O, Carolan! Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1670

Carolan was born in 1670. He was one of the last Irish harpists to compose and many of his pieces are still performed today by classical and folk musicians.

Answer: small pox

Carolan was blinded by small pox at the age of 18. Due to the fact that he began his study of the harp so late in life, he was never renowned for his performing skill. Rather, he was praised for his composing ability, both for his music and lyrics.

Answer: Anne MacDermott

The MacDermott-Roe family were of great help to Carolan. It was Ruairi MacDermott-Roe who taught Carolan to play the harp, and it was Mrs. MacDermott who gave him his first harp, a horse, and some money and set him on the road as an itinerant harper.

Susanna Kelly and Bridget Cruise are both women for whom Carolan composed tunes ("Súsaí Ní Cheaelaigh" and "Brighid Ní'c Fheóruis" respectively) and Mary MacGuire was his wife.

Answer: Sheebeg and Sheemore

"Sheebeg and Sheemore" is a song about a battle fought between the Daoine Maithe (Good People, ie. fairies) from two neighbouring hills, Sigh Beg and Sigh Mór, in County Leitrim. Carolan composed this tune at the age of twenty-one.

Answer: Gemiani

Though influenced by the style of his contemporaries, Vivaldi and Corelli, Carolan greatly admired the composer Gemiani whom he likely met in Dublin.

Carolan travelled widely throughout Ireland, but his music was known as far away as Italy. His music was unique in that it blended the traditional Irish forms with the baroque style of the continent, bridging the gap between art and folk music.

Answer: It was the only song he composed in English

Of all the songs for which Carolan wrote lyrics, only "Carolan's Devotion" was in English. Like many Irish Catholics of the time, Carolan's first language was Irish Gaelic, but even then Anglophone Protestantism was beginning to take over.

Answer: A Brighid Bheusach

According to the story, Carolan would wander through the hills in a swoon and visions would come upon him of the queen of the "Good People". It was during one of these dreams that he composed the tune and lyrics to "A Brighid Bheusach", dedicated to his childhood sweetheart, Bridget Cruise.

Answer: Mrs. O'Rourke

Mrs. Mary O'Rourke was apparently offended that Carolan had composed a tune for her husband, his patron Owen O'Rourke, but not for her. Carolan, having a reputation for always wanting the ladies on his side, dutifully wrote "Máire an Chúil Fhionn" for her.

Answer: Charles MacCabe

Charles MacCabe was a good friend and drinking companion of Carolan and it is said that on one occasion he disguised himself as a peasant and announced to Carolan his own death as a dark joke. Carolan, filled with grief, improvised the heartfelt lines of the song later titled "Uaill-Chumha Chearbhaliláin Os Cionn Uaighe Mhic Caba" ("Carolan's Lament for Charles MacCabe") only to then learn that his dear friend was not actually dead at all.

However, many years later, on the occasion of Carolan's death, Charles MacCabe spoke these words (translated from Gaelic):

"One thousand, seven hundred, eighteen-and-twenty years
Since the Son of God came to save us from the bonds of pain
The poet of highest renown was laid in earth,
Carolan, wise, distinguished, musical still."

Answer: The National Library of Ireland

The book was originally believed to have been published in 1721, but was actually published much later, after Carolan's death, in 1748. Therefore, it is believed to be a copy of the work published by Dr. Delany and not by Carolan himself.

Some of Carolan's works were also later published by Edward Bunting, an English cleric, in 1840 for performance by traditional players. Bunting transcribed many of these tunes from harpists who had preserved Carolan's pieces in aural tradition since his death and so Bunting's original transcription had many of the elements of the old style, however the final version was heavily adapted for the pianoforte.