Flood William Henry Grattan, *1 November 1859 Lismore (Waterford), †6 August 1928 Enniscorthy, Irish music theorist, organist, and composer. From 1877 he worked as a cathedral organist and choral conductor in Belfast, Thurles, and Enniscorthy. He contributed to the Dictionary of National Biography, the Catholic Encyclopaedia, and Grove’s Dictionary of Music. He collected and published Irish national songs. In 1897 he received an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland. Flood was a member of numerous musical societies, including the Irish Folksong Society, the Catholic Record Society of Ireland, and the National Academy of Ireland. He authored numerous articles and historical studies, particularly documentary works, on Irish and English music of the 15th and 16th centuries. He is regarded as an authority on the works of T. O’Carolan. He also composed sacred music (masses, motets, hymns.)
A History of Irish Music, Dublin 1905, 4th ed. 1927, repr. Shannon 1970
The Story of the Harp, London 1905
The Story of the Bagpipe, London 1911
Irish Musical Bibliography, London 1912, also “Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft” XIII, 1911/12
Early Tudor Composers, London 1925, repr. Freeport (New York) 1968
Late Tudor Composers, London 1929
editions:
Moore’s Irish Melodies, 1910
The Spirit of the Nation (songs), 1911
The Armagh Hymnal, 1914
Selected Songs and Aires of O’Carolan, 1933
