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Edward Martyn
Edward Martyn (30 January 1859 – 5 December 1923) was an Irish playwright, arts patron and nationalist politician. He served as the first president of Sinn Féin from 1905 to 1908, and was a co-founder of the Irish Literary Theatre, the Feis Ceoil and the stained-glass studio An Túr Gloine. Though his own dramatic output was modest, his financial generosity and cultural activism shaped many of the defining institutions of the Irish Literary Revival.
Martyn was born on 30 January 1859 at his mother's family home at Masonbrook, Loughrea, County Galway, the elder of two sons of Anne Martyn (née Smith; d. 1898) and John Martyn (d. 1860), of Tulira Castle, Ardrahan, County Galway. His father died when Martyn was a small boy, and he was raised entirely by his mother. He was educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, and Beaumont College, Windsor, both Jesuit schools. In May 1877 he matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, but left in 1879 without taking a degree, later describing himself as largely self-educated. He was influenced there by the fashion for the writing of Walter Pater, which encouraged his appreciation for Catholic ritual and ancient Greek culture. His only sibling, John, died in 1883.[citation needed] On returning to Galway, Martyn set about rebuilding much of Tulira Castle in neo-Gothic style, employing the architect George Ashlin. He spent £20,000 that had accumulated during his minority on this project, though for most of his life he left the Gothic sections unoccupied and lived an ascetic existence in the castle's tower. He installed an organ in the main hall, on which he regularly played Palestrina. As a young landlord, Martyn took his place on the Grand Jury and served as a local magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant of County Galway. His land agent was shot at on the high road from Gort, and for a time Martyn himself was under police protection.
Martyn began writing fiction and plays in the 1880s. While his own output was by general consensus undistinguished, he acquired a well-earned reputation as a noted connoisseur of music, both European classical and Irish traditional. He used his wealth extensively to benefit Irish culture. His activities and sponsorships included:
He also donated several significant paintings to the National Gallery of Ireland, including works by Degas, Monet, Corot and Utamaro, as well as works by William Leech and Jack B. Yeats.
Martyn was a cousin and close associate of the novelist George Moore (1852–1933), and the two had known each other from childhood. Both lifelong bachelors, they made frequent trips together to France and Germany in the 1880s and 1890s. Moore fostered Martyn's interest in modern art, which resulted in the latter purchasing works by Degas, Monet, Corot and Utamaro. In return, Martyn introduced Moore to Wagner; the two attended performances of the Ring Cycle at Bayreuth together. Their relationship was often antagonistic. Moore wrote an account of Martyn in his memoir Hail and Farewell (1911–14), which Martyn's first biographer Denis Gwynn described as both insightful and "somewhat cruel". Martyn responded with a caricature of Moore in his play The Dream Physician, and listed "Mr George Augustus Moore" under "recreations" in Who's Who. Moore did not share Martyn's Fenian ideas or his acceptance of violent means to achieve national sovereignty, and the cousins' political differences eventually drove their friendship apart; in later years they were no longer on speaking terms.
In August 1896, William Butler Yeats paid his first visit to Tulira Castle, where he met Lady Gregory for the first time in Ireland (they had met briefly once in London). Lady Gregory subsequently invited him to Coole Park, where their artistic collaboration began. The three went on to found the Irish Literary Theatre. Martyn underwrote the cost of the company's first three seasons, which proved crucial to establishing the company and the future of the Abbey Theatre. The inaugural season in 1899 opened with Yeats's The Countess Cathleen and Martyn's own The Heather Field, the latter proving popular with audiences. The project nearly collapsed when Martyn threatened to withdraw his support over theological objections to The Countess Cathleen, which had been criticised as heretical; Yeats and Lady Gregory had to obtain priestly reassurances before he relented.
Differences soon opened between Martyn and his collaborators. In 1900, the society staged his Maeve and a play entitled The Bending of the Bough, credited to Moore, which was in fact a radical rewrite of Martyn's A Tale of a Town; Martyn refused to have his name attached to the revised work. A further source of conflict was Moore's claim to retrospective credit for The Heather Field. More fundamentally, Martyn, a disciple of Ibsen and European realist drama, deplored Yeats's preference for peasant plays, while Yeats regarded Ibsen-influenced drama as neither poetic nor heroic. Martyn eventually departed, going on to found a players' club at the Queen's Theatre, then the Theatre of Ireland (1906), and finally the Irish Theatre (1914) at Hardwicke Street with MacDonagh and Plunkett. He remained the principal source of funding throughout. These ventures staged works by European masters including Ibsen, Chekhov and Strindberg, as well as new Irish talent such as Patrick Pearse and Eimar O'Duffy. He later regretted his parting with Yeats and Gregory, but remained on warm terms with Lady Gregory until the end of his life.
Martyn was descended from Richard Óge Martyn (c. 1604–1648), a leading Irish Confederate, and Oliver Óge Martyn (c. 1630 – c. 1709), a Jacobite who fought in the Williamite War in Ireland. Yet by his lifetime the family were unionists, and as a young man Martyn conformed fully to the orthodox views of Irish landlordism.
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Edward Martyn
Edward Martyn (30 January 1859 – 5 December 1923) was an Irish playwright, arts patron and nationalist politician. He served as the first president of Sinn Féin from 1905 to 1908, and was a co-founder of the Irish Literary Theatre, the Feis Ceoil and the stained-glass studio An Túr Gloine. Though his own dramatic output was modest, his financial generosity and cultural activism shaped many of the defining institutions of the Irish Literary Revival.
Martyn was born on 30 January 1859 at his mother's family home at Masonbrook, Loughrea, County Galway, the elder of two sons of Anne Martyn (née Smith; d. 1898) and John Martyn (d. 1860), of Tulira Castle, Ardrahan, County Galway. His father died when Martyn was a small boy, and he was raised entirely by his mother. He was educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, and Beaumont College, Windsor, both Jesuit schools. In May 1877 he matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, but left in 1879 without taking a degree, later describing himself as largely self-educated. He was influenced there by the fashion for the writing of Walter Pater, which encouraged his appreciation for Catholic ritual and ancient Greek culture. His only sibling, John, died in 1883.[citation needed] On returning to Galway, Martyn set about rebuilding much of Tulira Castle in neo-Gothic style, employing the architect George Ashlin. He spent £20,000 that had accumulated during his minority on this project, though for most of his life he left the Gothic sections unoccupied and lived an ascetic existence in the castle's tower. He installed an organ in the main hall, on which he regularly played Palestrina. As a young landlord, Martyn took his place on the Grand Jury and served as a local magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant of County Galway. His land agent was shot at on the high road from Gort, and for a time Martyn himself was under police protection.
Martyn began writing fiction and plays in the 1880s. While his own output was by general consensus undistinguished, he acquired a well-earned reputation as a noted connoisseur of music, both European classical and Irish traditional. He used his wealth extensively to benefit Irish culture. His activities and sponsorships included:
He also donated several significant paintings to the National Gallery of Ireland, including works by Degas, Monet, Corot and Utamaro, as well as works by William Leech and Jack B. Yeats.
Martyn was a cousin and close associate of the novelist George Moore (1852–1933), and the two had known each other from childhood. Both lifelong bachelors, they made frequent trips together to France and Germany in the 1880s and 1890s. Moore fostered Martyn's interest in modern art, which resulted in the latter purchasing works by Degas, Monet, Corot and Utamaro. In return, Martyn introduced Moore to Wagner; the two attended performances of the Ring Cycle at Bayreuth together. Their relationship was often antagonistic. Moore wrote an account of Martyn in his memoir Hail and Farewell (1911–14), which Martyn's first biographer Denis Gwynn described as both insightful and "somewhat cruel". Martyn responded with a caricature of Moore in his play The Dream Physician, and listed "Mr George Augustus Moore" under "recreations" in Who's Who. Moore did not share Martyn's Fenian ideas or his acceptance of violent means to achieve national sovereignty, and the cousins' political differences eventually drove their friendship apart; in later years they were no longer on speaking terms.
In August 1896, William Butler Yeats paid his first visit to Tulira Castle, where he met Lady Gregory for the first time in Ireland (they had met briefly once in London). Lady Gregory subsequently invited him to Coole Park, where their artistic collaboration began. The three went on to found the Irish Literary Theatre. Martyn underwrote the cost of the company's first three seasons, which proved crucial to establishing the company and the future of the Abbey Theatre. The inaugural season in 1899 opened with Yeats's The Countess Cathleen and Martyn's own The Heather Field, the latter proving popular with audiences. The project nearly collapsed when Martyn threatened to withdraw his support over theological objections to The Countess Cathleen, which had been criticised as heretical; Yeats and Lady Gregory had to obtain priestly reassurances before he relented.
Differences soon opened between Martyn and his collaborators. In 1900, the society staged his Maeve and a play entitled The Bending of the Bough, credited to Moore, which was in fact a radical rewrite of Martyn's A Tale of a Town; Martyn refused to have his name attached to the revised work. A further source of conflict was Moore's claim to retrospective credit for The Heather Field. More fundamentally, Martyn, a disciple of Ibsen and European realist drama, deplored Yeats's preference for peasant plays, while Yeats regarded Ibsen-influenced drama as neither poetic nor heroic. Martyn eventually departed, going on to found a players' club at the Queen's Theatre, then the Theatre of Ireland (1906), and finally the Irish Theatre (1914) at Hardwicke Street with MacDonagh and Plunkett. He remained the principal source of funding throughout. These ventures staged works by European masters including Ibsen, Chekhov and Strindberg, as well as new Irish talent such as Patrick Pearse and Eimar O'Duffy. He later regretted his parting with Yeats and Gregory, but remained on warm terms with Lady Gregory until the end of his life.
Martyn was descended from Richard Óge Martyn (c. 1604–1648), a leading Irish Confederate, and Oliver Óge Martyn (c. 1630 – c. 1709), a Jacobite who fought in the Williamite War in Ireland. Yet by his lifetime the family were unionists, and as a young man Martyn conformed fully to the orthodox views of Irish landlordism.
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