The Story of Ancient Irish Civilization

by P. W. Joyce

Giraldus Cambrensis, a Welshman, who visited Ireland in 1185, though very much prejudiced against the Irish, says that Irish harpers were incomparably more skilful than those of any other nation he had ever heard play. From that period, in spite of wars and troubles, music continued to be cultivated, and there was an unbroken succession of great professional harpers, till the end of the eighteenth century, when, for want of encouragement in the miserable condition of the country under the penal laws, the race died out.

The Harp is mentioned in the earliest Irish literature: it is constantly mixed up with our oldest legends; and it was in use from the remotest pagan times. The old Irish harps were of a medium size, or rather small, the average height being about thirty inches: and some were not much more than half that height. They had strings of brass wire which were tuned by a key, not very different from the present tuning-key. Irish harpers always played with the fingers or with the finger-nails.

The Irish had a small stringed instrument called a Timpan, which had only a few strings. It had a body like a flat drum, to which at one side was attached a short neck: the strings were stretched across the flat face of the drum and along the neck: and were tuned and regulated by pins or keys and a bridge. It was played with a bow or with the finger-nail, or by both together, while the notes were regulated in pitch—or ‘stopped’ as musicians say—with the fingers of the left hand, like those of a fiddle or guitar. This little instrument was a great favourite, and is constantly mentioned in Irish literature.

Harpers and timpanists were honoured in Ireland beyond all other musicians; and their rights and privileges were even laid down in the law. Kings had always harpers in their service, who resided in the palaces and were well paid for their services.

The harp and timpan were the chief instruments of the higher classes, many of whom played them as an accomplishment, as people now play the piano and guitar. But the bagpipe was the great favourite of the common people. The form in use was what we now call the Highland or Scotch pipes—slung from the shoulder: the bag inflated by the mouth. This form of pipes took its rise in Ireland: and it was brought to Scotland in early ages by those Irish colonists already spoken of ([page 11]). There is another and a better kind of bagpipes, now common in Ireland, resting on the lap when in use, and having the bag inflated by a bellows: but this is a late invention.

The old Irish had also Whistles and Flageolets, with holes for the fingers and blown by the mouth, much like those of the present day. Some flageolets were double, and some even triple, i.e., with two, or with three, pipes, sounded by a single mouthpiece, and having holes which were all stopped by the fingers. On many of the great stone crosses are sculptured harp-players and pipe-players, from which we learn a great deal about the shapes and sizes of the several instruments.

The Irish had curved bronze Trumpets and Horns of various shapes and sizes, which, judging from the numbers found buried in clay and bogs, must have been in very general use. In the National Museum in Dublin is a collection of twenty-six ancient trumpets, varying in length from 8 feet down to 18 inches. The larger ones are of most admirable workmanship, formed by hammering; curved, jointed, ornamented, and riveted with extraordinary skill and perfection of finish.

Among the household of every king and chief there was a band of trumpeters—as there were harpers—who were assigned their proper places at feasts and meetings. Trumpets were used for various purposes:—in war; in hunting; for signals during meetings and banquets; as a mark of honour on the arrival of distinguished visitors; and such like. For war purposes, trumpeters had different calls for directing movements—for battle, for unyoking, for marching, for halting, for retiring to sleep, for going into council, and so forth.

The ancient Irish were very fond of a Craebh ciuil [crave-cule], or ‘musical branch,’ a little branch on which were suspended a number of diminutive bells, which produced a sweet tinkling when shaken: a custom found also in early times on the Continent. The musical branch figures much in Irish romantic literature.

The music of ancient Ireland consisted wholly of short airs, each with two strains or parts—seldom more. But these, though simple in comparison with modern music, were constructed with such exquisite art that of a large proportion of them it may be truly said no modern composer can produce airs of a similar kind to equal them.