Anthony Glavin

Anthony Glavin(7 August 1945 – 14 November 2006) was anIrishpoetand professor of music at theRoyal Irish Academy of Music.

Biography

Anthony Glavin was born inDublinto Kathleen and James J. Glavin. His father fought in theWar of Independenceand later went on to work for theIrish Sugar Companyuntil he retired in 1971. Glavin was educated at theO'Connell Schoolin Dublin where he excelled atdramaandmusic,eventually studying at theRoyal Irish Academy of MusicwhereDina Copemanwas his tutor.

After leaving school, Glavin studied atUniversity College Dublin(UCD) andTrinity College, Dublin.In 1963, during his first year at UCD, he was approached by the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society and played Jack Point inThe Gaiety's production ofThe Yeomen of the Guard.He took over from Harry Crawley as auditor of theLiterary and Historical Society.During this period he was also active in the UCD drama society, Dramsoc.

Glavin received hislicentiatefrom the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) and joined the staff there in 1969. During the 1980s he served on the RIAM Board of Governors. Many of his students went on to become distinguished singers, teachers and musicians such asPeter Tuite,who won the European Musician of the Year Award; also Sarah, John and Michelle Picardo, Niamh McGarry and Robin Tritschler. He died at the Mater Hospital, Dublin, after many years of suffering with emphysema.On the day of his funeral the RIAM held a half-day of mourning and a one-minute silence.

Poetry

Glavin began publishing poetry and reviews while at university. His poetry appeared in numerous newspapers and journals and was first anthologised inIrish Poets 1924–74,edited byDavid Marcus.Anthony received thePatrick Kavanagh Poetry Awardin 1987 and his poetry collection,The Wrong Side of the Alps,was published byThe Gallery Pressin 1989.The following year he received anArts Councilbursary and his collection was shortlisted for theIrish Book Awards.ReviewingThe Wrong Side of the AlpsforBooks Ireland,Fred Johnstonwrote that "it is a fine, meticulous book" and "there is, to quote Glavin himself, 'a weightless perfection' about most of these poems."

Glavin's work of half a lifetime was the ambitious sequence of four-line poems, originally titledLiving In Hiroshima.Anthony was haunted by the fact that his birthdate, 7 August 1945 (a Bank Holiday in Ireland), was just one day afterLittle Boywas dropped onHiroshima;that his coming into the world coincided with an event that abruptly altered the world's "historical velocity." As the title of the first poem in the sequence (taken from aTimearticle in 1985) puts it: "Everybody lives in Hiroshima." When Anthony received his Arts Council bursary in 1990, his intention was to travel toJapan,to visit Hiroshima andNagasakiand supplement his extensive research with actual experience.

Writings

• The Wrong Side of the Alps(Dublin: The Gallery Press, 1989)