Irish music collecting is an area concerned with preserving the large body of

traditional Irish music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a Music genre, genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Irela ...

. Collections have been gathered by individual collectors of Irish music as well as organisations such as the Irish Traditional Music Archive, which was formed in the 1980s.

Early period

Very little Irish music composed before 1700 survives. Some airs from this period are preserved in manuscript, the

Fitzwilliam Virginal Book The ''Fitzwilliam Virginal Book'' is a primary source of keyboard music from the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods in England, i.e., the late Renaissance and very early Baroque. It takes its name from Viscount Fitzwilliam who bequ ...

being one of the more notable examples. A reference to ''Callen O Costure Me/Cailin O Chois tSuire Me'' in William Ballet's book of

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

music in the late 16th century is the first known record of an Irish traditional song written in

musical notation Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proce ...

. Irish traditional tunes were recorded in John Playford's ''

The Dancing Master ''The Dancing Master'' (first edition: ''The English Dancing Master'') is a dancing manual containing the music and instructions for English country dances. It was first published in 1651 by John Playford. History It was published in several ...

'' (mid 17th century), and Durfey's ''Pills to Purge Melancholy'' (late 17th century). In 1724, the first recorded collection of Irish traditional music, ''A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes'' was published by John and William Neale of Christ Church Yard,

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. The only surviving original copy is now held by

Edward Bunting Edward Bunting (1773– 17 March 1843) was an Irish musician and Folk music of Ireland, folk music collector active in Belfast. Life Bunting was born in County Armagh, Ireland. At the age of seven he was sent to study music at Drogheda and ...

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. The Folk Music Society of Ireland published a facsimile edition in 1986, edited by Nicholas Carolan, and this was republished with additional notes and illustrations in 2010 by the Irish Traditional Music Archive in association with the Folk Music Society of Ireland. The next collection was Wright's ''Aria di Camera'' (1730). It contained Scottish and Welsh airs borrowed from Neale without acknowledgment. The ''Burke Thumoth Collection'' (two volumes, 1750) contains many airs. The two Lee collections, the first from 1774, contain a collection of tunes by Rev. Jackson (d. 1798), a rector from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

. Brendan Breathnach, ''Piper Jackson, Eigse Cheoil Tire '' vol. 2 (1974–5), p. 41–57. In 1780, John Lee published a collection of the compositions of Turlough O Carolan. In the appendix of ''Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards'' (1786) by Joseph Cooper Walker there is a collection of 43 tunes. In Scotland, Bryson published in 1790 ''A Curious Selection of Favourite Tunes with Variations'', and it contains ''Fifty Favourite Irish Airs''. In 1793, Cooke published a ''Selection of Twenty-one Favourite Original Irish Airs arranged for Pianoforte, Violin or Flute'' containing many tunes.

Nineteenth century

(1773–1843) collected tunes from the harpers at the Belfast Harp Festival. He made extensive collections of tunes which he published in ''The Ancient Music of Ireland''. George Petrie (1790–1866) was an antiquarian, artist and important collector of Irish airs and melodies. John Edward Pigot (1822–1871) collected over 2,000 airs. Canon James Goodman (1828–1896), a

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

clergyman, collected over 2,000 tunes and songs, mainly from the south-west of the country.

Notes

Sources

Comhaltas Tre
*Tomas O Canainn: ''Traditional Music in Ireland'' (Routledge & Keegan Paul, 1978), *Sean O Riada: ''Our Musical Heritage'' (The Dolmen Press, 1982),
Irish Music Centre, Boston College
{{refend Music of Ireland 1950s in Irish music 1960s in Irish music 1970s in Irish music 1980s in Irish music 1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music 2020s in Irish music