The seventeenth century was a particularly interesting time for the Irish harping tradition. It bore witness to a number of important events and historical figures, such as the numerous harping festivals (culminating with the Belfast Harp Festival of 1792), Edward Bunting’s important work, and the array of tunes composed by the great Turlough O’Carolan. But of equal importance is the decline of the tradition throughout this period; how the skills and methods of the old harpers were lost, the changing world of the harpists, and the harp in the context of patriotism in Ireland at this time. As well as this, the instrument itself became increasingly complex in comparison to previous centuries and thus allowed the harpists to play more complex and melodic music than ever before.
The Belfast harp festival:
The Belfast harp festival of 1792 was an extremely beneficial event for the harp, although it failed at its original purpose of ensuring the continuation of the instrument. Thanks to the work of Edward Bunting, a great deal was done to preserve the tunes and character of the ten Irishmen and single Welshman in attendance. It marked the end of the dying harping tradition, which had “continued unbroken for two thousand years”.
However, prior to the Belfast Harp Festival and the work of Edward Bunting, there were three other attempts to sustain the harping tradition in the latter half of the 18 Century, known as the Granard Festivals, held in 1781, 1782 and 1785. Described as ‘balls’ by Arthur O’Neill, they offered prizemoney for the top three players, and in the final one, every participant was rewarded. There were seven harpers in attendance for the first year of the festival, which increased to eleven by the final year. Unfortunately, as the same three harpers won the competition on each year, there was a general feeling of upset amongst the competitors. When the organiser James Dungan attended the final festival, he was said to be so disgusted by the unpleasantness that he would not sponsor anymore festivals. This was a great shame, as the number of harpers attending, and the number of listeners were increasing, with upwards of 1000 listeners during the last event.
The Belfast Harp Festival was a four-day-long event, and far more elaborate than the Granard Festivals. There were a number of similarities between the two festivals: prizes would be awarded to top competitors with every participant receiving a reward, and travel expenses paid for all. An advertisement which appeared in the Belfast Newsletter in 1792 states that: ‘it is hoped that no performer will decline on account of his having been unsuccessful on any former occasion’. This shows the fragility of the harping community; by acknowledging the failures of the Granard festivals shows a sense of just how small and delicate the harping community was at this time. The festival also had a distinctly patriotic aura surrounding it, with figures such as Theobold Wolfe Tone and James Russell in attendance. The image of the harp was recognised as a symbol of Gaelic culture, with the image of a gold harp on a green background becoming the flag of the movement. These two facts show that although the harping tradition was dying, it had already represented a long and rich history of Gaelic culture which had begun to be yearned for in the late 18th century.
Edward Bunting was born in 1773 in Armagh, and was 19 at the time of the Belfast Harp Festival. He was a classically trained organist, and although he had been exposed to Irish traditional music through his mother’s relations; his first real experience with Irish traditional music was at the Harp festival. During the festival, he was employed to notate the songs, tunes, and the style of performance of the eleven harpers. As Thomas Moore writes in his 1840 collection: ‘There can be no doubt that to the zeal and industry of Mr Bunting her country is indebted for the preservation of her old national airs’.
It was the notes taken of the performance that proved to be of greatest value from a historical standpoint, as without them the harpers today would have no idea of what the older style was. Bunting recorded the playing techniques, ornamentation, and the names of the fingerings and various parts of the harp. He also described the tuning of the instrument, and the various modes used in the music. He acquired the majority of this information through Hempson and O’Neill, and his own observations. He was described by Donal O’Sullivan as ‘weaving between harpers with a notebook and satchel’, diligently collected some of the best airs in Irish traditional music: ‘Róisín Dubh’, ‘An Chúilfhionn’, and ‘Eibhlín a Rúin’.
As a consequence of the aforementioned fact that Bunting was classically trained, an element of caution should be utilised when reading the transcriptions published of the Belfast Harp Festival in his first book A General Collection of The Ancient Irish Music, published in 1796. Bunting struggled to take down the bass and melody at the same time, and only certain tunes have even a fragmented bass line. Another major element missing is that Bunting did not write down the repeats of tunes, thus losing the variations in ornamentation. He was quoted as saying that: “Although the words of songs may change, the music never changes”. Bunting seemed to have become unsure of his memory in some cases as well. These characteristics are reflected in his collections, and taint his work as well as our deeper understanding on how the music was performed.