The Oxford Handbook of Irish Song from the Earliest Beginnings to 1850

This Handbook explores song in Ireland from early times to the modern period across all traditions. From descriptions of song in the Old Irish period to an exploration of the music of keening, the volume breaks new ground in Irish musical and cultural studies. Thirty-nine chapters explore the rich diversity of singing traditions in Ireland, including sacred and ceremonial song, traditional singing in Irish and anglophone ballads, songs of love and of political activism, and examine how songs circulated in print, manuscript and oral forms. Turlough Carolan (Toirdhealbhach Ó Cearbhalláin) and Thomas Moore feature as identifiable and famous song-composers, in addition to eighteenth-century Gaelic poets and song-writers such as Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill, Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin and Máire Bhuí Ní Laeire. Notable collectors of Irish song also form an important strand: from Bunting's coterie of scribes to the work of Petrie and Goodman. Equally important, however, are the anonymous singers who transmitted diverse traditions of song through families and communities. This authoritative overview provides a platform for researchers across multiple disciplines to access knowledge about Irish song traditions as well as setting the scene for new research directions on the performance, social contexts, historical significance, and modern adaptations of Irish song.