Today let's talk about Irish Folk Music, and more specifically Londonderry Air. Just so you have a general idea of basic Irish Folk Music characteristics, many of the pieces tend to be in 3/4, but that isn't always the case. It commonly used the harp or fiddle, and most of the music that survived the British subjugation of the Irish aristocracy was dance music for the common man. (1)
Londonderry Air (also known as An Irish Tune from County Derry, the remastered Danny Boy, or many others) was first recognized as part of a series collected by George Petrie. Jane Ross helped him gather many of the pieces Petrie got from the Irish County area. (2) Later on, Londonderry Air and the other Irish tunes were compiled into The Ancient Music of Ireland, released in 1855. (3) Many people have claimed that they knew the composer of the piece, but there is no concrete evidence to back any of their claims sufficiently.
Though the composer of the piece is unknown, it hasn't had a problem becoming popular. The melody of Londonderry Air has been reworked and molded into a multitude of other pieces. The aforementioned Danny Boy uses the same melody, but with lyrics written by Frederick Edward Weatherly in 1913. It was also used as the backing for many hymns, including one called I Cannot Tell by William Young Fullerton. And you can't forget the band classic, An Irish Tune from County Derry, which was a setting written by Percy Grainger, using the same token melody. There are many other pieces based off of Londonderry Air, but I'm sure you understand the scope of its influence.
Alright, that should fill you in on some of the basic history about the piece, next time we'll be talking about Spem in Alium!
Talk to you again soon!
Brianna
Londonderry Air
Figure 1
Figure 1
SN: 000210-0003
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