A Musical Offering

Essays in honour of Gerard Gillen

Kerry Houston & Harry White, editors

'Distinguished by meticulous scholarship and exhaustive documentation .. this  is an unusually eclectic volume reflecting the very best in current Irish scholarship, and many types of musicological ethos are found in the contributions, which range through historical musicology, cultural analysis, unique personal reminiscence, musical instrument history, compositional style, biography, music theology, and music-and-literature. Scholarship of the highest quality characterises these essays. From T.P. Dolan's genial Foreword the book also breathes a festivity and good grace ... Let us toast Professor Gerard Gillen and may the earth indeed be set dancing for his lifetime's work and for this magnificent collection to which it has given rise', Cyprian Love, Irish Theological Quarterly (August 2018).

'Musical links between the island of Ireland and continental Europe lie at the heart of this impressive volume of essays, published in honour of organist and scholar, Gerard Gillen [...] This fine volume has much to offer not only the music enthusiast, but all readers with an interest in cultural and ecclesiastical history', Róisín Blunnie, Irish Literary Supplement (2019).

'This handsome and elegantly-titled Festschrift honours the career and achievements of one of Ireland's foremost teachers and musical practitioners. Gerard Gillen has been a leading figure in Irish musical life for more than half a century [... This book] is a fitting celebration of Professor Gillen's distinguished career and can be commended to all those with an interest in church music and organs, especially in the Irish context', Nicholas Thistlethwaite, British Institute of Organ Studies (2018).

'Such is the nature of good writing and scholarship, where the passion of the contributors becomes infectious. This is a book which will be invaluable to students of nineteenth-century Irish Church Music long into the future. It is a lasting legacy to a man who contributed so much to the Irish Church, the Irish musical community, and to the education and well-being of all his students and charges down through the years', John-Paul Sheridan, The Furrow (April 2018).