FACTHNA Ó hANNRACHÁIN:HAVING STARTED his musical career in choral music, Fachtna Ó hAnnracháin, who has died aged 89, went on to found RTÉ's first orchestra. He also served for many years as RTÉ's representative on the European Broadcasting Union, learning French, German and Italian to assist him in that role.
Richard Pine, author of Music and Broadcasting in Ireland, said on learning of his death: "Classical and orchestral music in Ireland owes him an immense debt - without his endeavour it is almost certain that we would have no national orchestra."
Born in Skibbereen in 1920, Fachtna Ó hAnnracháin was the eldest of six children of Peadar Ó hAnnracháin and his wife, Máire Ní Dheasún. His father, an organiser for Conradh na Gaeilge, wrote poetry and edited the Southern Star.
After the family moved to Dublin he won a scholarship to Coláiste Chaoimhín, a preparatory Irish college. He next trained as a teacher at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, qualifying in 1940.
A teacher for seven years at Drumcondra boys' national school, he was closely associated with Craobh an Chéitinnigh of Conradh na Gaeilge, and was in charge of its famous choir. He secured a degree in music, attending night classes at UCD, and later took the same route to a law degree.
Joining Raidió Éireann in 1947 as musical director, he focused on Irish compositions for the Raidió Éireann Singers, which he established in 1953.
But his most notable achievement and legacy is the fact that, almost single-handedly, he was responsible for the creation of today's National Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, both of which came into being in the late 1940s as the RÉ Symphony Orchestra and RÉ Light Orchestra respectively.
He not only formed both orchestras but, in the case of the symphony, imbued it with the international timbre that it retains.
The orchestral fare in the early years of the RÉSO was remarkable, so much so that the BBC sent observers to Dublin to discover why Ó hAnnracháin's programming of contemporary works and rarities was so successful. But his hands were tied financially, inhibiting expansion of the symphony orchestra to adequate size. He wrote to his superiors: "A drama should not be put on the stage with some of the characters missing, and this is more or less what we are expected to do with many orchestral works at present."
In late 1952 he was faced with the extraordinary possibility that the entire Prussian State Orchestra, based in the Staatsoper in East Berlin, wished to defect to the West in general, and Ireland in particular. He worked strenuously to achieve this remarkable intake, and ultimately, of the 31 musicians available, 15 were recruited, mostly to the fledgling RÉSO.
He remained musical director until 1962, standing down in circumstances that have never been fully explained and which saw his transfer to a new position within RTÉ as director of legal affairs.
It was a matter of great satisfaction, even to this self-effacing man, that he attended not only the 50th anniversary concert of the NSO but also, in early 2008, the celebration of the 60th.
Having retired in 1985, he and his wife Gertie (née Ledwidge) took up hill-walking; his other interests included shooting and fishing. At his funeral Mass he was described as "uasal, séimh, ildánach", a description with which many people would concur.
He is survived by his daughters Bláthnaid and Órla, sister Neasa, grandchildren and great-grandson.
Fachtna Ó hAnnracháin: born September 2nd, 1920; died January 27th, 2010