The O'Carolan Canons
 "Carolan,
the last of the Irish bards, slept on a rath, and ever after
the fairy tunes ran in his head, and made him the great man
he was."
- W.B. Yeats -
from
Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry.
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 Most
traditional Irish music is descended from the Bards, a caste of itinerant
musicians who played a wire-stringed harp known as the "clarseach",
which has a chiming, resonant tone. The blind harper, Turlough O'Carolan
(1670-1738), was the most famous of the latter-day bards.
The legendary blind
harper, composer and poet was born in Nobber, Co.Meath.
O'Carolan's birthplace
was a notable center of Gaelic poetry and learning, this tradition continued
far into the 19th century.
"Yet
sometimes they are not drawn down beneath the earth, but remain
as usual in the daily life, though the fairy spell is still on them;
and the young men who have once heard the fairy harp become possessed
by the spirit of music which haunts them to their death, and gives
them strange power over the souls of men. This was the case with
Carolan, the celebrated bard. He acquired all the magic melody of
his notes by sleeping out on a fairy rath at night, when he fairy
music came to him in his dreams; and on awaking he played the airs
from memory. Thus it was that he had power to madden men to mirth,
or to set them weeping as if for the dead, and no one ever before
or since played the enchanting fairy music like Carolan, the sweet
musician of Ireland."
- Lady Wilde, Ancient Legends
of Ireland |
 When
Carolan's family moved from their small holding in Spiddal in Nobber,
they went to Co. Roscommon, where Carolan senior took up employment
in an ironworks, owned by the McDermott Roe family of Alderford House,
Ballyfarnan. Mrs McDermott Roe liked the young lad and decided
to have him educated with her own children. Turlough was very bright,
especially at reading.
Carolan was in his
late teens when he caught smallpox and though he recovered from the
disease, it left him completely blind. The matter of finding a gainful
occupation was then difficult. Mrs McDermott seeing the young man as
part of her family decided that the best to do for him was to have him
taught the harp.
After years of learning
the instrument he was deemed ready to begin his profession. She provided
him with a harp, a horse and a helper to guide him. That generous gesture
enabled the blind young Nobber man to fulfil himself and it gave us
a musical genius.
Thus began the celebrated
musical life of Turlough O'Carolan.
 I have composed 7 canons using melodies from O'Carolan pieces. Canon 1 MP3 sample. You can purchase the full collection of the O'Carolan Canons for $5.00 in the form of a "zip" file. Zip files are easily opened and the MP3s extracted on almost any system. After your Paypal or Credit Card payment is processed, you will be quickly sent an email link to the download. Send us an email if you have any questions.
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