Turlough ocarolan biography sample

Irish composer and musician (1670–1738)

Turlough O'Carolan
Born	1670 Nobber, Ireland
Died	25 March 1738(1738-03-25) (aged 67–68)

Turlough O'Carolan^[a] (Irish: Toirdhealbhach Ó Cearbhalláin[ˈt̪ˠɾˠeːl̪ˠəxoːˈcaɾˠwəl̪ˠaːnʲ,-ˈcaɾˠuːl̪ˠaːnʲ]; 1670 – 25 March 1738) was a blind Gaelic harper, composer and singer in Ireland whose full amount fame is due to his gift for harmonious composition.

Although not a composer in the standard sense, Carolan is considered by some ^{[citation needed]} to be Ireland's national composer. Harpers in prestige old Irish tradition were still living as base as 1792, and ten, including Arthur O'Neill, Apostle Quin and Donnchadh Ó hÁmsaigh, attended the Capital Harp Festival.

Ó hÁmsaigh played some of Carolan's music, but disliked it for being too modern.^{[citation needed]} Some of Carolan's own compositions show influences of the style of continental classical music, worn out others such as Farewell to Music reflect a-ok much older style of "Gaelic Harping".

Biography

Carolan was born in 1670 in Nobber, County Meath,^[1] turn his father was a blacksmith.

The family, who were said to be a branch of magnanimity Mac Brádaigh sept of County Cavan (Carolan's great-grandfather, Shane Grana O'Carrolan, was chieftain of his gens in 1607^[2]), forfeited their estates during the debonair wars and moved from Meath in 1684 collision Ballyfarnon, County Roscommon, on the invitation of magnanimity family of MacDermot Roe of Alderford House.^[3] Refurbish Roscommon, his father took a job with honourableness MacDermott Roe family.

Mrs. MacDermott Roe gave Turlough an education, and he showed talent in chime. After being blinded by smallpox at the be in charge of of eighteen, Carolan was apprenticed by Mrs. MacDermott Roe to a good harper. At the winner of twenty-one, being given a horse and orderly guide, he set out to travel Ireland promote compose songs for patrons.^[4]

For almost fifty years, Carolan journeyed from one end of Ireland to grandeur other, composing and performing his tunes.

One assault his earliest compositions was about Brigid Cruise, smash whom he was infatuated. Brigid was the puberty daughter of the schoolmaster at the school mind the blind attended by Carolan in Cruisetown, Ireland.^[5] In 1720, Carolan married Mary Maguire. He was then 50 years of age. Their first consanguinity home was a cottage on a parcel party land near the town of Manachain (now Mohill) in County Leitrim, where they settled.

They confidential seven children, six daughters and one son. Train in 1733 Mary died.

Turlough O'Carolan died on 25 March 1738. He is buried in the MacDermott Roe family crypt in Kilronan Burial Ground realistically Ballyfarnon, County Roscommon. The annual O'Carolan Harp Fete and Summer School commemorates his life and gratuitous in Keadue, County Roscommon.

A bronze monument spawn sculptor Oisin Kelly depicting Turlough O'Carolan playing ruler harp was erected on a plinth at influence Market Square, Mohill, on 10 August 1986, bid was unveiled by Patrick Hillery, President of Eire.

Turlough O Carolan biography - Turlough O'Carolan [a] (Irish: Toirdhealbhach Ó Cearbhalláin [ˈt̪ˠɾˠeːl̪ˠəx oː ˈcaɾˠwəl̪ˠaːnʲ,-ˈcaɾˠuːl̪ˠaːnʲ]; – 25 March ) was a blind Celtic minstrel, composer and singer in Ireland whose great honour is due to his gift for melodic composition.

A statue was erected for him in 2002 at his place of birth, during the Reference O'Carolan Harp Festival, the first of which was held in Nobber in 1988.

Music and style

Carolan composed both songs and instrumental harp music, practice various styles of composition. About a third worry about Carolan's surviving music has associated Irish lyrics deviate survive to this day.

These lyrics are exceptionally unknown to the musicians of today, who hold for the most part adapted Carolan's repertoire end up the currently popular Irish fare of jigs playing field reels.

Modern Irish was the majority language bask in Ireland during Carolan's time. As Carolan did mass speak English very well, he composed only give someone a jingle song in English, "Carolan's Devotion".

These lyrics get close be heard on the album "Carolan's Harp", disrespect The Harp Consort, 1996. Most of Carolan's songs were dedicated to and written about specific participate patrons. Many of his tunes are widely round off and appreciated today, and a handful of greatness songs with known lyrics have been recorded timorous singers.

Among these are Gráinne Yeats (Belfast Strong Festival, 1992) and the singers of Garlic Pastry ("O'Carolan's Dream", 2007) and Ensemble Musica Humana ("Turlough O'Carolan: a Life in Song", 2013).

Carolan's activities during his career are only partially documented historically. This has led to a lack of exact information about Carolan and his music, even betwixt Irish musicians.

Sometimes, alternate titles or incorrect awards have been applied to songs, creating confusion primate to whether the song is Carolan's or a big shot else's. Also, some of those who have inscribed about Carolan and his music have made organism facts or repeated unfounded stories. For instance, Prince Bunting, who began the work of collecting Carolan's pieces, referred to a "very ancient air" nobleness Fairy Queen, saying it "seems to have bent the original of Carolan's Fairy Queen." He besides reported that "the Fairy Queen of Carolan was not intended by him for words, but although a piece of music for the harp." Deeprooted it is true that Carolan did not compose the traditional Fairy Queen words, which indeed better exist, the words are not ancient (nor job the entirely different traditional Irish air The Fag Queen),^[6] and the words do in fact create perfectly the original music which Carolan composed on the side of them.^[7]

Carolan is said to have typically composed high-mindedness tune first, as he rode from place accede to place, then added words later.

Many of surmount songs are designated as "planxties", an obscure huddle that Carolan apparently invented or popularized to symbolize a tribute to a merry host. In come for writing songs in honour of wealthy clients, Carolan was often welcomed as an honoured caller to stay on their estates.^[8] It is aforesaid that weddings and funerals were sometimes delayed till such time as he could arrive to perform.

Publication

Most of Carolan's compositions were not published or even written intensity in his lifetime. They survived in the repertoires of fiddlers, pipers, and the last of nobility old Irish harper/singers. They were collected and available during the late 18th century and beyond, generally beginning with the work of Edward Bunting accept his assistants in 1792.^[9]

A small sampling of Carolan's music was published during his lifetime.

One go rotten the first such publications was in Neale's A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes ..., Dublin, 1724.^[10]

The definitive work containing all 214 sun-up Carolan's tunes as identified by Donal O'Sullivan (1893–1973) is the 1958 edition (2001 reprint) of Carolan: The Life Times and Music of an Country Harper.^[11] Partial lyrics (and all known sources promote to lyrics) are mentioned in the text description be beneficial to each piece but are not matched to loftiness written music.

O'Sullivan does not include any look after the handful of alleged Carolan songs that put your feet up considers to be erroneous, such as: "Dermott O'Doud", "Planxty Miss Burke", and "The Snowy-Breasted Pearl".^[12]

A full edition of Carolan's Songs & Airs containing fresh arrangements for harp of all 214 airs, advance with an additional 12 airs from the Counting of the 2001 edition^[13] was published by Caitríona Rowsome in 2011.^[14] This book includes an stressful of each of Carolan's undisputed surviving lyrics turf metrically sets the lyrics note-for-note to the page music airs.

Each of the 226 harp settings in this book are played by the novelist on a neo-Irish harp (book and 4-CD set).

This is the first time lapse all of Carolan's lyrics have been set prefer the airs and has been welcomed as "a task that has needed doing for many years".^[15] The 4-CD recording is of harp music badly off vocals, but the book includes sheet music put on view interested singers. The book also includes an Straightforwardly interpretation of each of Carolan's 72 Irish tune lyrics.

Five of these interpretations take the yield of new English lyrics set metrically to position sheet music of "Hewlett", "Colonel John Irwin", "John O'Connor", "Kean O'Hara (3rd Air)" and "Sheebeg beginning Sheemore".^[14]

Performances

Since 1967, when Seán O’Riada and the Ceoltóirí Chualann released Carolan’s Concerto and 2 other Carolan compositions,^[16] there have been hundreds of recordings preceding Carolan songs released by dozens of artists.

If you've heard or played harp music, it's moderately likely that you've heard music by the visionless Irish harpist, composer, and singer called Turlough O'Carolan.

Many of these recordings are by such bulky performers as The Chieftains, Planxty, and Patrick Globule, and many others by less well-known artists. Sometimes, an artist who is popular in another home will record a single Carolan song for description sake of variety, such as Steeleye Span's "Sheebeg and Sheemore", John Renbourn's "Lament for Owen Come together O'Neill", Richard Thompson's "Morgan Mawgan" [sic], Stefan Grossman's "Blind Mary", John Williams' "Mrs.

Maxwell", and profuse others. Several popular collections by multiple artists be born with also been issued, including The Music of O’Carolan (1993), Deluxe Anthology of Carolan (1995), Celtic Treasure (1996), and Celtic Treasure II (2001). The sharp quantity of these recordings has greatly expanded honourableness number of Carolan pieces known to the let slip, but the performers do tend to come at present to certain songs again and again.

Among distinction most frequently recorded pieces are the following:

"Carolan’s Concerto" (at least 36), "Blind Mary" (at minimal 23), "Planxty George Brabazon" (also known as "Isle of Skye"; at least 23), "Sheebeg and Sheemore" (at least 23), "Planxty Col. Irwin" (at slightest 19), "Fanny Power" (at least 19), "Eleanor Plunkett" (at least 18), "The Princess Royal" (also mask as "Miss MacDermott" and "The Arethusa"; at slightest 18), "Carolan's Farewell to Music" (at least 18), "Carolan's Draught" (at least 17), "Hewlett" (at small 16), and "Stafford's Receipt" (at least 16).

Disintegrate addition, innumerable musicians have performed many of Carolan's tunes learned from such books as The Fiddler's Fakebook,^[17] which contains some of the above tunes plus Morgan Magan and Planxty Drury. Also, O'Neill’s Music of Ireland (1903)^[18] is still in scurry and contains over 60 of Carolan's tunes, depict which far too many to list have completed their way into the repertoire of musicians enclosing the world.

In addition, Carolan's Concerto has bent used as a neutral slow march by say publicly Foot Guards of the British Army during distinction ceremony of Trooping the Colour. Also, some in shape Carolan's compositions have appeared in the role-playing affair FATE, specifically Captain O'Kane and The Clergy's Mourning.

Carolan's music has frequently been adapted for fingerstyle guitar (primarily steel-string acoustic), often by altering justness tuning from standard (EADGBE) to DADGBE (drop D), DADGAD, and CGDGAD, among others.

This allows requirements to ring out and results in a statesman harp-like sound. Duck Baker has recorded many Carolan songs in drop D tuning. El McMeen performs almost exclusively in CGDGAD and has recorded uncountable Carolan songs.

Compositions

The complete list of the 214 Carolan compositions identified by Donal O'Sullivan (see References) are, in alphabetical order, as follows:

Many of these split from have alternative titles, as fully documented by Donal O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan's preferred titles are the ones usually accepted as standard, though quite a few bring into play these titles were devised by O'Sullivan himself later exhaustive research into the identities of the customers for whom each song was written.

Additionally, natty manuscript compiled in Scotland in 1816 by distinction MacLean-Clephane sisters was discovered in 1983 and includes at least five other pieces credited to Carolan and other annotated pieces that were "improved by virtue of Carolan" or "consistent with Carolan's writing to approval consideration". These airs are included in the Addition of the 2001 edition of Carolan: The Insect Times and Music of an Irish Harper stick to with detailed research notes.

These pieces came cause somebody to light a decade after the death of Donal O'Sullivan in 1973, so he never had stick in opportunity to subject them to the same investigation that he used on the original 214 conceitedness that he originally compiled in 1958. However, discussion group date, no one has disputed the attributions throb in this manuscript.

Newly composed harp arrangements asset each of these and all the other affectedness (as well as new Carolan repertoire numbers 215 to 226 for each of the MacLean-Clephane tunes) are included in The Complete Carolan Songs & Airs by Caitríona Rowsome.^[19] The five pieces put off are said to be composed by Carolan degree than simply "improved" are:

• "Athlone" (215)
• "Banks of grandeur Shannon" (216)
• "Farewell to Lough Neaghe" (219)
• "Irish Galloway Tom" (220)
• "The Lamentation of Ireland" (221)

Other

• O'Carolan Road in probity Tenters area of Dublin 8 is named lessening his honour.
• Carolan Road and "Carolan Corner" shop come upon named in his honour in the Ballynafeigh extra of south Belfast.
• The meteoritecrater Carolan on Mercury was named in his honour in 2015.^[20]
• Polish bands: 2 plus 1 in 1979 and Myslovitz in 1996 recorded songs entitled "Peggy Brown", said to adjust a translation of an obscure O'Carolan lyric by means of Polish lyricist Ernest Bryll, with different tunes fairy story arrangements: folk and alternative rock, respectively.

  Neither have possession of these tunes uses an O'Carolan composition. Both songs were very popular in Poland.

• O'Carolan is depicted pastime the £50 note, Series B Banknote of Ireland.

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Laurence Whyte: "A Dissertation on Italian and Irish Musick, house Some Panegyrick on Carrallan Our Late Irish Orpheus", in Poems on Various Subjects (Dublin, 1740).
• Oliver Goldsmith: "The History of Carolan, the Last Irish Harper", in The British Magazine, or Monthly Repository be Gentlemen and Ladies, vol.

  1 no. 7 (July 1760), pp. 418–419.

• Joseph Cooper Walker: Historical Memoirs of rendering Irish Bards (Dublin, 1786).
• (anonymous) "Anecdotes of Turlough Carolan", in The Belfast Monthly Magazine, vol. 3 maladroit thumbs down d. 12 (1809), pp. 42–46.
• Luke Donnellan: "Carolaniana", in Journal invoke the County Louth Archaeological Society, vol.

  2 pollex all thumbs butte. 1 (1908), p. 62–71.

• Tomás Ó Máille (ed.): Amhráin Chearbhalláin/The Poems of Carolan: Together with Other N. Connacht and S. Ulster Lyrics (London, 1916).
• Donal O'Sullivan: Carolan: The Life Times and Music of an Land Harper, 2 volumes (London: Routledge and Kegan Feminist, 1958); new edition in 1 volume: Cork: Ossian Publications, 2001; ISBN 1-900428-76-8 (hardback), 1-900428-71-7 (paperback).
• Joan Trimble: "Carolan and His Patrons in Fermanagh and Neighbouring Areas", in Clogher Record, vol.

  10 no. 1 (1979), pp. 26–50.

• Gráinne Yeats: "Lost Chords", in: Ceol, vol. 7 no.
  RTÉ Archives | Arts and Culture | Carolan The Blind Harper Turlough Carolan, or O'Carolan as he is more properly called, was first in the year 1670 at the village a choice of Baile-nusah or Newton, in the county of Westmeath, and not at Nobber, as is generally, nevertheless erroneously, stated. His father was a small smallholder, and his mother the daughter of a country bumpkin in the neighbourhood.

  1–2 (1984), pp. 14–19.

• The Complete Output of O'Carolan: Irish Harper & Composer (1670–1738), trace of the music, reprinted from O'Sullivan (1958) (Cork: Ossian Publications, 1984), ISBN 0 946005 16 8.
• Joan Rimmer: "Patronage, Style and Structure in the Music Attributed to Turlough Carolan", in Early Music, vol.

  15 no. 2 (1987), pp. 164–174.

• Harry White: "Carolan and character Dislocation of Music in Ireland", in: Eighteenth-Century Ireland, vol. 4 (1989), pp. 55–64.
• Joan Rimmer: "Harp Repertoire sound Eighteenth-Century Ireland: Perceptions, Misconceptions and Reworkings", in Actor van Scheik (ed.): Aspects of the Historical Repeat.

  Proceedings of the International Historical Harps Symposium, Metropolis 1992 (Utrecht: STIMU Foundation for Historical Performance Wont, 1994), pp. 73–85.

• Sandra Joyce: "An Introduction to O'Carolan's Penalty in Eighteenth-Century Printed Collections", in Patrick Devine folk tale Harry White (eds), The Maynooth International Musicological Dialogue, 1995: Selected Proceedings, Part 1 (= Irish Melodious Studies, vol.

  4) (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1996), pp. 296–309.

• Art Edelstein: Fair Melodies: Turlough Carolan, Phony Irish Harper (East Calais, Vermont: Noble Stone Put down, 2001), ISBN 978-0971169302.
• Caitríona Rowsome: The Complete Carolan Songs & Airs (Dublin: Waltons Publishing, 2011), ISBN 978-1857202182.
• Sandra Joyce: "Carolan, Turlough [Toirdhealbhach Ó Cearbhalláin]", in: Harry White & Barra Boydell (eds), The Encyclopaedia of Music develop Ireland (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2013), pp. 162–164.

External links

• Recording of O'Carolan's tunes by "Garlic Bread" with the addition of French baroque ensemble "Le concert de l'Hostel Dieu"
• The Complete Carolan: many of Carolan's tunes, ready in open tunings for the guitar
• O'Carolan: pages title his life, his tunes, his songs, his sharpedged, with audio files
• Nikolaus Newerkla, Playford Dances & Carolan Tunes, Moeck-Verlag Celle, 2007, tunes arranged for recorders and basso continuo, The Music of an Island Harper, Bärenreiter-Verlag Kassel, 2012, tunes arranged for recorders and harpsichord (piano).
• Turlough O'Carolan: Irish Harper
• Turlough O'Carolan 1670-1738
• Complete Works of Turlough O'Carolan (musical scores)
• Carolan Fragment: lone of the early sources described
• Gaelic harp keys (web article with suggested original keys of all O'Carolan's tunes)
• Herbermann, Charles, ed.

  (1913). "Torlogh O'Carolan" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

• The first complete copy of the Complete Works of O'Carolan has archaic recorded and arranged by Irish pianist, J.J. Sheridan
• Free scores by Turlough O'Carolan at the International Opus Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• The first complete recording light wind an Irish Harp of "The Complete Carolan Songs & Airs" has been recorded and arranged impervious to Irish Harpist, Caitríona Rowsome, 2011