PREFACE.

This work is now before the public, which is the natural judge of its merits. It may, however, be stated without arrogance original: "presumption" that as long as public taste remains pure enough to admire melodies original: "strains" that speak directly to the heart, the ancient music of Ireland will be studied with increasing delight. The performer should remember that a country's music and its language are analogous. There are idioms and characteristic subtleties in both, and entering into their spirit requires time and practice. This is especially true of those compositions created in a very distant period.

We may be permitted to mention a few of the reasons that lead us to believe that some portions of the following music are of high antiquity.

Most of the performers gathered at the meeting mentioned above the Belfast Harp Festival of 1792 were men advanced in years, and they all agreed in their opinion regarding the reputed antiquity of the airs they called ancient. They smiled when questioned about the era of such compositions, saying, “They were more ancient than any to which our popular traditions extended.”

It appears that the old musicians, in passing this music down to us through so many centuries, treated it with the utmost reverence; they seem never to have dared to make the slightest change original: "innovation" in it over the generations. We naturally draw this conclusion from finding that harpers gathered from regions far distant from one another, and taught by different masters, always played the same tune in the same key, with the same style of expression, and without a single variation in any important passage, or even in a single note. The beauty and regularity with which the tunes are constructed are surprising. This circumstance seemed all the more extraordinary when it was discovered that the most ancient tunes were, in this respect, the most perfect, allowing for the addition of a bass part original: "Bass" with more ease than those that were less ancient. From this, we may conclude that their authors must have been excellent performers, well-versed in the scientific theory of their profession, and that they originally intended to include harmony in the composition of their pieces. It is remarkable that the performers all tuned their instruments on the same principle, while being totally ignorant of the theory itself, and without being able to give any reason for either their way of tuning or their way of playing the bass.

On an unbiased review of all these circumstances, we are inclined to believe that the specimens which have survived and been passed down to us are only the remnants original: "wreck" of a greater era, the history of which is either lost or incorrectly remembered in a confused series of traditions.

Giraldus Cambrensis Giraldus Cambrensis (c. 1146–1223), also known as Gerald of Wales, was a chronicler who accompanied Prince John to Ireland in 1185., who came to Ireland during the reign of Henry II, gives us a striking account of the state in which he found the music of this country. This educated bishop original: "enlightened prelate" was a native of Britain and likely not entirely free from the prejudices held against the Irish at that time. He was a man well-acquainted with the fine arts in general, and with music in particular, as it was practiced at that period by the most refined nations of Europe. He published an Itinerary original: "Itinerarium." Bunting is likely referring here to Gerald's "Topographia Hibernica" (Topography of Ireland), where his famous praise of Irish music appears.,