Does Arthur O'Neill mean by this that the older Irish music was neglected in favour of more up-to-date Irish tunes, or that exciting foreign tunes were displacing Irish music? There was certainly some of the latter going on in the 18th century; Echlin O'Kane played Corelli violin concertos on his Gaelic harp², and Dominic Mungan played adagios by Handel³. However it is not clear how much these performances were exotic novelties or the mainstay of the harpers at this date.

Certainly much of the Irish music played by by the harpers was not particularly old, but was of contemporary composition and style. Denis O'Hampsey was an odd one out at the Belfast harpers' meeting in 1792, and it was only many years later that Edward Bunting eulogised him in print:

So, the manuscripts of Edward Bunting⁵, which preserve such a richness of harp music, including some notes on playing technique and harmonisation, need to be used carefully. There is no doubt that some of the tunes were old at the time - Scott's Lamentation as played to Bunting by Denis O'Hampsey⁶ was reputedly composed in 1599 - but half of the music played at Belfast was composed by Carolan (1670-1738) who often incorporated European classical motifs and forms. A number of tunes were older but had been "updated" and had had new variations composed for them.

Also, of all the harpers interviewed by Bunting, the only one who used his fingernails was again O'Hampsey, the others using the soft tips of their fingers to play⁷. It is not clear how early the use of the fingertips had spread from the European classical tradition to the wire-strung Gaelic harp; it may have started as early as the 17th century. This has implications for the articulation and gracing of the tunes; the newer techniques perhaps suiting more modern music.

Next: Scotland in the 17th century

Simon Chadwick