Moore's centenary: music and politics in Dublin, 1879

Abstract

Introduction Within the first weeks of 1879, plans were afoot in Dublin to mark the centenary of the birth of Thomas Moore. What eventually transpired in May of that year was a high profile, large-scale occasion at the Exhibition Palace (now the National Concert Hall). Along with a number of professional singers, a large chorus and band were assembled for two concerts which featured an oration and ode especially written for the occasion. Military bands marched in the evening, and the Lord Mayor of Dublin hosted a grand ball at the Mansion House. The press followed both the preparations and the centenary celebrations closely. Its reports demonstrate that the 1879 celebration of Thomas Moore was a microcosm of political, cultural and musical concerns. Indeed, the story of this one-day event unfolds against a background of issues relating to Home Rule, Irish culture and Moore's somewhat contentious position in Ireland's cultural and political landscape. As rain poured down on the city of Dublin on 28 May 1 879, a procession of carriages left the Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor, and made a short journey to the Exhibition Palace on Earlsfort Terrace, the site of a grand concert. The corporation flag was raised at City Hall and the streets bustled with crowds, who, despite the purportedly atrocious weather, had made the journey to the capital, courtesy of extra trains. At the model schools1 on Marlborough Street, over 1,000 children sang a selection of the Irish melodies and that same evening, a house on Aungier Street received a throng of visitors and was lit up with the name 'Thomas Moore' emblazoned over that ubiquitous symbol of Irish nationalism, the harp.2 All of this activity marked the centenary of the birth of Ireland's national bard. Preparations to mark the centenary of Thomas Moore's birth had been under way since January. A committee had been formed to plan the events for 28 May, the date of Moore's birth. What transpired were large-scale spectacles that incorporated two concerts with audiences of 3,000 apiece; a specially written ode and oration; * Author's e-mail: maria.mchale@ucd.ie doi: 1 0.33 1 8/PRIAC.2009. 109.387 1 Model schools were created by the Commissioners for National Education from 1833 onwards. Initially envisaged as places of teacher-training, from 1883 they functioned as ordinary schools. 2 Number 12 Aungier Street was the birthplace of Thomas Moore. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Vol. 109C, 387^08 © 2009 Royal Irish Academy This content downloaded from 207.46.13.114 on Thu, 26 May 2016 05:51:17 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms