David Byers, Irish composer,
musicologist, broadcaster
Please go to WWW.BYERSMUSIC.COM for my new and updated web site …
or from Ireland (out of Scotland),
please visit WWW.BYERSFAMILIES.COM
Contents, though decidedly out-of-date since 2002!
1. David Byers
(a) Address and email contact
(b) General biography / musical & compositional background
(c) Former BBC work
2. Select List of Compositions
Orchestral; Chamber Music; Solo & Keyboard; Vocal & Choral; Incidental Music
3. Select Programme Notes
Distractions of the Mind (solo piano piece) Five Stoned Cherries (solo piano piece)
Three Epigrams of Janus (solo piano pieces) Crooked Lymbecks (orchestral piece)
4. Belfast Musical Festival (the first one - 1813) including Bunting's performance of Messiah by Handel.
5. Edward Bunting (1773 - 1843) a potted biography of the folk-song collector
6. Norman Hay (1889-1942) a biographical note and work-list to follow in due course…
Contact David Byers at:
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Bloomfield Belfast BT5 5DU Northern Ireland Tel/Fax: 028 9065 9706 Email: David.Byers@btinternet.com |
Studied at Queen's University,
Served on Music and Opera
Sub-Committee of Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI) for many years
(approx. 1979 - 1992).
Awarded an
Northern editor of Soundpost
and Music Ireland, two joint Arts Councils-supported music magazines
(1981 - 1989), contributing many articles and reviews.
ACNI-nominated member of
the board of Annaghmakerrig, the Tyrone Guthrie
Centre, a residential centre for artists (1987 - 1994).
BBC-nominated board member
of the Ulster Orchestra from 1981-2002, also serving on its General Purposes
& Finance sub-committee until 2000. Re-invited as Board member in his own right 2002; resigned June 2002
to take up the post of Chief Executive.
He is an alumnus of the Salzburg Seminar
(1979 and 1997).
Currently serving as a Governor of the
Founding committee member
of Sonorities, serving since 1981, chairing, planning, booking and
coordinating the 1995 Sonorities Festival.
Board member of Opera Northern Ireland for
three years; served on the European Music Year Committee for NI (1985) and the
Belfast Harp Festival Committee (1992).
Served on the juries of many international
festivals (representing BBC Radio 3 at the International Rostrum of Composers
in Paris, 1981, 82 and 83; the Hungarian Radio & TV International
Conductors' Competition in 1986; the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 1987 and 88),
including Cork International Choral Festival, Dublin International Piano
Competition, Dublin International Organ Festival, the John McCormack Competition
(1996, 1998 [Chairman of the jury], and 2000), the UTV School Choir of the Year
1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002, and the Gaillard
International Piano Competition 1998, 2000 and 2002.
Contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of
Opera (1981), BBC Radio 3's
Fairest Isle book, record sleeve notes for various companies, and
articles for a range of magazines (including The Listener and The New
Hungarian Quarterly), newspapers and specialist publications (including
poems for an Ulster Orchestra publication in the 1970s).
Many editions of 17th, 18th,
and 19th century music, including piano concertos by Sterndale Bennett, symphonies by William Crotch, music by
Samuel Wesley and organ music by Pepusch published by
Universal Edition in Austria.
Founder conductor of the New Belmont Consort
(1972 - 1985), with many public concerts and radio and TV broadcasts, including
BBC Radio
Conducted many editions of Songs
of Praise for BBC1 Television between 1981 and 1995.
As a composer, David Byers's works cover many
genres, including incidental music for Radio 3 plays by Büchner,
T.S. Eliot, Seamus Heaney and Tom Paulin, many organ
works (mostly written for performance by Norman Finlay)
and commissions for the Ulster Orchestra (including its USA tour in 1992),
National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Ulster Youth Orchestra (1996), Lontano, Concorde and the Arditti
and Britten Quartets. The Organ Works of David Byers is the title of an M.A. thesis
written by Dónal Doherty (Maynooth
1991). An entry on David Byers is included in the latest edition of the New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Also keen on genealogy, gardening, DIY and photography, when time permits!
After his studies at the Royal Conservatoire
of Liège, David Byers returned to live in Northern
Ireland, initially as a freelance composer, part-time music teacher (one
morning a week at Regent House Grammar School, some private pupils and teaching
organ, theory and aural at the City of Belfast School of Music) and organist
and choirmaster of Belmont Presbyterian Church, Belfast. These were also the
years of the thriving New Belmont Consort and its many concerts.
After some part-time work in BBC Northern
Ireland’s Music Library, David Byers was appointed to the post of Music
Producer in 1977, becoming Senior Music Producer in 1981 and Chief Producer,
Music & Arts in 1997.
His extensive BBC career
centred on music programmes for BBC Northern Ireland and the networks, in
particular for BBC Radio 3, although that did not exclude other areas of
interest. The range was considerable, including speech programmes for Radio 4
in the 1980s based on Irish myths, fairy stories, and short stories; a prize
for Radio Ulster for a folk music production from Czech Radio (with David
Hammond); Ulster Band for BBC Radio Ulster and big band programmes and a major
James Galway series for Radio 2.
In 1998 he was executive producer for An
Irish Requiem on BBC2 network television - a programme following the
David Byers has also presented a wide variety
of programmes for BBC Radio 3 and for Radio
In radio classical music he championed the
development of frequent BBC Invitation Concerts given by the Ulster Orchestra
(usually in the Ulster Hall,
During David Byers’s tenure in charge
of the music department, the region's contributions to network programmes
included many Ulster Orchestra recordings and concerts, In Tune, Musical
Encounters, Hear and Now, Composer of the Week, Digital
Masters, programmes of traditional music, Wexford Festival Opera
relays, chamber music recordings and relays, 18th century Dublin,
etc.
Under his guidance, between 1981 and 2001,
BBC Northern Ireland developed a distinctive artistic direction for the Ulster
Orchestra's broadcast output, helping to change the awareness of the musical
establishment to the music of the past 200 years - much of which had lain
dormant: hence the major Radio 3 explorations of a wealth of British 19th
century music (Sterndale Bennett, Samuel and Charles
Wesley, Cipriani Potter, William Crotch, Stanford,
etc.). Commissions for Irish composers (including Gerald Barry, Kevin
O’Connell, Michael Alcorn, Ian Wilson, Philip Hammond, Stephen Gardiner
and Elaine Agnew) and others (Adrian Thomas, Lyell Cresswell and Pawel Szymanski)
were an important feature; as was the exploration of
David Byers also produced a number of
programmes out of
David Byers took early retirement from the
BBC in March 2002 to concentrate on his composing and writing. In June he
produced a week of programmes recorded in
At the end of June 2002 David Byers was
appointed Chief Executive of the Ulster Orchestra.
Visit the Ulster Orchestra’s website at http://www.ulster-orchestra.org.uk
BACK to top
Select List of Compositions
(This section to become more selective, but enlarged to give instrumentations etc.)
Orchestral
Tephra (1982)
Caliban's Masque (1982) Wind band
A Planxty for the Dancer (1983)
Moon is our breathing (orchestral version - see also chamber music)
Out of the Night (1991)
Toccata: La morte d'Orfeo (1996)
Madrigale: Ecce Orfeo (1996)
Crooked Lymbecks (2001)
Chamber Music
Epitaphs (1969)
Music for Crazy Jane (1971) fl.ob.cl.bsn
Thingummy-Jig (1971/73) wind quintet
The Nature of Gothic (1973)
Pholypony (1975) wind quintet
Triptych (1977) viola/piano
William Cowper: His Delight (1978)
Segue (1980)
Moonshadows (1981)
At the still point of the turning world (1981) string quartet
St. Columba and the Crane tuba & tape
The Wren's Blether (1984) radiophonic piece
The Deer's Horn (1988) oboe & viola
Moon is our breathing (?) octet
Sweeney Erect; Sweeney amongst the nightingales (1988?) (Sop/ ch. ensemble)
The journey of the Magi (1991) string quartet
Solo & Keyboard
Partita: Jesu, meine Freude (1968) organ
Icon (1972) organ
Canto (1972) flute
Cherries in the Round (1975) organ
Five stoned cherries (1975) piano
The harp that once … (1976) organ
Pibroch: Dunfermling Rune (1978) organ
Epiphanies (1979) violin
Dragons (1979) organ
Decadophony (1980) organ
In Nomine (1980) organ
Verses (1982) organ
Magnificat (1983) organ
Tuba mirum (1984) organ
Distractions
of the Mind (1998) piano
Three Epigrams of Janus
(2000) piano
The Rising of the Moon (2002) piano
Vocal & Choral
Many carols (1968 - )
Five Poems of Marie Overton (1970) Sop/piano
The Wind among the Reeds (1969) SSA
Songs for Granny (1969) Any voice/piano
As in their time (1969) SATB
The Tasking (1969) SSA/harp
Canzonets (1972) SATB
Night Song (1972) SATB
Cerises d'amour (1972) SSA or SSS
Preces & Responses (1975) SATB
Rhymes (1980) SATB
Colours (1985) Mezzo/piano
Mortality's Eclipse (1988) Mezzo/piano
Out of the hat (1997) SATB
Incidental Music
Büchner's Woyzeck (1986) (BBC Radio 3)
Sweeney Agonistes (T.S.Eliot) (1988?) (BBC Radio 3)
Sweeney Astray (Seamus Heaney) (1989) (BBC Radio 3)
Seize the Fire (Tom Paulin) (1990?) (BBC Radio 3)
Medea (Brendan Kennelly) (1991) (BBC Radio 3)
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for solo piano
Distractions of the Mind was written
early in 1998 for the First International Piano Competition of Rencontres Musicales de Gaillard
(June 1998) and it is dedicated to Adilia Alieva. (See also http://windoms.sitek.net/~concours)
The music is based on a little keyboard work
by Thomas Tomkins (1572 - 1656), A Sad Pavan for these Distracted Times, which he wrote when
he was 77. Tomkins was the last in a great line of virginalists, and he was writing in what was, by then, an
old-fashioned contrapuntal style.
I first got to know the Sad Pavan in the early 1970s and used it to frame a
More often than not, it is minds which are
described as being distracted rather than times. But the two go hand in hand. Tomkins' distracted times were occasioned by two Civil
Wars, the execution of Charles I (just a fortnight before he wrote his Sad Pavan) and the establishment of Cromwell's republican
Commonwealth (just a few months later the puritan Cromwell was in Ireland
putting Catholic inhabitants of Drogheda and Wexford to the sword - a new order
overturning the old, just as Tomkins' musical values
and beliefs in a contrapuntal style were being overturned in the world at large
by a fashionable new style with an emphasis on a treble part and a bass line.
The parallels with the political debates and
bloody murders in the
Distractions of the Mind is a comparatively short work, like A Sad Pavan, and it uses harmonies from Tomkins'
piece - passing chords that exist for a moment - along with some of Tomkins' little melodic motives that leap off the page and
stick in the mind. Between the opening ornamented
lament and the final bare harmonised melody, the music explores memory and
obsession, revisiting some of Tomkins' tonal
relationships in this very different context and eventually leading to a gentle
pavane interspersed with some direct quotations from Tomkins' piece.
Who's to say what the distractions are? I
won't! Historic, topical, trivial, political, European, Irish, universal,
personal … at the end of the day the music has to stand or fall on its
own merits.
No matter, Tomkins
would be well pleased that his music stands the tests of time and
fashion and distracted minds.
David Byers (Belfast, March 1998)
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for
solo piano
David Byers studied in
That was the start of something … many
of David Byers's pieces from these years were built out of musical ideas,
shapes, and harmonies developed from this melody.
This piano work, Five Stoned Cherries
is just such a one.
The piece is dedicated to his composition
professor at the Royal Academy of Music, James Iliff,
who lives in a cottage deep in the Welsh valleys.
The work's subtitle is "a penillion on Cerises d'amour"
- a penillion being a sort of improvised Welsh song
to a harp accompaniment. The piano piece sandwiches two
sections, in an apparently improvised manner, between three gently meandering
harmonic studies, beginning low down and eventually ending high up on the
keyboard.
There's a quotation from an Elizabethan poem
as a preface -
Lady, those cherries plenty Which grow on your lips dainty Ere long will fade and
languish. Then now, while yet they last them O let me pull and taste them.
And, at the end, a quotation from a box of
Belgian chocolates -
The stones in our cherries have been
mechanically removed. Therefore it is impossible to guarantee that all our
cherries are stoneless. Be careful. Thank you.
Five Stoned Cherries has been recorded by Philip Martin.
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Three Epigrams of Janus
for solo piano
Many of my works have been sparked into life
by the written word. In 1986 in Budapest I came across a volume of The
Epigrams of Janus Pannonius,
a 15th century Hungarian writing in Latin, then the language of
clerics and scholars. (Latin was the official language in
The first is perhaps the most literal musical
paraphrase - a mathematical recipe in which a point becomes a line, a surface
and finally a solid cube.
The second and third chart
slightly more abstract musical journeys which parallel Janus's
poems. The second is a plea to
Mars, the God of War, for peace: the poem is like an ancient prayer, invoking
the god in all his manifestations; the music incorporates some plainsong in its
mix of ideas. The third epigram reminded me of poems by the often insane 18th
century English poet, William Cowper. A bird is struck dead by an arrow, but
continues to fly - raising paradoxical questions about the nature of life and
death, but leaving the answers to others!
The pieces are dedicated to Adilia Alieva.
David Byers November 1999
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to top
Crooked Lymbecks
Lett not your soule (at first with graces fill’d,
/ And since, and thorough crooked lymbecks, still’d / In many schools and courts, which quicken
it,) / It self unto the Irish negligence submit.
A lymbeck
was an old-fashioned (actually 13th century!) word for an alembic,
one of the glass vessels or retorts used in the distillation process.
On my piano for many years I
had kept a copy of a 1599 John Donne poem which I felt would be good to use in
some musical context or other. When I finally came to do so, I discovered that
I had seriously misunderstood it. I had
been misled by a superficial reaction to its title Henrico Wottoni in Hibernia belligeranti
(To Henry Wotton making war in Ireland ) and the
poem’s references to conquering, love for Ireland, shott,
boggs, yong death, crooked lymbecks, and Irish negligence. When I sat down and read the poem properly
(with a dictionary search for “lymbecks”!),
it turned out, ironically, to be an intriguing conceit, looking for a simple
honest letter from his friend Henry Wotton; all, in
hindsight, clear enough from the closing lines -
I aske not labored letters which should weare
/ Long papers out: nor letters which should feare /
Dishonest carriage: or a seers art: / Nor such as from
the brayne come, but the hart.
Crooked Lymbecks grew out of different aspects of that
misunderstanding. I thought of it as
looking at a giant still, complete with its crooked lymbecks
– the music may be considered as a series of cross-sections taken at a
number of points and from different perspectives of that distillation
process. The piece is about ten minutes
in length, and the music is mainly fast-moving – an attempt to mix the straightforward
musical language of my annual Christmas carol, complete with its (usually)
changing dance metres, with my more usual compositional processes. The musical
materials are based on a blend of 12th century organum
and discant; the result could be described as a
theme and five variations with a coda.
The Dorian modality of the opening and closing sections is relieved or
disturbed elsewhere by other tonal conflicts.
Crooked Lymbecks was commissioned by Sonorities for the 2001 Festival
and supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern
Ireland.
It was first performed at the
closing concert of Sonorities 2001 on
Friday 11 May in the Whitla Hall of Queen’s
University by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, conductor Gerhard Markson. The concert
was broadcast live on RTÉ’s Lyric FM and on BBC
Radio
David Byers (April 2001)
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Handel's Messiah and
the 1813
1. The Belfast Festival performance of Messiah
a Sequence of numbers performed
b Details of soloists, conductor and orchestra
2. Programme of the 1813 Belfast Musical Festival
3. Contemporary reviews from the Belfast News-Letter
4. Bibliography
Messiah by Handel at the first-ever
Belfast Musical Festival in 1813
The running order for
Handel's Messiah
as performed on 22 October 1813 at Dr. Drummond's Meeting-House, Rosemary Street, during the Belfast Music Festival organised by Edward Bunting.
(The first most complete Messiah performance in Belfast)
Sequence
& Details of
Overture
1
recit. Comfort ye (tenor) 2
Every
valley (tenor) 3
And
the glory (chorus) 4
recit. Thus saith the Lord (bass) 5
But
who may abide (bass) (sing alto version) 6
recit. Behold a virgin shall
conceive (counter tenor) 8
O
thou that tellest (chorus with counter tenor) 9
recit. For behold, darkness
(bass) 10
The
people that walked (bass) 11
For
unto us a child (chorus) 12
recit. There were shepherds
(boy treble) 14, 15, 16
Glory
to God (chorus) 17
Rejoice
greatly (soprano 1) 18
He
shall feed his flock (soprano 1 and tenor) 19
(soprano
1 sings alto line to letter C, then tenor sings
soprano line)
Farewell
ye limpid streams (soprano 2) Interpolated air from Jephtha
He
was despised (counter tenor) 23
All
we like sheep (chorus) 26
Interval
recit. All they that see him
(tenor) 27
He
trusted in God (chorus) 28
recit. Thy rebuke hath broken
(tenor) 29
Behold
and see (tenor) 30
recit. He was cut off (soprano 1) sing tenor version 31
But thou didst not leave (soprano 1) sing tenor version 32
Lift
up your heads (chorus) 33
Why
do the nations (bass) 40
Worthy
is the lamb (chorus) 53
I
know that my redeemer (soprano 2)* 45
*but
Since
by man came death (chorus) 46
recit. Behold, I tell you a
mystery (bass) 47
The
trumpet shall sound (bass) 48
If
God be for us (tenor)
sing
soprano version
52
Hallelujah!
(chorus) 44
Finis
BACK to top RETURN
to start of section on Festival of 1813
Original soloists:
Mrs. Cooke (cf. Soprano 2 in my list)
(wife of Tom Cooke, leader of orchestra, - they married in
Miss Spray (cf. Soprano 1)
(daughter of tenor soloist)
Master Robinson (treble)
(most likely to have been Francis Robinson (1799-1872), who would become an important Dublin singer and organist … less likely, it might have been his brother, William Robinson (1803-1881), also to become a leading Dublin musician)
Mr. Spray (tenor)
(John Spray was an English tenor who settled in Dublin c.1797, and was vicar-choral of Christ Church and St. Patrick's Cathedrals. Well known as a leading concert soloist)
Mr. Jager (counter tenor)
(Robert Jager was an English singer, formerly a lay-clerk at Canterbury, who sang as a counter tenor and a bass, performing in Dublin from around 1810. He was a vicar-choral of Christ Church and St. Patrick's Cathedrals. "…the incongruous effect of his delivery of the opening of 'O thou that tellest' where he dropped from a falsetto 'A' to 'D' in the lower octave came as something of a shock to his listeners")
Mr. Weyman (bass)
(David Weyman (1771-1822), Dublin born bass who was well-known as a concert singer and was also a vicar-choral at both Dublin cathedrals)
The "Conductor" was Mr. Edward Bunting, the "Leader of the Band" was Mr. T. Cooke and "The Chorusses under the direction of Mr. Blewitt".
At that time the conductor was the keyboard player who would have guided the soloists; the leader was the principal violinist who led and directed the orchestra; presumably Mr. Blewitt, in turn, directed the choir. It was a set-up which frequently engendered differences of opinion!
Edward Bunting (Armagh 1773 - Dublin 1843), renowned for transcribing the airs at the Belfast Harp Festival in 1792, subsequently published three important volumes of his arrangements of the airs he had collected (the first of these published in 1796, the second in 1809, and the third in 1840) and for many years he was the leading musician and teacher in Belfast. In 1806 he became organist at the Second Presbyterian Church in Rosemary Street - "a large, jolly-looking man; that he should fail to be so is hardly possible, for Belfast concerts are never mere music meetings - they are always followed by a supper and store of wine and punch".
In 1813
Bunting organised the
Bunting
"resigned from Rosemary Street in 1816/17 for [the newly-built] St.
George's - Chapel of Ease, where he gave his services gratuitously till 1
January 1818. He was then paid a salary of 40 guineas per annum, out of which
he paid his deputy (C. Dalton) and had to instruct the choir. He left St.
George's on 1 January 1821, when Mr. Dalton was appointed his successor @ £20
per annum to be assisted by Mr. Guerrini as Teacher
of the choir @ £20 per annum.
T.S.Cooke
Thomas Simpson Cooke (Dublin 1782 - London 1838) was a composer, conductor, instrumentalist and singer, one of the most colourful musicians of the period. Son of a well-known Dublin oboe player, he was a talented violinist who rapidly became the leader of Dublin's Crow Street Theatre orchestra and then its musical director. In 1813 he moved to London (returning that October to sing in Dublin and to be the leader and soloist at the Belfast Music Festival) where he was a leading tenor soloist in the Drury Lane Theatre for twenty years. He led the Drury Lane orchestra for many years, was its musical director, managed Vauxhall Gardens, composed music for over 50 stage productions and wrote a major treatise on singing.
Jonathan Blewitt (London 1782 - London 1853) moved to Ireland in 1811 as private organist to Lord Cahir. He was organist of St. Andrew's Church, Dublin and succeeded Tom Cooke as composer and director of music at the Theatre Royal in Dublin. He was grand organist to the Masonic body of Ireland and conducted many concerts throughout Ireland. He returned to London (to the Drury Lane Theatre) in 1825.
The orchestra list given in the Messiah programme suggests a minimum band of 9 violins, 2 violas, 3 cellos, 3 basses, 1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets,1 trombone, 1 bass horn (a comparatively rare kind of serpent which enjoyed some popularity in Britain in the first couple of decades of the century … it would normally have been found in wind bands, but it was also occasionally used in the large festival orchestras e.g. York 1825 &1827), 1 double drum (meaning timpani).
Many of the listed players were from Dublin - regulars in the Crow Street and Hawkins Street Theatres - and included Anthony Bunting, Edward's cellist brother from Dublin. Perhaps a few of the players were local … the violinist May was possibly J. T. May who was listed as musical director of the Arthur Street Theatre in 1826 and known as a violinist and organist. The principal trumpet player was Henry Willman, described by Michael Kelly as "the finest trumpet player I ever heard in any country … his execution on the instrument almost baffled belief." Without searching too far, ten, possibly eleven, of the seventeen string players can be identified as Dublin professionals; likewise five of the wind players, including Tom Cooke's father, the oboist Bartlett Cooke.
Question: Is the list complete? Or only a list of known names as the programme went to press? For example, might there in reality have been two flutes? More strings? Three trombones? (See News-Letter review below re trombones.) Would the church have accommodated any more?
Members of the Christ Church Cathedral choir were the basis of the chorus, but it's difficult to assess what contribution there was from local singers. The source for much of this detailed information is a typescript copy from 1900 of the original 1813 programme. This list does not mention Christ Church - although the Belfast News-Letter does (see below, Page 6) - but the listing of chorus names ends with "&c. &c." Is this as it appeared in the original programme? Before "&c. &c." there are fifteen men's names, one woman's and four boys'. Given the detail of the 1900 typescript, it seems likely that this is a faithful transcript of the 1813 programme.
Given the constitution of the orchestra, with its listed "clarionets", it seems that the performance used Mozart's arrangement. This re-orchestration was made at the request of Baron van Swieten in 1789; it was published in 1803 and performed at Covent Garden in 1805, though "purists" continued to protest at the "additions" for many years. By 1812 George Smart was beginning to omit some of the additional accompaniments as being not "suitable to the accustomed English ear."
The following details appeared in the Belfast News-Letter during the week before Belfast's first festival.
BACK to top RETURN
to start of section on Festival of 1813
MUSICAL FESTIVAL
FOR THE BENEFIT OF
THE INCORPORATED CHARITABLE SOCIETY
UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF
MARQUIS OF DONEGALL, / MARCHIONESS OF DONEGALL, / MARQUIS OF DOWNSHIRE, / MARCHIONESS OF DOWNSHIRE, / COUNTESS OF CLANWILLIAM, / EARL OF MASSEREENE, / COUNTESS OF MASSEREENE, / EARL OF LONDONDERRY, / COUNTESS OF LONDONDERRY, / LORD VISCOUNT DUFFERIN, / LADY DUFFERIN, / LADY ELIZABETH PRATT, / LADY HARRIET FOSTER, / COLONEL FOSTER, / SIR EDWARD MAY, Bart. / LADY MAY, / SIR H. HERVEY BRUCE, Bart. / LADY BRUCE, / HON. R. WARD, / COLONEL FORDE, / GEORGE BRISTOW Esq. High Sheriff Co. Antrim, / THOMAS VERNER Esq. Sovereign of Belfast, / MRS. VERNER, / ALEXANDER STEWART Esq. Ards, / NICHOLAS PRICE Esq. Saintfield, / ROBERT BATESON Esq. Belvoir, / REV. DR. HUTCHESON Donaghadee, / REV. EDWARD MAY, / MRS. MAY, / COLONEL HEYLAND, / MRS. HEYLAND, / HUGH KENNEDY Esq. Cultra, / WILLIAM SHARMAN Esq. Warringstown, [sic] / JOHN REILLY Esq. Scarva, / RICHARD DOBBS Esq. Castle Dobbs, / JAMES WATSON Esq. Brook Hill, / GEORGE DOUGLAS Esq. Mount Ida, / FRANCIS TURNLY Esq. Richmond Lodge
AT THE THEATRE,
ON TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 19, 1813,
WILL BE PERFORMED,
A GRAND MISCELLANEOUS
CONCERT,
OF VOCAL & INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.
AT DR. DRUMMOND'S MEETING HOUSE,
On WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCT. 20,
A GRAND SELECTION OF
SACRED MUSIC,
From HANDEL, PURCELL, MARCELLO, &c.
AT SAME PLACE,
On THURSDAY MORNING, OCT. 21,
HAYDN'S CELEBRATED ORATORIO OF
THE CREATION;
WITH A GRAND MISCELLANEOUS ACT,
SELECTED FOR THE OCCASION.
At the THEATRE, on THURSDAY EVENING,
A MISCELLANEOUS
CONCERT,
FROM THE WORKS OF
HAYDN, MOZART, AND BEETHOVEN
AT DR. DRUMMOND'S MEETING-HOUSE,
ON FRIDAY MORNING, OCT. 22.
THE ORATORIO OF
THE MESSIAH,
PRINCIPAL VOCAL PERFORMERS,
Mrs COOKE, Miss SPRAY,
Master ROBINSON, Master MULLEN,
Mr SPRAY, Mr. JAGER, and
Mr. WEYMAN.
Leader of the Band ……………………….. Mr. T. COOKE.
Second Violin ……………………………… Mr. BARRETT.
Tenor [ = viola ] ………………….……….. Mr. BOWDEN.
Violincello [sic] …………………………………… Mr. BIRD.
Double Bass ………………………….. Mr. SIDEBOTHAM.
Flute .…… Mr. WERDNER. [actually Johann Carl Weidner]
Oboe ……………………..…………………… Mr. B. COOKE.
Clarionet …………………..……………………. Mr. MAHON.
Bassoon …………………………………………….. Mr. BOND.
Horn …………………………………………. Mr. MULLIGAN.
Trumpet …………………….…………….…… Mr. WILMAN.
Trombone ……………………………………… Mr. MEIGLER.
Double Drums …………………………..……… Mr. GLOVER.
CONDUCTOR …………….Mr. EDWARD BUNTING,
Who will preside at the Organ & Piano Forte.
The DEAN and CHAPTER of CHRIST'S CHRUCH [sic],
DUBLIN, having been pleased to grant permission for the
principal parts of the Choir to assist on this occasion, the
CHORUSSES will be numerous and complete. The en-
tire Band will consist of above 50 performers.
BALL AND SUPPER.
There will be a splendid BALL & SUPPER at the EX-
CHANGE ROOMS, on FRIDAY Evening, 22d Oct.
Particulars in a future advertisement.
REGULATIONS.
Evening Concerts at the Theatre The UPPER and
LOWER BOXES, with an inclosed [sic] part of the PIT, are
prepared for the accommodation of the Patrons, Patronesses,
and other Subscribers, for the entire entertainments of the Week.
(Of the Lower Boxes, Nos 4, 5, 6, and 8, are kept for the Patrons and Patronesses.)
Plans of the Boxes, and Subscribers' part of the Pit, will
be ready for inspection on MONDAY the 18th inst. At
TWELVE o'Clock, at which hour places may be taken
at the House of Mr. JOHN GALT SMITH, Secretary
to the Committee, No. 26, High-street, to be entered in the
exact order of application.
SINGLE TICKETS
For each of the EVENING CONCERTS, to the remaining parts of the House,
will be ready for delivery as above, on Thursday next.
LETTICES, and Uninclosed part of the PIT, 10s. 10d.
GALLERY, ………………….……………..6s. 8d.
Single Tickets for each of the SACRED PER-
FORMANCES, in the Morning, at Dr.
Drummond's Meeting-House, …………… 12s. 6d.
N. B. All Tickets to be Transferable.
Evening Concerts at the Theatre. Doors to be opened at
(Carriages to enter by Donegall-square and form a single
line along Arthur-street, taking up in the same manner -----
Horses heads towards Corn-Market.)
Morning Sacred Performances, at Dr. Drummond's Meeting -House.
---- Doors to be opened at
(Carriages to enter by the Exchange, forming a single line along Rosemary-street,
taking up
in the same manner - horses heads towards Hercules-street [now
To avoid confusion, no Money will be taken at the Doors for any of the performances,
nor Servants allowed to keep places.
Subscribers for the entire week's performance will be pleased to shew their Tickets to the Stewards
---- holders of Single Tickets to deliver theirs.
After this Notice, it is expected that Subscribers will send for their Tickets without further delay.
The Theatre lighted with Wax.
The concert programme for Messiah lists five additional patrons:
Lord Jocelyn / Lady Jocelyn / Lady Isabella Blachford /
Colonel Blachford / Edward Jones Agnew, Esq. Killoughter
Additionally, Colonel Forde is listed as Lieutenant-Colonel Forde.
The programme gives the following as Stewards:
The High Sheriff of
the Co. of Antrim, / The Sovereign of
Lieutenant-Colonel Coulson, / Rev. Mr. Jebb, / Richard Dobbs, Esq. /
Richard Staples, Esq. / Jackson Stockdale, Esq. / Henry Purdon, Esq.
The programme lists the following Instrumental Performers:
Leader of the Band - Mr. T. Cooke.
Violins - Messrs. Mahon, [John] Barrett,
May, R. Barton, Coleman,
Sanders [probably Saunders],
Garbatt, and Nelson.
Tenors [=Violas] - Messrs. Bowden and Giesler.
Violincellos [sic] - Messrs. Bird, A. Bunting, and Robinson.
Double Basses - Messrs. Sidebotham, Cubitt and [Wm. J.]Gray.
Flute - Mr. Weidner.
Clarionets - Messrs. Thompson and Wagstaff.
Oboes - Messrs. B. Cooke and McClean.
Bassoons - Messrs. Bond and Reed.
Horns - Messrs. Mulligan and Reilly.
Trumpets - Messrs. Wilman and Maddison.
Trombone - Mr. Miller.
Bass Horn - Mr. Costellow.
Double Drum - Mr. Stokesbury.
The Chorusses by
Messrs. Connor, Broad, Duff, Gray, Barr, Hughes, Hart, sen., Hart, jun., Bennett, Stevenson, Fry, Hatton, Mrs. Gray. - Masters Mussen, Murray, Betty, Willis, -- Mr. McCune, sen., Mr. McCune jun., Mr. Webb, &c. &c.
A further two advertisements were placed in the Belfast News-Letter on Tuesday 19 October for Bunting's benefit concert and they give further details of ticket arrangements for the Ball and Supper:
MR. BUNTING'S CONCERT
AT THE THEATRE,
ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 20.
ACT I
OVERTURE ……………………………………….……………………………. Cooke.
GLEE - "Hark the Lark at Heaven's gate Sings" ………………………………….Cooke.
SONG - Mr. Jager - "The Maid of the Mountain" …………….………………… Bishop.
GLEE and CHORUS -"Hark the hollow woods" ………………………………….Shield.
SONG - Master Robinson - "Thou hast run away from me, Mary." -[no composer given]
SONG - Mrs. Cooke - "Sweet Robin" …………………………………………….Cooke.
CONCERTO TRUMPET - Mr. Wilman ……………………………………….…Cooke.
SONG - Mr. Spray - "When for our Laws and
FINALE - "Viva Enrico" ………………….………………………………………Pacitto.
ACT II
CONCERTO VIOLIN - Mr. T. Cooke……………………….…..……………...Kreutzer.
GLEE - "Oh! Nanny, wilt thou gang with me," …………….…..harmonised by Harrison.
SONG - Mrs. Cooke ………………………………………………………………Puzitta.
MILITARY CONCERTO PIANO-FORTE - Mr. Bunting …………………..……Latour.
GLEE - "See our Bark" - Violin Obligato [sic]…….………………….…Sir J. Stevenson.
POLLACCA - Mr. Cooke, from "The Cabinet" …………………………….……Braham.
DUETT - Messrs. Spray and Weyman, "Tell me where is Fancy bred" … Sir J. Stevenson.
FINALE - Rule Britannia.
TICKETS to be had of Mr. J. G. SMITH, and Mr.
ARCHER, Stationer, High-street; and PLACES to be
taken at
the THEATRE, from Eleven till
TICKETS
FOR THE BALL AND SUPPER,
ON FRIDAY EVENING,
AT THE EXCHANGE ROOMS,
For the BENEFIT of the POOR-HOUSE,
Will be issued at Mr. SMITH'S 26, High-street.
LADIES' ………………………10s.
GENTLEMEN'S………………..…12s. 6d.
As the number to be entertained must necessarily be limit-
ed, such Ladies and Gentlemen as wish to attend, will be
so good as to return their names on or before TUESDAY
next. ------------ Mr. JELLET to provide the Supper.
Belfast, October 15, 1813.
Such music festivals as Belfast's were very popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. (The annual meeting of the cathedral choirs of Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford first took place in 1715 and by the 19th century had become known as the Three Choirs Festival.) Most of these festivals took place in the large centres of population, such as Birmingham and Manchester, areas of great industrial expansion. These festivals would often be linked with middle-class concern about social conditions; in Grove 6, Percy Young lists festivals in " Leeds (1767), Birmingham (1768), Norwich (1770), Chester (1772), Newcastle (1778), Liverpool (1784), Manchester (1785), Sheffield (1786), and York (1791) with the primary aim of raising funds to establish or support new hospitals."
In Tamworth, in Staffordshire, in 1809, with a population of only 3000, the town hosted a two-day festival with performances of Haydn's The Creation and Handel's Messiah. Over 130 performers took part, including Samuel Wesley, who played one of his own organ concertos and incorporated into it a fugue by J. S. Bach.
These provincial festivals
usually followed much the same pattern and, understandably, their planning was
often determined by the availability of an organ or the need for natural or
artificial lighting. In
"the
scheduling of festivals during the summer and early autumn months (typically
during August, September and October) gave employment during the
"… a performance of Messiah was almost mandatory at each festival, and his [Handel's] music (usually in the form of extracts from the oratorios) dominated the remaining morning oratorio concerts …"
"… ticket prices of between 8s. and £1. 1s. were such as to exclude all but the most well-to-do … evidence for the wide geographical support for the festival [in Tamworth] is provided by the list of patrons [see Belfast's patrons listed on page 6], made up of members of leading families … The financial support of these families does not, of course, indicate that they actually attended the performances …"
[In 1811, Belfast factory cotton spinners were reckoned to be comparatively well paid at £2. 7s. 0d. per week. Weavers were much more poorly paid at between 12 and 15 shillings per week, out of which "they had to pay for candles, assistance and - sometimes - the renting of a loom-stand" (Jonathan Bardon: Belfast - An Illustrated History)].
Charlotte Milligan Fox, writing in Annals of the Irish Harpers, mentions that Messiah "was rendered by the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin," and quoted some details from Bunting's private papers about his expenses:
"Mr. Cooke and his wife" (the prima donna) Bunting enters as having been paid 100 guineas; Spray (the tenor) and daughter, 45 guineas; Mahon Wedner [sic = clarinet and flute], 30 guineas; Sidebotham, as secretary, [and double-bass], regulating everything, received 30 guineas for his trouble; and, after paying for the choir and a band of fifty, the expenses amounted to a total of £638. The concerts took place in the theatre, or, when an organ was required, in Dr. Drummond's meeting-house. There is an addendum to the list of expenditure. "Paid Spray out of my own pocket 5 guineas, as he said that his rank as first tenor deserved it," by which we see that concert directors had to cope with the same difficulties as at the present day.
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The following extracts are from reviews printed in the Belfast News-Letter:
Friday 22 October 1813
BELFAST MUSICAL FESTIVAL
From the day on which the Musical Festival was first suggested, the idea was eagerly embraced, and as the proposed combined rational amusement with the virtue of benevolence, it readily met the unqualified sanction of the public. Belfast had not before enjoyed the luxury of such a treat; and as the period approached, the public became more impatient, and nothing was talked of but the Festival, so that expectation was wound up to the highest pitch. The Committee and Stewards who undertook the charge of making the necessary arrangements, soon found that they had very arduous duties to perform; and on Mr. Bunting devolved the very important task of selecting and engaging the various professional gentlemen who were to compose the Band. All these essential preliminaries having been accomplished, the Festival commenced at the Theatre on
TUESDAY EVENING.
It had been announced that the doors were to be opened at seven o'clock, but long previous to that hour, they were literally besieged by numerous parties of Ladies and Gentlemen, all anxious to secure good places. A number of carriages having also arrived, and the front of the theatre being much thronged with spectators, eager to see the elegant company, much confusion might have ensued, but a party of the military having previously been obtained, the approach to the theatre was kept pretty clear, and no great degree of inconvenience was experienced. Previous to the doors being opened, the Stewards, who were distinguished by a red ribbon at their breast, and a white rod in their hand, took their respective stations within, to conduct the company to the different apartments allotted for their reception. When the doors were thrown open, the pressure was considerable, but by the attention of the Stewards, order was soon restored, and in a little time, the two tiers of boxes, and the enclosed part of the pit, displayed as fine an assemblage of fashionable company as ever graced a theatre. It is true, that "loveliness needs not the foreign aid of ornament," but we must pay the tribute of truth in expressing our admiration of the taste and elegance displayed in the dresses of the Ladies, which, combined with their native beauty, formed a most fascinating scene.
At eight o'clock the curtain rose and exhibited the Orchestra to the full view of the audience. It occupied the greatest part of the stage, each seat rising behind the other. The Performers having previously taken their respective situations, the Concert immediately commenced with a grand overture.
…The Choruses were the theme of universal approbation, being bold, powerful, and at the same time harmoniously adapted. Mr. Cooke, the Leader of the Band, was conspicuously eminent; …To Mrs. Cooke our meed of praise is a debt we owe, and which we willingly pay; knowing that the public voice is in unison with what we express.
Mr. Weyman, Mr. Spray and Mr. Jager, the principal vocal performers, gave great satisfaction. The former in the commencement of the oratorio of the Creation, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," was peculiarly impressive. We might select many passages in which the others also evinced great compass and power. Miss Spray's diffidence prevented her from giving some of her fine songs with the effect she would otherwise have produced, but she was very favourably received and applauded. Mr. Wilman's execution on the trumpet surpassed perhaps what had ever been witnessed before by any of the audience…
(2) The following week
BELFAST MUSICAL FESTIVAL
In our last we noticed the commencement of this Festival, which was attended
by a much greater number of fashionable company than
perhaps was ever before assembled in
The reviewer then lists in detail all the concert programmes …
Tuesday's concert began with the Grand Overture
Wednesday morning's concert in the meeting-house was an all-Handel concert, apart from a Viotti violin concerto played by Tom Cooke. Items included the Occasional Overture, the Dead March from Saul, and excerpts from Israel in Egypt, Judas Maccabaeus, Saul and Samson, ending with a Coronation Anthem.
Thursday morning's concert, also in the meeting-house, offered a selection from Creation, a Corelli Concerto, another (or the same) flute concerto from Mr. Weidner, Master Robinson singing Pious Orgies, Mrs. Cooke singing Arne's Hymn of Eve, another few songs and choruses by Handel and then that Coronation Anthem again.
Thursday evening's concert in the theatre began with an overture by Winter (a repeat of Tuesday's?), included the usual mish-mash of songs and glees (Mr. and Miss Spray sang Ye Banks and Braes), H. Wilman [sic] played Cooke's Concerto on the New Patent Kent Bugle, and there was an unspecified symphony by Haydn. Interestingly, there is no mention here of what was promised in the advertisement - music by Mozart or Beethoven.
Back to the News-Letter reviewer:
Our observations upon the performers and performances may be summed up in the few following remarks.
Mr. Cooke certainly equalled the most celebrated performer on the violin. In tone, execution or judgement, no one was more eminent, and in his accompaniment on the piano forte in several glees, his excellence was conspicuous.
Of Mrs. Cooke we have already expressed the sentiment of approbation which universally prevailed.
Mr. Jager, in the beautiful song "I know a bank whereon the wild thyme grows," captivated every ear. It was translucent and mellow.
Mr. Spray's song from Marmion exemplified his judgement and his taste. It was alternatively pathetically soft and characteristically bold.
Mr. Weidner's masterly performance on the flute drew forth the warmest expressions of applause. His execution and quality of tone excited great admiration.
Master Robinson is a scion of great promise. The delightful air of Pious Orgies was charmingly given. It delighted the ear, and stole the heart.
THE MESSIAH
The performance of this celebrated Oratorio was altogether so truly grand, that we are at a loss what part of it to select as most deserving of notice. A short summary is all that we can attempt.
The Overture was a sublime and finished performance. - "Comfort ye my People," sung by Mr. Spray, was a most delicious treat.
The chorus, "For unto us a child is born," was indescribably beautiful. - The words "the Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, &c." were given with such effect, as at once to charm, delight, and astonish the audience.
In the semi-chorus, "Lift up your heads, O! ye gates," the three upper parts at the beginning of the chorus had a most charming effect, and when the entire chorus came in, "He is the King of Glory," its impression was most powerful.
"The trumpet shall sound," by Mr. Weyman, accompanied by Mr. Wilman, on the trumpet, produced the most impressive effect.
The concluding chorus, "Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," finished the whole festival, and was sublime beyond description; the audience were enraptured, and their admiration was such, that it was unanimously encored.
Of the performances on Mr. Bunting's night we shall only shortly remark that the Concerto by Mozart [the programme printed in the News-Letter mentioned a Concerto by Latour, not Mozart], which he performed on the Piano Forte, produced the most delightful sensations on the few amateurs who were within hearing of it, from the exquisitely light and delicate manner in which he executed it.
In the whole performances, both in the Meeting-house and in the Theatre, the trombones and the trumpets had the most astonishing effect in the choruses, which were magnificent and truly grand.
The Organ played by the Conductor was so judiciously introduced and finely
managed, that it seemed to combine and harmonize the whole, and at the same
time it was so delicately touched as to mingle its sounds almost imperceptibly.
In the subsequent review of the Ball and Supper, it is reported that
"not less than five hundred of the finest company were present in the
rooms. - Indeed the pressure was the only inconvenience which was experienced,
as there was scarcely as much room as to admit of dancing. That, however, was
obtained, though with considerable difficulty."
Soon after supper, when the health of the Marquis of Downshire
was given, his Lordship rose and said, that it was with pleasure he observed so
very elegant and numerous a company…he reflected that the occasion of
their meeting combined rational amusement with the amiable grace of charity,
and he should be happy to give all the support in his power. His Lordship then
took an opportunity of expressing his thanks to Mr. Bunting, who had conducted
the performances with the greatest regularity. He also expressed his
approbation of the vocal and instrumental Band, who had come down from
When his Lordship had finished, Mr. Cooke, at the request of Mr. Bunting, rose and addressed his Lordship …to return his grateful acknowledgments …
Soon after this the company withdrew from the supper tables, and returned to
the ball room, where the choral band sang several glees and other charming
pieces of music with great effect. After this the company renewed the mazy
dance, which continued till the morning was far advanced.
© David Byers
14.04.96
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of 1813
Letter dated 03.01.1900 from Isaac H. Ward to Charles H. Brett.
1900 typescript copy of Book of Words from 1813 Messiah performance belonging to Miss Jane Dunn (sister of Mr. John Dunn, secretary of the Classical Harmonists' Society). The original Book of Words was presented to the Belfast Philharmonic Society.
Philip Olleson
The
H. Grindle
Irish Cathedral Music The Institute of Irish
Studies QUB,
Ita Margaret Hogan Anglo-Irish Music
1780 - 1830
Charlotte Milligan Fox Annals of the Irish Harpers Smith, Elder & Co. 1911
J. Walsh Opera in
Michael Kelly Reminiscences
ed.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Macmillan 1980
Belfast News-Letter, October 1813
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A portrait of Edward Bunting (1773-1843)
compiled by David Byers
It was Edward Bunting who set about
publishing a comprehensive collection of some of the treasures of Irish folk
music at the end of the 18th century. He certainly wasn't the first.
Seventy years earlier, John and William Neal published A
collection of the most celebrated Irish tunes proper for the violin, German
flute or hautboy (
Edward Bunting:
Before this time there
had been but three attempts of this nature. One by Burke Thumoth in
1720, another by Neill of Christ Churchyard soon after, and a third by Carolan's son, patronised by Dean Delaney about 1747. In
all these the arrangement was calculated rather for the flute or violin than
for a keyed instrument, so that the tunes were to a great extent deprived of
their peculiar character, and as they were deficient in arrangement, so were
they meagre in extent. On the whole, the Editor may safely say that his
publication, above alluded to, was the first and only collection of genuine
Irish harp music given to the world up to the year 1796.
Bunting's piano arrangements of the airs,
which he heard played by the last of the Irish harpers, were published in 1797
(more often given as 1796), 1809 and 1840. The importance of these collections
was recognised by a facsimile one-volume reprint published by Waltons' in 1969, but when Bunting died there was not even
one paragraph's tribute in either the
Edward Bunting:
I admit that by reviving Ireland's
national music, by making the study and preservation of our Irish melodies the
main business of my life, I hope that in years to come I may be thought of as
ranking with those worthy Irishmen whose labours have from time to time
sustained the reputation of the country for a native literature.
But above all, the thing which has kept me
going is my obsession: a strong
innate love of these delightful strains for their own sake. Neither the
experience of the best music of other countries nor the control of a vitiated
public taste, nor the influence of my advancing years has ever been able to
alter or diminish that love.
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Bunting's father was a
mining engineer from Shottle in Derbyshire who had settled
in Co. Tyrone to work at the mine in Coalisland.
Bunting's mother was Mary O'Quinn, who claimed to be descended from the chief
of an ancient Irish clan and it was to her that Bunting attributed his musical
talents.
There were three sons of the marriage,
Anthony, John and Edward - all to become organists and teachers. Edward was the
youngest and he was born at
St Anne's Church,
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The folk song collector
George Petrie, a friend of Bunting's old age, described the attitudes of the eleven-year-old-about-town
and gives a most unflattering picture of the adolescent Bunting.
George Petrie:
In addition to his duties as assistant or
sub-organist at the church, Bunting had also to act as deputy teacher to Mr.
Ware's pupils on the piano-forte throughout the neighbouring country.
The zeal of the young master to fulfil his
duties was often productive of the most ludicrous results. His young lady
pupils, who were often many years older than himself, were accustomed to take
his reproofs with anything but angelic temper, and I've heard him tell how a
Miss Stewart, of Wilmont, in the County of Down, was
so astonished at his audacity, that she indignantly turned round upon him and
well boxed his ears.
After a few years spent in this manner, he
became a professor on his own account, and as his abilities as a performer had
become developed, his company was courted by the higher class of the Belfast
citizens, as well as by the gentry of its neighbourhood. In short, the boy
prodigy became an idol amongst them.
Courted and caressed, flattered and
humoured, he should have paid the usual penalty for such pampering - that his
temper should have become pettish, and his habits wayward and idle - he did
everything as he liked, with a reckless disregard of what might be thought of
it.
Wayward and pettish he remained through
life, and for a long period - at least occasionally - idle, and, I fear
dissipated; for hard drinking was the habit of the Belfastians
in those days. But, while still young, not more than 19, an event occurred,
which gave his ardent and excitable temperament a worthy object of ambition on
which to employ it, and which necessarily required a cultivation of his powers,
to enable him to effect it. The event I allude to was the assemblage at
Before reaching that Belfast Harp Festival,
it's interesting to note that during Bunting's time in
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It was a committee of
Henry Joy, Dr. James MacDonnell, Robert Simms and Robert Bradshaw (the
Secretary and Treasurer) which set about organising the Great Harpers' Festival,
11-14 July 1792. All four were members of the Belfast Reading Society
(shortly to change its name to the Belfast Society for Promoting Knowledge),
founded to set up a town library.
National Music of
A Respectable Body of the Inhabitants of
Belfast having published a plan for reviving the ancient Music of this country,
and the project having met with such support and approbation as must insure
success to the undertaking, PERFORMERS ON THE IRISH HARP are requested to
assemble in this town on the tenth day of July next, when a considerable sum
will be distributed in Premiums, in proportion to their respective merits.
It being the intention of the Committee
that every Performer shall receive some
Premium, it is hoped that no Harper will decline attending on account of his
having been unsuccessful on any former occasion.
This last paragraph refers to problems
encountered at harp festivals held at Granard, Co.
Longford in the 1780s. Many writers have questioned the altruism of the
organisers (who were closely connected to the United Irishmen) and speculated
about the coincidence of the Harp Festival with the annual Twelfth of July
Orange marches, the third anniversary celebrations marking the storming of the
Bastille, and a series of political meetings with Wolfe Tone and the United
Irishmen.
Ten harpers, aged from 15 to 97, six of them
blind, competed for a first prize of ten guineas and Bunting, then aged 19, was
one of three "practical musicians" (including William Ware) charged
with notating the music.
Edward Bunting:
I was appointed to attend the Festival and
to take down the various airs played by the different harpers. I was
particularly cautioned against adding a single note to the old melodies which
would seem to have been preserved pure and handed down unalloyed through a long
succession of ages.
Wolfe Tone's diary entries, coloured by his
hangovers, record the event in less than enthusiastic terms!
July 11th: Rise with a great
headache; stupid as a mill horse … All go to Harpers at one; poor enough;
ten performers; seven execrable, three good, one of them, Fanning far the best.
No new musical discovery; believe all the good Irish tunes are already written
…
July 12th: Rise again with a
headache resulting from late hours … lounge to harpers …
July 13th: Rise again with
headache … Belfast not half so pleasant this time as last; politics just
as good or better; everything else worse … generally in low spirits
… the Harpers again, strum, strum, and be hanged …
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However, Bunting was fired
with enthusiasm for the music he had heard. He began to compile his first
collection and during the years immediately after the Festival he made journeys
to
Martha McTier
(letter to Dr. Drennan, December 1797):
Have you heard Bunting's Irish music? …To me they are sounds might
make Pitt melt for the poor Irish - not a copy is now to be got - but I hear
they are very unjustly going to reprint them in Dublin.
Martha McTier
(letter to Dr. Drennan, February 1798):
Have you got the Irish music - it is the
rage here - it would be worth your while to try if you could hear him [Bunting] play his Irish music - sugar plumbs or sweetys is his greatest temptation, for he despises both
money and praise and is thought a good-hearted original.
Charlotte Milligan Fox:
The book stands as the earliest standard
authority. View it with regard to its after-effect in popularising and saving
Irish music, it must be classed as an epoch-making book. Not that its
circulation was very extensive, for indeed it brought little profit to the
young man who gave it to the world.
The subject of the compiler and of his
enthusiastic supporters in
"Gave the material" is not quite
the right way to express it! When
Thomas Moore:
Considering the thorn I have been in poor
Bunting's side by supplanting him in the one great object of his life (the
connection of his name with the fame of Irish Music) the temper in which he now
speaks of my success (for some years since he was rather termagant on the
subject) is not a little creditable to his good nature and good sense. Speaking
of the use I made of the first volume of airs published by him he says:
"They were soon adapted as vehicles for the most beautiful popular songs
that perhaps have ever been composed by any lyric poet." He complains
strongly, however, of the alterations made in the original airs, and laments
that "the work of the Poet was accounted of so paramount an interest that
the proper order of song writing was in many instances inverted, and instead of
the words being adapted to the tunes, the tune was too often adapted to the
words: a solecism which could never have happened had the reputation of the
writer not been so great as at once to carry the tunes he designed to make use
of, altogether out of their old sphere among the simple tradition-loving people
of the Country with whom in truth many of the new melodies to this day are
hardly suspected to be themselves."
He lays the blame of all these alterations
upon Stevenson, but poor Sir John was entirely innocent of them; as the whole
task of selecting the airs and in some instances shaping them thus, in
particular passages, to the general sentiment, which the melody appeared to me
to express was undertaken solely by myself. Had I not ventured on these very
admissible liberties many of the songs now most known and popular would have
been still sleeping with all their authentic dross about them in Mr Bunting's
first Volume.
The same charge is brought by him
respecting those airs, which I took from the Second Volume of his collection.
"The beauty of Mr Moore's words," he says, "in a great degree
atones for the violence done by the musical arranger to many of the airs, which
he has adopted."
Bunting only came round to a more generous
attitude to
If Bunting's book wasn't exactly a
best-seller, then life in his adopted household would certainly have provided a
suitable plot for one! Henry Joy McCracken (named after his maternal uncle) was
executed after the abortive 1798 rebellion but Bunting continued to reside with
the McCracken family in
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By the turn of the century,
Bunting had succeeded William Ware as the
In 1806 he became organist at the Second
Presbyterian Church,
We are happy to inform the public, that
the first organ which has been introduced into a Protestant Dissenting Meeting
House, in
(Some days later)
On Sunday last, the new Organ in the
Second Congregation was opened by Mr. Bunting. The instrument was conducted
with chaste gravity suited to the simplicity of Presbyterian worship; and the
finest effect produced by an admirable finger directed by pure taste.
That "admirable finger" seemed to
have had more business sense when organising concerts than when publishing
music. His concert promotions included the two visits to
Catalani - "Well, my dear Mr. Bunting, how glad I am to
see you looking so strong and well".
Bunting, with a shrug - "Ugh, ugh, no
madam, I'm growing fat and lazy like an old dog as I am".
Catalani, looking alarmed and thoughtful - "Ah, indeed,
Mr. Bunting - and I too am growing fat and lazy, like an old dog as I am - no,
that's not the word - like an old bitch, Mr. Bunting, like an old bitch!"
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Edward, like his brother Anthony, earned some money as an
agent for the sale of pianos - mainly for the firm of Broadwood.
But there was no money to be earned from his second collection of Irish Airs
published in 1809 as A General Collection of The
Ancient Irish Music. The first collection had been of harp melodies; this
new one was to include songs with English verse by "eminent poets"
and "A Historical and Critical Dissertation on the Egyptian, British and
Irish Harp".
But what chance did "eminent poets"
like Miss Mary Balfour, who ran a school for young ladies, or Mr. Boyd
"the celebrated translator of Dante" or Stott, a
Nevertheless, it was a beautifully produced
volume. Before George Petrie passed judgement he pointed out that the 1809 publication,
in the opinion of the musical world, placed Edward Bunting "in the
foremost rank of British Musicians", and as the "most accomplished of
those of his own country".
George Petrie:
This alas! was
the only reward it procured him. Like his former collection, its sale barely
paid the expenses of its publication. It was too costly, too repulsively
learned with a long historical dissertation on the antiquity of the harp and
bagpipes prefixed, to give it a chance of suiting the tastes or purses of the class
of society which had bought the earlier work.
Bunting was at length glad, for a trifling
sum, to transfer it altogether into the hands of Messrs. Clementi;
and like its predecessor the work is now rarely to be seen in
During this time, and throughout the rest of
his life, Bunting paid frequent visits to
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Bunting's stature both in
appearance and in
J. Gamble, Esq.:
Music was the favourite recreation in
He has an extensive school here and is
organist to one of the meeting-houses; for so little fanaticism have now the
Presbyterians of
I was highly gratified with Mr. Bunting's
execution on the piano-forte. Mr. Bunting is a large, jolly-looking man; that
he should fail to be so is hardly possible, for
Mr. Bunting is accused of being at times
capricious, and unwilling to gratify curiosity. But musicians, poets and ladies
have ever been privileged to be so.
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In 1813, that capricious
and jolly man organised a Belfast Music Festival which began in the Theatre on
October 19th and ended in his Rosemary Street church four days later: a bargain
offered as five concerts for two guineas with a benefit concert for Mr. Bunting
himself at which he played a Mozart piano concerto. Not only was this Festival
a unique event in the history of Belfast but it was the first time Handel's Messiah
was given in anything like complete form in Belfast - and this, over 60 years
after the first performance in Dublin.
Bunting was responsible for a wide range of classical
music in
And still the travelling went on - this time
to foreign fields.
George Petrie:
In 1815, he visited
Here, too, he made intimacies with many of
the most eminent musicians, whom he no less delighted by the beauty of the
Irish airs, which he played for them. He surprised them by the assurance which
he gravely gave that the refined harmonies with which he accompanied them were
equally Irish, and contemporaneous with the airs themselves. "Match me
that", said Bunting, proudly, to the astonished Frenchmen, as, slapping
his thigh, to suit the action to the word, he rose from the piano-forte, after
delighting them with the performance of one of his finest airs.
Led by his love for music and particularly
of the organ, which was at all times his favourite instrument, he passed from
France into Belgium where, from the organists of the great instruments at
Antwerp and Haarlem, he acquired much knowledge,
which it was our good fortune to have often heard him display on our own organ
at St. Patrick's.
Bunting's appearance was quite distinctive
and Petrie describes his 'somewhat English face' as symmetrical, manly,
independent, full of intelligence and character.
Well, all that about independence was about
to be changed.
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In 1819, at the tender age
of 46, Bunting married Miss Mary Anne Chapman, daughter of the lady principal
of a
His eldest brother, Anthony, had been based
in
There were other problems, not least a period
of residence with mother-in-law.
Charlotte Milligan Fox:
A problem was the fact that the
newly-married couple, elderly husband and young wife, at first resided with
Mrs. Chapman. Bunting had not known since his early childhood the loving rule
of a mother. The rule of a mother-in-law would naturally have been all the more
irksome, and he was a man who, by his own avowal, suffered from irritability of
temper.
After a brief experiment, the joint residency
was soon abandoned.
An intimate glimpse into the happiness of his
married life is provided by a letter to Mary McCracken. It is dated
My wife seems happy now to what she did
during her mother's superintendence of the household, in consequence of my
altered behaviour perhaps. My little darling son is grown handsome. All the
people are delighted with him.
There were three children of the marriage and
that picture of happy family life is probably the reason why Bunting disappears
from sight for the next fifteen years or so.
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But in the mid-1830s he again turned his thoughts
to the publication of Irish Airs - obviously with thoughts of posterity in mind
but probably not a little influenced by Dr. James MacDonnell, his friend from
Dr. MacDonnell (October 1836):
Dear Bunting,
You will not recollect my hand-writing,
but I wish to bring to your recollection
a subject we were speaking of when you were last here. It was about some songs
or dirges.
I think you told me that you had gotten
some of them which you had arranged and harmonised.
When you publish your music, which I now
never expect to see, as I am so old and you so indolent, be sure to print some
commentary upon the tunes stating all the conjectures that you can form about
them …
In fact MacDonnell did live to see
Bunting's magnum opus which was published in 1840 as The Ancient Music of
Edward Bunting:
My labour at the Irish music is all but
closed, which I'm sure you're pleased to hear!
I begin to fear for the sale of it; first
the taste for Irish music is so wane, or rather weaned; and secondly the price
which we must make (at one pound ten shillings each book) stands much in the
way of selling a great number.
I truly think that in trying to restore a
page in the history of man, the book has in some degree shortened my stay in
this world. What will that serve me when I shall be asleep in the grave?
Three years later, December 1843, at the
ripe-enough old age of 70, he died - a crusty, bad-tempered old man, forgotten
by all but a few loyal friends.
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But for Bunting we would have lost
a treasury of Irish music and an account of the last of the great harpers; yet
over-riding all that, his work is more often belittled nowadays because of his
conformity to the musical language and niceties of his time. It is a sad fate,
but Bunting's collections are damned for the self-same reasons that this 19th
century critic gave for liking them:
The Irish melodies, as performed by the
old harpers, were very frequently barbarised by rude harmonies. Under Bunting's
refined and educated taste, these were replaced by harmonies the most suitable
and delicate that have probably ever been joined to
the native melodies of any country.
While we have the melody or air
religiously preserved without change or variation, in Bunting's arrangements,
all harshness and crudity disappeared, and the result is a work of consummate
art.
Bunting's piano arrangements are very much of
their own period; the traditional melodies are adjusted and
"improved"; new words are provided and the original ones discarded;
original harmonies are lost - replaced by the conventional ones of the time. On
the other hand, but for Bunting, so much might have been lost.
His legacy is more than just the three
published volumes. The Queen's
I am most grateful to Bunting for
collecting, preserving and saving these wonderful tunes from total extinction;
and for at least occasionally trying to write down exactly what the harpers
actually played, however fragmentary it all was; and since a little
intelligence, knowledge and discretion can enable any sensible musician to get
rid of Bunting's errors of musical judgement, I readily forgive him most of
these.
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Select Bibliography
Jonathan Bardon,
Derek Bell, Review of the
George Benn, The history of the town of
Edward Bunting, A
General Collection of the Ancient Irish Music (
Edward Bunting, A
Collection of the Ancient Music of
Edward Bunting, The
Ancient Music of
Nicholas Carolan, Neal's
Celebrated Irish Tunes (
Milligan Fox, Annals of the Irish Harpers (
J. Gamble, A view of Society and Manners
in the North of
Janet Harbison, Bunting
and the
Janet Harbison, Setting
the scene in
Roy Johnston, Concerts in the musical life
of
Mary McNeill, The
Life and Times of Mary Ann McCracken (
Donal O'Sullivan, The
Bunting Collection of Irish Folk Music and Songs (Journal of the Irish
Folk Song Society Vols. XXII to XXIX (
Donal O'Sullivan & Míchéal Ó Súilleabháin, Bunting's Ancient Music of
George Petrie, Edward Bunting (
Gráinne Yeats, Féile na gCruitrí
(
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