The Irish standard., 1912-06-08

Old Sir jonah harrington IN his
Personal Recollections'' expresses his
great admiration of the national and
patriotic idea of collecting and pub
fishing the Irish Melodies (Moore's).
But with the settings or arrange
ments of many IF the melodies he
does not seem exactly pleased for he
goes on to say: "Sir John Stevenson,
that celebrated warbler, has melodized
good many of these; but he GER
tainly has also melodramatized a con-
siderable portion of them. l think
our rants and planXties would have
symphonies or chromatics, and that
the plaintive national music of Ireland
does not reach the heart a moment
the sooner for passing through a mob
of scientific variations. Tawdry and
modern upholstery would not be very
appropriate to the ancient tower of an
Irish chieftain; and some of Sir
Johns proceedings in melodizing SIM
plicity remind me of the Rev. Mark
Hare, who whitewashed the great
rock of Cashell to give it"a genteel
appearance against the visitation"
We quote Sir Jonah, not SO much
for his general reference to Moore's
Melodies, as for his ideas and opin-
ions in regard to what might be called
the modernization of Irish airs. His
point of view might be expressed
briefly as Hands off the airs" And
how very few Of our composers, sing
ers or instrumentalists, from Sir
Jonah's day to our own have been
able to keep their hands off the airs!
To conflne our attention for the mo-
ment to the sngers-what fearful and
wonderful results do we not frequent-
ly hear achieved when one of our
lauded vocalists allows himself to at
tempt an Irish air from outside the
charmed covers of the Melodies! We
who write these words have lately
heard an Irish operate star, famous
in two hemispheres, sing a couple Of
songs. grand old air to each Of
them. in manner which could
scarcely have been disimproved upon.
ones. The words had fire and feeling
in them. Yet his singing left us cold.
We missed the grandeur and the fire
and the feeling. We missed the phras-
ing, the expression we had hoped for.
We missed completely the very spirit,
the Irish soul of the music. And yet
he had sung well. sung splendidly.
The man was so far above mediocrity
that he could scarcely have sung bad
ly had he tried. But his singing was
good and splendid only from his view
point, the viewpoint of the modern
educated" musician. For the sing
ing of an Irish air another standard
must be aimed at. The cold notes be
they ever so well rendered will not
do. Our operate star could have TAX
en- lessons in the correct rendering Of
the songs he sung from many a coun-
try singer.
And there is the crux of the whole
matter. II we want to hear an Irish
song properly sung, to know what
Irish music really is, we must go to
the country singer. The trained
list cannot, in the vast majority Of
cases, give us what we want. The
statement is often disputed. A proof
is to our hand. The great singer whom
we have already mentioned left an
Irish audience at an Irish concert in
one of the largest concert halls in the
country absolutely and painfully I'M
moved while he sung two Of our fin
est songs. Had an Irish singer, a
country singer, sung us those same
two songs on that particular night
we'd have raised the roof from the
concert hall! OF that let there be no
doubt. Our object therefore should be
to get those who sing our airs as
they should be sung, in the manner
handed down, we cannot doubt, from
those who composed them, to come
before the public as prominently and
as frequently as possible. Every time
an Irish traditional singer sings in
public or in competition good is done
Somebody hears and notes the proper
method Of rendering an air. Vocal
lists Of the cities and the towns who
have not had the advantage of hear
ing the airs in childhood and youth
of growing up amongst them, SO tc
say, learn how they should be rem
dered. The singers themselves are
heartened by recognition to persevere
to improve and. best of all, to teach
themselves. Due encouragement anG
prominence. given to real Irish sing.