“Oh, what matter, when for Erin dear we fall?”: music and Irish nationalism, 1848–1913

Abstract

Between the failed uprising of the Irish Confederacy in 1848 and the formation of the Irish Volunteers in 1913, music was a constant presence in the political life of Ireland. Physical force and constitutional nationalists alike found ample use for music, commemorating the martyrs of nationalism, intimidating opponents and expressing shared ideologies. Nationalist music was a regular feature at political rallies, at funerals and during elections, allowing parliamentary nationalists such as Charles Stewart Parnell to associate their cause with more radical ideals. This article employs a combination of historical and ethnomusicological methods in an analysis of songbooks, memoirs, oral histories and contemporary documents to reconstruct the nature and function of musical culture in nationalist politics between 1848 and 1913.

Keywords::

• music
• songs
• ballads
• Fenianism
• Fenians
• Parliamentary Party
• nationalism
• nationalists

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

^1.Zimmermann, Songs of Irish Rebellion, 35.

^2.Paddy's Resource, 5–10; Comerford, Inventing the Nation, 187.

^3.Moore, Selection of Irish Melodies.

^4. “T. Moore to J. Power, 23^rd Oct. 1813,” in Dowden, Letters of Thomas Moore, 280; Pine, Disappointed Bridge, 146.

^5.Nation, October 15, 1842; Davis, Young Ireland Movement, 19; Foster, Modern Ireland, 311–12.

^6.Spirit of the Nation (1843); Spirit of the Nation (1845), v.

^7.Davis, Young Ireland Movement, 28; Nation, October 15, 1842.

^8.Foster, Modern Ireland, 316.

^9. See, for example, Davis, Young Ireland Movement; Mulvey, Thomas Davis; Clifford, Life and Poems of Thomas Moore; Brown, “Music: The Cultural Issue”; Pine, Disappointed Bridge.

^10.Foster, Vivid Faces, xvi.

^11.Breathnach, Folk Music.

^12.Malins, “Yeats and Music,” 483–508; Foster, Words Alone; White, Music and the Irish Literary Imagination; Bowen, Musical Allusions; Hodgart and Worthington, Song in the Works of James Joyce.

^13.Beiner, Remembering the Year of the French; Cronin, “Memory, Story and Balladry,” 112–34.

^14.Zimmermann, “On Rebel Songs,” 86–9; Zimmermann, Songs of the Irish Rebellion.

^15.White, The Keeper's Recital; Lanier, “It is New-strung and Shan't be Heard,” 1–26.

^16.Lieberman, “Should Ethnomusicology be Abolished?,” 204.

^17. Ibid., 200–3.

^18.Kingsbury, “Should Ethnomusicology be Abolished? (Reprise),” 243–9.

^19.Blum, Bohlman, and Newman, Ethnomusicology.

^20.Cooley, “Casting Shadows in the Field,” 3–19.

^21.Thompson, Voice of the Past, 4.

^22.Beiner, Remembering the Year of the French, 38–54.

^23.Stephens, Personal Recollections of 48, 10.

^24.Kelly, Charles J. Kickham, 16.

^25.O'Donovan Rossa, My Years in English Jails, 80.

^26.Ryan, Fenian Memories, 37; Casey, Rising of the Moon, 4.

^27.Casey, Rising of the Moon, 4.

^28.Freeman's Journal (henceforth Freeman's), March 21, 1870; McConville, Irish Political Prisoners, 218.

^29.Sullivan, A.M. Sullivan, 2.

^30.Devoy, Recollections of an Irish Rebel, 37.

^31.Griffith, William Rooney, xix–xxxii.

^32. National Library of Ireland (henceforth NLI), “A Lamentation,” Broadside Ballads Vol. 1 – A, 12B 771; Irish Folklore Collection Manuscript (henceforth IFC) 512: 420–422.

^33.Spirit of the Nation (1845), 236–9.

^34.Allingham, “Irish Ballad Singers,” 366.

^35.Spirit of the Nation (1845), 112–15.

^36. NLI, John Devoy Papers, MS 18,011/1.

^37.Spirit of the Nation (1845), 272–3.

^38.Spirit of the Nation (1845), 261–3; Nation, May 20, 1843; Nation, December 9, 1871.

^39.Spirit of the Nation (1845), 44–7.

^40.Davis, Essays and Poems, 192–3.

^41. IFC 287: 292.

^42.Allingham, “Irish Ballad Singers,” 367.

^43. IFC 329: 425–428 and 445–448; IFC 296: 495–497.

^44.Nation, September 19, 1857; IFC 1442: 116; IFC 2217: 213; Irish Freedom, September 1912.

^45. IFC 329: 425–428.

^46. NLI, Rosamund Jacob Diaries (henceforth RJD), April 8, 1912, MS 32,582/20; University College Dublin Archives, “Diary,” March 21, 1903, Terence MacSwiney Biographies, P48c/99/51.

^47.Freeman's, January 6, 1870; Nation, August 19, 1865; Anglo-Celt (henceforth AC), January 20, 1906.

^48.Freeman's, August 26, 1862; Freeman's, December 7, 1870.

^49.Joyce, Ulysses, 338.

^50.Spirit of the Nation (1845), 272–3.

^51.Sullivan, Recollections of Troubles Times, 178.

^52.Irish Minstrelsy; Zimmermann, Songs of Irish Rebellion, 133.

^53.Exile of Erin Song Book, 49–50.

^54.Exile of Erin Song Book, 18; Freeman's, November 30, 1903; Kildare Observer, December 19, 1885; IFC 1902: 21.

^55.Stephen's Fenian Songster, 55.

^56.Davis, Essays and Poems, 192; Collection of Protestant and Orange Songs, 92.

^57.Nation, April 1, 1843.

^58.Nation, November 11, 1843.

^59.Nation, October 18, 1845.

^60.Freeman's, November 4, 1867; Examiner, November 6, 1867; Nation, November 9, 1867; Connaught Telegraph, November 27, 1867.

^61.Harp of Tara Songbook, 55.

^62.Nation, November 30, 1867; Connaught Telegraph, December 4, 1867.

^63. “But whether on the scaffold high / Or in the battle's van / The fittest place where man can die / Is where he dies for man” (Spirit of the Nation [1845], 223–4).

^64.Nation, December 7, 1867.

^65.O'Donovan Rossa, My Years in English Jails, 21.

^66.Devoy, Recollections of an Irish Rebel, 7.

^67. Ibid., 20.

^68.Ryan, Fenian Memories, 10–11.

^69.Irish Examiner, November 4, 1861; Ryan, Fenian Memories, 25; Ramon, “National Brotherhoods and National Leagues,” 25–30; Moran, “National Brotherhood of St. Patrick,” 331.

^70.Freeman's, November 25, 1879; Nation, December 4, 1880.

^71.Examiner, December 12, 1867.

^72.O'Donovan Rossa, My Years in English Jails, 82, 90, 92; Devoy, Recollections of an Irish Rebel, 193.

^73.Leinster Express (henceforth Leinster), June 20, 1866.

^74.Freeman's, October 23, 1844; Freeman's, February 23, 1842.

^75.Nation, March 20, 1868.

^76.Examiner, March 22, 1861.

^77.AC, February 16, 1901.

^78. “A New and Admired Song in Praise of Mr Smith Barry at the Coming Election,” Bodleian Ballads (henceforth BB), 2806.C.8(67).

^79. “Home Rule for Ireland,” BB, Harding B13(340).

^80. NLI, “Parnell's Victory over the ‘Times,’” Broadside Ballads – Vol. 12 – P, 12B 782; NLI, “Lines on the Death of C.S. Parnell,” Broadside Ballads – Vol. 12 – P, 12B 782.

^81. NLI, “The Grave of Parnell,” Broadside Ballads – Vol. 12 – P, 12B 782.

^82.Kelly, Fenian Ideal, 97–8.

^83.Freeman's, December 1, 1879; AC, December 19, 1885.

^84.Times, April 1, 1912.

^85. NLI, John Redmond Papers (henceforth JRP), MS 15,180/3.

^86.Leinster, October 17, 1891.

^87.Kelly, Fenian Ideal, 83.

^88.AC, April 23, 1898.

^89.Redmond, Historical and Political Addresses, 178; NLI, JRP, MS 15,274.

^90.Irish Independent, March 27, 1912.

^91.Freeman's, April 8, 1902.

^92.Revill, “Music and the Politics of Sound,” 597–613.

^93.Freeman's, April 28, 1885.

^94.Examiner, February 17, 1885; Colonial Office Papers 904/31/41.

^95. IFC 1854: 149–150.

^96.Nation, June 11, 1881.

^97. S. MacManus, Bureau of Military (WS Ref. #283), 11.

^98.Kerryman, January 23, 1906.

^99.McMahon, Grand Opportunity, 2.

^100. NLI, RJD, December 27, 1910, MS 32,582/21.

^101. NLI, “Minute Book of the Programme Sub-Committee,” Feis Ceoil Papers, MS 34,916.

^102.Hyde, Love Songs of Connacht, v.

^103. See, for example, “Last Rose of Summer,” translated in Programme of the Feis Ceoil,1898, Belfast; “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” in Programme of the Feis Ceoil,1900, Belfast.

^104.Hyde, Love Songs of Connacht, v, ix; Proposed Irish Music Festival.

^105.Hyde, Religious Songs of Connacht, 11.

^106. NLI, “Minute Book,” Feis Ceoil Papers, MS 34,916.

^107.Programme of the Feis Ceoil,1897, Dublin.

^108.Programme of the Feis Ceoil,1898, Belfast; Programme of the Feis Ceoil,1897, Dublin; Syllabus of the Munster Feis, 5.

^109. Feis Ceoil, 1897, Dublin.

^110. NLI, RJD, MS 32,582/21.

^111.Proposed Irish Music Festival.

^112. NLI, “Minute Book,” Feis Ceoil Papers, MS 34,916.

^113.Programme of the Feis Ceoil,1898, Belfast.