Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1907-07-06
Figures in Nations Young With
the World and Now
No More.
Was Utilized by Abbots and
Bishops I'm the Fifth
Century.
WILL AGAIN TAKE PROPER PLACE

Miss Violet Kelly, the noted Irish
harpist, now residing in London. has
furnished the basis for the following
interesting story of the national mu-
steal instrument of her native land.
| The story of the harp is best told
In ireland, for though the harp is as
old as the world almost, and figures
In the relics of nations that were
young with the world, and are now
no more, it is more closely connected
with lreland's song and story, ancient
and modern, than with that of any
other of the great national families.
The Aryan settlers of Ireland brought
their harps with them from Western
Asia and Eastern Europe, upon which
the praise of the Creator was played,
and through all the stories of war
and wassail, in great national gather
ings, and individual chieftain's
festivities, and at funerals. the
harper has been an important person
age, and the playing of the harp a
regular and well paid profession.
Cambrensis tells of abbots and bish-
ops who, in the fifth century, tray
eled about with their harps, utilizing
their music to help win souls to God
to melt sinners hearts.
In $50 A. d. there was a great three
days national parliament or Feis at
Tara, at which over a thousand bards
were present with their harps-both
cruit and clairse lch. In the fifth and
sixth centuries Irish missionaries in
troduced the harp inro England, and
even so late as the eleventh century
the practice continued among the
Welsh bards of receiving instructions
in the bardic profession from Ireland.
At the Eisteddfod in Caerwys, in 100,
Welsh music was codified under the
direction of the Irish bard Malachi,
and twenty-four musical canons were
adopted. And so it went on. Not
only was the harp a necessity in
every Irish home, but Irish harpers
weEe-down- to- The very days of the
English invasion a recognized institu-
ton in England, Scotland and Wales.
The musician was generally the poet
and historian, though the bard and
the poet were two distinct persons,
the poet writing for the bard's sing
ing. The great deeds of Irish kings
and chieftains were thus sung at
home and abroad, and events of local
as well as national Importance kept
before the people. After the English
invasion the bard's mission became
more important-they kept up the
spirit of rebellion to the usurper and
encouraged the people to hope and
to fight until the jealousy and anger
of the invader were aroused and
death to harp and harper became a
fixed English policy.
A notable exception to the English
hatred of the Irish harp was that
of Charles l., who was partial to it
and encouraged the Irish harpers.
Under James. the harp, as the ma
tional emblem of Ireland, was first
quartered on the English royal arms.
4 prominent official of ST. James
court is recorded as saying: "The
best reason for the ADDITION of the
harp as representative of Ireland was
that it represented Ireland itself in
being such an instrument that it re-
quired more cost to keep in tune
than il was worth" which remark,
coming from that source, quite com
DllmentS the lrlSn peOple.
Galilei, writing in 1885, praises the
Irish harp and acknowledges Italy's
indebtedness to Ireland for it. Bacon
said about the same time, mo harp
hath the sound so melting and pro-
longed as the Irish harp" A French
historian, writing in 1914, said, "The
Irish are very fond of the harp, on
which they nearly all play Under
Charles /. the harp was still COM
monty in the hands of the Irish peo-
pie, every house having one or two.
Then came Cromwell and fierce cru
SADIE was begun against Irish music.
His rage could not stand the sight
of an Irish harp, and by his orders
they were not only confiscated, but
broken into pieces wherever found in
Ireland. Archdeacon Lynch, in Ire
land at that time, in the secrecy OF
his hiding place, wrote history OF
the Irish harp, giving the minutest
details of its construction and APP
pearance in its various forms so that
posterity might know that there had
been such an instrument in ireland
in common use.
Many of the Irish harpers fled to
the continent in these dark days. and
from 100 on we find the Irish harp
in Bavaria and in France fitted with
pedals. and then with double pedals,
and otherwise improved and enlarged
With the Irish 1t had been used to
accompany the voice principally, but
Handel wrot. parts for it in his
orchestral ins.run snt of great Dig
nifty and value. Numerous attempts
in later times have been made to
revive the old life of the harp in Ire
land. In Belfast especially, during
the past century, associations were
formed for the cultivation of the
harp and the making of it was en-
couraged by liberal purchasers.
In 1000 every house in Ireland had
its harp or two, when England and
Scotland and Wales had none but