HOW THE ANCIENT IRISH EXCELLED IN MUSIC.
From the very earliest ages Irish musicians were celebrated for their
skill, not only in their own country but all over Europe. Our native
literature, whether referring to pagan or Christian times, is full of
references to music and to skilful musicians, who are always spoken of in
terms of the utmost respect.
Everywhere through the Records we find evidences that the ancient Irish,
both high and low, were passionately fond of music. It was mixed up with
their daily home-life, and formed part of their amusements, meetings, and
celebrations of every kind. In the religious tales music is always one of
the delights of heaven; and a chief function of the angels who attend on
God is to chant music of ineffable sweetness to Him, which they generally
do in the shape of beautiful white birds. A good example of the people’s
intense fondness for music is found in an old Irish religious poem, in
which the hard lot of Adam and Eve for a whole year after their expulsion
from Paradise is described, when they were--as the poem expresses
it--“without proper food, fire, house, _music_, or raiment.” Here music is
put among the necessaries of life, so that it was a misery to be without
it.
In the early ages of the Church many of the Irish ecclesiastics took
delight in playing on the harp; and in order to indulge in this innocent
and refining taste they were wont to bring with them, on their missionary
journeys, a small portable harp, with which they beguiled many a weary
hour after their hard work.
In very early times Irish professors of music were as eagerly sought after
on the Continent as those of literature and general learning, so that they
were sometimes placed at the head of great music-schools. At a later time
it was quite common among the Welsh bards to come over to Ireland to
receive instruction from the Irish harpers. In the eleventh century one of
the Welsh kings, Griffith ap Conan, brought over to Wales a number of
skilled Irish musicians, who, in conference with the native Welsh bards,
carried out some great improvements in Welsh music. Ireland was long the
school for Scottish harpers also, who regularly came over, like those of
Wales, to finish their musical education--a practice which continued down
to about 150 years ago.
Giraldus Cambrensis, a Welshman, who visited Ireland in 1185, though very
much prejudiced against the Irish, says that Irish harpers were
incomparably more skilful than those of any other nation he had ever heard
play. From that period, in spite of wars and troubles, music continued to
be cultivated, and there was an unbroken succession of great professional
harpers, till the end of the eighteenth century, when, for want of
encouragement in the miserable condition of the country under the penal
laws, the race died out.
The Harp is mentioned in the earliest Irish literature: it is constantly
mixed up with our oldest legends; and it was in use from the remotest
pagan times. The old Irish harps were of a medium size, or rather small,
the average height being about thirty inches: and some were not much more
than half that height. They had strings of brass wire which were tuned by
a key, not very different from the present tuning-key. Irish harpers
always played with the fingers or with the finger-nails.
The Irish had a small stringed instrument called a Timpan, which had only
a few strings. It had a body like a flat drum, to which at one side was
attached a short neck: the strings were stretched across the flat face of
the drum and along the neck: and were tuned and regulated by pins or keys
and a bridge. It was played with a bow or with the finger-nail, or by both
together, while the notes were regulated in pitch--or ‘stopped’ as
musicians say--with the fingers of the left hand, like those of a fiddle
or guitar. This little instrument was a great favourite, and is constantly
mentioned in Irish literature.
Harpers and timpanists were honoured in Ireland beyond all other
musicians; and their rights and privileges were even laid down in the law.
Kings had always harpers in their service, who resided in the palaces and
were well paid for their services.
The harp and timpan were the chief instruments of the higher classes, many
of whom played them as an accomplishment, as people now play the piano and
guitar. But the bagpipe was the great favourite of the common people. The
form in use was what we now call the Highland or Scotch pipes--slung from
the shoulder: the bag inflated by the mouth. This form of pipes took its
rise in Ireland: and it was brought to Scotland in early ages by those
Irish colonists already spoken of (page 11). There is another and a better
kind of bagpipes, now common in Ireland, resting on the lap when in use,
and having the bag inflated by a bellows: but this is a late invention.
The old Irish had also Whistles and Flageolets, with holes for the fingers
and blown by the mouth, much like those of the present day. Some
flageolets were double, and some even triple, _i.e._, with two, or with
three, pipes, sounded by a single mouthpiece, and having holes which were
all stopped by the fingers. On many of the great stone crosses are
sculptured harp-players and pipe-players, from which we learn a great deal
about the shapes and sizes of the several instruments.
The Irish had curved bronze Trumpets and Horns of various shapes and
sizes, which, judging from the numbers found buried in clay and bogs, must
have been in very general use. In the National Museum in Dublin is a
collection of twenty-six ancient trumpets, varying in length from 8 feet
down to 18 inches. The larger ones are of most admirable workmanship,
formed by hammering; curved, jointed, ornamented, and riveted with
extraordinary skill and perfection of finish.
Among the household of every king and chief there was a band of
trumpeters--as there were harpers--who were assigned their proper places
at feasts and meetings. Trumpets were used for various purposes:--in war;
in hunting; for signals during meetings and banquets; as a mark of honour
on the arrival of distinguished visitors; and such like. For war purposes,
trumpeters had different calls for directing movements--for battle, for
unyoking, for marching, for halting, for retiring to sleep, for going into
council, and so forth.
The ancient Irish were very fond of a _Craebh ciuil_ [crave-cule], or
‘musical branch,’ a little branch on which were suspended a number of
diminutive bells, which produced a sweet tinkling when shaken: a custom
found also in early times on the Continent. The musical branch figures
much in Irish romantic literature.
The music of ancient Ireland consisted wholly of short airs, each with two
strains or parts--seldom more. But these, though simple in comparison with
modern music, were constructed with such exquisite art that of a large
proportion of them it may be truly said no modern composer can produce
airs of a similar kind to equal them.
The Irish musicians had various ‘_Styles_,’ three of which are very often
mentioned in tales and other ancient Irish writings: of these, numerous
specimens have come down to the present day. The style they called
‘Mirth-music’ (_Ganntree_) consisted of lively airs, which excited to
cheerfulness, mirthfulness, and laughter. These are represented by our
present dance tunes, such as jigs, reels, hornpipes, and other such
spirited pieces, which are known so well in every part of Ireland. The
‘Sorrow-music’ (_Goltree_) was slow and sad, and was always sung on the
occasion of a death. We have many airs belonging to this style, which are
now commonly called _Keens_, i.e., laments, or dirges. The ‘Sleep-music’
(_Suantree_) was intended to produce sleep; and the tunes belonging to
this style were plaintive and soothing. Such airs are now known as
lullabies, or nurse-tunes, or cradle-songs, of which numerous examples are
preserved in collections of Irish music. They were usually sung to put
children to sleep. Though there are many tunes belonging to these three
classes, they form only a small part of the great body of Irish music.
Music--as already remarked--entered into many of the daily occupations of
the people. There were special spinning-wheel songs, which the women sang,
with words, in chorus or in dialogue, when employed in spinning. At
milking-time the girls were in the habit of chanting a particular sort of
air, in a low gentle voice. These Milking-songs were slow and plaintive,
something like the nurse-tunes, and had the effect of soothing the cows
and of making them submit more gently to be milked. This practice was
common down to fifty or sixty years ago; and I well remember seeing cows
grow restless when the song was interrupted, and become again quiet and
placid when it was resumed. The same custom was common in the Highlands of
Scotland. While ploughmen were at their work they whistled a sweet, slow,
and sad strain, which had as powerful an effect in soothing the horses at
their hard labour as the milking-songs had on the cows: and these
Plough-whistles also were quite usual till about half a century ago.
Special airs and songs were used during working time by smiths, by
weavers, and by boatmen. There were, besides, hymn-tunes; and young people
had simple airs for all sorts of games and sports. In most cases words
suitable to the several occasions were sung with lullabies, laments, and
occupation-tunes. Examples of all the preceding classes of melodies will
be found in the collections of Irish airs by Bunting, Petrie, and Joyce.
The Irish had numerous war-marches, which the pipers played at the head of
the clansmen when marching to battle, and which inspired them with courage
and dash for the fight. This custom is still kept up by the Scotch; and
many fine battle-tunes are printed in Irish and Scotch collections of
national music.
The man who did most in modern times to draw attention to Irish music was
Thomas Moore. He composed his exquisite songs to old Irish airs. They at
once became popular, not only in the British Islands, but on the
Continent and in America; and Irish music was thenceforward studied and
admired where it would have never been heard of but for Moore.
Of the entire body of Irish airs that are preserved, we know the authors
of only a very small proportion; and these were composed within the last
two hundred years. Most of the remaining airs have come down from old
times, scattered fragments of exquisite beauty that remind us of the
refined musical culture of our forefathers. No one now can tell who
composed “The Coolin,” “Savourneen Dheelish,” “Shule Aroon,” “Molly
Asthore,” “Eileen Aroon,” “Garryowen,” “The Boyne Water,” “Patrick’s Day,”
“Langolee,” “The Blackbird,” or “The Girl I left behind me”; and so of
many other well-known and lovely airs.
The national music of Ireland and that of Scotland are very like each
other, and many airs are common to both countries: but this is only what
might be expected, as we know that the Irish and the Highland Scotch were
originally one people, and kept up mutual intercourse down to recent
times.