featured archive footage of Cathal and his instruments.[8]

Three RTÉ radio programmes, Bowman: Sunday Morning, broadcast on 12 November, 19 November and 26 November, 2006, feature a 1983 interview with Cathal.[9]

Further reading

• Gannon, Charles: Cathal Gannon - The Life and Times of a Dublin Craftsman, Lilliput Press, 2006, ISBN 1-84351-086-3. [10][11]
• Byrne, Al: Guinness Times – My days in the world’s most famous brewery (Town House, Dublin, 1999)
• Zuckermann, Wolfgang Joachim: The Modern Harpsichord (Peter Owen, London, 1970)
• O'Neill, Marie: Grace Gifford Plunkett and Irish Freedom - Tragic Bride of 1916 (Irish Academic Press, Dublin & Portland, OR, 2000)
• Douglas-Home, Jessica: Violet - The Life and Loves of Violet Gordon Woodhouse (The Harvill Press, London, 1996)