The Magic Lute. You can hear some of the 22 Great
Pieces on SoundClick
You will have to scroll down a bit to find the pieces
Turlogh O’Carolan was the John Dowland of
Ireland. Blinded by Smallpox at the age of 18, he left the trade he
was learning and began to learn the harp. People who were blind
generally were musicians at that time. The problem is that most of
the harpers were born blind, which put Turlough O’Carolan at a
huge disadvantage. While playing at a patrons house, he was taken
aside. You will never catch up with these other harpers he was told,
so you must do something to distinguish yourself, perhaps write some
music. That night he sat down and wrote “Sheebeg Sheemore.”
He is now probably the most beloved Irish composer. Like John
Dowland, he had many patrons, he wrote pieces with those people’s
names in the title, and he drank. When you hear “Carolan’s
Farewell to Music” you will be amazed at how his music seems to
be written for the lute. In addition there are many wonderful
arrangements from the ancient Skene Manscript. Most selections have
one or more variations. This is a CD you must have. The CD is
performed by Allan Alexander on a seven course lute made by Jacob Van Lennep.
