The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-03-16
The Patron of the Irish Race Was
the First to Encourage the
Gaelic Bards.
Took Into the Island With him Many
Priests and Brothers Skilled
in Musical Art.
Erin's Ancient Bards and Clerics
Strongly Influenced Develop
ment of Sacred Music.

To relate in detail the immense
benefits conferred upon the Irish race
directly, and all Europe, Indirectly,
by the clerics who came to ireland
in the year 432 with st. Patrick would
require volumes of historic facts,
many Of which would amaze the aver
age student of music and literature.
When the great apostle of Erin
returned as a missionary to the land
of his captivity, he brought with him
a number of priests and lay brothers,
most of whom were skilled in musi-
cal art. AS we are aware, the musi-
cal art of that day was in its crudest
state; its earliest form Of develop
ment. st. Ambrose had gone to the
Holy Land less than century before
and brought back with him to Rome
a number of traditional Hebrew mel
odies and four scales or modes of
writing music, which have since then
been known as the Ambrosian Modes.
To these modes he set the music of
the early Christian Church, mostly
Hebrew melodies which were adapt
ed to the Christian hymns. At the
time of st. Patrick, these were the
only means of notation In music and
in these scales the songs Of the Irish
bards were written. To the credit
Of the bards be it said that they at
once recognized the excellence of the
new system and lost no time in
adopting it.
Any musician who analyses the old
Irish melodies, even those which have
been changed by modern musicians to
make them more agreeable to the
ears of the present generation, will
recognize the use in them of the an
cient scales. In melodies like "The
Fox's Sleep" "The Brink of the White
Rocks" and many others, he will see
it Immediately. He will notice in
many of them the fiat seventh and
other peculiarities of the Ambrosian
modes that will at once establish the
fact that they were composed on these
scales.
From Ireland the art of music went
to Germany with st. Gall and st. Col
umbanus, who went forth from their
colleges as missionaries to the wild
tribes of Gaul. They brought with
them the art of writing, as we'll as
that of music, and many of the man.
uscripts Of the ancient Irish monks
are to be seen today in the monas-
teries Of Germany, where they are
treasured for the SURPRISING beauty
of the letters and illumination. Mon
asteries were established in France
and the Irish monks came there with
their harps, their hymnals and won
derful missals. Gallileo, the father Of
the astronomer, tells us in his writ
ings that the harp was brought to
Italy from Ireland, where the peo-
pie play it in great numbers
Gallant little Wales, which has kept
up it's ancient musical traditions bet
ter than ireland, is also indebted to
the Irish for the preservation of it's
music, If not for the music itself. 1t
is we'll known fact that the early
Irish missionaries went over to Wales
and wherever these learned men went
it is only right to suppose that the
art Of music, as we'll as writing, went
with them. The Welsh Chronicles
tell us that in the tenth century, the
Prince of North Wales, Gryffyth Ap
Conan, sent over to Ireland for one
hundred harpers, who came and not
ed down the Welsh music, thus pre-
serving 1t for future generations. 1t
might be we'll to remember that this
was more than century before the
famous monk, Guido of Arozzi, de-
vised the present musical scale, SO
it will be seen that the Irish bards
had an unusual degree of musical cul-
ture, when one hundred Of them could
be spared to Wales. 1t may be add
ed, too, that more than fifty Of them
elected to remain in Wales for they
were given large tracts of land and
herds of cattle to induce them to re-
main. How much modern Welsh mu.
sic owes to the presence Of these