7 minute read
Program Notes
THE HARP: Voice of the Soul
by Jeannette Sorrell
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In ancient times, the harpers and poets of Ireland were among the most revered members of society. They sat at the tables of lords and chieftains. And so, the Celtic harp was already an important instrument in the Isles when William the Conqueror and his band of Normans boldly invaded England in 1066. In the centuries that followed, the Irish were oppressed by English overlords, who forced them to pay “rent” and heavy taxes, merely for living on the land where they had lived for centuries.
Thus, the Irish entered into a deeply emotional and spiritual struggle to preserve their culture and the old Gaelic order. The harp grew into a symbol of that existential struggle, ultimately becoming the voice of the marginalized people of the British Isles – the Irish, the Scots, and the Welsh. It remains one of the chief symbols of Ireland today.
The native Irish harping tradition in medieval and renaissance times was an aristocratic art music, with its own canon and rules for compositional structure. It was only tangentially associated with the folkloric music of the common people. However, due to national poverty, the survival of this aristocratic art music through the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries was primarily limited to oral tradition. Ireland of 1600 did not have the financial resources of say, Venice, where Monteverdi and his colleagues were able to publish their music. Due to being preserved primarily orally, the Irish art music eventually did become intertwined with folk music. These two traditions – the older aristocratic art music and the later folk music – were blended together in the artistry of Ireland’s most revered composer, Turlough O’Carolan.
The Harp of Erin
by Thomas Buchanan Read
The Bard of Ireland
Born in 1670 as the son of a blacksmith, O’Carolan was a gifted poet as a teenager. When he was blinded by smallpox at the age of 18, his guardian did the logical thing: she apprenticed him to a harpist. There was a long-standing tradition of blind harpers in Ireland. Playing the harp was considered one of the best ways for a blind person to have a chance at earning a living.
The blind poet O’Carolan quickly became a fine harpist as well. Within three years, he took to the roads of Ireland on horseback – his guide at his side – to compose and perform songs for patrons. It was said that weddings and funerals were often delayed until O’Carolan could arrive. He became the nation’s most beloved musician, an honored guest at the homes of the wealthy and at the pubs of the commoners. He is considered by many to be Ireland’s national composer.
The harper tradition had long served as a link between high Gaelic art and popular Irish folk music. O’Carolan created a unique style by blending those two traditions. He then added elements inspired by Italian baroque music. By the early 18th century when O’Carolan flourished, Italian baroque music by composers such as Vivaldi, Corelli, and Geminiani could be heard in the theatres and concert halls of Dublin. O’Carolan heard this music in the homes of his noble Irish patrons, and greatly admired it. The Italian baroque influence is reflected in the construction of his melodies and the forms of his pieces. Thus, he brought the baroque tradition into Irish music, infusing it with a fresh new strain of high artistry.
As an itinerant musician, O’Carolan did not make it a priority to write down his music, and virtually none of it was published in his lifetime. But his pieces were so beloved that they survived through oral tradition. Irish musician Chris Smith has said that in O’Carolan’s music, “we hear the halves of his personality: the inheritor of the tradition of the Irish bards, whose social prestige and respect were so great that they sat at the tables of kings; and then the wandering musicians who came later. We can hear Carolan reaching toward the Italian style, but without leaving behind the folk roots of the Irish tradition.”
Turlough O’Carolan
Si Bheag, Si Mhor, meaning Big Fairy Mound, Small Fairy Mound, was O’Carolan’s first composition. It came about when his first patron suggested that the young harper and poet try his hand at composing. The title of the piece refers to a place in County Meath where, according to legend, a wizard turned two battling giants into two hills. O’Carolan’s Farewell is a more poetic composition, reflecting the much older, high-art style of Gaelic harping.
Giants Causeway, County Meath
English & Scottish Composers & Lyricists
Our program begins with the help of Henry Purcell, who awakens our musicians through his aria Strike the Viol. This piece is from his 1694 Ode for Queen Mary’s Birthday, also known as Come Ye Sons of Art. The text of the ode is often attributed to Nahum Tate, who was England’s poet laureate at the time. With this piece, we “wake the harp,” as well as “striking the viol,” and “touching the lute.”
England’s other major baroque composer, George Frederic Handel, pays tribute to the harp or lyre in his beloved aria, Oh, Had I Jubal’s Lyre from the oratorio Joshua. Although this piece celebrates the lyre (ancestor of the harp), one does not often get to hear it with the sounds of lyre or harp.
William Lawes was active a generation earlier than Purcell, and served as a court composer to King Charles I. Most of his compositions are for viol consort – an ensemble of 4-7 instruments from the viol family, consisting of the viola da gamba and its smaller cousins, the treble viol and tenor viol. Lawes was known for some daring harmonies and skillful counterpoint, where different voices are active simultaneously in imitative ways. His most sparkling pieces are his Harp Consorts, in which he brought the harp into the viol ensemble. We offer two lively movements from his Harp Consort No. 3. The harp is an equal and soloistic voice in this piece, trading off with the violin and viola da gamba in fleet-footed virtuoso variations.
The father-and-son team of Solomon and John Eccles, both of whom appear on our program, are certainly among the more colorful figures in London’s music history. One day in the mid-17th century, Solomon Eccles took his musical instruments and music books to Tower Hill and publicly set fire to them. Passersby hurried to put out the blaze, but this only made Eccles angry. He broke his instruments by stamping on them instead.
In his tract A Musick-Lector, written a few years after the event, Eccles tells us this renunciation of music was brought about when “I through the good hand of God had an eye open in me.” He had become a Quaker in the early years of that movement, when music was considered dangerously immoral. Eccles quoted Biblical scripture to justify his actions: the prophet Amos warned of destruction to those who “chant to the sound of the viol and invent to themselves instruments.”
Following a performance of the gorgeous harp solo, O’Carolan’s Farewell, our program ends with an Irish wedding. Màiri Bhàn or Mairi’s Wedding is the work of both a humble Scotsman and an English lord; it brings together the voices of the British Isles in a joyous romp. The original lyrics are Scotch Gaelic, written by John Roderick Bannerman (1865–1938) and set to an old Scottish folk tune. The song quickly became so popular that English lyrics were written two years later by Sir Hugh Robertson. In the typical manner of history, for many years Lord Robertson was given sole credit as the author of the song, with no mention of Bannerman. In any case, we perform both in Gaelic and English, as Amanda Powell and Anna O’Connell summon us in Gaelic to a joyful wedding. In our imagination, this wedding is also the scene of a farewell, as we evoke the many young Irish couples of the 19th century who set sail for America soon after marrying.
What’s the definition of an optimist?
– A harpist with a tuner.
How long does a harp stay in tune?
– About 20 minutes, or until someone opens the door.
