Notes from the Emerald Isle
When the Irish composer Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest received its UK stage premiere in 2013, the Royal Opera House’s then director of opera Kasper Holten called it ‘the first great comic opera of the 21st century’. A certain degree of puffery was involved, as Holten’s own company was mounting the premiere. The compliment was, however, significant: the word ‘great’ has not frequently been attached to works of Irish classical music over the centuries, and the acclaim of Barry’s madcap Oscar Wilde adaptation seemed genuinely momentous.
Not that Ireland is in any way lacking in a rich musical heritage. Quite the opposite – its traditional music, nurtured by generations of singers and instrumentalists, is extraordinarily fertile and remains a potent source of cultural expression in clubs, bars and concert halls. Among performers who have built the folk tradition in Ireland, the name of Turlough O’Carolan looms large. Born at Nobber, County Meath in 1670 and blinded by smallpox at 18, Carolan (as he is often called) became an itinerant harp player, travelling the length andand the haunting in particular.
