Irish Concertina players active between 1850 and 1900

[Padraic Walsh]

The info in this sparse I think. Does anybody know where I can get a list of , and information on ,the key players in the this period whether they were in Ireland or abroad?

[Stephen Chambers]

I'm trying to put together a reply to your personal messages to me Padraic, but it's a difficult subject and I'm not in great health for it.

 

However, the simplistic answer is that there are no known "key players" of Irish traditional music on the concertina in the 19th century, since the concertina (and also the melodeon, mouth organ and tin whistle) were not deemed fit, or serious, instruments by the few people who collected/wrote about traditional music in those years.

 

In the words of my friend Dan Worrall, who has researched/written about the use of the German/Anglo concertina in various cultures, and who gave a lecture titled ‘Pride of Place: The Origins of Anglo-German Concertina Playing in Clare and Beyond’ at the Concertina Cruinniú in Miltown Malbay:

 

Quote

As popular as the concertina is in Ireland today, its heyday was in the late nineteenth century, and there is not a lot known or published about the instrument and its repertoire in Ireland at that time. My talk will explore the beginnings of its use in Ireland, at a time when Captain O’Neill (the tune collector) and the Gaelic League shunned it and its repertoire of new dance tunes as ‘foreign’ – a bit ironic, in that this was also a time when many old sources tell us that nearly every house in the Irish countryside had one…

 

Dan has also written 'Notes on the Beginnings of Concertina Playing in Ireland, 1834–1930'

[Clive Thorne]

The thread title sounds like a specialist subject on Mastermind!

 

You questions start.................... NOW.

[sadbrewer]

I'm not sure he's Irish, but this chap gets a mention.

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by sadbrewer

[Stephen Chambers]

8 hours ago, sadbrewer said:

 

So we're talking in the context of a Temperance meeting in Dublin, where "improving" (sacred or classical) music would be performed, not Irish traditional music - I know Paraic Walsh hasn't mentioned that's what his interest is here, but he has in private correspondence that we've exchanged.

 

Dan Worrall cited another performance of M. E. Walker's (footnote 25), at the 1872 Dublin Exhibition, under the category "Arrival and Use of the English Concertina" - whilst I've found references to the soprano Madame De la Vega Wilson singing at High Mass in the pro-Cathedral, Dublin, on Sunday 19th October 1862, and another performance in August 1868.

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

Here is a photo of a jolly Irish publican, Sean Ryan playing concertina; beyond 1900, of topic here set, but seemed worth popping in here.

( Photo is turned other way but you can turn it round if you have a phone!)..