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Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, Volume 1, Issue 1, Page 25

Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, Volume 1, Issue 1, Page 25
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periodical Publisher
Irish Folk Song Society
periodical Editor
[Periodical]
periodical Title
Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society
volume Number
1
issue Content
87Chree Dance CUHeScont.REEL: Tnx LETTEEKENNY FRoLIC.86..,HJ I 11 ii..rI- :i I 1 :r;i 1 11aI I IeI 1f.t I .i) I L Li 1 jj iIi ui_i L U Iii tFRoM Al mBEw MAOINTYIIE, Ballymore. This tune is very well known all over Donegal.H.H.irish and Danish 3 o1k music.Guxuan by the authority of our ecclesiastical and secular literature, we are able tofollow with certainty the general history of Irish music to a period much earlier thanthe introduction of Christianity into Ireland. In our ancient records music blendsitself so intimately with the life of the people of Ireland, that its history is as old as thehistory of the Irish race itself.But to trace the history of particular airs is quite a different matter. The oldIrish musicians, so far as we are aware, used no musical notation. It is certain, indeed,that the airs forming the great body of our music are of very remote antiquity; but we arenot able to trace their exact form and setting farther back than the time when they firstbegan to be written down. In this respect we are in exactly the same position as ourScotch neighbours, as it is well expressed by Mr. George Farquhar Graham in his Intro-duction to Woods Songs of Scotland: Unfortunately no musical MSS. containingScottish airs have come down to us of an earlier date than the seventeenth century. Wehave, therefore, no positive proof of the actual existence of any of our known airs untilthat time, although we have no doubt that many of them existed in a simple andrudimentary state long previously.I once attempted to trace the history of particular airs far behind the seventeenthcentury, being led to this investigation by a casual circumstance. More than twentyyears ago an accomplished harper from Sweden, named Sjoden, visited these countries,and remained for some time in Dublin, where he charmed us all with his masterlyrendering of national airs of various countries on his magnificent harpmore than sevenfeet high. Conversing with him one evening, he told me that he often heard the peopleof Copenhagen whistling and singing our Cruiscin inn the Scotch John Andersonmy Jo. I was impressed by this statement, and I thought that there might be otherairs common to the two countries, as well as the Cruiscin l an. If this were found to bethe case to any considerable extent, it seemed a fair inference that those particular airswere as old as the time when there was frequent intercommunication and intimaterelations between the people of the two countries. This would bring us back to thetenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries; for, so far as I am aware, there was no inter-course worth mentioning between the two countries after that period.V
issue Number
1
page Number
25
periodical Author
[Periodical]
issue Publication Date
1967-01-01T00:00:00
allowedRoles
anonymous,guest,friend,member

Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, Volume 1, Issue 1

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