AHJ, Vol. 7 No. 1, Summer 1979

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38 Mary O'Hara welcome. "A singer without peer" declared the Salisbury Journal; "Magic undimmed" wrote Charles Acton in the Irish Times. Lovers of Irish music, or indeed of good music anywhere, need no introduction to Mary O'Hara. The story of her life is as interesting as it is tragic and in some ways has helped to make her the folk legend that she is. Mary O'Hara was born in Sligo in the west of Ireland, educated mainly in Dublin where she learned to play the harp. At sixteen she did her first radio programme and later represented Ireland in the Celtic Congress in Scotland. More radio programmes, an appearance at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival, TV work and a contract with The Decca Record Company followed. At the age of 20 she had her own B.B.C. TV programme on Saturday nights and later on her own children's TV programme on the B.B.C. During this period she made known to the British television public many of the beautiful but hitherto little-known traditional songs of Ireland and Scotland. Because of her ability to satisfy both the purist and pvpu1ar taste, her series was received with wide acclaim. In 1956 at the age of 21, Mary O'Hara married American poet Richard Selig and set out to live in the United States where her music talent won quick recognition. Describing a Mary O'Hara Washington concert, Paul Hume, the celebrated music critic of the Washington Post wrote that "she raised to a new high level the art of folk singing". But unknown to everybody, even to parents and close friends, the young couple kept a tragic secret: Richard Selig was dying of Hodgkins disease and fifteen months after she was married, Mary O'Hara was alone again. Richard Selig w::is dead. For 4 years after her husband's death Mary O'Hara toured the world giving recitals and concerts, radio programmes and television appearances and getting rapturous acclaim everywhere. Then suddenly when at the top of her profession, she disappeared into a strict Benedictine monastery in England, never intending to sing or play the harp again. But God's ways as she says, are not ours and today Mary O'Hara is at the brink of a second comeback with new songs and new insights gleaned from her monastic sojourn. That was two years ago. In the meantime, with the release of her two new recordings, "Mary O'Hara, at the Royal Festival Hall" (Chrysalis CHR 1159), recorded live at the concert of November 5, 1977 in London, and the latest, "Music Speaks Louder Than Words" (Chrysalis CHR 1194), in September 1978, followed by an extensive concert tour of the United Kingdom and concert at The Palladium, London's great popular theatre, Mary's popularity has soared to the point where she has just been voted "Irish Person of the Year, 1978, in Britain"' 0 • What is it that has compelled my attention to this artist all these years? Although it is hard to explain I might just say it is the aura of authenticity, of simplicity and sophistication at one and the same time, of an artist who is both childlike and profound. And it is the wedding of song with harp accompaniment that takes us back to the ancient function of the Irish Harp: the bardic union of the Poet and the Muse. It is this that sets Mary O'Hara's . music apart from all others, for me. Richard Selig was a young American poet of the greatest promise, who died in New York, October 1957, at the age of 27. He was born in New York City and reared in Washington D.C. After studies in psychology, drama, Greek, and French at various universities elsewhere in the world, he came to Seattle in 1950, at about the age of 21, to study at the University of Washington with our great poet, Theodore Roethke. He graduated, in English, from the University in 1952 and later held a teaching fellowship here. During his stay in Seattle Richard enjoyed the friendship of Mark Tobey, many years his senior, and association with other notable artists and intellectuals. In 1953 he was appointed Rhodes Scholar from the Pacific Northwest to Oxford University, where he spent three years at Magdalen College. During this-time Richard Selig and Mary O'Hara met, and were married, as previously noted, in 1956. One volume of Richard Selig's POEMS was published by the Dolmen Press, Dublin Press, Dublin; copyright by Mary Selig, 1962, but is now out of print. Although the beauty of Mary O'Hara's early Celtic songs with harp accompaniment is undeniable, and the renewed pleasure her rare voice gives to the more popular and universal songs of the current Chrysalis recordings is very appealing, the element that interests me the most is the appeaqmce of her own compositions. AMERICAN HARP JOURNAL
I think, the finest feature of Mary O'Hara's new, mature style is her composition, or setting, as she terms it, of her late husband's poetry to music. Listen carefully to Among Silence if you would hear the historic Irish triad of poetry, voice, and harp. Be transported to the pond, - - - "Where bubbles dawdle, green wands wave and tadpoles jerk;"" and enjoy the sensuous imagery of Celtic harp and song. NOTES ' Donal O'Sullivan, Carolan, The Life Times and Music of an Irish Harper (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., 1958), Vol. 1, p. 104. 2 Edward Bunting, The Ancient Music of Ireland (Dublin, Hodges & Smith, 1840; repub. Dublin, Waltons, 1969), p. 76. 3 Bunting, 1840, p. 74. 4 Nora Joan Clark, "The Irish Harp, Part II, 17th and 18th Century Irish Harpers," American Harp Journal, Winter 1978. s Gae/teach!: the name for the Gaelic-speaking part of Ireland. 6 Giovanni Costigan, A History of Modern Ireland (New York; Pegasus, 1970), p. 188. 7 Nora Joan Clark, "A Renaissance of the Irish Harp", American Harp Journal, Winter 1976. 8 Quinn Harps, 13 Walkinstown Parade, Dublin 12. There is a fine photograph of the Quinn Harp in The Irish Harp Book by Sheila L. Cuthbert (Dublin: Mercier Press, 1975). 9 "Monday Tuesday", Mary O'Hara, GES 1167, Decca Record Co. Ltd. 10 The Irish Post, January 27, 1979, p. 8. 11 "Mary O'Hara At the Royal Festival Hall", Chrysalis, CHR 1159. Richard Selig, Poems (Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1962) p. 26. CREDITS Figure 2 Irish Press, Dublin. Figure 4 Waltons, Dublin. Figure 6 Claddagh Records, Dame House, Dame St., Dublin. Figure 8 Silhouette, Mary O'Hara, courtesy Padraig O'Tuathail. INTERNATIONAL HARP SEMINAR PEARL CHERTOK will conduct an intensive two week seminar on the beautiful campus of Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, N.Y. -25 minutes from Manhattan. July 8 - July 21, 1979 ION IVAN-RONCEA Winner, 1976 International Harp Competition Guest Artist MARILYN COSTELLO, 1st harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and head of the harp department at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia will be special guest. Orchestral playing and extensive chamber music under the direction of Harold Glick, conductor. Sight reading, the Longy solfege method, with Katherine Rowe. write to: Pearl Chertok 56 N. Greenwich Road Armonk, N.Y. 10504 SUMMER/ 1979 39
Page 2 and 3: You Have The Right To Demand The Fi
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Page 12 and 13: 10 Holliger's Sequenzen uber Johann
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Page 16 and 17: 14 Business and the Creative Arts A
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Page 20 and 21: REQUIRED READING FOR HARPISTS: ROSL
Page 22 and 23: Scientific Practice by Jane B. Weid
Page 24 and 25: Elaine Humphreys Emmy Hurlimann Kum
Page 26 and 27: of the Society's goals and services
Page 28 and 29: 26 Obituaries A. Z. Propes The harp
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Page 44 and 45: 3 :00 PM to 4:00 PM Workshop: The E
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Page 78 and 79: THE MAGAZINE COLLECTOR At last! A m
Page 80 and 81: 78 CECILE CEO SIEBEN, B.M., M.M. 22
Page 82: 80 PENNY HOWK BEAVERS, B.M., Michig

AHJ, Vol. 7 No. 1, Summer 1979

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