Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 305, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1910 — BOOK ON IRISH FOLK MUSIC [ARTICLE]

BOOK ON IRISH FOLK MUSIC

Former Chief of Police Francis O’Neill of Chicago Has Rescued Old Melodies. Chicago.—No melodies are more tuneful than Irish melodies. No songs stir the heart more surely than Irish songs. No tune set the pulses leaping or the feet dancing more quickly than the dance music of Ireland. Who has not been moved to Josr or sorrow, smiles or tears by the lyric witchery of Tom Moore? The words of his songs were his own, but the music to which he set them was the' music of the Irish race. Irish folk music is a wonderful treasure house of quaint melody. It has been due to the indefatigable industry and antiquarian seal of former Chief of Police Francis O’Neill and other Chicago Irishmen that much of the ancient folk music oMreland has been rescued from oblivion. Captain O’Neill’s two former books, “The Dance Music of Ireland," were collections of music which resulted from his researches. Another volume has Just been published which is an outgrowth of his delvlngs in the music lore of his native land. He has called it “Irish Folk Music.” It sets out the history of the ancient tunes and is full of Interesting and gossipy information about them. Captain O’Neill is a native of West Cork, the glens of which, he says, are a storehouse of musical treasures unexpored by the great collectors of Irish melodies. Near the Castle Donovan. his grandfather, O’Mahoney Mar. or, as he was generally called, Clanacb Mor—bis clan title—kept open house for the wandering minstrels of his time. “Born and brought up in such a home amid an environment of traditional music and song." sava Cantain

O’Neill, “it was to be expected that my mother—-God rest her soul —would memorize much of the folk music of Munster, and naturally transmit it by her lilting and singing to her children, who.lnherited a keen ear, a retentive memory and an intense love of the haunting melodies of their race. Similarly gifted was our father, who, full of peace and content and occupying his accustomed chair beside the Bpacious fireplace, sang the old songs in English or Irish for his own pleasure or the entertainment of those who cared to listen.”