Thomas Connellan ( – 1698) was an Irish harp player and composer.
Life
Connellan was born about 1625 at
Cloonmahon,
County Sligo
County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...
. Both he and his brother
William Connellan
William Connellan (c.1630; date of death unknown) was an Irish harper and composer for the harp.
Life
William Connellan was born in Cloonamahon, County Sligo, the younger brother of Thomas Connellan (c.1625–1698). Like Thomas, he became a har ...
became
harpers.
Thomas is reputed to have composed between 700 and 800 tunes, although most of these have not survived. His best-known tunes today are "Molly St. George", "
The Dawning of the Day" ("Fáinne Geal an Lae"), also known as "The Golden Star", "Love in Secret", and "Planxty Davis". "The Dawning of the Day" has similarities with (but is not the same as) the melody used by Irish poet
Patrick Kavanagh
Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel ''Tarry Flynn'', and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". He is known for his accounts of Irish life th ...
for his poem ''
On Raglan Road''.
[Peter Kavanagh: ''Sacred Keeper'' (Kildare: Goldsmith Press, 1980), p. 126.]
According to
Arthur O'Neill (1734-1818):
* "Thomas Conlan (Connellan) the great harper was born before my time. I heard he played very well. He made himself conspicuous in Scotland by means of the tune Lochaber, which he plastered on the Scots as one of his own compositions whereas it is well known it was composed by Miles O'Reilly of Killinkere, in the county Cavan under the name of 'Limerick's Lamentation.' However Conlan arrived to city honours in Edinburgh, chiefly by means of that tune among others. I heard they made him a bailie or burgomaster in Edinburgh where he died." (p. 13)
References
Further reading
* ''The Harpers Connellan: Irish Music of the late 17th Century. The Life and Times of the Sligo Harpers William and Thomas Connellan'', CD by harpist
Kathleen Loughnane (2009), ISMN 979 0 9002013 3 1.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connellan, Thomas
1640s births
1698 deaths
17th-century Irish composers
Irish male composers
Irish male harpists
Musicians from County Sligo
17th-century Irish harpists
17th-century Irish male musicians