AHJ, Vol. 7 No. 1, Summer 1979

THE IRISH HARP
by Nora Joan Clark
PART III CONTEMPORARY USE OF THE IRISH HARP
Introduction
It had been my innocent intention, quite a few years
back when I began serious study of the subject, to investigate
the whole story of the Celtic Harp and to learn
of the harps of the peoples of Ireland, Scotland, Wales,
Cornwall, the Island of Man, and of Brittany, and likely
of European Renaissance and the Middle Ages as well,
and to seek out representative music of the various
regions and learn to play this on the appropriate harps.
Five years ago I fell back before my own intentions and
admitted that I would have to limit my writings, at least,
to that of the Irish Harp. Now, with the increased
weight of new information rising on every side, I shall
have to skip lightly over even this preferred subject if I
am ever to bring my writing to a close, in the interest of
picking up my harp again. May I assure the interested
reader, and the prospective scholar, that the subject of
the Celtic Harp is vast and well deserves the attention of
more serious scholarship as well as artistic interpretation.
With this series of articles I have, perhaps, opened
a door to an earlier style of harp playing for those who,
heretofore, were familiar only with the modern-day
pedal harp. I must move on now to the present, exciting
revival of the Irish Harp, stopping only to raise a few
questions that will need to be answered by others who
are in a better position than I am to investigate these
ideas, and to touch upon a few highlights of the story.
It is tempting to speculate upon the influence of exiled
Irish harpers who were forced from their homeland by
centuries of oppression. What became of the harpers
who were banished from Ireland during the later years
of Queen Elizabeth's rule at the end of the 16th century?
We know of one, Rory Dall b Cathain, who was a
member of a noble family of County Derry, but who
resided principally in Scotland after the downfall of
Hugh O'Neill. Rory Dall (da/1 meaning "blind") who
played before King James VI of Scotland (James I of
England), and was the composer of the lovely air, ''Oh,
give me your hand", still played today, died about 1650
in Scotland at extreme old age. Was it he who played the
harps we know of as the Lamont Harp and the Queen
Mary Harp, so similar in form to the Trinity College
Harp? How many other Irish harpers took themselves
off to other parts of the British Isles or even to Europe?
We could theorize about the influence of harpers who
may have fled with their lords to the Continent during
the Flight of the Earls, O'Neill and O'Donnell, in 1607;
or again at the end of the 17th century, with the Flight
of the Wild Geese; or again at the end of the 18th century
in the collapse of the rebellion of 1798, just a few
years after the Belfast Harp Festival of 1792 and the
publication of Edward Bunting's first collection. Considering
the hopeful relationship of the Irish to the
French, one wonders to what degree the French school
of harp playing has been enriched through the centuries
by Irish harpers who despaired of life in their native
country. Certainly the classic repertoire for concert, or
pedal, harp has been served elegantly by French composers
and French harpists. One also finds excellent
music for "Harpe Celtique" or "Harpe sans pedals",
published in France today. The harp has been prominent,
likewise, in Spain; and in Italy, final resting place
of O'Neill and O'Donnell.
19th Century
Moreover, with due respect to Turlough O'Carolan,
the great 17th-18th century Irish harper, I treat
cautiously the epitaph at the graveyard of Carolan,
which I have read and heard quoted with firm finality:
"Within this churchyard lies interred Carolan, the last
of the Irish bards. He died March 25th, 1738. R.I.P."
This inscription was placed there by Lady Louisa
Tenison about the year 1858.'
It is well known that Denis Hempson was a great performer
and a master of the old Irish Harp technique. He
lived to the remarkable old age of 112 years, retaining
his mental faculties to the end of his life and playing the
harp on the day before his death at Magilligan on
November 5, 1807. Bunting described Hempson's performance
with astonishing proficiency upon the wire
strings in the ancient manner. Hempson's harp was the
handsome instrument known as the Downhill Harp,
made and poetically inscribed in 1702 by Cormac
O'Kelly of Ballynascreen, County Derry.
"In the days of Noah I was green:
After his flood I've not been seen
Until seventeen hundred and two, I was found,
By Cormac Kelly, under ground;
He raised me up to that degree,
Queen of Music they call me." 2
The Hidden Harp
One notices, reexamining the roster of harp players at
the Belfast Festival that these were all men, with the
single exception of Rose Mooney, and that they were
drawn generally from counties to the north and east of
Ireland, that is, in the vicinity of Belfast. Considering
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