Dr John F. Larchet was born in Sandymount, Dublin, into a musical family in 1884. He was educated at the Catholic University School and at TCD. He studied under Michele Esposito MusD (TCD) RIAM, senior Vice-President and professor at the RIAM. He was a prominent member of the musical profession in Dublin for over forty years. He was senior professor at the Royal Irish Academy of Music from 1920, professor of music at University College Dublin from 1921 to 1958 and Director of music at the Abbey Theatre for nearly thirty years. As director of music examinations in secondary schools, he did much to raise standards of teaching. He was music advisor to the Irish army from 1923, and first President of the Dublin Grand Opera Society. He was awarded Hon. D.Mus (NUl) in 1953, and decorated with the order of Commendatore of the Italian Republic in 1958. As a composer, he is remembered for his adaptations of folk music. He died in Dublin in 1967.
The choice of Dr Larchet as president could hardly be bettered. By now he was a household name in Irish music: composer, arranger, advisor and teacher. In his mid-fifties, he was slight of build, sharp featured and his urbane, gentle manner made him genial company. And as a front-of-house man in the Gaiety foyer on gala operatic occasions he would present the right image for the society. His knowledge was extensive and embraced not only all aspects of music but Irish history, French literature and art. As a composer he liked to describe himself as ‘a miniaturist’ and hoped his compositions would epitomise the Irish spirit. His name would be always associated in later years with “Padraic the Fiddler” and “By the Waters of Moyle “. That he hadn’t as yet attempted an opera was a source of disappointment as his songs and song arrangements reflected his appreciation of vocal technique and expressiveness. His interest in opera was summed up in his own words: ‘Among all branches of great music, opera makes the widest appeal.’
In conversation, as well as in print, he sometimes recalled the Italian operatic tradition in Dublin and dated its development from the late 1770s onwards when the annual Italian season became an important cultural feature in the life of the city. Every renowned singer of the 19th century was heard, including Jenny Lind, Adelina Patti, Giulia Grisi and Catherine Hayes, the Limerick-born coloratura. And he went on to describe the kind of excitement their appearances generated. ‘After the performance the diva, in her carriage would be escorted from the stage-door to her hotel by a large procession, the horses having been removed, some male members of the crowd drawing the carriage. The diva would then appear on the balcony or at an open window of the hotel and sing a song to a crowded street.’
Since becoming DGOS’s first president he had privately expressed the hope that opera-going in Dublin would again become a memorable social occasion marked by colourful gala nights, post-opera parties and suppers. He was realist enough to accept that divas could no longer be expected to serenade their admirers from the windows of the Gresham or Shelbourne hotels. In his own home, 8 St Mary’s Road, Ballsbridge, he and his wife Madeleine loved to entertain singers and musicians and relive concert or operatic performances. They regarded it as all part of the city’s musical scenario, nothing at all elitist.
‘Music was the life and soul of our house,’ recalls Gerard Larchet. Musicians were invited in all the time, Irish and foreign. I remember nights when we had people like Paul Tortelier, Arnold Bax, Constance Lambert and there was lively chat over a glass of wine or whiskey. My father was a good mixer and a great raconteur and a charming host, as was my mother who enjoyed herself as much as the others.’
The gangling playwright Lennox Robinson was a frequent visitor to No 8, for his and Dr Larchet’s friendship dated back to the latter’s days when he conducted the small Abbey Theatre orchestra that entertained playgoers at the intervals. To Gerard Larchet, this was an important period in his father’s career and in later years, he talked about his meetings with Yeats, Lady Gregory the Fay brothers Frank and Willie, and actors FJ McCormick, Michael Dolan and Sara Allgood. ‘He used to take pride in the fact that he saw history being made, I mean the trouble over O’Casey’s “Plough and the Stars” and even earlier, the riots over “The Playboy of the Western World”. I’m sure that my father and Lennox Robinson sometimes discussed them.’
Looking back, he says his father was incredibly industrious as he divided his time between UCD, writing songs, arranging others, radio commitments and directing music examinations in secondary schools. He managed even an Obbligato for Fritz Kreisler which the violinist acknowledged. He later was to wonder how on earth his father would find the time to preside over DGOS management meetings and involving himself in the spring and winter seasons. Fortunately he enjoyed good health and had boundless energy.
Maybe the fact that Dr Larchet had French ancestry was a contributing factor. His grandfather had come from France to manage a gaming club in Dublin and was so successful that he went on to open his own hotel in Dame Street, Larchet’s Hotel, which he ran with his Dublin-born wife. Young John Larchet grew up in this unusual atmosphere and would say later, ‘Although my parents didn’t appreciate my burning desire to be a musician, they never tried to stop me. I had no interest in hotel business and I remember from the age of seven I was captivated by music.’
Hc was educated by the Marist Fathers at Catholic University School, Leeson Street, and later became a pupil of the distinguished Italian musician Michele Esposito at RIAM, studying piano and composition. A gifted pupil, he gathered degrees with exemplary ease. And he was subsequently acknowledged as a brilliant teacher. He met his wife-to-be, Madeleine Moore, when she also was a student of Esposito and they were married in 1913. ‘It was a wonderful partnership, artistically and otherwise,’ recalls Sheila Larchet. ‘My mother became a staff teacher in the academy and taught violin. She also was an outstanding accompanist.’
‘It was my mother who organised everything for my father,’ said Gerard Larchet. ‘She had this extraordinary combination of artistic and business acumen. She told him who he was every day as he could get completely lost in the music.’
Predictably, the Larchet children began to study music and followed their father’s advice as to the instruments they should choose. Sheila became an orchestral harpist, Maire followed suit as a violinist and their brother Gerard qualified as a French horn player but later decided to become an engineer.
Later on both he and Sheila were surprised by how their father and Bill O’Kelly struck up such an easy rapport particularly as they were characteristically different. My father regarded O’Kelly as a great organiser and motivator of people,’ said Miss Larchet, ‘and together with conductor Jim Doyle they chose the operas for the society. Sometimes they came to our house for talks.
(Extracted from “Love and Music: The Glorious History of the Dublin Grand Opera Society” by Gus Smith, 1998)
Opera in Ireland 