"O'Carolan's Draught" (AKA: Air or Planxty) was
composed by blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan
(1670-1738). The air was printed in Petrie's Music of
Ireland (1882) with this note: "The following spirited
harp melody was obtained from an old MS. music-book
sent to me by Father Walsh, P.P. of Sneem, in the
county of Kerry; and I found a second setting of it in
an extensive manuscript collection of tunes made,
within the present century, by Patrick Carew, a county
of Cork piper, the use of which...(+)
"O'Carolan's Draught" (AKA: Air or Planxty) was
composed by blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan
(1670-1738). The air was printed in Petrie's Music of
Ireland (1882) with this note: "The following spirited
harp melody was obtained from an old MS. music-book
sent to me by Father Walsh, P.P. of Sneem, in the
county of Kerry; and I found a second setting of it in
an extensive manuscript collection of tunes made,
within the present century, by Patrick Carew, a county
of Cork piper, the use of which has been kindly allowed
me by my friend Mr. Richard Dowden, Alderman of Cork.
Though hitherto unpublished, and, apparently, unknown
to preceding collectors, the peculiarities of its
style, and of its flow of melody, can leave no doubt as
to its being a genuine composition of the eminent
composer whose name it bears: and as it seems to be
known only in Munster, it may perhaps be regarded as
one of the many tunes composed by the bard during his
sojourn in that province; and which, unlike the
majority of his Connaught tunes, do not appear to have
been ever collected during their author's lifetime."
The first two bars are identical to the English country
dance tune "Justice Balance," printed in London
publisher Charles and Samuel Thompson's Compleat
Collection of 200 Country Dances, vol. 4 (1780, pp. 3 &
100).
Turlough O'Carolan, the most famous harpist of Ireland,
was born in 1670 in County Meath. His personal tragedy
came at the age of 18, when smallpox took away his
sight. The timing of these early events of his history
is somewhat uncertain, but it was about this time that
he began to learn the harp. He was never known as a
virtuoso performer - Carolan's brilliance manifested in
his poetry and music (The Blind Harper)
Source: Tune Archive
(https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Carolan%27s_Draug
ht).
Although originally created for traditional Irish
instruments, I created this Interpretation of the Irish
air "O'Carolan's Draught" for Flute, Oboe & Celtic or
Concert (Pedal) Harp.
(by Magatagan, Mike)11x⬇ 21x
