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Well-Known Folk-Melodies from Britain, Ireland and America
'Period' Airs and Dance Tunes
The harp arrived.......she played with the greatest obligingness, with an expression and taste which were peculiarly becoming, and there was something clever to be said at the close of every air. (From Mansfield Park by Jane Austen)
We have arranged for flute & harp many of the 'Irish Baroque' Airs from the compositions of Turlough O'Carolan, a blind itinerant harper of 18th century Ireland. He was much influenced by the Classical style of his day and he left a considerable body of music which show this influence as well as that of the Irish Bardic tradition. Similarly, the Northamptonshire 'ploughman poet' John Clare left a substantial collection of country dance-tunes. This music evokes the elegance of the Jane Austen period (Remember the dances in screen productions of 'Pride and Prejudice' or 'Sense and Sensibility'?) Light in texture, the music has a happy, flowing, informal feel.
Many are titled in honour of a local patron or worthy:
Other Irish and Scottish
Exclusively, we can also include airs from the collection of 18th Century harp Music of Lady Compton (the 2nd Marchioness of Northampton) who was a native of the Isle of Mull in Scotland. These were researched by Lorna in the private Collection at Castle Ashby House and the National Library in Scotland. A sprinkle of living local history! The arrangements are mostly Lorna's too - alas those left by the Marchioness were found to be a little dull.
Welsh Tunes
Of course, we also have a collection of tunes from the other Land of the Harp...