One of my recent projects has been to create a set of harpmakers’ plans and templates for making a 19th century style traditional wire-strung Irish harp.
Continue reading Egan harp scan and drawingsCategory: long 19th century
This is a project to try and find out about Irish harpers who were continuing to play in the inherited tradition from 1790 through to about 1910.
These people (mostly men) learned from teachers who themselves had learned from teachers and so on in a lineage of tradition back through the 18th century harpers. They played on floor-standing wire-strung traditional Irish harps, using the traditional Irish harp playing techniques and style.
Charles Fanning
Charles Fanning was a traditional Irish harper in the second half of the 18th century. Because he was still active in 1792, I ought to try and say something about what he was doing during my “Long 19th Century” study period (1792 – 1909).
Continue reading Charles FanningWalker
Walker was an amateur self-taught player of the traditional wire-strung Irish harp in the mid 19th century. This post is to draw together references to him and to try and say something useful.
Continue reading WalkerJohn McMullan
John McMullan (or McMullen) was a traditional Irish harper in the early to mid 19th century. This post is to gather the few references we have, to try and say something useful about his life and music.
Continue reading John McMullanBlakeley
Blakeley was a traditional Irish harper at some point in the mid 19th century. So far I have only one reference to him. This post is to discuss what we know, and to put down a “marker” for Blakeley, so that if more information comes to light we can add it at the bottom.
Continue reading BlakeleyRose Mooney
Rose Mooney was a traditional Irish harper in the second half of the 18th century. She was still alive after 1792 which means that, as part of my Long 19th Century project, I have to try and say something useful about what she was doing from then onwards.
Continue reading Rose MooneyKate Martin
Kate Martin was a traditional Irish harper in the 18th century. We have only a few references to her, and they are all retrospective. Some of them imply or state that she was still alive at the beginning of our Long 19th Century study period, but I think this is not reliable information. This post is to discuss the information we have to see if we can say anything useful about Kate Martin from 1792 onwards.
Continue reading Kate MartinDominic O’Donnell
Dominic O’Donnell was a traditional Irish harper who was alive and active towards the end of the 18th century and apparently into the beginning of the 19th century. We have very little information about him. This post is to gather together the different references to see if we can say anything useful about what he was doing during our Long 19th Century study period (1792 onwards).
Continue reading Dominic O’DonnellMichael McCloskey
Michael McCloskey was a traditional harper in the first half of the 19th century, about 200 years ago. This post is to gather the records of his life, times and music.
Continue reading Michael McCloskeyRichard McCloskey
I have one single reference to a harper in Belfast called Richard McCloskey. I am not sure if he is real or not. This post is to discuss the reference. If in the future we discover any other references, we can add them as comments to this post.
Continue reading Richard McCloskey