Denis O'Conor: A Song History

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The blind harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670–1738) composed this air and song for Denis O'Conor of Belanagare.[1] O'Conor was among the harper's earliest friends, and Carolan could always count on a welcome at Belanagare.[2] Donal O'Sullivan, who catalogued the harper's music in his 1958 study Carolan: The Life, Times and Music of an Irish Harper, gives the piece as No. 122 and passes on a tradition that Carolan sang it to harp accompaniment at Belanagare on Christmas Day, 1723.[1] The Traditional Tune Archive takes its notated version, in 6/8 time, from a collection published in Dublin by John Lee in 1780, citing O'Sullivan.[1]

Photograph of a tall gilded harp with painted vine decoration on its pillar

John Egan, Portable Harp, wood, various materials, 1819. Shown for its subject; it has no connection to the tune.

Denis's eldest son, Charles O'Conor (1710–1791), an antiquarian who collected Irish manuscripts and corresponded with scholars of his day, knew Carolan as a frequent guest at Belanagare, in County Roscommon.[3] O'Sullivan printed excerpts from Charles's diaries of 1729, which tell of the harper staying for a fortnight and teaching him songs on the harp.[3] According to the Dictionary of National Biography, Charles called Carolan "moral and religious," and the same entry adds that the sociable harper was seldom overcome by drink.[2] Carolan also wrote pieces for Charles's mother, Mary.[3] A second tune bearing Denis O'Conor's name, sometimes called "Planxty Connor," was credited to Carolan by Francis O'Neill in 1903; O'Sullivan, who numbered it 123, found no conclusive evidence of its origin but allowed that it could well be Carolan's.[4]

Linda Brockinton includes "Denis O'Conor" in Carolan: Traditional Irish Harp Tunes For The Mountain Dulcimer, a collection of thirteen O'Carolan harp tunes set in mountain dulcimer tablature in DAD tuning.[5]

Our book that contains the song "Denis O'Conor"

Sources

  1. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Denis O'Conor (1)".
  2. Dictionary of National Biography (Wikisource): "O'Carolan, Torlogh".
  3. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Charles O'Conor".
  4. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Denis O'Conor (2)".
  5. Linda Brockinton: "Carolan: Traditional Irish Harp Tunes For The Mountain Dulcimer".
  6. Image: John Egan, Portable Harp, wood, various materials, 1819. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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