Turlough O'Carolan

Lore & Background

Carolan was born in 1670 in Nobber, County Meath, where his father was a blacksmith. The family forfeited their estates during the civil wars and moved in 1684 to Ballyfarnon, County Roscommon, on the invitation of the MacDermot Roe family. After being blinded by smallpox at age eighteen, Carolan was apprenticed to a good harper. At twenty-one, given a horse and a guide, he set out to travel Ireland and compose songs for patrons. For almost fifty years, he journeyed from one end of Ireland to the other, composing and performing his tunes. One of his earliest compositions was about Brigid Cruise, with whom he was infatuated. In 1720, at age 50, he married Mary Maguire; they had seven children. Mary died in 1733. Carolan died on 25 March 1738.

Reader's Guide

Carolan composed both songs and instrumental harp music, reflecting various styles. About a third of his surviving music has associated Irish lyrics. Modern Irish was the majority language in Ireland during his time; he composed only one song in English, 'Carolan's Devotion'. Most of his songs were dedicated to specific patrons. His activities are only partially documented, leading to inaccurate information and unfounded stories. For instance, Edward Bunting referred to a 'very ancient air' the Fairy Queen, but the words are not ancient and fit the original music Carolan composed. Carolan is said to have typically composed the tune first while riding, then added words later. Many of his songs are designated as 'planxties', an obscure word he apparently invented or popularized. Most of his compositions were not published in his lifetime; they survived in the repertoires of fiddlers, pipers, and the last old Irish harper/singers. The definitive work containing all 214 of his tunes as identified by Donal O'Sullivan is the 1958 edition of 'Carolan: The Life Times and Music of an Irish Harper'. Since 1967, hundreds of recordings of Carolan songs have been released by dozens of artists, greatly expanding the number of his pieces known to the public.

Did You Know?

• Carolan was blinded by smallpox at age eighteen.
• He is buried in the MacDermott Roe family crypt in Kilronan Burial Ground.
• A bronze monument of Carolan was erected in Mohill on 10 August 1986, unveiled by President Patrick Hillery.

Early Life and the Road to the Harp

Turlough O'Carolan entered the world in 1670 in Nobber, County Meath, the son of a blacksmith. His family traced their lineage to the Mac Brádaigh sept of County Cavan, and his great-grandfather had held the chieftaincy of that group as late as 1607. The upheavals of the civil wars stripped the family of their estates, prompting a relocation in 1684 to Ballyfarnon in County Roscommon, where his father found employment with the MacDermott Roe household at Alderford House. It was Mrs. MacDermott Roe who provided young Turlough with an education, and he displayed a natural aptitude for poetry. At eighteen, however, smallpox took his sight forever. Rather than ending his musical path, this tragedy redirected it: Mrs. MacDermott Roe arranged for him to be apprenticed to a skilled harper. Three years later, at twenty-one, he was given a horse and a guide and set out to cross Ireland, composing songs for the patrons who would welcome him.

Fifty Years on the Road

For nearly half a century, O'Carolan rode from one corner of Ireland to another, living by his harp and his gift for melody. His method, as tradition holds, was to compose the instrumental tune first while in motion, then craft the words afterward. Many of his pieces were planxties, a term he apparently coined or popularized, marking a tribute to a generous host. In exchange for these compositions, wealthy patrons welcomed him as an honoured guest on their estates, and it was said that weddings and funerals were sometimes put on hold until he could arrive to play. One of his earliest known compositions was inspired by Brigid Cruise, a teenage daughter of a schoolmaster at the blind school in Cruisetown where he had studied. In 1720, at the age of fifty, he married Mary Maguire, and the couple settled in a cottage near Manachain, now Mohill, in County Leitrim. They raised seven children—six daughters and a single son. Mary's death in 1733 left him in his final years, and he passed on 25 March 1738, buried in the MacDermott Roe family crypt at Kilronan Burial Ground near Ballyfarnon.

A Repertoire Between Two Worlds

Carolan's surviving body of work—two hundred and fourteen tunes as catalogued by Donal O'Sullivan—spans a remarkable stylistic range. Some pieces bear the fingerprints of continental classical composition, while others, such as Farewell to Music, reach back into the older idiom of Gaelic harping. About a third of the surviving music still carries Irish lyrics, though most modern performers have stripped those words away, adapting the tunes to the jigs and reels that dominate contemporary Irish sessions. Because Carolan composed in an era when Modern Irish was the dominant tongue, he wrote only one song in English, Carolan's Devotion. The historical record of his career remains fragmentary, and this gap has bred confusion: alternate or incorrect titles have been attached to his songs, and writers like Edward Bunting introduced inaccuracies, claiming for instance that the words to The Fairy Queen were very ancient when in fact they fit the music Carolan himself composed. O'Sullivan's 1958 edition, reprinted in 2001, remains the standard reference, though it omits a handful of pieces he deemed spurious.

Commemoration and Living Memory

Long after the last of the old Irish harpers had passed—ten, including Arthur O'Neill and Donnchadh Ó hÁmsaigh, still played at the Belfast Harp Festival in 1792—Carolan's name has been kept vivid through festivals, monuments, and recordings. The annual O'Carolan Harp Festival and Summer School, held in Keadue, County Roscommon, honours his life and work; its first edition took place in Nobber in 1988. A bronze sculpture by Oisín Kelly, showing Carolan at his harp, was unveiled by President Patrick Hillery in Mohill's Market Square on 10 August 1986, and a further statue was erected at his birthplace in Nobber in 2002. In the recording studios, his songs continue to find new voices: Gráinne Yeats performed at the 1992 Belfast Harp Festival, the group Garlic Bread recorded O'Carolan's Dream in 2007, and Ensemble Musica Humana released a full album, Turlough O'Carolan: a Life in Song, in 2013. Even those who disliked his work, like Ó hÁmsaigh, who found it too modern, could not deny that his melodies had outlived the tradition that produced them.

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