Cornelius Lyons ( – c.1740) was an Irish harper and composer active in the early eighteenth century. Born in

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

, he came to be the harper of the

Earl of Antrim Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The titl ...

. Donnchadh Ó hAmhsaigh, known in English as Denis Hempson was a great admirer of Cornelius Lyons. At the Belfast Harp Assembly of 1792, he played a number of Baroque-style variations that Lyons wrote on Irish traditional tunes such as "Eileen A Rún" and "The Coolin". Only one original piece by Lyons survives; this is "Miss Hamilton" (Inion i Hamilton), written in 1706.John Molineux: ''Douce Amère: Bitter Sweet'', AM R101 (LP, 1978).

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Chapter V: Famous harpers of the seventeenth and later centuries
Bill Haneman {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Cornelius 1670s births 1740s deaths Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 17th-century Irish composers 18th-century Irish composers Irish male harpists Musicians from County Kerry 17th-century Irish harpists 18th-century Irish harpists