Episode 23: 'Carolan's Son Who Eloped with a Married Woman' Performed by Dr. Delany, O'Neill's Harp of Whispers
This is episode 23 of 'O'Neill's Harp of Whispers'.
Last time, I talked about Bunting, who dedicated himself to preserving harp music, and the works of Charles Dibdin, an English composer favored by harpists at the time.
This time, I will introduce the records O'Neill wrote about 'Carolan's son'.
According to O'Neill, when Carolan passed away, he had one son and three daughters (*Walker records one son and six daughters).
A prominent figure, Dr. Patrick Delany, lived in County Louth and deeply admired Carolan. The doctor sought to support Carolan's son and raised funds to revive and preserve his father's music.
However, O'Neill is quite harsh regarding the son.
He wrote, 'His playing is passable, but he has no talent for composition.'
Even so, donations were collected, eventually reaching a massive sum of approximately 1,600 pounds.
However—O'Neill records that the son deceived the good-natured Dr. Delany, subsequently eloped with a married woman in Ballymahon, County Longford, traveled to London, and passed away after squandering the embezzled subscription money.
According to Walker, he also took his father's harp with him at that time.
This Dr. Patrick Delany (c.1685-1768) was renowned as a theologian and was also a close friend of the writer Jonathan Swift (1667-1745).
Furthermore, musicologist Seán Donnelly discovered the following advertisement in the newspaper Pue's Occurrences dated February 4, 1743.
'Many ladies and gentlemen across the kingdom, concerned that the renowned musical works of the late Mr. Terence Carolan might be lost or altered by the passage of time, desire a correct collection of his works. Therefore, his only son, John Carolan, proposes to begin compiling a collection of these works to meet this public expectation and requests support for the project.'
In other words, preparations for publishing the collection had already begun in 1743.
What is important here is that the son's name is 'John', and it shows that he was a person capable of reading and writing musical notation.
In 18th-century Wales, harpists like the blind John Parry and Edward Jones were publishing music. However, in Ireland, there are no examples of harpists themselves publishing sheet music. In that sense, John's collection is an extremely valuable resource.
So, when was John born?
Carolan married Mary Maguire in 1720.
It is natural to think he was born after that, but the diary of historian Charles O'Conor, dated October 10, 1729, states the following:
'I learned the tune "Bridget Cruise" from Carolan's son.'
If John was born in 1720, he would have been only nine years old at this time.
That is hard to believe.
At the very least, by 1729, he should have been old enough to teach the harp to others.
If we assume he was around 18, we can estimate he was born around 1711.
Now, how much was 1,600 pounds worth?
Annual expenses for one person in 1730s Ireland were about 4 to 5 pounds.
The daily wage for a construction worker in Dublin was 1 shilling (20 shillings to a pound).
Even if they worked 20 days a month, it would take about 134 years to earn 1,600 pounds.
Incidentally, the proceeds from the Dublin premiere of Handel's Messiah were 400 pounds.
Thinking of it that way, you can see how astronomical the amount John collected was.
I will talk in detail about this John Carolan collection next time.
Today, I will perform 'Dr. Delany', which Carolan dedicated, on a 24-string metal-strung harp, op. 362.