IRISH HARP FREE
When the Irish Free State was born in 1922, the harp was taken as the emblem of this newfound independence. The United Irishmen adopted it as their official insignia in 1791 along with the motto, “It is new strung and shall be heard”. It was also used in the late 18th century as a political symbol. In 1534 under King Henry VIII, the harp was introduced on Anglo-Irish coinage. Harpers are mentioned in legendary history, and from the 8th to the 10th century they appeared on stone high crosses. From antiquity, the country has had a close association with the harp. Ireland is distinctive in that it is the only country to have a musical instrument as its national symbol. Many of his tunes are still played today, and some compositions have been performed by popular artists such as Planxty, The Chieftains and The Dubliners. During his lifetime, he fathered seven children with his wife, Mary Maguire. The great Irish families opened their doors to him, and he enjoyed equality of status with the people for whom he performed. He was often an honoured guest in the homes of wealthy patrons, and his compositions would generally reflect the family and/or the occasion that was being celebrated, such as a wedding or a funeral. He wrote poems, sang songs and played music like other harpers of his generation, but stood out and was most celebrated for his remarkable talents as a composer. Widely regarded today as Ireland’s national composer, O’Carolan travelled the country with his horse and guide, arriving at the homes of his patrons to provide entertainment. O’Carolan trained until he was twenty-one, after which he began his almost fifty year career as a travelling harper. After he was blinded by smallpox at the age of eighteen, she continued her good efforts and arranged an apprenticeship for him with a harper also named MacDermot Roe.
MacDermot Roe took an interest in the young O’Carolan, and provided the means for his education. Roscommon where his father was hired by the MacDermot Roe family. Meath in 1670, he later moved with his parents to Co. O’Carolan was an Irish harper, composer and singer. The harp was transferred from the Royal Irish Academy to the National Museum’s Irish Antiquities division in 1945, then onto the Art and Industry division in 1958. The Museum Register describes its physical attributes as, “Curved key piece bound on the front with an iron plate with one corner rivetted through the fore-pillar and two horizontal plates on either side rivetted on pillar, one binding it to the key piece.” The Royal Irish Academy register continues, “As in all Irish instruments of the same class, its strings, thirty-five in number, are of wire the pins to which they are attached are of brass.” A late 17th Century harp, stated to have belonged to Turlough O’Carolan, the Irish Bard.
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