Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1899-03-16
Kathleen MaYourneen.


Recommendations
The approach OF st. Patrick's DAY
calls to mind anew that sweetest
among Irish songs, Kathleen Mavour-
neen.
Kathleen Mavourneen, the gray dawn
is breaking;
The horn OF the hunter is heard on
the hill.
The lark from her light wing the
bright dew is shaking,
Kathleen Mavourneen! What! Slum-
oerlng still?
Oh, hast thou forgotten how soon We
must sever?
Oh, has thou forgotten this day we
must part?
1t may be for years. and it may be
forever.
oh, why art thou silent, thou voice
of my heart?
Kathleen Mavourneen, awake from thy
slumbers!
The blue mountains glow in the
suns golden light,
All, where is the spell that once hung
on my numbers?
Arise in thy beauty, thou star OF my
night!
Mavourueen, Mayourneen, my sad
tears are falling
TO think that from Erin and thee !
must part,
1t may be for years, and 1t may be
forever.
Then why art thou silent, thou voice
Of my heart?
He died with song upon his lips,
Such is the brief obituary line of the
composer of Kathleen Mavourneon
and 1900 other ballads. His life was
an eventtul romance from the first
chapter to the last.
A famous writer has sa4d. There IS
no eloquenCe that thrills like Irish el1-
quence there is no poetry that
touches like Irish poetry; there is no
wit so keen as Irish wit, there is no
melody So sweet and plalntive ms Irish
melodies,
Professor +. Nichols Crouch, +. II.
$. (such was his habitual autograph
was born in Warren street, Fitzroy
square, Marylebone, parish of st. Pan
cras, London, on July 81, 1905. At Il
he was yioloncellist before Rossini and
little later he was at Drury Lane,
in London, famous and accomplished.
There he wrote his first songs, Xeph-
yrs of Love, for Miss Annie Tree, and
The Swiss Song OF Meeting, for the
celebrated Nine. Malibran. There,
too, he formed an acquaintance VITA
John Howard Payne, and when that
equally unfortunate genius produced
his opera ClaM, the Maid Of Milan the
orchestra was directed by Crouch.
In this opera Home, Sweet Home was
sung for the first time on any stage.
1t was Mrs. Crawford's pen--for the
words are hers--that gave to the mu-
stefan the inspiration of his best song
Kathleen Mavourneen, awake from
thy slumbers!
The blue mountains glow in the
suns golden light.
All. where is the spell that once hung
on my numbers?
Arise In thy beauty, thou star Of my
night!
He had seen the little poem In a
British magazine, or the authoress
sent it to him Crouch himself was
doubtfuD, ana he was Impressed with
the rhythmic beauty OF the lines and
the tender pathos OF the theme. They
kept jlngling In his brain, and one
day, while riding about the grounds oil
the duke of Bedfor1's castle, at Eng
| ley near the banks OF the beautiful
stream lamar In Deyonshdre, he
evolved the melody that was destined
to be sung by countless generations
and in almost every tongue.
When he returned to his lodgings
he completed the song. This was In
1895. 1t was first sung by himself
at a little concert In Plymouth, ana
later he presented the score and copy
right to .lrs. Peter Roen, wife of a
music dealer in that English town, oil
whom he was very fond. The house
of Roen failed, and their effects passed
into the possession OF D'Almaine q
Co. OF London, who ISSUED numerous
editions OF the melody. With this
were connected Dermot Astore, Their
Marriage and Death OF Dermot, the
quartet forming a history Of Irish love
and romance.
An unfortunate marriage drove him
TO the United States. In Portland,
Me-, which he frequently revisited, be-
ing there last on his eighty seventh
birthday, be taught music from 1849
TO 1856.
Personally he was stalwart and
broad shouldered. about feet inches
in height, with wondrous black eyes
that age never dimmed. The hair