Carolan fragment

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National Library of Ireland LO 1635, part of the Joly Gift.

Printed c.1748; a single partial untitled undated section survives. Known variously as “Compositions of Carolan” or the “Carolan-Delaney Fragment”, this unique copy of an Irish printed book contains 14 pages (numbered 6-19) with no date or title. It is printed in folio on one side of the paper only. All the music faces the centre, so the first 7 leaves show verso only, the last 7 recto only.

It has 23 tunes, all commonly attributed to Carolan, and all with unusual basses that. We are told that “Carolan’s tunes had no base to them originally, as we have been informed by the late Keane Fitzgerald, a native of Ireland, and a good judge of music, who had often seen and heard old Carolan perform. It was only after his decease, in 1738, that his tunes were collected and set for the harpsichord, violin, and German flute, with a base, Dublin, folio, by his son, who published them in London by subscription, in 1747.” Abraham Rees, The Cyclopaedia; or, universal dictionary of arts, sciences and literature. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1819. Volume 17, (unpaginated, under ‘Harp’)

Grainne Yeats (‘Lost chords’, Ceol VII/1&2 (December 1984), pp.14-19) has argued that this book is the one published by Carolan's son, John Carolan, with Dennis Connor, in Dublin, in 1748. Previous scholars including Donal O'Sullivan didn't know this and so they refer to the book as an earlier publication of Neal.

A complete facsimile or edition has never been published, but facsimiles of individual pages can be found as listed below.

Gaelic harp music in this source

Many of the tunes in this publication are elsewhere attributed to Carolan; the others seem stylistically similar enough that they are usually accepted as his, though it is worth noting that his name doesnot appear in this source. This is a complete list of the contents. The DOSC number given for each tune is the reference to Donal O’Sullivan's numbered catalogue of tunes in his Carolan, the Life, Times and Music of an Irish Harper Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958, repr. Celtic Music, 1991, & Ossian, 2001.

You can use my Carolan Tune Collation Spreadsheet to collate these tunes with their DOSC number and other published or manuscript versions of each.

No.6-7 / p.1-2 M^r. James Betagh & Jigg to the above
DOSC 4
Other versions: Lee: M^r.. James Betagh & Jigg;
Facsimile: Sandra Joyce, ‘An Introduction to O’Carolan’s Music in Eighteenth-Century Printed Collections’ in Irish Musical Studies 4, ed. P.F. Devine & H. White 1996 p.301 (no.6 / p.1 only reproduced)

No.7 / p.2 Lady Athenry
DOSC 1
Facsimile: Complete Collection of the much admired old Irish Tunes The Orignal and Genuine Compostions of Carolan the Celebrated Harper and Composer (1670-1738) Suitable for Most Instruments, Ossian Publications 1984 (1st edition), pp8-9 (wrongly cited there)

No.8 / p.3 John Drudy
DOSC 43
Other versions: Lee: John Drudy;

No.8 / p.3 Miss Betty M^c.Neal
DOSC 91
Other versions: none known
Words: Tomás Ó Máille, Amhráin Chearbhalláin: The Poems of Carolan Irish Texts Soc., No. 17, 1916, p.171

No.8-9 / p.3-4 M^r. Hugh O Donnel
DOSC 127
Other versions: Bunting ms29 p.12: Plangsty O’Donnell;

No.9 / p.4 M^rs Fallen
DOSC 46
Other versions: none known

No.9-10 / p.4-5 M^r John Reily

No.10 / p.5 Plansty Bourk
DOSC 14
Other versions: Lee: Plangsty Bourk;
Facsimile: Complete Collection of the much admired old Irish Tunes The Orignal and Genuine Compostions of Carolan the Celebrated Harper and Composer (1670-1738) Suitable for Most Instruments, Ossian Publications 1984 (1st edition), pp8-9 (wrongly cited there)

No.10-11 / p.5-6 M^r Daniel Kelly

No.11 / p.6 M^rs Delany

No.12 / p.7 O Flin
DOSC 128

No.12 / p.7 M^r W^m Eckles

No.13 / p.8 M^rs Farrel

No.13 / p.8 Gen^l. Winne & Jigg

No.14 / p.9 S^r Arthur Shean
DOSC 159
Other versions: none known

No.14 / p.9 M^r. Baptis[...]

No.15 / p.10 Morgan M^c Gann Esq^r & jigg

No.15-16 / p.10-11 Mich^l Connor Esq^r & jigg

No.16 / p.11 M^rs Maxwell

No.17 / p.12 M^r Connor & Jigg
Facsimile: Donal O’Sullivan, Carolan, the Life, Times and Music of an Irish Harper Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958, & Celtic Music, 1991, vol. 1, f.p.163 / Ossian, 2001, p.99

No.18 / p.13 Doctor Hart

No.18-19 / p.13-14 M^r Molone

No.19 / p.14 Fairy Queen
Facsimile (with analysis): Alasdair Codona, Gaelic Harmony. See my notes on the Fairy Queen.

Simon Chadwick