Sources on Irish ballads, poetry, songs: 19th century
Sources on Irish ballads, poetry, songs: 19th century
Hello all,
I'm doing a thesis at college next semester looking at the resurgence of Irish culture and identity through music and songs, mainly focusing on the 19th century. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to do fill out a survey or anything I'm mainly looking at the roots of English and Scottish folk traditions and looking at Ireland's reaction to their English influences in the late 18th/early 19th centuries. The songs they came up with, tune titles that carry histories with them, etc.
I have a few texts on Raftery, ballads, and O'Carolan (earlier, but relevant), and I thought no harm in seeing if anybody here knows of resources that would be helpful--books, anthologies, music collections, people to talk to. My thesis director is a scholar of British and Scottish literature, you see, so I'm carrying the torch for the Irish segment here!
Any friendly helpful suggestions are appreciated. I'm a flute and whistle player and do know what I'm doing, musically speaking, so no worries about any Celtic panpipes references coming into play Unfriendly helpful suggestions will be considered. And hopefully the unfriendly, unhelpful suggestions are few and far between!
Re: Sources on Irish ballads, poetry, songs: 19th century
The Sam Henry collection 'Songs of the People' would be well worth getting. I have a copy and there is some very interesting info in it Amazon US (don't know where you are but I am in the States hence my searching there) has it at http://www.amazon.com/Sam-Henrys-Songs-People-Henry/dp/0820336254
Another collection to track down would be the Francis Child collection which seems to be in multiple different volumes, Amazon has a bunch of them if you just search Francis Child ballads. 'Child' ballads show up all over Ireland and Britain as well as America (usually in somewhat different versions) so this should help cross-reference ballads that show up in Ireland and the Child collections which if I remember correctly was mostly collected in England and Scotland. Both of these should be useful to your project.
Re: Sources on Irish ballads, poetry, songs: 19th century
Not at all meaning to be unhelpful but just wondering was there "a resurgence of Irish culture and identity through music and songs, mainly focusing on the 19th century"
That'd be back in the 1800's. Is not one of the problems with this postulation, that Irish trad being a folk idiom, was little documented. So how do you know if there was a resurgence or just the emergence of documentation on same, perhaps giving that impression?
Of relevance perhaps to your work though, I posted this thread a few weeks back concerning a contemporary account from the early to mid 1800's of a dance school and the music. http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/28948
I'd say these accounts show a vibrant culture of song and dance. If you read through this book proper and Legends of Mount Leinster by same, they're full of accounts of story, song and music.
Re: Sources on Irish ballads, poetry, songs: 19th century
Ah, sorry I didn't respond sooner! Things caught up with me.
Thanks, Boots and Why Bother! The Child ballad collections are really interesting.
Thanks to you too, hussar! I should've been more specific in my original post. You're right in that there didn't seem to be much of a resurgence in the 1800s. What I should have said is that I'm looking at that time period as the groundwork for the more popular resurgence of the 20th century. The story behind the story! Your link looks really interesting, and is definitely of use.
I'm also looking at this period specifically because my thesis advisor's area of expertise is the Romantic Age, English and Scottish literature in the 1800s. He's all for me looking at Irish music and songs during that time, but since he was the only professor available to oversee the thesis (the Irish lit. prof had too much on his plate!), I had to incorporate the Romantic Age. Hopefully I can find some interesting things that warrant a post on here for other peoples' reading pleasure!
Sources on Irish ballads, poetry, songs: 19th century
Sources on Irish ballads, poetry, songs: 19th century
Hello all,
I'm mainly looking at the roots of English and Scottish folk traditions and looking at Ireland's reaction to their English influences in the late 18th/early 19th centuries. The songs they came up with, tune titles that carry histories with them, etc.
Unfriendly helpful suggestions will be considered. And hopefully the unfriendly, unhelpful suggestions are few and far between!
I'm doing a thesis at college next semester looking at the resurgence of Irish culture and identity through music and songs, mainly focusing on the 19th century. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to do fill out a survey or anything
I have a few texts on Raftery, ballads, and O'Carolan (earlier, but relevant), and I thought no harm in seeing if anybody here knows of resources that would be helpful--books, anthologies, music collections, people to talk to. My thesis director is a scholar of British and Scottish literature, you see, so I'm carrying the torch for the Irish segment here!
Any friendly helpful suggestions are appreciated. I'm a flute and whistle player and do know what I'm doing, musically speaking, so no worries about any Celtic panpipes references coming into play
# Posted on January 11th 2012 by mellow yellow
Re: Sources on Irish ballads, poetry, songs: 19th century
I've come up with some nice stuff on google books, here's a couple of 'em.
http://books.google.com/books?id=yRkNAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=jCgPAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
# Posted on January 11th 2012 by Boots MacAllen
Re: Sources on Irish ballads, poetry, songs: 19th century
The Sam Henry collection 'Songs of the People' would be well worth getting. I have a copy and there is some very interesting info in it Amazon US (don't know where you are but I am in the States hence my searching there) has it at http://www.amazon.com/Sam-Henrys-Songs-People-Henry/dp/0820336254
Another collection to track down would be the Francis Child collection which seems to be in multiple different volumes, Amazon has a bunch of them if you just search Francis Child ballads. 'Child' ballads show up all over Ireland and Britain as well as America (usually in somewhat different versions) so this should help cross-reference ballads that show up in Ireland and the Child collections which if I remember correctly was mostly collected in England and Scotland. Both of these should be useful to your project.
# Posted on January 12th 2012 by Why Bother?
Re: Sources on Irish ballads, poetry, songs: 19th century
Not at all meaning to be unhelpful but just wondering was there "a resurgence of Irish culture and identity through music and songs, mainly focusing on the 19th century"
That'd be back in the 1800's. Is not one of the problems with this postulation, that Irish trad being a folk idiom, was little documented. So how do you know if there was a resurgence or just the emergence of documentation on same, perhaps giving that impression?
Of relevance perhaps to your work though, I posted this thread a few weeks back concerning a contemporary account from the early to mid 1800's of a dance school and the music.
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/28948
I'd say these accounts show a vibrant culture of song and dance. If you read through this book proper and Legends of Mount Leinster by same, they're full of accounts of story, song and music.
# Posted on January 12th 2012 by the wounded hussar
Re: Sources on Irish ballads, poetry, songs: 19th century
Ah, sorry I didn't respond sooner! Things caught up with me.
Thanks, Boots and Why Bother! The Child ballad collections are really interesting.
Thanks to you too, hussar! I should've been more specific in my original post. You're right in that there didn't seem to be much of a resurgence in the 1800s. What I should have said is that I'm looking at that time period as the groundwork for the more popular resurgence of the 20th century. The story behind the story! Your link looks really interesting, and is definitely of use.
I'm also looking at this period specifically because my thesis advisor's area of expertise is the Romantic Age, English and Scottish literature in the 1800s. He's all for me looking at Irish music and songs during that time, but since he was the only professor available to oversee the thesis (the Irish lit. prof had too much on his plate!), I had to incorporate the Romantic Age. Hopefully I can find some interesting things that warrant a post on here for other peoples' reading pleasure!
# Posted on January 19th 2012 by mellow yellow