Learn about the blind harper and composer Turlough O'Carolan. During his lifetime O’Carolan became very popular, especially renowned for his compositions, lyrics, and poetry.
Perhaps no figure in the history of Irish music is more beloved than the blind harper and composer Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738). A plaque in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin honors him as "the last of the Irish bards," the man who brought to a close the centuries-old tradition of the wandering poet minstrel. (The beautiful tunes he wrote can be found in the repertories of virtually every important Celtic band, and a section of "O’Neill’s Music of Ireland," the Bible of Irish music, is devoted to his compositions.)
O’Carolan was born in County Meath, Ireland in 1670. When he was 14, his father, a blacksmith and farmer, moved the family nearer to Leitrim to take up work for the McDermott Roe family. Impressed by Turlough’s intelligence, Mrs. McDermott Roe had him educated alongside her own children. Then, at age 18, smallpox struck, sparing Turlough’s life, but stealing away his sight. As music was one of the few livelihoods open to the blind, Mrs. McDermott Roe provided him with 3 years of harp studies, before giving him a harp, a horse, a guide, and the money to take to the road as a traveling harper.
What a debt we owe his benefactress. The life of an itinerant harper was a fascinating one. The harper, like the poet, had always been honored in Ireland, and O’Carolan would travel from great house to country mansion, playing for the wealthy and powerful, both Catholic and Protestant, mingling with society and living comfortably. In return, O’Carolan would be expected to compose a lively piece with lyrics honoring his host or hostess, called a planxty.
O’Carolan became hugely popular, especially renowned for his compositions, as well as his lyrics and poetry, usually written in Irish. People would delay both weddings and funerals until he could join them to play. During his lifetime, the harp and traditional Irish music were giving way to European musical influences, like the Italian Baroque. In his own compositions, he was uniquely able to at once celebrate the great Irish folk and bardic traditions, while absorbing the new, Baroque influences, creating a delightful mix of folk and classical.
He was also a colorful figure, a great lover of whiskey, women and wit, who married late and had 7 children. By the time he died in 1738, at age 68 he was both famous and beloved, an Irish icon whose wake lasted 4 days and who left behind a rare and hauntingly beautiful musical legacy.
In the words of O’Carolan himself, “Wider than the heavens is my fame…I am the best as regards the powers of my fingers…nobody will ever be found to match me.”
For Celtic Cultural Alliance, this is Kate Scuffle. Slainte.