The Celtic Harp at Stonehenge

The Celtic Harp At Stonehenge - structure in ancient Celtic thought ©1994 CW BAYER 1 © 1994 by C. W. Bayer Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 94-092038 ISBN 0-9628890-1-6 www.nevadamusic.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. See more books at: www.nevadamusic.com 2 And now, for lords who understand, I'll tell a fable: once a hawk, high in the clouds, clutched in his claws a speckled nightingale. She, pierced by those hooked claws, cried, 'Pity me!' But he made a scornful answer: 'Silly thing, why do you cry? Your master holds you fast, you'll go where I decide, although you have a minstrel's lovely voice, and if I choose, I'll have you for a meal.... Hesiod, Works and Days, c.700BC 1 There are some, although few indeed, on whom divine favour has bestowed the gift of contemplating, clearly and very distinctly, with scope of mind miraculously enlarged, in one and the same moment, as though under one ray of the sun, even the whole circle of the whole earth, with ocean and sky above it. St. Columba c. 580AD2 The nation that disdains the mission of art invites the fate of having nothing to look backward to with pride and nothing to look forward to with hope. Amherst College, Oct. 26, 1963, John F. Kennedy 3 Contents INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 5 A Look At Bunting .............................................................................................................................................. 6 Part One. ....................................................................................................................................................... 13 Consciousness and Culture ........................................................................................................................... 13 The Two Harvests ............................................................................................................................................ 15 The Triad ............................................................................................................................................................. 21 Visions .................................................................................................................................................................. 23 The Triad and The Dawn of the Ritual String Instrument .................................................................. 30 The Mountain Seer--Bur ................................................................................................................................ 35 The Head ............................................................................................................................................................ 36 The Fish And The Song Of Summer And Winter ................................................................................... 37 Building The Harp .......................................................................................................................................... 40 Social Order ....................................................................................................................................................... 42 The 9 Days ......................................................................................................................................................... 44 28 Days And The First Circle At Stonehenge ........................................................................................... 47 Part Two. ....................................................................................................................................................... 51 The Frame Defined By 30 ........................................................................................................................... 51 The Frame, Five And Thirty .......................................................................................................................... 57 Mid-Day ............................................................................................................................................................... 60 The Seven And Nine ......................................................................................................................................... 63 Adding Drones ................................................................................................................................................... 71 The Danann—Migration Of Ideas ............................................................................................................. 75 Part Three. .................................................................................................................................................... 81 Reordering The Planets—The Ascendance of Zeus .............................................................................. 81 A More Open and Public Knowing .............................................................................................................. 90 Letters For Divination .................................................................................................................................... 95 The Large Harp .............................................................................................................................................. 100 Arthur ................................................................................................................................................................ 101 Adjusting Imagery ......................................................................................................................................... 104 Part Four. .................................................................................................................................................... 110 Reducing Culture and Nature to the Wild and Primitive ................................................................. 110 A New System of Music. ............................................................................................................................... 111 Romantic Imagery ........................................................................................................................................ 116 Emergence of a Distinct Court Music ...................................................................................................... 119 Medieval Decline Of The Ancient Harp .................................................................................................. 122 The Historical Celtic Harp's Demise ........................................................................................................ 127 The Method of the Historical Celtic Harp .............................................................................................. 129 Arguments While Trying to Save Harp Music ...................................................................................... 131 Romantic Views Of Minstrelsy .................................................................................................................. 132 Author’s After Thoughts ............................................................................................................................. 137 Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 138 Layers Of Imagery in Pre-Conquest Mexico ..................................................................................... 138 Endnotes: ..................................................................................................................................................... 141 4 INTRODUCTION This book began around 1986. I asked myself, “where does old-time music come from? I was playing the fiddle for local dances. And, I heard “progressive” bluegrass musicians deriding the “hillbilly” musicians of old—men that had learned from years before. It seemed to me the roots should be important. From general knowledge, I knew the Celtic harp music be older than fiddler or bagpipes—must be the source. I went to the library and looked through Edward Bunting’s, The Ancient Music Of Ireland, which came out in three installments— 1796, 1809 and 1840, subsequent to an earlier assemblage of Irish Harpers in 1784. “The collection had its origins in a commission given to a young Armagh-born classical organist and pianist Edward Bunting (1773–1843), by the organizerrs of the Belfast Harp Festival of 1792, to notate and preserve the instrumental and vocal music of the Irish harpers.”1 The 1840 version contained a description of method—long after much of his initial work and interviewing, done through a translator. I saw problems with his analysis. For example, I was familiar with the work of Kodaly. I appeared to me that, as have many since then, Bunting equated antiquity with notes missing from the scale in a tune. I began to dissect his work, looking for what lay hidden within. This book is the outcome. It took many years. I expect some to disagree with my conclusions, which I have stated simply and boldly at times in order to avoid endless obfuscation. However, my conviction is that when we find a method

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