The Irish standard., 1902-03-08

Coroner, Chief Francis O'Neill; Expert
Witness, Patrolman James O'Neill;
Jury, Police Officer John Ennis, Police
sergeant james early, Patrolnt.ln Ber-
nard Delaney, Edward Cronin, John
McFadden.
Ex-ofticio Oh this list of music COM
pilation, research, opinion, and judg-
ment are: Adam Tobin, William
Walsh, John O'Reilly, John Ryan,
George West, Father j. X. Fielding,
Sergt. M. Hartnett, Morris Casey, j.
Dunphy, Patrick Touhy, James Kenne-
dy, Sergt. Garrett Stack, james Ker-
win, Timothy Dillon, Michael Enright,
Father VIM. Dollard, John Carey, John
Connors, Michael Dunlap, james Ker-
win.
| Not single man on this list has
failed to furnish ut least one impor-
tant contribution to the O'Neill collec.
tion. Edward Cronin,. of Lake View.
has furnished more than thirty pieces
to the set. AS to Mr.. Cronin's contri-
buttons, not one Of them can be found
In print, yet he left Ireland more than
forty years ago and had only his re-
markable ear for music to retain them.
Most Of these tunes are inland and
wholly local, and Mr.. Cronin has con-
tributcd them while whistling, hum.
ming, or singing them to Officer james
ONeill. Officer O'Neill, with music
paper and pencil, sits writing down
these notes us they come to his ears.
lie cannot write as fast as they are
whistled to him, for instance, but un-
der almost any circumstances, picking
up tune even Mt random and under
adverse circumstances, Officer O'Neill
can take the air down in full if it have
only two or three renditions
1t is in this way that so much of
Chief O'NeilPs collection has been con-
tributcd. Frequently, when n half
forgotten tune has come to the chief.
he has had Officer O'Ncill listen to it
from the flute, taking the fragments
down us the chief played or whistled.
Now and then bar has been missing.
Then the genius Of Officer O'Neill has
come in and the necessity of the "In-
quest committee" has been empha-
sized. The officer has considerable
knowledge Of composing, and out Of a
still fuller knowledge Of the "brogue"
Of Irish music the building in Of three
or four missing bars is easy to him.
On this work the ''inqucst' sits in es-
pcclal judgment, and when it has been
.. KID 1t is ready for final tram
scriptlon into an entirely new set of
music books. So far the original col
lection Of Irish airs in Chicago is in
seven volumes Of eighty pages each,
averaging twelve music staffs of six
bars to the page. In this inquest
work." half Of the music considered
has been dug up from the memories
Of men and women and is in need Of
careful editing. Already the inquest
has passed upon the songs, airs, and
reels Of the collection, leaving the
hornpipes, jigs, and misccllanies to be
considered. Already nearly all Of this
music has been written three times,
and its final transcription into new
set Of volumes is going on ut the hands
of Officer O'Ncill. These new books
have pages Of fourteen staffs, each
staff averaging eight bars.
Some Of the music presented with
this article shows the difficulties
which Chief O'Neill and Officer O'Neill
have encountered in the general work.
Every bar in these selections is new to
print and nearly every one of them
has made several kinds of trouble for
all concerned.
A striking example of this is in the
air, "The Woods of Kilmurry." This
was one of the old, elusive, and ever
fugitive airs which Chief O'Neill had
tried to call back from the time when,
at the spinning wheel, his mother
wound up the old song with the words:
'The fiourishing state Of Kilmurry."
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