AHJ, Vol. 7 No. 1, Summer 1979

duced the plays of Yeats, Lady Gregory, John Millington
Synge, Patrick Pearse, Sean O'Casey, George
Bernard Shaw, and a succession of other notable
playwrites.
Irish nationalism finally erupted in rebellion on April
24th, 1916, ignited by the passions of a gentle
schoolmaster, Patrick H. Pearse (1879-1916), author
and martyr of The Easter Proclamation of 1916. The
Proclamation of the Provisional Government of the
Irish Republic, delivered by Pearse under the portico of
the General Post Office in Dublin is the Irish equivalent
of our Declaration of Independence. Within three weeks
all seven signers of The Proclamation were shot.
Ireland rose, but it would be another whole generation,
however, before the Republic of Ireland was proclaimed
on April 18, 1949, severing a bondage of eight hundred
years.
Preservation of the Irish Harp
Looking back, we find that harp playing, although
diminished by the end of the 19th century, was kept
alive in the early years of this century by Catholic nuns.
Two convents in Dublin that have long offered harp instruction
are Loreto Abbey at Rathfranham, and the
Dominican Convent at Sion Hill, Blackrock. In an
earlier article 7 I mentioned the service of Mother Attracta
Coffey of Loreto Abbey in preserving harp playing,
early in this century, and of her successor, Mother
Alphonsus O'Connor, who was the early harp teacher
of Sheila Larchet Cuthbert, now the leading professional
concert harpist in Ireland. Mother Attracta's
published Studied and Irish Harp Tutor (1903) are incorporated
into The Irish Harp Book, edited br Sheila
Cuthbert on behalf of the Irish Harp Society, Cairde na
Cruite, and published in 1975 by Mercier Press.
Musical instruction of all kinds has long been
available at the Royal Irish Academy of Music
(R.I.A.M.), founded in 1856, and now established on
Westland Roy in Dublin. Mrs. Mercedes Bolger Garvey,
a prominent concert harpist, was Professor of Harp for
some years at the R.I.A.M., and is now associated with
the College of Music, Chatham Row, Dublin. The
emblem of the R.I.A.M. is an Irish Harp, surmounted
by a crown, and surrounded with a garland of
shamrock. Anne Crowley, B.Mus., who studied concert
harp with Mercedes Bolger and Maria Korchinska, is
now Professor of Harp, teaching both Irish Harp and
pedal harp at the R.I.A.M. The current Syllabus of examinations
for the Academy lists rigorous requirements
for examination in harp and most other instruments, as
well as orchestra, singing, theory and harmony, speech
training and public speaking.
Other harpists to whom we are indebted for preservation
of the harp, early in this century, were Treasa Ni
Chormaic and Caroline Townsend. Treasa Ni Chormaic,
described by Mrs. Mercedes McGrath Bolger as
the "real descendent of the old Harpers," was taught to
play by her father and had many pupils. Caroline Townsend,
who was an authority on Irish culture, was the
teacher of Mairin and Roisin Ni Sh~ and their sisters.
Mairin Ni Sh~ (Mairin Bean Ui Feirit~ir) recently
SUMMER/1979
celebrated her Silver Jubilee of teaching Irish Harp and
other subjects at Sion Hill Convent. In over twenty-five
years she has taught hundreds of harpists to play and
sing with the harp, and prepares young harpist-singers
who perform for delighted guests at Jury's Hotel in
Dublin and elsewhere. A graduate of the University College
Dublin, (U.C.D.) she studied voice and piano at the
Royal Irish Academy of Music, and harp with Miss
Townsend, and has performed widely, representing
Ireland in Celtic countries and in the United States. A
revival of interest in the Irish Harp can be traced to An
T~stal (cultural festival) of 1953, when Mairin Ni Sh~
presented several of her pupils in performance. These
were Mary O'Hara, Dierdre Ni Fhlionn, and Kathleen
Watkins. They were invited to take part in the celebrations·
in London and to perform on BBC Radio and
Television, at which time Mairin lectured in London on
the subject of Irish Harp. This was received with enthusiasm
and the performers were soon very much in demand.
Mairin's husband, Michaeal Feiriteir, teaches Classics
at Castleknock College, and both are dedicated to Irish
culture and language. (This might be the occasion to
point out that Irish women frequently use their maiden
names, though married. The form Ni preceding the
maiden or parental name means "daughter of", while
the form Bean ui, followed by the husband's surname
means, literally, "woman of" or "wife of". Mairin
might also be addressed, in English, by her pupils for_instance,
as "Mrs; J;erriter. ") I had th,e pleasure o~
meeting both Mairin and her sister Raisin Bean Ui
Thuama on my recent visit to Dublin. Mairin and her
pupils at Sion Hill entertained me with singing to thefr
own accompaniment on Irish Harp in the style made
famous by her illustrious former pupil, Mary O'Hara.
Roisin Ni Sh~, also a graduate of U.C.D., has also
performed widely as an Irish Traditional Singer and
singing to her own harp accompaniment, on Radio and
Television, as well as for An Oireachtas (Irish language
festival), and at the Celtic Congresses. Roisin and her
husband S~amus O Thuama, have a large, musical family.
They entertained me graciously in their home with
Roisin singing and playing traditional airs on her
original MacFall harp while her son accompanied his
mother with the flute.
It was also my pleasure on my recent trip to Dublin to
meet Miss Nancy Calthorpe, a prominent musician,
teacher, and composer. A native of Waterford, she
comes from a family of professional musicians
associated with the musical life of Waterford for over a
century. From a very early age she studied music, first in
Ireland, and later in London and the Continent. She
holds the Licentiate Diploma of the Royal Academy of
Music, London (teacher of Singing) and the Licentiate
Diploma of the Trinity College of Music, London
(teacher of Pianoforte). She studied Singing and Irish
Harp under Sheila Larchet Cuthbert and Mairin N{ Sh~.
She has taught at Loreto Abbey and Sion Hill and is
now on the Teaching Staff of the Dublin Municipal College
of Music, Catham Row, just off Grafton Street in
the center of Dublin. She teaches Harmony, Theory,
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