Turlough O'Carolan
One of the most famous musicians of the time was Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738). He takes up a special place in the succession of itinerant harpers, being one of the last composer in the great oral tradition.
He "never excelled as a performer", as said Bunting, but showed as a composer an amazing gift of creating melodies of his own, of which over 200 have survived. He had opportunities, at this time of Irish history, to hear Italian music and even to meet Italian musicians.
His music, unique and instantly recognisable, is influenced both by the Irish harp tradition and the Italian Baroque, a result of his sociable and open-minded disposition along with his musical wit. The complex architecture of Corelli's music, for example, inspired him, but having no knowledge of harmony science, he seems to have transposed this complexity on the ground of melodic line. This produced such long and intricate - yet definitely coherent - musical phrases as in Lady Dillon or Sir Festus Burke.
Click below for some samples:
Other music of the time includes:
Ó Ro ! 'Sé do Bheatha a Bhaile
Our Musical Efforts!
We also attempted to learn the style of music from this time. This was recorded onto the computer in .WAV format and can be listened to below:
