Old Glynn
Old
Glynn
In Brief
In Lotus Eaters and again in Sirens, Bloom
thinks of "Old Glynn" who once played the organ in St. Xavier's church,
appreciating his skill at making it "talk" and marveling that
he was paid the handsome salary of fifty pounds a year. John
M. Glynn (1834-1893) was a keyboardist of real distinction. He
took the job at the Gardiner Street church in 1887.
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In a short article in Dublin James Joyce Journal 2
(2009): 143-46 and again in her book The Real People of
Joyce's Ulysses (2016), Vivien Igoe reports considerable
biographical information about John Glynn, who was previously
unknown to Joyceans. Born and educated in Dublin, he took an
appointment at St. Peter's church in Drogheda before returning
to Dublin and successively holding positions at five or six
churches there. He also worked as "professor of music in many
of the most important schools and convents in Dublin,"
evaluated student performances on piano and organ, led choirs,
composed numerous works of sacred and secular music, and
organized concerts and festivals. Igoe writes that "As an
organist Glynn had few equals. He was a gentleman of a most
kind and genial disposition, affable manners, and possessed a
ready wit."
In Sirens Bloom imagines what the organist's days
must have been like: "Queer up there in the cockloft, alone,
with stops and locks and keys. Seated all day at the organ.
Maunder on for hours, talking to himself or the other fellow
blowing the bellows." This intimacy must be judged imaginary,
because Joyce was 11 years old when Glynn died, and from the
evidence of Circe it seems that he did not even know
his given name. As Bloom is burned at the stake, "A choir
of six hundred voices, conducted by Vincent O’Brien, sings
the chorus from Handel’s Messiah Alleluia for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth, accompanied on the organ by
Joseph Glynn."
Gifford, writing before Igoe's discovery, identified the
organist as "Joseph Glynn," no doubt relying on the passage in
Circe. Slote affirmed this name, perhaps not yet aware
of Igoe's article. He also observed that the 1904 Thom's directory
lists a "Joseph Glynn, soloist, 15 South Frederick Street."
John, however, seems a more likely candidate for the "old
Glynn" whom Bloom remembers playing the organ in St. Xavier's
years earlier.
