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Song Lore of Ireland, The, Volume 1, Issue 1, Page 31

Song Lore of Ireland, The, Volume 1, Issue 1, Page 31
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periodical Publisher
The Baker & Taylor Co., New York, 1911
periodical Editor
[none]
periodical Title
Song Lore of Ireland, The
volume Number
1
issue Content
50 THE SONG LORE OF IRELANDHOW THE SONGS CAME DOWN TO US 51wrote the Irish words, when work began.The singer recommenced, stopping at every two orthree bars of the melody to permit the writing ofthe notes, and often repeating the passage until itwas correctly taken down and then going on withthe melody exactly from the point where the sing-ing was interrupted. The entire air being at lastobtained, the singera second timewas calledupon to give the song continuously, and, when allcorrections had been made, the violinan instru-ment of great sweetness and powerwas produced,and the air played as Petrie alone could play it,and often repeated.For half a century Petrie pursued this labor oflove, and some idea of the monumental character ofhis achievement may be gathered from the fact thathe collected no fewer than 000 Irish tunes. A pro-portion of these are variants, put on record becauseof the light they shed on the growth of melody.Allowing for duplications of this kind, there stillremains a collection of some 1800 Irish melodiesa treasury of folk-song the equal of which no othercountry in the world can boash Ireland, the Cin-derella among nations, kept at home to be the serv-ant of her more fortunate sisters, has dreameddreams in the solitude of her chimney corner, dreamsso beautiful that even her rivals are moved whenthey hear them. Most inspiring thought of all, thememory of these songs has been kept green, not somuch by the great and noble, though they haveborne their part, as by the common people.It is a fascinating occupation to try to trace themelodies to their origin. We marvel and rejoiceat the humbleness of the sources whence such beauti-ful melodies flow. That pathetic love-song, I onceloved a boy, was noted down by the daughter ofSmollett Holden from the singing of a servant girl.The air now known as My Loves an Arbutus, fromits association with Mr. Graves lovely song, was ob-tained by Petrie from the singing of an old gentle-man who had learned it in childhood. The SmithsSong, in which some forgotten Irish composer, bymaking a tune out of the strokes of the sledge on theanvil, anticipates the conceit, though not the air, ofHandels Harmonious Blacksmith, was sung byMary Hacket of Glenshane. The ballad singers ofDublin streets have proved a veritable mine ofmelody. Decrepit, blind, penniless, they still hadsomething which to-day the world would not will-ingly let die. Poor in fortune, they were rich in thethings of the imagination, and what is that but thehighest riches in the final analysis of worth? Far-mers whistled Petrie their plow tunes; girls sang himmilking songs; fishermen, beggars, students, parishpriests, fired by the collectors enthusiasm, gave himof their melodious store. When the complete Petriecollection was issued a year or two ago, under theeditorship of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, Dr. P.W. Joyce, who bad communicated to Petrie a largenumber of songs, was delighted to find that his oldfriend had punctiliously honored the receipt of eachby aflixing thereto the name of the contributor. OldOwen Connellan, professor of Gaelic languages at
issue Number
1
page Number
31
periodical Author
Mason, Redfern
issue Publication Date
1911-01-01T00:00:00
allowedRoles
anonymous,guest,friend,member

The Song Lore of Ireland

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