Nationalism and Music in Ireland

The course of music in Ireland in the last two centuries presents a depressing picture. The creative legacy furnishes little evidence of a race artistically inclined or culturally cognizant. Yet the large and exquisite store of folksong has earned the people the reputation as a musical nation, a standing enhanced by the pioneering dedication of the early collectors and the proselytizing work of Thomas Moore. Their industry was consistent with the growth in ethnic consciousness universally evident in the wake of the French Revolution. This novel pride was termed nationalism, and the phenomenon proved both pervasive and durable, exercising appreciable influence on all aspects of civi1izat ion. This study seeks to draw together these various strands. Prompted by the discrepancy between reputation and realization in relation to Irish music, it proposes to examine this shortfall in the context of wider social and political issues, and employs an interdisciplinary approach to arrive at an explanation. It does not purport to be an history of music; but, rather, an examination of the art’s progress in the light of a forceful determinant. It suggests that nationalism, that most protean of entities, has exercised a crucial influence on music, far greater than hitherto allowed, and has been responsible for its tardiness in responding to the cultural eclosion of the late nineteenth century