Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. Vol. 2. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Jan Smaczny: The stuff of life' - aspects of folksong in the fabric of art music in the British Isles

privilege. This tradition continued into the Norman era in Ireland and beyond into Tudor times in the sixteenth century. The Irish harp, though beautiful in tone, was, sui generis, limited to its ancient oral repertoire and proved less able to cope with the requirements of the increasingly chromatic music favoured by the educated classes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In addition, the arrival and popularity of the fortepiano in the context of domestic music making in tandem with new styles in music proved as far as the harp was concerned a fatal combination. There is an irony that the accompaniments to Moore's Irish Melodies along with those of other new collections of folksongs were arranged for the piano and would have been played on that instrument in many an Irish household while the harp languished as a piece of ornamental furniture in the corner. The itinerant harpers, in some ways a kind of latter-day troubadour, travelling from house to house and performance to performance, were still to be found, though drastically decreased in numbers, in the late eighteenth and even in the nineteenth centuries. But fundamental shifts in taste and the growing ability of amateur performers on the piano meant that the attractions of this once remarkable live tradition were fading fast. A central figure in the latter days of the harp in Ireland was Turlough Carolan (Toirdhealbhach ó Cearbhalláin, 1670-1738). At the age of eighteen he went completely blind as the result of smallpox, thus leaving few options for employment. One possible solution was to take up the profession of harpist; the Irish harp tradition was entirely oral and the instrument was managed with relative ease by the unsighted. Several of the profession were blind, but, with the aid of a helper, managed to make successful careers. Having started relatively late in life, Carolan had difficulty in approaching the dexterity and finesse of his colleagues, but he soon developed a reputation as a composer. Quite often he would originate a song tune and then add words later. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that folksong was the primary influence on his music; along with many of his Irish and English contemporaries, he seems to have been particularly fond, of Italian music, in particular the sonatas and concertos of Corelli and Vivaldi widely performed in England and Ireland throughout the eighteenth century. But, despite the very real attractions of the contemporary classical repertoire, folksong was a presence in his style; though sublimated and considerably refined. As an element in melodic design in his compositions it was a telling point at which folksong entered the fabric of his musical style. Of equal important was the way in which Carolan's output acted as a vessel for the folk impulse since many of his most memorable melodies, some of which may indeed have carried native characteristics, entered the musical 32