Richard Connolly (composer)

Richard Connolly

Richard Connolly, March 2003
Background information
Born 1927 (Age 87)
Genres Christian

Richard Connolly (born 1927) is an Australian musician, composer and former broadcaster for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). His published and performed works allow him to be counted as among Australia's most prolific composers of Roman Catholic church music[1][2] particularly with regard to the hymns he composed for the Catholic Church in Australia, and which are now published and used inter-denominationally. He is noted for his collaborations with Australian poet James McAuley. His compositions have been successful internationally, both in the Christian field and in the secular field.[2] His hymns have been composed to accommodate and adorn the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Biography

From 1946 to 1950, Connolly pursued theological studies for the priesthood in Rome. A few months before his ordination, he abandoned his studies and returned to Australia, where he completed an Arts degree from the Sydney University. At that time, Connolly was a member of the Holy Spirit parish at North Ryde.[3] In 1955, he was introduced to McAuley by Fr Ted Kennedy. Kennedy asked Connolly to compose hymns to sing at various points during the mass.[4] Thus began a long-standing partnership between McAuley and Connolly. Their subsequent musical collaboration during the 1950s and 1960s contributed significantly to the contemporary Australian hymnody.[5] Their compositions were first released in a collection titled Hymns for the Year of Grace in 1963. In 1960 Connoly's work had anchored the Living Parish hymnbook, edited by Tony Newman and published by a group gathered around Roger Pryke, which would sell one million copies over the next decade, enabling congregations to sing hymns in a distinctively Australian voice. Many of the hymns published in both collections are still widely sung across all Christian denominations in Australia and abroad.[5]

In 1956, Connolly had joined the ABC, and by 1960 had gone to work in the ABC Education department, working mainly in Schools Broadcasts. In 1967 he joined the Radio Drama and Features Department, becoming Features Editor. In 1971 he undertook a Churchill fellowship in Italy, Radio France, Bayerischer Rundfunk, and spent several months working in the BBC's radio drama script unit.[6] During this time, he also composed music for the BBC TV series, The British Empire. He returned to Australia and was appointed Head of Radio Drama and Features.

He composed music for the first Australian visit of a pope, Pope Paul VI at both Randwick and at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, in particular for this occasion he composed a "papal entry and march" version of Psalm 85.

Back in 1844, the bishops of Australia had chosen the Virgin Mary, under the title "Help of Christians" as patroness for the Australian nation, and the words are nationalistically resonant for Australian Catholics. While personally remaining largely aloof from in-house Catholic politics, Connolly's setting of these words in his hymn "Help of Christians, Guard this Land" became the battle hymn of the Catholic Right in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s.

In December 2009, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts by the University of Notre Dame Australia in recognition of his "extraordinary contributions to Catholic liturgical music in Australia". In his acceptance speech he said that the hymns he had made with James McAuley were "the centrepiece of my liturgical work and, of all the things that I have made, apart from my family, the best".

Contributions

Hymnody

A few of his hymn tunes have particularly Australian names. Connolly's tunes include (but are not limited to) the following:

Service music

Secular music

References

  1. ↑ Featured Interview:Richard Connolly, ABC Sunday nights, 22 June 2003. Accessed 22 June 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 Featured Interview:Richard Connolly, ABC Sunday nights, 22 June 2003. Accessed 22 June 2007.
  3. ↑ cf. Australasian Catholic RecordOctober 1995
  4. ↑ cf. Fr Edmund Campion's online article in Catalyst for Renewal
  5. 1 2 HYMNS OF GLORY: for Palm Sunday from Parramatta Catholic Cathedral, Sunday Morning – ABC TV Religion. Accessed 22 June 2007.
  6. ↑ List of Fellows, 1971.Winston Churchill Memorial Trust website. Accessed 22 June 2007.

External links

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