‘Our Finest and Most Popular Airs Are Modern’

Abstract

Abstract The Irish Romantic poet and song-writer Thomas Moore is now best remembered for his successful series of published songs, the Irish Melodies (1808–1834), in which he wrote and set words to pre-existing Irish airs. Although the last twenty years have witnessed a scholarly re-evaluation of Moore, Moore’s various and extensive writings on the nature of music and adaptation, particularly in relation to the Irish Melodies, have yet to be fully investigated. This chapter examines Moore’s discussion of Irish song in one neglected but highly significant piece of writing, the simply titled ‘Prefatory Letter on Music’ (1810), which was added to the third number of the Irish Melodies series. In this preface, Moore surveys at length a number of issues pertinent to the project of arranging and writing lyrics for Irish songs. He considers the linking of music and Irish history, the antiquity of Irish music, alongside issues of melody, harmony, and arrangement. By unpacking some of Moore’s arguments in this letter, the author shows that Moore’s outlook on Irish music, much like his wider concepts and ideas regarding music and song more generally, is distinctly ‘modern’.