Widely acknowledged as one of the most important composers of 20^th Century art music in Ireland, Seóirse Bodley is one of Ireland’s most distinguished musicians with a long compositional career of over 70 years. He was the recipient of numerous highly distinguished commissions in Ireland such as his Choral Symphony no.3 Ceol (1980) which opened the National Concert Hall in 1980 and his Mass of Peace, which was performed in the Phoenix Park at the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1976. Distinguished commissions abroad included a Missa Brevis for Westminster Cathedral in 2009 and his fourth symphony commissioned by the Arturo Toscanini Symphony Orchestra of Parma, Italy (1991).

Bodley made an enormous, highly creative, highly individual contribution to Irish musical life as a Professor of Composition in UCD (1959–2004, a teaching career of 45 years). He performed professionally as accompanist, soloist, orchestral and choral conductor, broadcaster (in Ireland and Germany), adjudicator and collector of Irish folksong. He was a supporter and patron of many music organizations and prizes including Na Píobairí Uilleann (1968–), The Folk Music Society of Ireland (1971–2003) and Dublin Festival of Twentieth Century Music (1969–1986) – the first concert series dedicated entirely to the performance of modern music – of which he was Chair until 1980. When the Irish Government set up Aosdana (1982), Ireland’s Academy of Artists, in 1981, he was selected as one of its founding members.

From the outset, Bodley’s work met with acclaim and won many awards. His first major choral work An Bhliain Lán (1956) was awarded the composition prize by An t-Oireachtas, a national festival of Gaelic culture. Other early prizes included a Travelling Studentship of the National University of Ireland and the Macaulay Fellowship in Music Composition. Following the opening of the National Concert Hall he received prestigious Marten Toonder Award for a distinguished career in music (1982). He was the first composer to be made a Saoi of Aosdana, Ireland’s state-sponsored academy of creative artists. When President Mary McAleese conferred the distinction in November 2008, she acknowledged that Bodley ‘has helped us to recast what it means to be an artist in Ireland’. Bodley was one of seven artists honoured in the country: other recipients were Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney, Brian Friel and Louis Le Brocquy. On 19 October 2023 he was awarded an Honorary D Litt from the National University of Ireland in recognition of his outstanding artistic and civic contribution to music in Ireland. On receipt of this award President Michael D Higgins recognized ‘the profound mark he has left on our nations cultural landscape’. Following Bodley’s death on 17 November, President Higgins released a public statement and attended the composer’s funeral service in the Pro Cathedral on 25 November 2023.

In addition to numerous performances in Ireland, Bodley’s music was broadcast and performed in most European countries, North America, China, Japan, Australia during his lifetime. His legacy lives on, as musicians continue to enjoy, listen to and perform his work.