MUSIC102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Jonathan Swift, Seamus Heaney, Ragout
27 Jun 2018
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Oct. 2/17
MUSIC OF IRELAND 1: INSTRUMENTAL TRADITIONS
- First slide pic: 4 gospels of Bible
- When Catholicism had already taken hold
- St. Patrick: brought Christianity to Ireland
- Book of Kells
- Loss of instruments: order by monarch to burn all the harps
- See map of Ireland (Republic of Ireland, excludes Northern Ireland (a part of UK))
- Pic of harp (Trinity College, Dublin)
- Anglo-Irish “thinkers”
- Intellectual “heads”
- Harpers were repository of musical, history, ethics, advice, musical library to the nobles
- Would move from place to place
- Patronized by particular places
- As a result: mobile history embedded in the harp
- Different way of thinking of music
- Harp strings may be tuned differently, can’t figure out how they sounded nor how
they were sung to
- That musical history isn’t recoverable (can only think & imagine sadly)
- Turlough O’Carolan (18th-century harper)
- Transitional figure
- Pieces were set down in notation
- Like many harpers, he was blind
- Must’ve heard music of generations before
- Oral history has a large span
- Ex: Carolan’s Farewell to Music
- What do you hear: one player, hearing multiple fingers. “Tripping over itself” →
ornamentation, talented harpists have more fancy sounding things. Unmetered
(doesn’t mean it has a flow, but the meter expands). Feeling of “internal”.
Melody important (repeated) but is integrated/interwoven w/ accompaniment.
- What to hear: Solo instrument - meant to be listened to (almost like speech).
- Ornamentation (dialogue between left and right hands)
- Octaves, broken chords (underneath melody)
- HARMONY (not present before England//anglo-____ tradition
- Harmony both vertical (broken chords) and horizontal (parallel lines)
- Variety in speeds of chords
- Lots of breaks/pauses
- “The prestige of harmony, all over again but like in Trinidad, something is maintained”
--Dr. Byl
-READING READING READING FOR WEDNESDAY
- Queen Elizabeth I: “Hang all harpers where found and burn their instruments”
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- Harpers expressed Irish cultural history, something very threatening to the
English colonial rule over Ireland
- Bearers of older, traditional culture
- Irish church were suspicious to English Protestant monarchs
- Purge!
- 17th & 18th century: landowners were English people
- Irish people had human rights suppressed
- Trinity College, Dublin: built by English
- King’s College, Cambridge: statement of power
QUOTE FROM READING:
“The Lament of the Three Mary's” (Tradition named: sean nos)
“Oh Peter, apostle, did you see my loved one?
I saw him some time ago, tormented by this enemies.
Who is that fine man on the Cross of Passion?
Don’t you recognize your own son, mother?
Is that the son I carried for three trimesters?
Is that the son that was born in the stable?
Is that the son that I reared on my knees?
My dearest little son, your mouth and nose are bleeding.”
- About Irish mothers who feel their children are being suppressed
- Lament (no one knows the exact melody song was sung to)
- Dialogue between Mary and Peter
- Jonathan Swift - 18th century Anglo-Irish writer
- Ex: A Modest Proposal (1729)
- “I am assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London; that a
young healthy child, well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing,
and wholesome food; whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled, and I make no
doubt, that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or ragout.”
- SATIRE. Published to bring attention to the suffering of Irish people in regards to
human rights
- “The Potato Famine” or “The Great Hunger”
- Called “The Great Hunger” in Ireland
- 1845-1852
- Difference in name: one is what the British called it, one is the Irish name
- Food (grains) exported to Great Britain grown by Irish tenant farmers
- Potato introduced by monarchy: blight (a plant disease, especially one caused by
fungi such as mildews, rusts, and smuts)
- Throughout Ireland, 25% of people died. In some counties, 80%
- See slide for photo of monument
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Loss of instruments: order by monarch to burn all the harps. See map of ireland (republic of ireland, excludes northern ireland (a part of uk)) Harpers were repository of musical, history, ethics, advice, musical library to the nobles. As a result: mobile history embedded in the harp. Harp strings may be tuned differently, can"t figure out how they sounded nor how they were sung to. That musical history isn"t recoverable (can only think & imagine sadly) What do you hear: one player, hearing multiple fingers. Tripping over itself ornamentation, talented harpists have more fancy sounding things. Unmetered (doesn"t mean it has a flow, but the meter expands). Melody important (repeated) but is integrated/interwoven w/ accompaniment. What to hear: solo instrument - meant to be listened to (almost like speech). Ornamentation (dialogue between left and right hands) Harmony both vertical (broken chords) and horizontal (parallel lines) The prestige of harmony, all over again but like in trinidad, something is maintained .
