Considering Moore's Irish Melodies in Relation to the Songs of Robert
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MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY Traditions of song: Considering Moore’s Irish Melodies in relation to the songs of Robert Burns Rooney, Sheila Award date: 2020 Awarding institution: Queen's University Belfast Link to publication Terms of use All those accessing thesis content in Queen’s University Belfast Research Portal are subject to the following terms and conditions of use • Copyright is subject to the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988, or as modified by any successor legislation • Copyright and moral rights for thesis content are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners • A copy of a thesis may be downloaded for personal non-commercial research/study without the need for permission or charge • Distribution or reproduction of thesis content in any format is not permitted without the permission of the copyright holder • When citing this work, full bibliographic details should be supplied, including the author, title, awarding institution and date of thesis Take down policy A thesis can be removed from the Research Portal if there has been a breach of copyright, or a similarly robust reason. 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Oct. 2021 0 "Traditions of song: Considering Moore’s Irish Melodies in relation to the songs of Robert Burns" Sheila McKeown - Rooney B Ed, MA Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy School of English 30.3.2020 1 Abstract This thesis examines traditions in Irish and Scottish song with the aim of offering a context for the Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies and Robert Burns’ songs. It also explores points of intersection and divergence in both content and methodology between the two songwriters and the national music traditions of which their songs form a part. The introduction sets out observations and patterns in criticism on both Moore and Burns as well as offering a bibliographic overview of their lives and musical development. Chapter one considers the way in which Moore and Burns’ songs problematise racial profiling by both travel writers who stressed the barbarity of the Irish and Scottish, but also challenged antiquarian preoccupation with attempting to redress these assertions of barbarity by glorifying historical achievements – particularly those of a musical or literary nature – of the Irish and Scottish. Chapter two draws attention to the fact that observations made of Irish love song are often applicable to Scottish song before proceeding to examine how Moore’s and Burns’ songs manifest and subvert qualities identified within the Irish love-song tradition. Chapter three identifies methods used to depict landscape and nature in Irish and Scottish song and the degree to which Moore and Burns employ similar strategies or deviate from the existing song practise. Ultimately, by undertaking close ‘readings’ of their songs, this thesis aims to highlight what separates and unifies the songs of Moore and Burns from material produced by their predecessors, contemporaries and successors and in so doing, hopes to contribute to the recognition or, in Moore’s case, restoration of each as Bard of their respective nations. 2 Acknowledgements I wish first and foremost to thank Professor Moyra Haslett for her unhesitating support and guidance over the last three years, having taken over supervision of my thesis from Professor Ed. Larrissey and Anne Buckley, to whom I also owe a debt of gratitude. Moyra, your kindness combined with your awe-inspiring dedication to excellence in research and supporting the development of early career researchers with such magnanimity, has made this thesis possible. Thank you for gifting me with your experience and support. I would secondly like to thank my husband, Andrew for being the catalyst I needed, and helping reignite the spark of curiosity that would see me through an MA and MPhil. It is safe to say that you have truly helped me realise my potential, Andrew. Thank you for your love and patience. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my parents, Stephen and Linda Rooney. You have always encouraged me to follow my interests and did whatever it took to make that possible. Without the trips to the library and music lessons in my formative years, this thesis would have remained unwritten. Though you could not have foreseen the doors that your hard work would open to me, you both gave unhesitatingly of your time and patience. It is to you both that I now dedicate the fruits of our combined labours. Thank you so much. I would like to thank Deirdre Wildy, head of the Special Collections department in the McClay Library, Queen’s University, Belfast for granting permission to reproduce songs from the holdings of Moore’s Irish Melodies. My thanks also go to Kath and the rest of the Special Collections team for their patience and perseverance! Finally, I would like to acknowledge the generosity of Mr Frank Watters, patron to the dispossessed researcher. Without your kindness and late-night discourses on matters historical and local, this thesis would most-likely remain an ongoing process. Indeed. Though challenging and, at times, overwhelming, this comparative study on ‘toils obscure’ was worth undertaking for a’ that. 3 Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1 Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………….…..2 Contents………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3 List of Songs in Appendices……………………………………………………………………………..4 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………….8 Chapter One: Problematising Primitivisim …………………………………………………… 39 Chapter Two: Romantic Pursuit …………………………………………………………………... 95 Chapter Three: Landscapes and Songscapes ……………………………………………… 147 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………………..…209 Appendices …………………………………………………………………………………………….…..218 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………….…..276 4 List of Appendices Appendix One: ‘The Foxes Sleep’, notated by Edward Bunting in “A General Collection of the Ancient Irish Music” 1796. Preface by Edward Bunting. Waltons. The Ancient Music of Ireland: The Bunting Collections. (Dublin: Limited, 1969) N.P…………………… 224 Appendix Two: ‘When he who adores thee’ taken from the first number of A Selection of Irish Melodies (London: J. Power and Dublin: W. Power, 1807)……………………………………………………225 Appendix Three: ‘The Blaris Moore Tragedy’ Patrick Galvin, Comp. Irish Songs of Resistance (Dublin: Folklore Press, 1956)…………………………………………………………………………….……227 Appendix Four: ‘Ye Jacobites’ reproduced from The Songs of Robert Burns. ed. by Donald A. Low. (London: Routledge, 1993) p. 530 -31……………………………………………………………..229 Appendix Five: ‘Come send round the Wine’ reproduced from the second number of A Selection of Irish Melodies (London: J. Power and Dublin: W. Power, 1808)………………………………………….231 Appendix Six: ‘Is there for honest poverty?’ The Songs of Robert Burns. ed. by Donald A. Low. (London: Routledge, 1993)…………………………………………………………………………..233 Appendix Seven: ‘Muirland Meg’ The Songs of Robert Burns. ed. by Donald A. Low. (London: Routledge, 1993)………………………………………………………………………………………………….235 Appendix Eight: ‘Come rede me dame, Come tell me’ The Songs of Robert Burns. ed. by Donald A. Low. (London: Routledge, 1993)…………………………………………………………..236 Appendix Nine: ‘My wife’s a wanton wee thing’ The Songs of Robert Burns. ed. by Donald A. Low. (London: Routledge, 1993)…………………………………………………………………………….237 Appendix Ten: ‘As I roved out’ , as taught by Nora Butler Swan to Sineád Rooney at a singing workshop in Warrenpoint, 1998…………………………………………………………………………..238 5 Appendix Eleven: ‘The Sun He is sunk in the West’ The Songs of Robert Burns. ed. by Donald A. Low. (London: Routledge, 1993)………………………………………………………………………240 Appendix Twelve: ‘On Cessnock banks a lassie dwells’ The Songs of Robert Burns. ed. by Donald A. Low. (London: Routledge, 1993) ………………………………………………………….242 Appendix Thirteen: ‘The Origin of the Harp’ reproduced from Moore’s Irish Melodies: The Illustrated 1846 Edition, (Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2000)……………244 Oh! my Nora Creina dear’ reproduced from Moore’s Irish Melodies: The Illustrated 1846 Edition, (Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2000)……………………………………..245 Appendix Fourteen: ‘O Tibbie I hae seen the day’, The Songs of Robert Burns. ed. by Donald A. Low. (London: Routledge, 1993) ……………………………………………………….……………….246 Appendix Fifteen: ‘Eveleen’s bower’ taken from reproduced from the second number of A Selection of Irish Melodies (London: J. Power and Dublin: W. Power, 1808)…………….…………248 Appendix Sixteen: ‘O, mirk, mirk is this midnight hour’, The Songs of Robert Burns. ed. by Donald A. Low. (London: Routledge, 1993)……………………………………………………………250 Appendix Seventeen: ‘The time I’ve lost in Wooing’ reproduced from the sixth number of A Selection of Irish Melodies (London: J. Power and Dublin: W. Power, 1815)……………………………………..252 Appendix Eighteen: ‘I once was a maid …’ The Songs of Robert Burns. ed. by Donald