Background
Victory was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1921 the son of a shop keeper Thomas Victory and his wife, Delia (née Irwin).
Victory was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1921 the son of a shop keeper Thomas Victory and his wife, Delia (née Irwin).
He wrote over two hundred works across many genres and styles, including tonal, serial, aleatoric and electroacoustic music After schooling, he read Celtic Studies at University College, Dublin and Music at Trinity College, Dublin, earning a doctorate in 1972. In April 1948 Victory married Geraldine Herity, they had five children: Alma, Fiona, Isolde, Raymond, and Alan.
Victory died in Dublin on 14 March 1995, aged 73.
His papers are held in Trinity College and the Contemporary Music Centre hold a number of his scores. In terms of composition, Victory was mostly self-taught, although he received some formal training from John F. Larchet, Alan Rawsthorne and Walter Beckett.
He also attended the "International Summer Courses for New Music" in Darmstadt, Germany. Victory"s career was primarily in music administration, serving as Director of Music for Ireland"s national broadcasting station RTÉ from 1967 to 1982.
He was a president of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization"s International Rostrum of Composers, a Fellow of the Royal Irish Academy of Music and a recipient of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and German Bundesverdienstkreuz.
The Gerard Victory Commission is a prize has been named in his honour awarded to the most promising individual composer.