Loading...

The Thomas Moore Songbook

by Una Hunt (Author)
©2022 Textbook VI, 128 Pages

Summary

The Irish songwriter, Thomas Moore (1779-1852) enjoyed enormous popularity during and after his lifetime and his celebrity was summed up by his friend, Lord Byron, who declared him: «The poet of all circles and the idol of his own». Yet, despite his seminal role in the development of Irish national song, few modern editions have been made available and none focus on the earliest piano arrangements published during Moore’s lifetime and the decades following his death. This new critical edition collects together for the first time in one volume selected original arrangements of the world-famous Irish Melodies for solo voice and duet along with other successful English-language songs to texts by Moore and foreign-language settings by Schumann, Mendelssohn, Berlioz and Duparc. Several aspects were considered in choosing songs such as their historical significance as well as their usefulness to the performer and impact in performance and the beauty of the vocal content and the partnering accompaniments. The Thomas Moore Songbook will appeal to a broad spectrum of academics, practitioners and teachers of singing as well as those with a deep interest in Irish history, culture and heritage.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the editor
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Contents
  • Introduction
  • Source Editions and Abbreviations
  • Song Texts and Notes to the Songs
  • Part 1 The English Songbook
  • Part 2 The Foreign Language Songbook
  • Part 3 Original Duets arr. Sir John Stevenson

←vi | 1→

Introduction

This new critical edition collects together for the first time in one volume selected original arrangements of Thomas Moore’s world-famous Irish Melodies for solo voice and duet along with other successful English-language songs by Moore and foreign-language settings of his texts by Schumann, Mendelssohn, Berlioz and Duparc.

Moore’s songs were enormously popular during and after his lifetime. The poet’s celebrity might be summed up in the words of his friend, Lord Byron, who declared him: ‘The poet of all circles and the idol of his own’; this caption formed the inscription on the tall Celtic cross erected in 1906 above Moore’s grave at Bromham Church, Wiltshire. Byron adored the Irish Melodies: ‘I have them by heart … they are my matins and my vespers’, and in this he was clearly not alone for the songs captured public imagination to an extraordinary degree both at home and abroad. Moore moved easily in the privileged circles of the English aristocracy where his performances were legendary but their currency among the ordinary people of Ireland and other nations was equally assured.

In making the choice of songs for the volume, several issues were considered such as their usefulness to the performer, their merit and impact in performance, their historical significance and their sheer beauty both in terms of vocal content and the partnering accompaniments. Singers and singing teachers have long expressed interest in a collected edition of Moore’s songs which, it is hoped, this publication goes some distance towards providing. Despite Moore’s celebrity during his lifetime and the endurance of a significant number of songs up to the present, there exist few modern editions and, until now, none have made available within a single issue the earliest piano arrangements published during Moore’s lifetime and the decades following his death in 1852.

The English language songs in this edition focus inevitably on the cycle of Irish Melodies with its 124 songs providing more than ample material from which to choose. While most of the famous songs are to be found in Moore’s earlier collections, the reader is directed towards several beautiful but relatively unknown ones in the late numbers, here represented by two gems: ‘The dream of those days’ (in its original setting by Henry Rowley Bishop) and ‘’Twas one of those dreams’ (in an arrangement by Charles Villiers Stanford). Among the most famous Irish Melodies included are ‘The song of Fionnuala’ (better known as ‘Silent, oh Moyle’), ‘Avenging and bright’ and ‘The farewell to my harp’ (or ‘Dear harp of my country!’), all in their original settings by Stevenson. In addition, three of Stevenson’s excellent duets are given at the end of the album – ‘Oh! Breathe not his name’, ‘Believe me if all those endearing young charms’ and ‘It is not the tear at this moment shed’.

Details

Pages
VI, 128
Year
2022
ISBN (PDF)
9781800795136
ISBN (ePUB)
9781800795143
ISBN (MOBI)
9781800795150
ISBN (Softcover)
9781789979763
DOI
10.3726/b18470
Language
English
Publication date
2021 (December)
Published
Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Wien, 2022. VI, 128 pp.

Biographical notes

Una Hunt (Author)

Una Hunt has established a unique position as a leading authority in practice-based research which, allied to her distinguished international career as a concert pianist, chamber musician and accompanist, has resulted in published research outputs focused on performance practice along with an extensive collection of world-premiere CDs. Her consultancies at the National Library of Ireland established the first digital collection of the library’s music holdings and led to performances, videos and CDs of Irish opera and other neglected repertoire. She is series editor of a new concept book collection for Peter Lang focussed on performance research in Ireland which features complementary performance exemplars on the internet. Much of Una’s advocacy of Irish music has been directed towards bringing Thomas Moore’s music before new audiences. The present collection draws on previous research such as the first complete audio archive of Moore’s Irish Melodies: My Gentle Harp (Heritage Music Productions, 2008-2009) comprising all 124 songs, and the seminal publication, Sources and Style in Moore’s Irish Melodies (Routledge, 2017).

Previous

Title: The Thomas Moore Songbook
book preview page numper 1
book preview page numper 2
book preview page numper 3
book preview page numper 4
book preview page numper 5
book preview page numper 6
book preview page numper 7
book preview page numper 8
book preview page numper 9
book preview page numper 10
book preview page numper 11
book preview page numper 12
book preview page numper 13
book preview page numper 14
book preview page numper 15
book preview page numper 16
book preview page numper 17
book preview page numper 18
book preview page numper 19
book preview page numper 20
book preview page numper 21
book preview page numper 22
book preview page numper 23
book preview page numper 24
book preview page numper 25
book preview page numper 26
book preview page numper 27
136 pages