Na Píobairí Uilleann

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An Píobaire

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In 1920, after several years of apparent inactivity, the Brothers tried a comeback. It was not a success; I could find only two engagements for 1920, and a negative review in a trade magazine. Their act was considered quaint, old fashioned, out of date. Their last known performance was in July 1920. As of this writing, nothing further is known of Ed after 1925, when he was employed as a bank clerk. Cornelius became an office clerk, ultimately working for the Borough of Brooklyn. He died in 1941. They became almost completely forgotten.FrancisO’Neill does not mention O’Donnell in his books. Barry O’Neill, who has done a lot of research on American Irish pipers, never heard of them. Jim McGuire, also a thorough researcher, found but one reference to O’Donnell with an address in Brooklyn. The O’Donnell Brothers represented one strain of Irish music and piping activity, now largely forgotten. Did they have an impact on the future of the music? Probably not much. Still, it can be interesting to examine different settings in which the Irish pipes were used, and how they were perceived and received. A word about the O’Donnell set. It plays in D, at or perhaps just a bit sharp of concert pitch. The chanter is good example of the Taylors’ ribbon-key style. The reedcap is ivory with a stop key. There are two drones, tenor and bass. The tenor drone is likely not by the Taylors, and a non-Taylor tenor drone part is in the earliest photographs, so the original has been missing a long time. There are six regulators. Tenor, baritone and bass. The double bass regulator is all metal, and may indicate the set was made earlier rather than later in the Taylors’ career. There is a one key E regulator. Last but not least, a two key regulator which probably plays the notes C natural and B flat. The key touches sit between the D key on the baritone reg and the G key on the bass reg. I think it unlikely the set was made for Ed O’Donnell; he was 15 years old or younger when the Taylors stopped making pipes. The information about the Brothers comes almost entirely from two sources: the papers associated with the set of pipes, and a remarkable on-line index to New York State newspapers, www.fultonhistory. com/Fulton.html

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2014-02-14T00:00:00

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