The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-05-22

Wolfe Tone Is not forgotten. Inc
pathos in "When He Who Adores Thee
would indeed be lost II we did not know
that it was supposed to be the utterance
Of that dauntless patriot, addressing his
native land with his dying breath.
A song less known, "Shall the Hart
Then be Silent" Is commemorative of
The peerless Grattan, and fully ono
half of Moore's Irish melodies are quite
as dependent ON knowledge of their
historical and politica, meaning. One
other might we'll be mentioned. Writ
ten long before O'Connell's great trt-
umph of Catholic emancipation, while
yet the Infamous penal laws were In
force, the reader can see in every line
the outpourings of love from an Irish
heart to the church of his faith and his
country's ancient faith in that song Of
''The Irish Peasant to His Mistress. -
The hunted priesthood, the surrepti
tious celebration of the mass in noun
tain caves and rocky passes, the perss
cution of clergy and laity for their de-
vot1on to the creed of their forefathers
rise vividly before the student singer
as he delivers that matchless second
verse:
Thy rival was honored, while thou vert
wronged anu scorned,
Thy crown was of briers, while gold her
brows adorned.
She wooed me to temples, while thou
layest hid in caves,
Her friends were all masters, While
thine, alas, were slaves.
Yet cold in the earth, at thy feet i
would rather be.
fhan wed what I love not, or turn one
thought from thee. -
Moore is hardly appreciated as he
should be. Had he possessed the fire
and impulsive enthusiasm Of Emmet,
Tone, Fitzgerald and others of that
time he would certainly have lent his
name to the list of Ireland's martyrs,
Tor his patriotism, while of quteter
nature, was as deep as any.
The later poets, such as Walsh, Man.
gan, Davis, Duffy and Callahan were
not as ambiguous in their language.
Edward Walsh, however, seems to have
liked the weird character of the an
cient poets we'll enough to take up their
style now and then. In his "Mo Cuev1n
Eevin Alum Oge," he sings like voice
from the penal days. Again, in "My
Roseen Dhu O" of Thomas Furlong and
in Alfred Percival Graves "Flight of
the Earls" we find lyrics that are more
or less abstruse except to the student
of Irish history.
The older songs and their limitations
which deal with the allegorical names
Of Ireland, if properly studied and un-
derstood, take on new beauties and new
interest. There is wealth of romance
and history in the Irish ballad, such as
no other country's folk-song contains,
and it is great pity that more liter
ary and musical clubs are not started
for their analytical study.
The Irish airs are living monument
to Ireland's ancient culture. From out
of the misty past they come to tell us Of
a civilization in that isle of Song"
SURPRISING anything known in conti-
mental Europe. Musical form was un-
known on the continent until after the
twelfth century. Ireland produced per-
feet airs for centuries before that. One
air, popular today, "Eilleen Aroon," :"
dates back to the ninth century, and
we find others of even greater an
tiquity. Their structure is musically
perfect and they are beautiful in their
simplicity.
One of the great mistakes made by
singers who take up Irish music is in
not being simple enough in their rem
dition of the old melodies. DESTROYS
Of displaying their artistic training they
either interject "grace notes." which are
disgraceful. or affect pompous, heavy
cone which obscures the words and rem
ders the lyrics perfectly unintelligible.
simplicity" should be the Irish singers
watchword. Simplicity in tone and in
execution, a clear-cut enunciation of
every word and above all, an expression
In perfect rapport with words and mus
ic. The singer who comes nearest to
following the above directions will be
the ideal exponent of Irish song.