31 1 . tt i r.
IRISH SONGS WITHOUT WORDS.*
Most lovers of the national music of Scotland are acquainted with the collections of the Melodies of that country published by Messrs. Wood of Edinburgh. They are three in number : "The Songs of Scotland," " The Melodies of Scotland without Words," and "sThe Dance Music of Scot- land." All of them have been noticed in this journal with merited com- mendation. They are carefully and judiciously edited ; contain much interesting matter in comparatively narrow compass, and at comparatively small cost; are handsomely brought out ; and, above all, derive a pecu- liar literary value from the introductory dissertations and copious notes of Mr. G. F. Graham, whose learning, research, and extensive knowledge have thrown much light upon the antiquities and characteristics of the national music of Scotland.
To those publications the present is a sequel. Apparently, the publish ers have not thought it expedient to bring forward a new collection of Irish songs—with the music, that is to say, united to poetry; that field having already been occupied by Moore. This collection, like the Scot- tish melodies without words, is entirely for the pianoforte-player. It is exceedingly agreeable to lovers of music, albeit they do not sing, to be able to enjoy the beauties of popular vocal melody through the medium • The Songs of Ireland without Words; for the Pianoforte. Arranged and edite by J. T. Surenne. Published by Wood and Co., Edinburgh.
of the piano ; and so much is this felt to be the case, that all our favourite operas, published without the words, are now in universal use. To edit a collection of national tunes, however, without words, is much more diffi- cult than to edit an opera in the same way. The opera air is fixed and determined, and its harmonies are sufficiently indicated by the composer ; but a national tune, handed down by tradition, assumes so many forms at different times and in different places, that it is impossible to determine its "set" by any positive authority. We must endeavour to find the set most generally adopted ; and, where this is insufficient, we must decide between different forms to the best of our taste and judgment. All the collections of Scotch and Irish airs, even the most modern, differ widely in their sets of many melodies ; and, though we may prefer one to an- other, it is difficult to assert that the one is right and the other wrong.
In examining this new collection of Irish airs, it seems to us that Mr. Surenne has on the whole shown good taste and judgment in regulating the text of melodies, as well as in their selection. The volume contains two hundred and twenty-three ; and we do not find that any noted or popular air is missing. The editor says that " the sets of the airs are given after an attentive examination and comparison of those contained in the collections that have been published at various times in England, Ireland, and Scotland." In doing this he has generally chosen well, but, we think, not always. " The girl I left behind me " has a less spirited close than the tune we have so lately heard in all our streets, accompany- ing the departing steps of our soldiers now in the East. " Lough Sheel- ing" has a C sharp several times introduced, to accommodate the tune to the modem key of D minor ; whereas the flat seventh in a minor key is a very characteristic note in Scotch and Irish melody. In " Cruiskeen Lawn," the chromatic ascent from F natural to F sharp is a thing un- heard-of in this kind of music ; and the whole version of the air is not so good as that in general use, which is given in the appendix. " Paddy O'Carrol " is weakened by the second F in the first bar, instead of E, the most characteristic note in the tune. "A lovely lass to a friar came," a most beautiful air, is sadly injured by the four monotonous closes on the key-note ; the close in the middle of the second part ought to have been on the dominant. In some other instances, the editor has followed his brother collectors in altering notes in the airs so as to make them more susceptible of modem harmony ; but those alterations are neither so many nor so material as those made by Stevenson in his arrangement for Moore. Mr. Surenne's basses and harmonies are skilful, judicious, and musicianlike ; and this instrumental dress, in which he has clothed these pretty tunes, is very elegant and becoming.
Mr. Graham's share of the work consists of his introductory Disserta- tion on the Music of Ireland. Like his previous essays of the same kind, it is full of curious and interesting matter. We can only indicate the topics which he has so ably and acutely handled. His remarks on the labours of Bunting, the most voluminous and celebrated among the older Irish collectors, are particularly valuable. Giving Bunting due credit for what he has achieved, Mr. Graham exposes his faults and errors, which arose chiefly from his overweening vanity. Bunting main- tains that the oldest Irish tunes have been handed down unchanged for centuries, and asserts that his collections exhibit these tunes in their pure unchanged forms ; a doctrine and an assertion at variance with the fact, and inconsistent with what has been said by Bunting himself. Mr. Graham, however, concludes his strictures by saying—" These remarks do not infringe upon the praise justly due to Bunting's industry and en- thusiasm,—qualities which enabled him to rescue from oblivion many of the finest melodies of Ireland, and thus to add a peaceful and beautiful wreath to the honours of his native country."
Mr. Graham's remarks on the peculiarities of structure which are found in Irish melodies, though he does not profess to discuss the sub- ject fully, are very instructive to the musical student. These pecu- liarities (common to Scotch and Irish music) have been explained on too narrow grounds. Because many old tunes want the fourth and seventh of the scale, theorists jump to the conclusion that these omissions are essential features of old Scotch and Irish melody, in the teeth of the fact that the notes in question are found in multitudes of tunes undoubtedly genuine. Mr. Bunting reduces the peculiarities of Irish tune to a still narrower compass; they are all owing to the use of the major sixth. " This," he says, " it is that stamps the true Scotic character (for we Irish are the original Scoti) on every bar of the air in which it occurs, so that, the moment this tone is heard, we exclaim, that is an Irish melody !" Now, the use of the major sixth, as an emphatic note, certainly gives a character to some Irish airs, but this is not peculiar to them. "If; says Mr. Graham, "the marked occurrence of the major sixth of the scale is a sure and characteristic test of genuine Irish melody, then by parity of reasoning, the marked occurrence of that same sixth in the melodies of other nations may be used to prove those melodies also to be of Irish extraction." The sound view of the matter is undoubtedly that adopted by Mr. Graham,—that the melodies in question are not formed upon one but on a variety of scales, those, namely, of the ancient Greek modes, preserved in the old chants of the Romish Church. And it is easy to see how it came to be so : the people, constantly ac- customed to listen to the chants of the church, naturally used the same kind of cantilena in their secular songs.
Much curious information is given respecting the instruments used in the British islands in the middle ages, and upon other topics connected with Mr. Graham's inquiry ; and his essay is an important addition to our stock of musical literature.
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