Patrick O’Neill’s Manuscripts – Volume 2  (Book & CD) – Kathleen Loughnane

Patrick O’Neill’s Manuscripts – Volume 2 (Book & CD) – Kathleen Loughnane

Monday, 14 October 2024, 5.00pm

Patrick O’Neill’s Manuscripts – Volume 2
Kathleen Loughnane

Kathleen Loughnane has recently produced a second volume of harp arrangements drawn from the Patrick O’Neill Manuscripts. O’Neill, who was born in 1765 and died in 1832, was a farmer and miller from the townland of Owning in County Kilkenny. A descendant of the once powerful O’Neill clan, Patrick gained a reputation as an historian, folklorist and collector of traditional music and Gaelic manuscripts. He was also a piper and fiddle player and wrote poetry in Irish. His collection, which includes seven music manuscripts and a printed music book all purchased by the National Library of Ireland in 2008, contains a fascinating record of the music prevalent in the south-east of Ireland in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Among the pieces are country dance tunes, song airs, military marches, items from the harp repertoire, and continental dances – minuets and gavottes. Loughnane writes that the collection ‘is all the more interesting for having been compiled by a traditional musician, embedded in Gaelic language and culture – contrasting with collections such as those of Bunting and Petrie.’

Loughnane published her first volume of arrangements with accompanying CD in 2016, and this second publications also comes with a CD. She writes: ‘The challenge I set myself was to breathe new life into these old tunes before releasing them to be assayed and enjoyed by other musicians. Interpreting a tune is a never-ending journey involving a search for the heart of a tune, the point where it begins to sing.’ Among the tunes in her collection are a version of ‘Planxty Plunkett’ different to those in the Neal and Bunting collections, the air ‘Caitlín Triall’, and ‘Clout the Cauldron’, one of the oldest Scottish dance tunes.

To purchase the books and CDs of Patrick O’Neill’s Manuscripts, email kathloughnane [at] gmail.com

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Added by Journal of Music on 14 October 2024

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