J.M.D. passed away quietly on June 20th, just three months short of his 91st birthday (next Friday, October 24th).To have lived so long was (as he himself might have put it) "not bad". In latter times he derived simple satisfaction from counting life's blessings, past and present. His memories, his accumulating years, the accomplishments of his children and grandchildren and their loyalty and devotion to him, the arrival of his first great-grandchildren - his pride in these things formed a sequel to the equally proper pride he once used to take in the management of his own exceptional gifts. Those who knew him only during the years of his long retirement could hardly imagine what a magnetic figure he had cut in his heyday as a conductor. But there are still many of us around for whom the name J.M. Doyle stirs memories of great musical experiences. The sheer excitement, for instance, of so many operatic performances: Verdi's Otello perhaps, or Aida, their drama underlined with such a sure touch, the orchestral palette aglow, singers inspired and audience absorbed.
This was the conductor whose work McCormack reportedly once described as "most brilliant and exhilarating". Aside from his undoubted audience appeal, he was in many respects a musicians' conductor. His direction was always informed and secure, his baton work elegant, purposeful and supremely legible. And he had that mysterious ability of some conductors to make his musicians feel at times that they were surpassing themselves, that they were achieving what in other circumstances would have seemed impossible.
He had just turned 18 when, in November, 1924, he entered the Army School of Music - a youthful spirit in youthful times, pinning his hopes on one of the young State's boldest and most far-seeing projects. He was still under 20 when, to the tune of A Nation Once Again and an emotional response from the crowd, he led the No. 1 Band and the Army's new jumping team into the RDS arena for the first Aga Khan Cup competition. It was a moment that typified the pioneering character of the earlier half of his Army career, the course of which was to take him from being the Army's first cadet and the first appointed conductor of the No. 1 Band to being the School of Music's first Irish-born director, with many other "firsts" along the way. To his last days he would recall his privileged part in all this with a touching display of patriotic feeling.
In 1936 he became part of RTE history when he was seconded to the broadcasting services as musical director and conductor of the newly-formed studio orchestra, forerunner of the present NSO. The small orchestra responded warmly to him and his secondment was twice renewed, lasting in all three years.
At later stages of the orchestra's development he frequently appeared as guest conductor. His programmes were not over reliant on sure-fire classics and romantics and, like Beecham, he would often lead us into the charming byways of Massenet, Chabrier, Turina and others. I remember too an impressive performance of Nielsen's Fourth Symphony at a time when that composer was scarcely known here.
Meanwhile, he had become cofounder and first musical director of the Dublin Grand Opera Society in 1941. Seasons were not confined to the capital but included from time to time tours to Belfast, Cork and Limerick.
Jim's wife, Nance, also a professional musician, was for many years a distinguished presence in the cello ranks of the symphony orchestra. Not surprisingly, their household was a musical one. Family festivities inevitably became musical occasions, each member having a part to play. There is no occupant now at "Halycon" and the piano lid is down. But the Doyle musical tradition has passed to younger generations and your own good work, Jim, is woven ineradicably into the military, musical and radio history of the formative years of our State. Rest in peace. F.O'C.