Simon Chadwick's
Early Gaelic Harp Emporium

As well as having a solo repertory, from earliest times the Gaelic harp was used to accompany songs. Much of the old Gaelic repertory survives and has been published, but usually in obscure places, and without it's significance being indicated. These books offer song lyrics and musical scores that come from or are related to the early Gaelic harp and song repertory.

Click on a title to read more about it and, if applicable, for ordering information from the Emporium

Kenneth Elliott and Helena Mennie Shire (eds)
Musica Britannica XV:
Music of Scotland 1500-1700
London, Stainer and Bell, 1957
Pre- and post-reformation church song; secular part songs, and instrumental music. 

Aloys Fleischmann
Sources of Irish traditional music, c. 1600-1855: an annotated catalogue of prints and manuscripts 1583 - 1855
Garland, New York, 1998
A massive collection of tunes from all kinds of different sources, Irish, English and Scottish. 

David Johnson
Scottish Fiddle Music of the 18th Century
John Donald, Edinburgh, 1984
Some of the most interesting Gaelic harp tunes survive in 18th century Scottish fiddle manuscripts.

William Matheson
The Blind Harper - the songs of Roderick Morison and his music
Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, 1970
Songs in Gaelic with English translation plus airs and instrumental music, and biographical details.

Colm Ó Baoill
Bàrdachd Shìlis na Ceapaich / Poems and Songs by Sileas MacDonald c.1660 - c.1729
Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, 1972
Sileas's poems in Gaelic with English translation, Airs and biographical information.

Colm Ó Baoill
Gàir nan Clàrsach
Birlinn, 1994
Seventeenth century Scottish Gaelic poetry, with English translation and some tunes.

Tomás Ó Máille
Amhráin Chearbhalláin: The Poems of Carolan
Irish Text Soc., No. 17, 1916
The Irish words to the songs of Carolan, and other North Connacht and South Ulster poets

Donal O'Sullivan
Carolan; the life, times, and music of an Irish harper
2 vols, Routledge and Paul, London, 1958
A life of Carolan, 213 tunes, notes on each tune, and first verses of the lyrics.

The Complete Works of O'Carolan
Ossian Publications, 1984
A reprint of the tunes from 1958 without the commentary or lyrics.

 

Simon Chadwick