MUSIC IN DONEGAL (BY VERY REV. A. MacLOONE, B. A., B. C. L.) Oh, Native :Jiusic beyiond :comparing, The sweetest far on the ear that :Dalls Thy gentle nu~:nbers ·the heart remembers, Thy .strain:s enchain us in tender thralls. SAMUEL LOVER. A certain lecturer invariably commeneed .an address on music with the words ~ "•Music is the universal language of the human rnce". How very true '! For music is universal n.o't only in the sense that it cian be made the vshicle for communicating our thoughts even to those who do not understand vur language but also beea use music has manifested itself amongst men in ·every corr:.er of the gbhe. Since the dawn of history man has been known to give utterance to his thoughts thr11'."JUgh the imedium of mwsic and song. The ·Psalms ·are really songs and the pages of the Old Testament contain ·numerous references to 1musi.e, both vocal and instrumental. Six hundred years and more before the Christi.an Era the ancient Greeks foregathe1ed at harvest festivals to sing song:s in praise of their god Dionysus, the bountiful giver of food and wine. Nero fiddled while Rome burned. And at home the Druidic sacrifices were ;accompanied by weird incantations well calculated tio drown the cries of the human ,victims. Thus down through the year.--.;. in every age and clime, the descendants of Adam have given vent to their feelings in term.is of .song. Ireland was no eXJception to the rule. On the .contrary. Music constitutes en integral part iof our tradition:il civilisation. The musical genius of our fbrebears ha!s left us in possession of a unique body of melody, much of which has come down to us from a remote past. T:he question naturally arises. How have our folk-:siongs and folk-1music been transmitted ? vVe should recall that before the coming iof St. Patrick the Druids in Ireland, and of >course, in Donegal had a mo.nopoly of the art of writing and refused to teach it to those 'Who were not of the fold. Hence the unlettered musicians had, perforce, to memorise their musical cbrnpo.sitions. In our ert rly Bardic Schools the poets and harp~rs le::n·r1C'cl their t'C'rnft so thnrout~hly thnt they needed no music~l notatio:i. Although the ·Monastic Schools introduced the art of 293
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