This excellent book, originally published in 1840, is once again back in print! Edward Bunting (1773-1843), the first systematic collector of Irish folksongs, was educated as an organ and piano player in Belfast. His life’s work fell upon him at 19 years old, when he was commissioned as a scribe to notate performances at a gathering of traditional harp players in Belfast in July 1792. (Unfortunately, he later transcribed them for piano, so the original harp transcriptions are lost.) He was so inspired by the music that, aided by some of the harpers, he embarked upon travels around northwest Ireland to collect some of the old songs already close to disappearing.
The book includes 151 Irish airs arranged for piano (and playable on harp), with the Irish names of the airs, their authors, and (where known) their dates of composition.
This collection is enriched by an invaluable 100-page preface: “A Dissertation on the Irish Harp and Harpers, Including an Account of the Old Melodies of Ireland” with sections “Of the Characteristics of Irish Melody,” “Of the Method of Playing, and Musical Vocabulary of the Old Irish Harpers,” “Of the Antiquity of the Harp and Bagpipe in Ireland,” “Of the Various Efforts to Revive the Irish Harp,” and “Anecdotes of the More Distinguished Harpers of the Last Two Centuries.”
Hard to find elsewhere, this is an indispensible book not only for students or lovers of Irish music, but also for students of general music history. This is an unabridged replication of the book originally published in 1840. 240 pages, paperbound.Includes: Achill air; Alas! The Pain is in My Heart; A Little Hour Before Day; A Lovely Lass to a Friar Came; A Sailor Loved a Farmer’s Daughter; Ballinderry and Cronan; Baltiorum; Banks of Claudy; Black Rose Bud; Black-headed Dreary; Bonny Portmore; Carolan’s Devotion; Carolan’s Receipt; Carrickmacross Air; Celia Connallon; Charles Machugh, the Wild Boy; Chorus Jig; Clara Burke; Connor Macareavy; Consider the Story; Coolin, or Lady of the Desert; Dear Black Cow; Dermot and His Lass; Did You See the Black Rogue?; Dirty James, that Lost Ireland; Doctor John Hart; Down Beside Me; Ellen a Roone; Emon Dodwell; Fanny Power; Get Up Early; Give Me Your Hand; Granu weal, or ma, ma, ma; Health From the Cup; Huish the Cat; I am a Fisherman on Lough Carra; I am a Poor Rambling Boy; I am Asleep, and Don’t Waken Me; I Can Weave Linen and Woollen; I do Not Incline; If I Had a Court and Castle; In this Village Lives a Fair Maid; Irish Cry; Irish Jig; Is It the Priest You Want?; I Will Pay Them Yet; Jackson’s Morning Brush; Kilkenny Tune; Kitty O’Hara; Kitty Quin; Kitty Nowlan; Lady Blaney; Lady Iveagh; Little Molly O; Love’s a Tormenting Pain; Madam Maxwell; Maguire’s Lamentation; Mary with the Fair Locks; Macdonnell’s March; Miss Hamilton; Molly, My Treasure; Mrs. Crofton; My Love and Treasure; Nora with the Purse; Nora, My Thousand Treasures; O’Donnell’s March; O! Molly Dear; O’Reilly’s Lamentation; O! White Maive; Paddy O’Rafferty; Patrick’s Day; Planxty Charles Coote; Planxty Burke; Planxty Miss Burke; Planxty Hugh O’Donnell; Planxty Toby Peyton; Ploughman’s Whistle; Preparing to Sail; Pretty Brown Maid; Piper’s Dance; Rose Connolly; Saely Kelly; Scott’s Lamentation for the Baron of Loughmoe; Sir Festus Burke; Sit Down Under My Protection; Slieve Gallen; Sligo Tune; Sloane’s Lamentation; Soft Mild Morning; Spinning-wheel Songs; Sunday Morning; Sweet Portaferry; Take My Love; The Beggarman; The Blackbird and the Thrush; The Blackbird and the Hen; The Black-Haired Girl; The Blackbird; The Bonny Cuckoo; The Brink of the White Rocks; The Brown and White Garland; The Red Man’s Wife; The Chanter’s Tune; The Connaught Daisy; The County Tyrone; The Cuckoo’s Nest; The Cunning Young Girl; The Darling; The Deaf Old Man; The Foggy Dew; The Girl I Left Behind Me; The Hare in the Corn; The Hawk of Ballyshannon; The Hornless Cow; The Hurler’s March; The Jolly Ploughman; The Lame Yellow Beggar; The Lamentation of Youths; The Little Swallow; The Little Bold Fox; The Little Pot; The Gentle Maiden; The Jolly Merchant; The Miners of Wicklow; The Pharrah, or War March; The Pretty Red Girl; The Princess Royal; The Rejected Lover; The Robber or Charles Reilly; The Rose Without Rue; The Tree in the Wood; The Wheelwright; The White Calves; The White Blanket; The Wild Geese; The Wild Colt; The Woodhill, or Lady Maisterton; There Was a Young Lady; The Yellow Bittern; The Yellow Blanket; ‘Tis A Pity I Don’t See My Love; Tyreragh; Why Should Not Poor Folk?; Young Bridget; Young James Plunket; Yourself Along With Me
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