Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 1, No. 8 (1927-05)

The Phonograph Monthly Review 345 UNUSUAL Kaukasky Daniec and Ivolomyjka z Bukowiny (Ukran- ian Orch.) Victor 79208 S .75 *Hot Time in the Old Town and Darktown Strutters’ (Miff Mole) Okeh 40784 75 What Makes My Baby Cry and It Takes a Good Woman (5 Harmaniacs) Victor 20507 75 *Bloch: Nigun — Improvisation (Szigeti) Columbia 2047-M — D12 1.50 ’Deed I Do and You Know That I Know (Sissle and Blake) Okeh 40776 75 How to Play the Harmonica (Haussler and Coutlee) Victor 20377 75 Springtime and Glow Worm (Brooklyn Boys and Girls) Victor 35814—D12 1.25 $6.50 BAND Rossini: William Tell Overture (Rogers’ Band) Bruns- wick 3429-30—2 DIOs $1.50 Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana Selection (Creatore) Victor 35815—D12 1.25 $2.75 FOREIGN Ribno Shel Olom (Josef Rosenblatt) Victor 9072—D12 $1.50 Tell Me While Dancing and I Have Dreamed of You (Marek Weber) Victor 20479 75 Tarantella Internazionale and Napule e Surriento (Dajos Bela) Okeh 9310 75 Die Internationale and Warchawjanska (Odeon Orch.) Odeon 10436 75 Du du Liegst Mir im Herzen and Nun Leb’ Wohl (Richard Tauber) Odeon 10431 75 Kaukasky Daniec and Kolomyjka z Bukowiny (Ukran- ian Orch.) Victor 79208 75 John Ericsson Marsch and Musik Mastaren (Columbia Band) Columbia 22052-F 75 Tourna and Tha Pethano Pana Mon (G. Vidalis) Odeon 28050 75 The Irish Counties (Erin Boys’ Orchestra) Columbia 33149-F 75 $7.50 The Influence of Irish Music By JOSEPHINE SMITH It is not generally known that Ireland has played an im- portant part in the world’s greatest musical achievements. The bardic schools, seats of learning where music and poetry were taught to the youth of Ireland were ancient institutions when St. Patrick came. According to some of the Irish Visions, like those of Adhamhnan the ministering angels chanted music of ineffable sweetness for the Glory of God. When Connor Mac Nessa was King (about the period where the Old Testament ends and the New Testa- ment begins), music and singing were common. Minstrels and Harpers lulled Connor and his followers to sleep after battle. After St. Patrick had christianzed Ireland the church patron- ized music. We learn from the Lives of the Saints, that Irish missionaries carried harps during their wanderings in foreign lands. Thus Irish music became known and famed all ove • Europe. Maongal was appointed head of the music school of St. Gall in Germany. Tuathal, his pupil was also his successor, and a more brilliant musician even than his famous teacher. The transcribing of music became such a . feature of the work done at St. Galls that the copyists provided all Germany with manuscript books of the Gregorian Chant, beautifully illuminated. One of the celebrated musicians of the middle ages, Notker Balbulus was a pupil of this school. Britain was similarly indebted to Irish musicians; and there is evidence to prove that the Welsh bards received instruc- tion from the Bardic Schools of Ireland. Griffith ap Conan, king of Wales (about the year 1078) was the son of an Irish woman and also was born in Ireland himself. He brought a number of Irish musicians to Wales and reformed the instru- mental music of the Welsh people. The ancient Irish musicians had three styles; merriment, lamentation and soothing lullaby. Giraldus Cambrensis, who heard them in 1185 said, ‘They are incomparably more skilful than those of any other nation I have ever seen or heard.” In Europe at the present time there are many famous cathedrals bearing the names of Irish saints, and I have often heard folk songs of Germany and Spain especially, that diff- ered little from the Irish. That the melodies of Erin were familiar to Beethoven, Mendelssohn and other great masters, goes without saying. When Thomas Moore wrote his immortal lyrics for “Irish Melodies,” Beethoven upon hearing them became so inter- ested that he arranged some of them. Mendelssohn composed airs for many of Moore’s “National Ballads.” So great was the influence of the Irish music on these masters that some- times when listening to their works one can detect a purely Gaelic phrase. Handel was deeply influenced by the beauty of Irish music. His oratorio “The Messiah” was first pro- duced in Dublin after the composer had made many un- successful attempts to have it produced on the continent. He was so pleased with the reception he got in Ireland that he stayed for a number of years accepting a position as organist in St. Michins Church, Dublin. The organ on which he played is still to be seen in the Church. Germany has repaid Ireland to the extent of sending her two great musicians Handel and Hardebeck. The latter also an organist in Ireland has done great work in collecting and arranging the beautiful aris of “Sal oge Ruadh” and “Druimin Don Deelish” etc., as well as composing such songs as “The Piper of Donacloney, “Glendun” and “The Little Brown Wheel.” No native born Irishman ever worked as hard for the furtherance of Irish music as did this composer. He even studied the old Gaelic, so that he may the better ap- preciate and interpret in his music the aspirations of the Irish people. When Flotow composed his famous opera “Martha” he could not resist the temptation to insert an old Irish air which he had arranged. To modern opera goers this air has never been disassociated from the general trend of the opera. To them the “Last Rose of Summer” is taken for granted as it were, but how many of them know the true origin of it? Moore wrote the lyric and himself arranged it to an old Irish air then known as “The Groves of Blarney.” Flotow was so stricken with the beauty of Moore’s words and the lovely air, that he in turn wrote a setting for it. This simple little Irish ballad in the hands of a master became one of the most beautifully entrancing airs ever written and is sung in all languages in every country in the world. Chopin is sometimes alluded to as the “father of the Nocturne,” but though he wrote the greatest nocturnes, h§ was not the pioneer in that line of musical endeavor. To John Field, an Irishman, belongs that distinction of having composed the first nocturne. The original manuscript is still preserved in the Dublin museum. Ireland has to its credit many operatic composers. Michael Balfe, the composer of the “Bohemian Girl,” and incidentally the immortal “Killarney,” William Vincent Wall- ace the composer of “Maritana,” Charles Villers Stanford the composer of “Sheamus O’Brien.” While these operas never achieved a great deal of fame, yet ballads from them like “I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls” (Bohemian Girl) and “Scenes that are Brightest” (Maritana) have become known and loved the world oyer. The Late Sir Arthur Sullivan was an Irishman although it must be admitted that his music was modeled on the^ Mozartian style rather than the Irish. Perhaps it was his inherent love for melody that made him write tuneful works as “The Mikado./’ “Iolanthe,” etc. It may surprise many to know that there are such works as