Carolan's Farewell to Music

[yonder]

Quite different than traditional reels, jigs and other dance tunes, this almost 300 year old tune is neither fast or slick, but simple, brilliant and IMO, one of the most beautiful Irish airs in existence, whether attributed to a composer or not.

Turlough O'Carolan, 1670-1738 was a blind (due to smallpox), itinerant harper who lived and traveled throughout Ireland while basically writing and playing music for his keep. During his life, he composed over 200 tunes many of which are still played today. This piece was said to have been written after traveling to the manor of his long-time sponsor and patron, Mrs. MacDermott Roe. After arriving and sensing his impending death, he composed this final tune and a few days later, passed.

To me, this sounds like the version played by Jerry O'Sullivan and in the key (1 flat) found in Donal O'Sullivan's 1958 collection of Carolan tunes: "Carolan: The Life Times and Music of an Irish Harper". Listen for the phrase with the descending cascade of notes in the B part. I've read (but who really knows) that this was Carolan's realization that his days were coming to an end.

more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turlough_O%27Carolan

[Duppers]

1. Beautiful.

I love it. I often look for new gentle sounds & music to help me sleep, and so I'll add this lovely Farewell to my list.

[DFW]

2. I used to play one of his tunes

I used to play with a couple of Dutch guys in a part-time folk group in the 1980s. We called ourselves the "Holland-America Line," and if you search REALLY hard (and I have no idea why anyone would want to), you can still find one of our albums floating around in musicland. One of the pieces we used to do was Carolan's "Shebag and Shemore."

[yonder]

3. Yep, "The little hill and the big hill". Good tune

That and maybe half a dozen of his others are part of our local sets.

[lillypaddle]

4. K&R nt