Limerick Choral
Union was established in 1964 so that Limerick would
have a choir to accompany the Radio Eireann Orchestra
on its visits to the city and with the aim of bringing
the best of choral music to Limerick. This initiative
emanated from the Limerick Symphony Concerts Society
and Radio Eireann and among those involved in the foundation
of the Choral Union were its first Musical Director
and Choir Master, Fr. Oliver O’Brien, S.J., Tibor
Paul, distinguished Chief Conductor of the Radio Eireann
Orchestra, Mrs. Frances Condell, Mayor of Limerick and
the late Michael Allott, first honorary Life President
of Limerick Choral Union.
Limerick Choral Union was in fact one of the first
manifestations of Ecumenism in the Mid-West and its
inaugural meeting brought together singers from church
choirs of all denominations in Limerick and surrounding
areas, and indeed the enthusiasm and support of Bishop
Wyse Jackson of the clergy of St Mary’s Cathedral
was invaluable in the launching of Limerick Choral Union
with a gala performance of Mozart’s Requiem in
the Cathedral on the 4th of May 1964 with Tibor Paul
conducting, Soloists on that occasion were Veronica
Dunne and Bernadette Greevy, and among the sopranos
in the choir was the young Suzanne Murphy, who has since
won such distinction in the world of international opera.
Some of Limerick Choral Union’s founding members
are still associated with it, among them Patrick Wallace,
twin brothers and long serving committee members, Phil
and Tim Madden, Helen Allott, Mary McGrath and Margaret
Murphy. True to its founding aim, Limerick Choral Union
has performed many of the major choral works. Its courage
and initiative in taking on the challenges of great
choral works, several receiving their first Irish performances,
has been one of the hallmarks of Limerick Choral Union
and the excellence of superb first performances in Ireland
of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, the great Mass
in D (1967), Janacek’s renowned Glagolithic Mass
(1968) and Haydn’s Missa Sancti Bernardi (1978)
has been widely recognised.
Tibor Paul was a great inspirational force, and many
of the Choral Union’s performances then, and since,
have been broadcast. At his farewell concert in a packed
Savoy Cinema in 1967 following a standing ovation for
L.C.U’s performance of the Missa Solemnis, he
paid tribute to the Choral Union as the best amateur
choir he had ever conducted, emphasising its superbly
innovative spirit, when he pointed out that for five
years he had tried to persuade many of the Dublin choirs
to perform this work, considered to be the greatest
challenge to any choir, but to no avail. Limerick Choral
Union also made history by being the first choral group,
with whom the RTE Singers had performed (in the Glagolithic
Mass).
In the years following Tibor Paul’s departure
from Ireland, the Choral Union performed with conductors
of both national and international renown, including
Ludovit Faijter (Czechoslovakia), Rene Liebowitz (Poland),
Christopher Adey (England), James Furst (with the Ulster
Orchestra), Colman Pearce, Andre Prieur, Professor Aloys
Fleischmann and Albert Rosen.
From 1975 onwards, Limerick Choral Union was fortunate
to work in close and fruitful association with Dr. Hans
Waldermar Rosen, as Musical Director and Conductor.
This was an especially rich period in the life of Limerick
Choral Union, marked by memorable performances –
some legendary – of great works like: Bruckner’s
Mass in F Minor, Haydn’s Missa Sanch Bernardi,
Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio,
the Missa Brevis Sancti Joannes de Deo. The Limerick
Choral Union paid tribute to their great and inspirational
mentor in an 80th Birthday Concert, and their rich and
harmonious partnership culminated in the Limerick Choral
Union’s Coming of Age Concert, of works by Bach,
Handel & Britten. It paid tribute to him by joining
in a Memorial Concert in Kenmare in 1995 (following
his death in his ninetieth year in April 1994), which
was attended by his daughter Jutta, who had travelled
from Cologne for the occasion.
Limerick Choral Union later worked with Liam Fitzgerald
(and the Dublin Baroque Orchestra) and Clem Garvey,
who brought the young Non Nobis Domine singers to perform
with the Limerick Choral Union. Other great joint ventures
were performances with the Monks of Glenstal Abbey,
in works like Palestrina’s Latin Mass, Assumpta
Est Maria.
Some of the best-remembered performances of Limerick
Choral Union marked great moments in the history of
music, and celebrated key moments in the life of Limerick,
and other Irish cities, as well as in its own history.
Among these was the performance of the Missa Solemnis
to mark the 200th Anniversary of Beethoven’s birth,
Schubert’s Mass in C in his anniversary year 1997
and a salute to Mozart Concert in 1991.
Historic events celebrated were the 1996 Commemorative
Concert (1916), the Sieges of Limerick Concert (1991),
and Limerick 800 with its first concert in the University
Concert Hall in December 1997. Its twenty-first Birthday
coincided with European Music Year, celebrated by Limerick
Choral union in works by J. Bach and Handel, while its
Silver Jubilee Concert was a superb concert of Tchaikovski,
Elgar, Kodaly, and fittingly, Haydn’s Te Deum,
conducted by Clem Garvey.
Limerick Choral Union has attracted many top soloists
over the years, including Bernadette Greevy, Veronica
Dunne, Jennifer Vivian, Mary Sheridan de Bruin, Mattiwalda
Dobbs, Franzita Whelan, Cara O’Sullivan and
Limerick Choral Union’s outstanding soprano Rene
Madden. Male soloists have included Frank Patterson,
Finbarr Wright, Stephen O’Shea, Harry Howes, William
Young, Paddy Ring, Joe Dalton and Seamus O’Reilly.
Handel’s Messiah, has, as might be expected enjoyed
a special place in the repertoire of the Limerick Choral
Union. In the seventies it performed Messiah in Advent
each year, with Dr. Hans Rosen conducting the R.T.E.
Symphony Orchestra, and later the Dublin Baroque Players,
The Ulster Orchestra & the Testore Chamber Orchestra.
A memorable “Messiah” was that of 1980 when
Limerick Choral Union joined forces with Kerry Choral
Union, performing in both Limerick and Tralee.
Limerick Choral Union was invited to perform Messiah
in St. Canice’s, Kilkenny in 1985 to commemorate
the anniversary of the foundation of the Cathedral in
1285 and while that of 1990 in St Mary’s Cathedral
Limerick, was in aid of its Restoration Fund. “
Messiah For All” at Dublin’s Point Theatre,
an event organised by The Gay Byrne Show to help Goal
& Concern fight famine in Somalia was a highlight
of 1992. A special performance of Handel’s Messiah
also, was that in St. John’s Cathedral in 1994
as part of the Centenary celebrations of the Consecration
of St. John’s. The Choral Union also marked the
250th Anniversary of the first performance of “Messiah”
in an ecclesiastical building, when they were invited
to join in the “Messiah For All” in St.
Finbarr’s Cathedral Cork.
Recent years have seen a resurgence of spirit in Limerick
Choral Union. The nineties proved a time of significant
growth and consolidation in its development. A special
concert was one to celebrate the centenary of St. Joseph’s
Church (venue for so many years of its concerts) when
the Choral Union performed Schubert’s Mass in
G. In the second half of the decade, guided by a buoyant
and dynamic committee, and led by its gifted and dedicated
Musical Director, Malcolm Green, Limerick Choral Union
presented a series of critically applauded concerts,
both from its long-established, and newly expanded,
repertoires. These included a striking performance of
Faure’s Requiem – aptly with a French choir,
The Vent d’Est Singers from Paris, in St. Joseph’s
Church, April 1997, and, memorably Schubert’s
Mass in C, the first of Limerick Choral Union’s
performances in Limerick’s University Concert
Hall in December 1997. The highlight of 1998 was a much-acclaimed
Christmas performance of Handel’s “Messiah”
at University Concert Hall, following a rich Summer
concert of music by Mozart, Vivaldi, Schubert, Orff
and Faure. In its spring concert of 1999 Limerick Choral
Union performed Stainer’s “Crucifixion”
and Faure’s “Requiem” in St Joseph’s
Church. Their annual Christmas concert of Seasonal and
Messiah Highlights at University Concert Hall, included
works by Purcell and Mozart and a very well received
rendition of “When Icicles Hang by the Wall”
by John Rutter, new to many in the audience.
Limerick Choral Union marked the Millennium firstly
with a celebratory – Easter – performance
of Haydn’s Creation. The first performance of
this great work in Limerick in more than 50 years, they
were joined by an English choir, the Marlow Singers.
Again in December 2000, at the Limerick University Concert
Hall, in a very special joint Millennium Celebration
with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, in a concert of music
by Vivaldi, including a spirited performance of his
“Gloria”.
In the new Millennium the Choral Union has gone from
strength to strength, with growing members and emerging
talents, as well as expanding and enthusiastic audiences.
A high note in the long musical history of Limerick
Choral Union was struck on Good Friday, 13th April,
2001, with a triumphal rendering of Mozart’s “Requiem”
for which the University Concert Hall was sold out.
This again was the case for it’s performance of
Handel’s Messiah at Christmas 2001, acclaimed
by many as it’s most inspired interpretation to
date, of that great work.
In 2002, with undiminished ardour and freshness, the
Limerick Choral Union further extended its wide repertoire,
with its first performance of Cherubini’s “Requiem”.
Affording its loyal audience an opportunity to hear
a rarely performed but very beautiful work, one much
admired by other composers, among them Schumann, and
in particular, Beethoven, who was a contemporary of
Cherubini. At his own request, the Requiem which he
so admired was played at Beethoven’s funeral.
His admiration for this work inspired the inclusion
of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto in the programme,
while Cherubini’s many years living and working
in France are acknowledged in the choice of the music
of Saint-Saens.
On Good Friday, 2003 in the University Concert Hall
in Limerick, Limerick Choral Union joined forces with
the Mary Immaculate College Choral Society, under the
guest direction of Dr. Gareth Cox, to present the first
complete performance in Limerick of Mendelssohn's Elijah.