Aloys Fleischmann

Fleischmann worked between 1910 and 1992 across conductor, musicologist, choir director, composer and professor and 2 further recorded occupations. The registers place that work in classical music. This article rests on 7 catalogued compositions, 3 published texts, 1 issued recordings and 10 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

Fleischmann was born in Munich to Ireland-based German parents. Both were musicians, both graduates of the Royal Academy of Music in Munich. His father, Aloys Fleischmann senior of Dachau, organist and choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. Mary and St Anne, Cork and his mother, Tilly Fleischmann née Swertz (1882–1967), born in Cork to German parents, pianist and piano teacher. Fleischmann was educated in Scoil Íte, the school founded by Terence MacSwiney's sisters in 1916, in Christian Brothers College, Cork, and in St Finbarr's College, Farranferris. He graduated from University College Cork with a BA in 1930, was awarded the BMus in 1931, an MA in 1932, and a doctorate in music (DMus) from the National University of Ireland in 1963. In 1932, he went on to study composition, conducting and musicology at the Academy of Music and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München under Joseph Haas.

Fleischmann returned to University College Cork in 1934; he held the position of professor of music there until 1980. When Fleischmann took up his post in 1934, the condition of music in Ireland was lamentable. Music was rarely taught in schools, there were hardly any music students, and no professional ensembles in the country except one radio orchestra in Dublin consisting of seven players. He set out on a series of campaigns which he pursued throughout his career to establish music as part of people's lives both in education and in the community. A fluent speaker of Irish and a scholar of Irish folk music, Fleischmann sought in his compositions to create a specifically Irish form of art music as previous generations had done for literature and painting. In this he was influenced by his parents’ friends Carl Hardebeck, Arnold Bax, Herbert Hughes, Daniel Corkery. As conductor of the Cork Symphony and Radio Éireann Orchestras he performed works by contemporary Irish composers as often as possible and introduced the commissioning of new works for the Cork International Choral Festival by Irish and foreign composers. In his honour The Fleischmann Choir was given its name, their first performance was a programme of his music at the 40th anniversary of the festival in 1993. He spent over forty years doing research for his magnum opus Sources of Irish Traditional Music. He was assisted by Seán Ó Riada and later by Micheál Ó Súilleabháin of the University of Limerick, who did the final editing. The work was published posthumously in 1998 by Garland in New York and launched in University College Cork on 8 January 1999 by President McAleese. An e-book version of the Sources was published by Routledge on 5 December 2016.

Fleischmann received many honours for his service to his art, among them the Honorary Doctorate of Music from Trinity College Dublin (1964), the Order of Merit of the German government (1966), the Silver Medal of the Irish American Cultural Institute (1976), and the Freedom of the City of Cork (1978). He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 1991, and in the same year was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Royal Dublin Society.

In 1941, Fleischmann and Anne Madden of Cork married; they had five children and six grandchildren.

In 2010 the centenary of Fleischmann's birth was commemorated. The celebrations took place under the auspices of Cork City Council, a committee chaired by Dr Máirín Quill organising the celebrations. Patrons were Micheál Martin, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Michael Murphy, President of University College Cork, and Joseph Gavin, City Manager. The year was opened by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. 145 organisations put on 225 events in the four provinces of Ireland and in five countries outside: Britain, France, Germany, China, and the United States.

• 1931 Founding of the University Art Society • 1934 Founding of the Cork Symphony Orchestra • 1934–1992 Conductor of the Cork Symphony Orchestra • 1935 Founder Music Teachers' Association Cork • 1935–1988 Chairman Music Teachers' Association • 1936–1977 Guest conductor of Radio Éireann orchestra • 1938 Founding of the Cork Orchestral Society • 1938–1992 Chairman Cork Orchestral Society • 1938 and 1939 Summer courses in Music at University College Cork • 1943 Founder and conductor of the University Choral Society • 1943 and 1951 Lectures to the Cork Literary & Scientific Society • 1943–1947 Lectures to the Royal Dublin Society • 1944–1960 Extension lectures University College Cork • 1945–1953 Member of the Radio Éireann Broadcasting Advisory Committee • 1947 Summer course in Plainchant at University College Cork • 1947–1992 Member of the Board of the Cork Ballet Company • 1952–1954 Member of Music Panel of the Arts Council of Ireland • 1952–1954 Member of the Cork Tóstal Council • 1953–1966 Chairman of the Cork International Choral Festival • 1955–1963 On Advisory Committee for Cultural Relations to the Department of Foreign Affairs • 1959–1965 Member of the Board of the Irish Theatre Ballet Company • 1958–1975 advisory board member of the Lady Dorothy Mayer Fund • 1961–1985 Chairman Cork Sculpture Park Committee • 1961–1989 Member of the Irish National Commission to UNESCO • 1964–1992 Member of Musical Advisory Committee to the Irish Episcopal Commission of Liturgy • 1966–1992 Member of the Royal Irish Academy • 1967–1987 Director Cork International Choral Festival • 1967–1987 Adjudication at international choral festivals • 1973–1985 Vice-chairman Board Irish Ballet Company/ Irish National Ballet • 1981 American lecture tour with Seoirse Bodley and Gerard Victory • 1981–1992 Founding member of Aosdána, the affiliation of creative artists in Ireland

Aloys Fleischmann was born on 13 April 1910 in Munich. Fleischmann held the nationality of Ireland. Fleischmann was educated at University College Cork and Christian Brothers College, Cork. Recorded father: Aloys Fleischmann. Recorded mother: Tilly Fleischmann. Fleischmann worked as conductor, musicologist, choir director and composer, and the authority record catalogues a further 3 occupations under the same name, among them professor, music teacher and university teacher. The fields Fleischmann worked in include classical music. Fleischmann worked in English, Irish and German.