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@SharonC -
Thanks for posting info about Katy Adelson's book: 15 Irish Fiddle Airs - Turlough O'Carolan in the Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien Ensemble Thread (because they play some of O'Calolan's pieces). Katy is a wonderful teacher & I know her book is definitely worth getting!
I LOVE O'Carolan tunes, I play a handful (even a Planxty or two), BUT... O'Carolan was a prolific composer and I was surprised I didn't find a thread devoted to him - so here ya all go!
"Planxty" was a word used by people who named works by harper Turlough O'Carolan after his death, and is believed to denote a tribute to a particular person: "Planxty Irwin," for example, would be in honour of Colonel John Irwin of Sligo. "Planxty" is thought to be a corruption of the Irish word and popular toast "sláinte", meaning "good health." Another possible explanation is that it is derived from the Latin planctus, a medieval lament composed in honour of a deceased person or a tragic event. (Wikipedia)
You can find FREE versions of quite a few O'Carolan tunes at The Session!
Thanks to info at The Session I found this VERY generous guy, think his name is Vince Brennan(?) that owns the Frayed Knot Arts business in Seymour, Tennessee (outside Knoxville). His store supports the wonderful site The Old Music Project that has a vast amount of FREE pdf scores with midi's! There are instructions to use them, but I didn't have any trouble just clicking on them.
Here are TWO of his O'Carolan Collections and some History:
Turlough O'Carolan - Irish Harpist & Composer (1670-1738) - keep in mind the 'Baroque Music Era' extended from about 1600 to 1750!
The Complete Works of Turlough O'Carolan - pdf's to download & midi's (213, plus a few extra alternates)! It's stressed they have been transcribed into more "user friendly" keys, but I noticed the original keys mention on the pdf's - if anyone is interested.
O'Neill's Music Of Ireland (1850 version) - Turlough O'Carolan Collectio (72, plus a few extra versions)
- Emily
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Stole this important info from the Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien Ensemble Thread
AndrewH said
Yes, Turlough O'Carolan was influenced by several Italian Baroque composers and wrote some music in continental European dance forms. He admired Corelli and Vivaldi, and became friends with Geminiani who visited Ireland regularly for decades and lived in Dublin for the last three years of his life.
Similarly, in Scotland during the Baroque and Classical eras, folk fiddlers and orchestral violinists were mostly the exact same people. There was a surprising amount of musical cross-pollination at that time.
On the Scottish side of interest - violinist Tim MacDonald & cellist Jeremy Reed have studied the period playing style with Baroque instruments & bows. They have a 55 Video Playlist of Niel Gow's Third Collection of Strathspey Reels (ca. 1792)!
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I play more than a handful of Turlough O'Carolan tunes, but ran across one today that really caught my attention... because it's NOT what I would consider to be a 'normal' structure for a hornpipe (it's NOT AABB, more like ABCDEFG... XYZ 🤣). Needless to say, a bit more of a challenge for me to memorize this one!
Thomas Burke - played by Jacqueline McCarthy.
I was pleasantly surprised to fine that setting available on The Session - Thomas Burke (hornpipe), but there are also several other versions of notation at the Traditional Tune Archive (Honorable Thomas Burke).
I do remember (early in my learning fiddle) I'd been given the album, 'The Celtic Fiddle Festival - Storm in a Teapot', with the track 'Planxty Burke/Thomas Burke'. I think I'd already learned 'Planxty Burke/Planxty Drew' by that time, from a Shelley Phillips recording... but never made the connection to this album, until now.
It's because the names of these 2 tunes are IN THE WRONG ORDER!
'Thomas Burke' is the FIRST tune.
...everyone should know (by now) I love learning versions of tunes from folks who play other instruments (other than the fiddle). Jacqueline McCarthy - a concertina player, grew up in London - her Father was a piper & concertina player from Clare. She also belonged to a group that specialized in songs collected in early 20th Century - North County, Galway.
For a good/quick listening reference of O'Carolan tunes, with clearly heard melody notes:
The Complete Works Of Turlough O'Carolan (1670 - 1738) - 214 video Playlist from J.J. Sheridan (piano).
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