‘Weston’ was a family name on his mother’s side. Joyce became a national-school teacher at 18, training in Marlborough St Training College in Dublin. Later he was a model-school teacher in Clonmel and a teacher in west Co Dublin, and in 1856 was one of a group of teachers chosen by the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland to improve the national system of primary schools. He graduated BA from Trinity College Dublin in 1861 and MA in 1863, and was awarded LL.D. in 1870. From 1874 to 1893 he was lecturer in and later an influential principal of the Commissioners’ Training College in Marlborough St, Dublin. He was married to Caroline Waters of Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, and they had seven children. His active engagement in many cultural societies included membership of the Royal Irish Academy, a commissionership for the Publication of the Ancient Laws of Ireland, and the presidency of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Joyce died 7 January 1914 at his home on Leinster Rd, Rathmines, Dublin, in his 87th year.
Dr Joyce also led an extraordinarily industrious life as a writer and editor. Apart from his publications in Irish music, he produced some thirty works including The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places vols 1–3 (1869, 1875, 1913), Irish Local Names Explained (1870), A Handbook of School Management (1876, which went to 25 editions), Philip’s Handy Atlas of the Counties of Ireland (1881), The Geography of the Counties of Ireland (1883), A Short History of Ireland (1893), Outlines of the History of Ireland (1896), A Child’s History of Ireland (1897), A Reading Book in Irish History (1900), A Social History of Ancient Ireland vols 1–2 (1903), A Concise History of Ireland (1903), A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland (1906), The Story of Ancient Irish Civilisation (1907), English as We Speak it in Ireland (1910), and The Wonders of Ireland and Other Papers on Irish Subjects (1911). Although born in an Irish-speaking district, Joyce was reared and educated in English, and only later learned to read and write Irish, which he taught in Dublin. He was the author of A Grammar of the Irish Language for the Use of Schools (1878), Old Celtic Romances Translated from the Gaelic (1879), and Forus Feasa ar Éirinn. Keating’s History of Ireland… Edited with Gaelic Text (1880), and a Council member of the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language. Most of his publications went to several editions, some to many, and his history volumes in particular sold in their tens of thousands. Through their influence on readers, teachers and journalists, they played a major part in shaping national thinking on historical and cultural aspects of Irish life in the years before independence. His published work on Irish traditional music was also highly influential.
Patrick Weston Joyce, unlike the earlier important collectors of Irish traditional music Edward Bunting (1773–1840) and George Petrie (c. 1790–1866), came from within a local oral-music tradition and was immersed in it. In this he resembles the other younger nineteenth-century collectors James Goodman (1828–1896) of Co Kerry and Francis O’Neill (1848–1936) of Co Cork and Chicago. His detailed reporting of a living local tradition, from a time when the population of Ireland was at its highest-ever levels and Irish traditional music accordingly was in a flourishing state, gives his work a unique value.
Joyce himself explains that his life-long interest in Irish traditional music began in the 1830s in pre-Famine rural Co Limerick:
Language change from Irish to English was under way in the Co Limerick of his childhood; he heard songs in both languages from his father and from his older brother Michael, some of them unique in his experience. Joyce thought the songs in English generally inferior as most songmakers still had a defective grasp of English. He obviously sought out occasions of music: some items he had heard ‘scores of times’, others ‘hundreds of times’, others ‘constantly’. The Munster dance tunes familiar to Joyce were ‘chiefly the Reel, the Double Jig, the Single Jig, the Hop Jig, and the Hornpipe’, and the ‘Set Dance’ and ‘various Country Dances’, and he had a clear memory of the dances which were performed to them. He was also familiar with the music of keening, faction tunes, and songs appropriate for an American wake, and with printed ballad sheets. Joyce’s oldest source was probably his grandmother, a singer who was born in the early 1760s and lived into her nineties, and who passed on to him at least one melody that she herself had heard from her grandmother, a fiddle player. His music was largely of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with undoubtedly some older pieces.
Joyce inherited the family talent for music, and played it from his youth:
I attended a science school in Galbally [Co Limerick]. I was the delight and joy of that school; for I generally carried in my pocket a little fife from which I could roll off jigs, reels, hornpipes, hop-jigs, song tunes, &c., without limit… Some dozen or more of the scholars were always in attendance in the mornings half an hour or so before the arrival of the master… and then out came the fife, and they cleared the floor for a dance. It was simply magnificent to see and hear these athletic fellows dancing on the bare boards with their thick-soled well-nailed heavy shoes – so as to shake the whole house… At last in came the master: there was no cessation; and he took his seat, looking on complacently ’till that bout was finished, when I put up my fife, and the serious business of the day was commenced.
Although he had received his music from oral tradition, by the time he was in his late teens Joyce had learned to read and write music, and in 1844 he began the noting down of tunes and songs from family members and neighbours. Becoming acquainted with published collections of Irish music, he realised that many of his Limerick tunes were unpublished and unknown in Ireland generally, and accordingly in the early 1850s, by which time he was living in Dublin, he began to write down purposefully from memory the melodies of his locality. In this he had come under the influence of the Society for the Preservation and Publication of the Melodies of Ireland which had been formed in Dublin in December 1851 in the aftermath of the Great Famine and in the consciousness of the devastation that it had caused to traditional music culture. Joyce was encouraged by the Society’s president, George Petrie, to contribute to Petrie’s music collections, and to make his own collection. Even at that early stage of Joyce’s career, when he was in his mid-twenties, Petrie considered him to be ‘one of the most zealous and judicious of the collectors of Irish music’. He published some 20 of Joyce’s melodies in his Ancient Music of Ireland of 1855.
PW Joyce, collector / unidentified photographer
To bolster his music memory, Joyce ‘went among the peasantry during vacations, for several successive years, noting down whatever I thought worthy of preserving, both words and music. In this way I gradually accumulated a very large collection’. He began this holiday collecting in his native area in 1852 and continued through to about 1856, music coming from professional fiddle players and uilleann pipers, and from whistlers, and songs from farmers, thatchers and women singers among others. In the same period he occasionally noted down tunes in Dublin and elsewhere from street singers, servants and teaching colleagues, and continued this practice for many years.
The death in 1866 of George Petrie frustrated Joyce in his hope that more of his own tunes would be published by the older collector, and he eventually decided to arrange their publication himself.
His first music collection – Ancient Irish Music: Comprising One Hundred Airs Hitherto Unpublished, Many of the Old Popular Songs, and Several New Songs (Dublin: McGlashan & Gill, etc., ix+104+5 pp.) – appeared in 1873, and drew almost entirely on the music from his childhood and from his 1850s collecting visits to Limerick. Contextual notes in the style of Petrie accompanied each item and his sources were named. The melodies were arranged for piano by JW Glover in line with Joyce’s belief that accompaniments should be extremely simple. The lyrics of the new songs were written by himself and his songwriter younger brother Robert Dwyer Joyce (1830–83).
This work was followed in 1888 by his Irish Music and Song: A Collection of Songs in the Irish Language (Dublin: Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language; M.H. Gill and Son, vi+[ii]+44 pp.), which was drawn largely from printed sources and contained some 20 songs. It is the first collection in which Irish-language songs are set to music, the syllables under the notes, and it was well received by a growing national movement for the revival of the Irish language and its culture. These first two music publications established Joyce as an authority on Irish music, and he later served as a music advisor to the Gaelic League when it established its Oireachtas cultural festival in 1897.
Joyce’s slight 1906 third collection, a pamphlet of 7 songs – Irish Peasant Songs in the English Language (London etc.: Longmans, Green & Co; Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, iv+16+[4] pp.) – was almost entirely a selection of English-language songs from his childhood.
Joyce’s final music publication – his magnum opus in music – appeared in 1909: Old Irish Folk Music and Songs: A Collection of 842 Irish Airs and Songs Hitherto Unpublished (Dublin: Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland; London: Longmans, Green & Co, etc., xxxvi+408+iv pp.). It is presented in four sections: 1 Joyce Collection (melodies collected and recollected by himself, or sent to him in manuscript from all parts of Ireland); 2 Continuation of the Joyce Collection (Irish folk songs in the English language, with the words set to the proper old Irish airs, the syllables under the notes; most from his childhood recollections, and from his personal collection of ballad sheets); 3 The Forde Collection (selection of melodies collected by William Forde of Cork, 1830s–1850s, edited by Joyce); 4 The Pigot Collection (selection of melodies collected by John Edward Pigot of Dublin, 1840s–1860s, edited by Joyce). The two latter collections had been given to Joyce by relatives of Pigot; in 1910 he donated them to the Library of the Royal Irish Academy where they remain. His collection of ballad sheets is now in the Dublin City Library and Archive. James Joyce, who was influenced in his writings by the published works of PW Joyce, owned at least one of his music publications.
In his editing, PW Joyce, like George Petrie and Francis O’Neill, made changes to the melodies he copied and published, and amalgamated different versions of tunes. These procedures would now be regarded as unscientific, but the collectors were practicing musicians thoroughly familiar with the creative culture of Irish traditional music and may have reasonably considered that they were simply following the playing practices of traditional musicians. Less acceptable currently would be his bowdlerisation of song texts and his substitution of lines of his own.
In the preface to his first publication of 1873, Joyce had said that ‘I will continue to publish [Irish music] as long as I can obtain materials’, and in the preface to his 1909 publication he was, in his early eighties, calling on his readers for the loan of manuscripts that he might examine for his next volume. With undiminished zeal he continued until his death five years later. The manuscripts of this final work, which contain 878 songs and melodies with notes, have remained unpublished in the National Library of Ireland until now, when, courtesy of the Library, they have been copied for facsimile publication on this site here.
On 7 January 2015 occurred the 101st anniversary of the death of the notable Limerick traditional music collector Patrick Weston Joyce (1827–1914) whose published and unpublished music collections have been digitised by Irish Traditional Music Archive staff in the course of the past centenary year, and are now freely available on its website (formerly the PW Joyce Irish Music Microsite).
Joyce’s music collections are of great historical, social and regional interest, but their overriding contemporary value is as a source of music. His music notations, published song words and ballad-sheet collection, and the ITMA interactive music scores created from his melodies, all constitute a rich seedbed of traditional music and song for re-creation by musicians and singers of the present day.
To mark the occasion of the anniversary and the end of the centenary year, ITMA has added to its Joyce Microsite a selection of videos recorded recently by its staff on location in Newport, Co Tipperary, and Kinvara, Co Galway, and in its studio in Dublin. The recordings feature a number of contemporary musicians and singers – all of whom have had their own previous and varied connections with the music and song of Joyce – performing their re-creations of sample items from his collections. They have kindly agreed to be recorded for presentation here.
Nicholas Carolan and Danny Diamond, 7 January 2015
12 December 2014
12 December 2014
12 December 2014
12 December 2014
12 December 2014
12 December 2014
17 December 2014
17 December 2014
17 December 2014
23 December 2014
23 December 2014
23 December 2014
23 December 2014
23 December 2014
23 December 2014
23 December 2014
23 December 2014
23 December 2014
23 December 2014
23 December 2014
23 December 2014
8 January 2015
8 January 2015
8 January 2015
Irish Music and Song: A Collection of Songs in the Irish Language, ed. Patrick Weston Joyce (Dublin: 1st ed. 1888; new edition 1901)
Joyce’s Irish Music and Song: A Collection of Songs in the Irish Language (Dublin: Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language; M.H. Gill and Son, vi+[ii]+44 pp.), published in 1888, was drawn largely from printed sources. It is the first collection in which Irish-language songs are set to music, the syllables under the notes, and it was well received by a growing national movement for the revival of the Irish language and its culture.
With thanks to Terry Moylan for the donation of Sibelius music files created by him from this collection, which have been converted to these interactive Scorch files by ITMA staff.
Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Jackie Small, 26 September 2012
Tunes from PW Joyce in The complete collection of Irish music / as noted by George Petrie (1789-1866); edited from the original manuscripts by Charles Villiers Stanford.
Tunes from PW Joyce In Music of Ireland / collected, edited, and harmonized for the pianoforte by the late George Petrie
Tunes from PW Joyce in The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland: Arranged for Piano-forte. Vol. 1 / edited by George Petrie
PW Joyce manuscripts, National Library of Ireland, MS 2982
Joyce was still working on what would have been his final collection at the time of his death in 1914, and the two working manuscripts from which it was to be drawn were supposedly found on the table beside his bed. This is part I of this final collection.
Facsimile edition of MS 2982 is also available below. For more information on this manuscript and other PW Joyce manuscripts in the National Library of Ireland see Patrick Weston Joyce Resources at ITMA.
Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Jackie Small, 17 October 2014
An early PW Joyce manuscript, held in the National Library of Ireland as MS J 25
The ITMA website also holds a facsimile edition of MS J 25 and further information on this manuscript, and other PW Joyce manuscripts in the National Library of Ireland, at the links below.
Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin and Jackie Small, 14 November 2014
Irish Peasant Songs (in the English Language) with the Words Set to the Proper Old Irish Airs, ed. Patrick Weston Joyce (2nd ed., London etc. & Dublin, 1906; ‘new impression’ Dublin 1922)
Irish Peasant Songs is a slight publication which includes the words and music of 7 traditional songs in English remembered by Joyce from his childhood in rural Co Limerick during the years before the Great Famine, and some notes. In one case the song comprises a traditional air with words written by Joyce.
Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Jackie Small, 14 November 2012
Ancient Irish Music: Comprising One Hundred Airs Hitherto Unpublished, Many of the Old Popular Songs, and Several New Songs, ed. Patrick Weston Joyce (1st ed., Dublin, 1873)
Ancient Irish Music includes 100 song airs, song texts in Irish and English and dance tunes that Joyce absorbed during his childhood in Glenosheen in rural Co Limerick during the years before the Great Famine, and more that he later collected there and elsewhere. The tunes were harmonised for piano by the Dublin professional musician Professor J. W. Glover. Many of the items are accompanied by Joyce’s extensive annotations, as are most of the 20 pieces in Irish Music and Song, which is the first collection of Irish-language song texts in which words are underlaid to the music notation. Each item is accompanied by an English translation.
With thanks to Terry Moylan for the donation of Sibelius music files created by him from this collection, which have been converted to these interactive Scorch files by ITMA staff.
Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Jackie Small, 26 September 2012
Patrick Weston Joyce was born the son of Garret Joyce, a scholarly shoemaker, and Elizabeth Dwyer in the Ballyhoura hills on the borders of south-east Limerick and north Cork. One of a Catholic family of eight children, he was reared in the nearby townland of Glenosheen, Kilmallock, Co Limerick, and educated at first in local hedge schools. ‘Weston’ was a family name on his mother’s side. Joyce became a national-school teacher at 18, training in Marlborough St Training College in Dublin. Later he was a model-school teacher in Clonmel and a teacher in west Co Dublin, and in 1856 was one of a group of teachers chosen by the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland to improve the national system of primary schools. He graduated BA from Trinity College Dublin in 1861 and MA in 1863, and was awarded LL.D. in 1870. From 1874 to 1893 he was lecturer in and later an influential principal of the Commissioners’ Training College in Marlborough St, Dublin. He was married to Caroline Waters of Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, and they had seven children. His active engagement in many cultural societies included membership of the Royal Irish Academy, a commissionership for the Publication of the Ancient Laws of Ireland, and the presidency of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Joyce died 7 January 1914 at his home on Leinster Rd, Rathmines, Dublin, in his 87th year.
Dr Joyce also led an extraordinarily industrious life as a writer and editor. Apart from his publications in Irish music, he produced some thirty works including The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places vols 1–3 (1869, 1875, 1913), Irish Local Names Explained (1870), A Handbook of School Management (1876, which went to 25 editions), Philip’s Handy Atlas of the Counties of Ireland (1881), The Geography of the Counties of Ireland (1883), A Short History of Ireland (1893), Outlines of the History of Ireland (1896), A Child’s History of Ireland (1897), A Reading Book in Irish History (1900), A Social History of Ancient Ireland vols 1–2 (1903), A Concise History of Ireland (1903), A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland (1906), The Story of Ancient Irish Civilisation (1907), English as We Speak it in Ireland (1910), and The Wonders of Ireland and Other Papers on Irish Subjects (1911). Although born in an Irish-speaking district, Joyce was reared and educated in English, and only later learned to read and write Irish, which he taught in Dublin. He was the author of A Grammar of the Irish Language for the Use of Schools (1878), Old Celtic Romances Translated from the Gaelic (1879), and Forus Feasa ar Éirinn. Keating’s History of Ireland… Edited with Gaelic Text (1880), and a Council member of the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language. Most of his publications went to several editions, some to many, and his history volumes in particular sold in their tens of thousands. Through their influence on readers, teachers and journalists, they played a major part in shaping national thinking on historical and cultural aspects of Irish life in the years before independence. His published work on Irish traditional music was also highly influential.
Patrick Weston Joyce, unlike the earlier important collectors of Irish traditional music Edward Bunting (1773–1840) and George Petrie (c. 1790–1866), came from within a local oral-music tradition and was immersed in it. In this he resembles the other younger nineteenth-century collectors James Goodman (1828–1896) of Co Kerry and Francis O’Neill (1848–1936) of Co Cork and Chicago. His detailed reporting of a living local tradition, from a time when the population of Ireland was at its highest-ever levels and Irish traditional music accordingly was in a flourishing state, gives his work a unique value.
Joyce himself explains that his life-long interest in Irish traditional music began in the 1830s in pre-Famine rural Co Limerick:
I spent all my early life in a part of the county Limerick where music, singing and dancing were favourite amusements. My home… was a home of music and song: they were in the air of the valley; you heard them everywhere – sung, played, whistled; and they were mixed up with the people’s pastimes, occupations, and daily life. Though we had pipers, fiddlers, fifers, whistlers, and singers of our own, wandering musicians were welcomed: and from every one some choice air or song that struck our fancy was pretty sure to be learned and stored up… As I loved the graceful music of the people from my childhood, their songs, dance tunes, keens, and lullabies remained in my memory, almost without any effort of my own… I had indeed excellent opportunities; for my father’s memory was richly stored with popular melodies and songs; and I believe that he never sang or played a tune that I did not learn.
Language change from Irish to English was under way in the Co Limerick of his childhood; he heard songs in both languages from his father and from his older brother Michael, some of them unique in his experience. Joyce thought the songs in English generally inferior as most songmakers still had a defective grasp of English. He obviously sought out occasions of music: some items he had heard ‘scores of times’, others ‘hundreds of times’, others ‘constantly’. The Munster dance tunes familiar to Joyce were ‘chiefly the Reel, the Double Jig, the Single Jig, the Hop Jig, and the Hornpipe’, and the ‘Set Dance’ and ‘various Country Dances’, and he had a clear memory of the dances which were performed to them. He was also familiar with the music of keening, faction tunes, and songs appropriate for an American wake, and with printed ballad sheets. Joyce’s oldest source was probably his grandmother, a singer who was born in the early 1760s and lived into her nineties, and who passed on to him at least one melody that she herself had heard from her grandmother, a fiddle player. His music was largely of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with undoubtedly some older pieces.
Joyce inherited the family talent for music, and played it from his youth:
I attended a science school in Galbally [Co Limerick]. I was the delight and joy of that school; for I generally carried in my pocket a little fife from which I could roll off jigs, reels, hornpipes, hop-jigs, song tunes, &c., without limit… Some dozen or more of the scholars were always in attendance in the mornings half an hour or so before the arrival of the master… and then out came the fife, and they cleared the floor for a dance. It was simply magnificent to see and hear these athletic fellows dancing on the bare boards with their thick-soled well-nailed heavy shoes – so as to shake the whole house… At last in came the master: there was no cessation; and he took his seat, looking on complacently ’till that bout was finished, when I put up my fife, and the serious business of the day was commenced.
Although he had received his music from oral tradition, by the time he was in his late teens Joyce had learned to read and write music, and in 1844 he began the noting down of tunes and songs from family members and neighbours. Becoming acquainted with published collections of Irish music, he realised that many of his Limerick tunes were unpublished and unknown in Ireland generally, and accordingly in the early 1850s, by which time he was living in Dublin, he began to write down purposefully from memory the melodies of his locality. In this he had come under the influence of the Society for the Preservation and Publication of the Melodies of Ireland which had been formed in Dublin in December 1851 in the aftermath of the Great Famine and in the consciousness of the devastation that it had caused to traditional music culture. Joyce was encouraged by the Society’s president, George Petrie, to contribute to Petrie’s music collections, and to make his own collection. Even at that early stage of Joyce’s career, when he was in his mid-twenties, Petrie considered him to be ‘one of the most zealous and judicious of the collectors of Irish music’. He published some 20 of Joyce’s melodies in his Ancient Music of Ireland of 1855.
To bolster his music memory, Joyce ‘went among the peasantry during vacations, for several successive years, noting down whatever I thought worthy of preserving, both words and music. In this way I gradually accumulated a very large collection’. He began this holiday collecting in his native area in 1852 and continued through to about 1856, music coming from professional fiddle players and uilleann pipers, and from whistlers, and songs from farmers, thatchers and women singers among others. In the same period he occasionally noted down tunes in Dublin and elsewhere from street singers, servants and teaching colleagues, and continued this practice for many years.
The death in 1866 of George Petrie frustrated Joyce in his hope that more of his own tunes would be published by the older collector, and he eventually decided to arrange their publication himself.
His first music collection – Ancient Irish Music: Comprising One Hundred Airs Hitherto Unpublished, Many of the Old Popular Songs, and Several New Songs (Dublin: McGlashan & Gill, etc., ix+104+5 pp.) – appeared in 1873, and drew almost entirely on the music from his childhood and from his 1850s collecting visits to Limerick. Contextual notes in the style of Petrie accompanied each item and his sources were named. The melodies were arranged for piano by JW Glover in line with Joyce’s belief that accompaniments should be extremely simple. The lyrics of the new songs were written by himself and his songwriter younger brother Robert Dwyer Joyce (1830–83).
This work was followed in 1888 by his Irish Music and Song: A Collection of Songs in the Irish Language (Dublin: Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language; M.H. Gill and Son, vi+[ii]+44 pp.), which was drawn largely from printed sources and contained some 20 songs. It is the first collection in which Irish-language songs are set to music, the syllables under the notes, and it was well received by a growing national movement for the revival of the Irish language and its culture. These first two music publications established Joyce as an authority on Irish music, and he later served as a music advisor to the Gaelic League when it established its Oireachtas cultural festival in 1897.
Joyce’s slight 1906 third collection, a pamphlet of 7 songs – Irish Peasant Songs in the English Language (London etc.: Longmans, Green & Co; Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, iv+16+[4] pp.) – was almost entirely a selection of English-language songs from his childhood.
Joyce’s final music publication – his magnum opus in music – appeared in 1909: Old Irish Folk Music and Songs: A Collection of 842 Irish Airs and Songs Hitherto Unpublished (Dublin: Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland; London: Longmans, Green & Co, etc., xxxvi+408+iv pp.). It is presented in four sections: 1 The Joyce Collection (melodies collected and recollected by himself, or sent to him in manuscript from all parts of Ireland); 2 Continuation of the Joyce Collection (Irish folk songs in the English language, with the words set to the proper old Irish airs, the syllables under the notes; most from his childhood recollections, and from his personal collection of ballad sheets); 3 The Forde Collection (selection of melodies collected by William Forde of Cork, 1830s–1850s, edited by Joyce); 4 The Pigot Collection (selection of melodies collected by John Edward Pigot of Dublin, 1840s–1860s, edited by Joyce). The two latter collections had been given to Joyce by relatives of Pigot; in 1910 he donated them to the Library of the Royal Irish Academy where they remain. His collection of ballad sheets is now in the Dublin City Library and Archive. James Joyce, who was influenced in his writings by the published works of PW Joyce, owned at least one of his music publications.
In his editing, PW Joyce, like George Petrie and Francis O’Neill, made changes to the melodies he copied and published, and amalgamated different versions of tunes. These procedures would now be regarded as unscientific, but the collectors were practicing musicians thoroughly familiar with the creative culture of Irish traditional music and may have reasonably considered that they were simply following the playing practices of traditional musicians. Less acceptable currently would be his bowdlerisation of song texts and his substitution of lines of his own.
In the preface to his first publication of 1873, Joyce had said that ‘I will continue to publish [Irish music] as long as I can obtain materials’, and in the preface to his 1909 publication he was, in his early eighties, calling on his readers for the loan of manuscripts that he might examine for his next volume. With undiminished zeal he continued until his death five years later. The manuscripts of this final work, which contain 878 songs and melodies with notes, have remained unpublished in the National Library of Ireland until now, when, courtesy of the Library, they have been copied for facsimile publication on here.
Earlier Irish writers, such as William Carleton of Tyrone in the 1830s, had included impressionistic descriptions of dancing and dancers in their fictional works, but Joyce was the first to make a scientific classification of the types of Irish dances performed in the early nineteenth century and to analyse their characteristics. As an observant musician who had played for dancers from his childhood, he was well positioned to distinguish the various types and their salient features.
Joyce’s earliest published observations on dance were those first conveyed to his friend George Petrie in the early 1850s, presumably in writing. Petrie incorporated them verbatim in his notes to some of the dance tunes in his Ancient Music of Ireland volume of 1855. Although earlier collectors had taken little note of dance tunes, Petrie thought them ‘of equal interest’ to any other kind of Irish melody. He knew that he was breaking new ground in providing a description of their related dances, and acknowledges his own inability to do so had it not been for Joyce ‘whose words I shall in every instance use’. Although Joyce’s observations were made of Munster dances, Petrie believed that they applied equally to the dances of the other provinces of Ireland. His transcriptions of Joyce’s words partially survive in manuscript.
The principal kinds of the dance music of Ireland, Petrie says, are the
Common or double jig
Single jig
Hop jig
Reel
Hornpipe
Set dances of different kinds
Country dances of different kinds.
These dance-types are then described by Petrie, using Joyce’s notes on the number of participant dancers, the parts of the foot used, the various movements and steps employed, and the appropriate dance terminology with its meaning.
A facsimile edition of the Ancient Music of Ireland of 1855 and its unfinished successor of 1882 will be found here; the pages relevant to dance are pages 49–53, 58–62, 64–5, 92, 114 and 167 (in 1855) and pages 18–19 and 25–6 (in 1882). Joyce’s notes on each dance-type will also be found above by clicking on each dance-type name. They are provided in searchable text, in facsimile from the Petrie volume, and (when they survive) in facsimile from Petrie’s manuscript transcription.
Joyce himself published some notes on dance tunes in the preface to his Ancient Irish Music of 1873 (notes which he later quotes in the preface to his Old Irish Folk Music and Songs of 1909):
The Dance tunes that prevailed in the Munster counties, twenty-five or thirty years ago [in the 1840s], were chiefly the Reel, the Double Jig, the Single Jig, the Hop Jig, and the Hornpipe. The Reel was in common, or two-four time. The Double Jig was a six-eight time tune, the bars of which usually consisted of six quavers in two triplets. The Single Jig was also six-eight time; but here the triplet of the Double Jig was generally, though not invariably, represented by a crochet followed by a quaver. The Hop Jig, or as it was also called, Slip Jig, or Slip Time, was a nine-eight time tune. The Hornpipe was in common, or two-four time; it was played not quite so quickly as the Reel, and was always danced by a man unaccompanied by a partner. All these dance tunes, except the last, took their names from the manner in which they were danced. Besides these, there were ‘Set Dance’ tunes, i.e. tunes with some peculiarity of time, measure, or length, which required a special sort of dance, that had to be learned and practised for each particular tune. A Set Dance was always danced by a man without a partner. On the subject of the Munster dances I may take advantage of some other opportunity to make a few observations.
He also gives a pendulum method in the preface to indicate the time in which each tune, including the dance tunes, was to be played, observing that ‘I will venture an opinion that our song tunes are generally played and sung too slowly: while, on the other hand, the dance music is often played too fast; and in both cases the sentiment of the air is injured – sometimes utterly destroyed’.
In his A Social History of Ancient Ireland, first published in 1903 in two volumes, Joyce returned to the subject of Irish dance in a chapter on ‘Assemblies, Sports, and Pastimes’, but in this case not the dancing of his childhood but dancing in ‘ancient Ireland’, which he defines as ‘Ireland before the Anglo-Norman Invasion’ and ‘back only as far as there is light from living record – history or tradition’. He rightly says that there is no early evidence that the ancient Irish ‘danced to music, or danced at all’, but then unfortunately goes on to say that there is ‘very strong negative evidence that they did not’. It was not then understood that dancing is a human universal. The often-repeated statement that dancing was unknown in ancient Ireland owes much to this source, and to the sources that Joyce quotes here. The section on dancing, from the revised 1913 edition of the Social History, will be found in searchable text and facsimile here.
In his A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland of 1906, a one-volume condensed version of the two-volume work, Joyce deals briefly with dance on p. 501: ‘There is no mention of dancing in… any other ancient Irish record; and there is good reason to believe that the ancient Irish never danced at all – in our sense of the word’.
Cailín a Tighe Mhóir. The Girl of the Great House.
Hop Jig
The Hunt.
Loch Aillinne. Lough Allen.
A Munster Jig—Name unascertained.
Aon is dó na píobaireachta. The one and two of Pipering.
George Petrie manuscript transcription
The Petticottee Jig,—an Ancient Munster March and Jig-tune.
The Pipe on the Hob.
A Social History of Ancient Ireland
Tatter the Road.
b’Fearr liomsa ainnir gan gúna. I would rather have a Maiden without a Gown.
Patrick Weston Joyce (1827–1914), from Glenosheen in south-west Co Limerick, was a noted Irish educationalist and popular historian, and from his youth a collector of Irish traditional music and song. He contributed many items to the collections of George Petrie, and also edited a number of important music collections which were published from 1873 to 1909.
The first edition of P.W. Joyce’s first published music collection – Ancient Irish Music, Dublin: McGlashen and Gill etc., 1873, ix+104+5 pp. – is presented below, as is a ‘new edition’ of his second collection – Irish Music and Song, Dublin: M.H. Gill and Son, 1901, vi+[ii]+44 pp. – a volume first published in 1888. Joyce’s third collection – Irish Peasant Songs in the English Language, London etc.: Longmans, Green & Co; Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1906, iv+16+[4] – also appeared in a Dublin Talbot Press reprint of 1922 with a redesigned cover and shortened preface. Both printings are also reproduced below.
By coincidence, P.W. Joyce’s son, Professor Robert Dwyer Joyce, lived from 1907 to 1936 in the present premises of the ITMA, no 73 Merrion Square, Dublin 2 (see here, pp. 6–7). P.W. Joyce himself must have been a frequent visitor to this house as he was president of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland at no 63 Merrion Square (former home of the ITMA, 1991–2006) during the period of his son’s residency in no 73.
The first two books are from Cnuasach an Bhreathnaigh, the Breandán Breathnach Collection, which was donated by the Breathnach Family to the ITMA in 1987; the second two were purchased by ITMA.
ITMA would welcome the donation of other materials of this kind which are not yet in its collections (check our catalogues here), or of their loan for copying.
Nicholas Carolan & Maeve Gebruers, 1 December 2008
Ancient Irish Music: Comprising One Hundred Airs Hitherto Unpublished, Many of the Old Popular Songs, and Several New Songs / collected and edited by P.W. Joyce ; the harmonies by Professor Glover
Irish Music and Song: A Collection of Songs in the Irish Language, Set to Music / edited for the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language by PW Joyce
Irish Peasant Songs: in the English Language / with the Words Set to the Proper Old Irish Airs by P. W. Joyce
Irish Peasant Songs: in the English Language / with the Words Set to the Proper Old Irish Airs by P. W. Joyce
Patrick Weston Joyce’s publication of Irish traditional music and song, and his writings on music, song and dance, had a strong influence on the thinking and practice of his contemporaries and of succeeding generations. Some published indications of this influence are presented in facsimile here:
Detail from the cover of An ceóltóirín / Pádraig Ó Murchadha (n.d.)
1. Dedication by Alfred Perceval Graves to his The Irish Song Book (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1894; reproduced from 12th ed., 1914). Graves had drawn extensively for his melodies on Joyce’s collections and acknowledges this: ‘I heartily owe it to my old friend, Dr. Joyce, who has generously give me the free use of airs and words in his published and unpublished collections, besides looking over my musical proofs’ (p. xvi). Graves had earlier drawn on Joyce’s music for his Songs of Old Ireland with arrangments by C. Villiers Stanford (London: Boosey & Co, 1882).
2. Francis O’Neill, ‘Chapter XVI. Dr. P.W. Joyce’s Estimate of the Total Number of Irish Airs Questioned’. Like his older contemporary Joyce, O’Neill was a traditional musician, and a collector and publisher of Irish traditional music, who came from a musical family in rural Ireland (in west Cork in his case). He also rose to a prominent position (chief of police in Chicago) by native ability and hard work. O’Neill had a fellow-feeling for Joyce and a regard for his work which was tempered by competitiveness.
3. ‘An Leipreachán’, a translation into Irish of Joyce’s original song-lyric ‘The Leprehaun’ from his Ancient Irish Music of 1873, pp. 100−101. The translation, by a Séamus Ó Duirinne, was published in An Ceoltóirín, a school songbook edited by Pádraig Ó Murchadha (Dublin: Brún agus Ó Nualláin, n.d. but 20th century).
4. When Patrick Weston Joyce died on 7 January 1914, his position as an important figure in Irish life was recognised by the many obituaries that appeared in the national press. In the nature of things, most were brief and impersonal, and carried the same basic information on his life in general. Two more personal Joyce obituaries closer to the concerns of this traditional music site are presented here in facsimile, both written by colleagues of his in the Irish Folk Song Society: A.P. Graves & C.M. Fox, ‘Obituary’, Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, vol. 14 (April 1914), pp. 38−42
The Irish song book : with original airs / edited with an introduction and notes by Alfred Perceval Graves
'Dr PW Joyce's estimate of the total number of Irish airs questioned' in Irish folk music : a fascinating hobby / Capt. Francis O'Neill
'An Leipreachán' in An Ceóltóirín / Pádraig Ó Murchadha
'PW Joyce obituaries' in Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, vol. 14 / A. P. Graves ; Charlotte M. Fox
Patrick Weston Joyce was a highly industrious writer throughout his life, and his many seminal books have been frequently mined by writers of newspaper and magazine articles. But Joyce’s own writing efforts went into books rather than articles, and very few articles written by him are known.
Three such are presented here in facsimile, the first a 1904 contribution of airs, rather than an article proper, which he made to the first number of the journal of the Irish Folk Song Society. This society had recently been founded in London by Alfred Perceval Graves, Charlotte Milligan Fox, Herbert Hughes, and others. Joyce was one of its sixteen vice-presidents until his death. He was aged 77 in 1904 and was rightly regarded as the doyen of Irish traditional music collectors by the founders. The second Joyce piece, from the same publication later in 1904, discusses the possible ancient provenance of Irish folk songs by comparing Danish airs to Irish airs of the same name. The third, from the same publication in 1912, is a memoir rather than an article proper.
1. P.W. Joyce, ‘Airs’, Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, vol. 1, no 1 (April 1904), pp. 5−6
2. P.W. Joyce, ‘Irish and Danish folk music’, Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, vol. 1, nos 2−3 (Jul.−Oct. 1904), pp. 37−40
3. P.W. Joyce, ‘Some Reminiscences of a Collector of Irish Folk Music (a Communication to Mr. Alfred Perceval Graves by Dr. P.W. Joyce)’, Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, vol. 11 (Jan.−June 1912), pp. 9−14
Irish and Danish folk music' in Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, vol. 1 / PW Joyce
'Some reminiscences of a collector of Irish folk music' in Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, vol. 11 / PW Joyce
'Airs' in Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, vol. 1, no. 1 / PW Joyce
PW Joyce’s final and most extensive music publication appeared in 1909: Old Irish Folk Music and Songs: A Collection of 842 Irish Airs and Songs Hitherto Unpublished (Dublin: Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland; London: Longmans, Green & Co, etc.).
It is presented in four sections: 1 The Joyce Collection (melodies collected and recollected by himself, or sent to him in manuscript from all parts of Ireland); 2 Continuation of the Joyce Collection (Irish folk songs in the English language, with the words set to the proper old Irish airs, the syllables under the notes; most from his childhood recollection, and from his personal collection of ballad sheets); 3 The Forde Collection (selection of melodies collected by William Forde of Cork, 1830s–1850s, edited by Joyce); 4 The Pigot Collection (selection of melodies collected by John Edward Pigot of Dublin, 1840s–1860s, edited by Joyce). The two latter collections had been given to Joyce by relatives of Pigot; in 1910 he donated them to the Library of the Royal Irish Academy where they remain.
Old Irish Folk Music and Songs: A Collection of 842 Irish Airs and Songs Hitherto Unpublished / Edited with Annotations for The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland by PW Joyce
Old Irish Folk Music and Songs: A Collection of 842 Irish Airs and Songs Hitherto Unpublished / edited with annotations for The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland by PW Joyce
Old Irish Folk Music and Songs: A Collection of 842 Irish Airs and Songs Hitherto Unpublished / edited with annotations for The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland by PW Joyce
Old Irish Folk Music and Songs: A Collection of 842 Irish Airs and Songs Hitherto Unpublished / edited with annotations for The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland by PW Joyce
In his published collections Patrick Weston Joyce occasionally makes disparaging remarks about Irish traditional songs in the English language – which he calls ‘Anglo-Irish Peasant Songs’ or the ‘Peasant or Folk Songs of Ireland written in English’. The words of particular songs are ‘very rude and worthless’ or ‘not worth printing’. He thought them as a class ‘very inferior to those in Irish; for the good reason that the song-writers were only imperfectly acquainted with English, while they were quite at home in Irish’.
But the English-language songs were also part of his fond childhood memories; he had heard them sung by his father and neighbours. His conflicted feelings about them are to be seen in his comments on the first item he published in his first collection of 1873: ‘Both the air and the words of this ballad appear to me to possess much simple beauty and feeling… the words are still sung… though so very much corrupted as to be quite barbarous… I have amended several corrupt stanzas’. His final statement on these songs, made in his last published collection of 1909, can be taken to reflect his true feelings when he quotes another writer on their ‘simplicity, directness, and force’ and on the ‘charm’ that ‘recommends strains so rude and naked to the most cultivated minds. These ballads have done what the songs of our greatest lyric poets have not done – delighted both the educated and the ignorant’.
Further proof of his true taste can be seen in a little-known part of Joyce’s musical legacy: his large personal collection of some 770 original Irish ballad sheets in the English language (with some few in Irish in a phonetic orthography, and some macaronic in Irish and English). He acquired this collection over some decades in the second half of the nineteenth century, probably from street sellers, and diligently pasted them into two surviving scrapbooks, sometimes annotating them.
These scrapbooks were acquired by the Dublin City Library and Archive, Pearse St, Dublin 2, by purchase in 2001. By kind permission of the Dublin City Library and Archive, ITMA staff were faciltated in digitising the scrapbooks, and further permission was given to freely publish them in facsimile here, online as part of the ITMA Joyce Microsite.
The scrapbooks are presented here page by page so as to represent them as artefacts created by Joyce, and to preserve their rough chronology as created by him. Scans of the individual ballad sheets are also available online within the Dublin City Library and Archive, where the original scrapbooks can also be seen. The sheets have a great intrinsic interest as part of the story of Irish traditional song, and they also throw light on Joyce’s editing of traditional song texts.
For its generous cooperation on this joint project, ITMA is grateful to the Dublin City Library and Archive, and in particular to Dr Máire Kennedy, Divisional Librarian in charge of Special Collections, Dublin City Libraries; and to Ms Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian.
A new song in praise of O’Sullivan’s grand coach
In praise of the Mountain Lass and her former master, David Costello / by T. Walsh, Limerick
A new song called the Susheen Bawn
The banks of Killaloe
The lad that is fond of the lasses
The bold deserter
A much admired song : the rocky road to Dublin
[Indecipherable]’s new song, Paudheen Rhu, or a tinker’s travels
The Kerry recruit
John Hores repentance
A new song called the sporting youth
Paddy Hegarty’s leather breeches
The sportnig [sic] ‘bs of Paddy’s land
The flowers of Edinburgh
A much-admired song called faugimid suid mar a tha shea
Patrick Keane, the tailor; or, the breeches
Sweet Castle Hyde
The rambler from Clare
A dream of Napoleon
John O’Dwyer-a-Glana
The red-haired man’s wife
The shamrock shore
A new song called the Kerryman’s rambles
Brennan on the moor
The [general] fox chase
The farmer’s boy
Drahareen o ma chree
O’Reilly’s frolics
A new song called the dear and darling boy
The big beggarman
Rocking the cradle
Erin go bragh
McKenna’s dream
The Kerryman’s ramble to the County Tipperary
Song called the bouchleen dhoun
A favourite song called coleen bawn
The true lover’s lamentation
The maid that sold her barley
The banks of Claudy
Young Roger that follows the plough
An admired song called Youghal harbour
The Enniskillen dragoon
The dear Irish boy
The jolly young plough boy
The young man’s address to his sweetheart
An admired song called young Molly Bawn
The constant lover and her sailor boy
The river roe
The drinan dhun
The dear Irish maid
Sweet colleen rhue
A much-admired song called the golden apple
Colleen dhas crutha na mho
The girl I left behind me
A new song called the bargee heroes
A much-admired song called Nancy, the pride of the East
Maid of Lismore
The green mossy banks of the Lee
Maid of Tralee (English)
Maid of Tralee (Irish)
The sweet silver-light bonny moon
A new song, entitled the phoenix of the hall
A new song by Deny O’Sullivan
The banks of sweet Loughrea
A new song called the Irish courtship
Shule agrah
The royal black bird
A new song called Granuaile
The bold and undaunted youth
Father Murphy, or the Wexford men of ‘98
The emigrant’s farewell
A much-admired song called the Irishman’s farewell to his country—bound for America
A favourite song called shan van vought’s farewell to Ireland
The great elopement to America
A lamentation on the execution of Denis Dillane who was executed on the 13th of April, for the conspiracy of Mr. Fitzpatrick / composed by T. Walsh
The words of James Walsh some days before his execution / by James Flynn
Lamentation of the two McCormacks
The true lover’s lamentation
A new song called the Tramore lass
The maid of Lough Gowna shore
A dialogue between a labourer & schoolmaster
Bundle and go / Billy O’Rourke
A new song in praise of the Limerick militia / by James Flynn
Suid mar cahasa fein mola / composed by Eugene O’Sullivan
The two loyal lovers
The days when I was hard up
The glorious victory of Major O’Reilly, Member of Parliament, for the County Longford / by P. J. Fitzpatrick
The downfall of Garibaldi
A new song called I’m a janius
Lament of the emigrant
The cavalier
New lights of Askeaton
The ship Niagara
The lovely sweet banks of the Suir
A new borg called the flourishing states of Kilmurry
A few [sic] song called the maid of Rrth [sic] keale
Mourneen na grouga bauna
The wonders of the world
‘Tally ho! Hark away
A new so[n]g called the twig of Sheallagh!
The soldier’s dream
My boughleen dhoun
Breenan on the [f]loor
A new song called a dialogue between the death & the rake / written by T. T. Cremin
A new song on the dreadful engagement, with a tremendous loss of Irish in America
A new song on the procession to lay the foundation stone, of the O’Connell monument / written by a patriotic Protestant
A new song called shove around the jug
A new song called Sallys lament for her hat and crinoline!
Paddy you’re the devil, or, a parody on Willy, we have missed you
Heenans challenge to mace
Mournful verses
The Ir [torn page]
My Emmet’s no more
A new song called St. Patrick’s morning
A lamentation on the execution & declaration of Thomas Welsh, for the cruel murder of his son-in-law’s grandfather [song cut out]
Duffy’s advice to his country
A favourite comic song called Pat. Molloy
Ballad Sheet Scrapbook I: part I
A new song in praise of O’Sullivan’s grand coach
In praise of the Mountain Lass and her former master, David Costello / by T. Walsh, Limerick
A new song called the Susheen Bawn
The banks of Killaloe
The lad that is fond of the lasses
The bold deserter
A much admired song : the rocky road to Dublin
[Indecipherable]’s new song, Paudheen Rhu, or a tinker’s travels
The Kerry recruit
John Hores repentance
A new song called the sporting youth
Paddy Hegarty’s leather breeches
The sportnig [sic] ‘bs of Paddy’s land
The flowers of Edinburgh
A much-admired song called faugimid suid mar a tha shea
Patrick Keane, the tailor; or, the breeches
Sweet Castle Hyde
The rambler from Clare
A dream of Napoleon
John O’Dwyer-a-Glana
The red-haired man’s wife
The shamrock shore
A new song called the Kerryman’s rambles
Brennan on the moor
The [general] fox chase
The farmer’s boy
Drahareen o ma chree
O’Reilly’s frolics
A new song called the dear and darling boy
The big beggarman
Rocking the cradle
Erin go bragh
McKenna’s dream
The Kerryman’s ramble to the County Tipperary
Song called the bouchleen dhoun
A favourite song called coleen bawn
The true lover’s lamentation
The maid that sold her barley
The banks of Claudy
Young Roger that follows the plough
An admired song called Youghal harbour
The Enniskillen dragoon
The dear Irish boy
The jolly young plough boy
The young man’s address to his sweetheart
An admired song called young Molly Bawn
The constant lover and her sailor boy
The river roe
The drinan dhun
The dear Irish maid
Sweet colleen rhue
A much-admired song called the golden apple
Colleen dhas crutha na mho
The girl I left behind me
A new song called the bargee heroes
A much-admired song called Nancy, the pride of the East
Maid of Lismore
The green mossy banks of the Lee
Maid of Tralee (English)
Maid of Tralee (Irish)
The sweet silver-light bonny moon
A new song, entitled the phoenix of the hall
A new song by Deny O’Sullivan
The banks of sweet Loughrea
A new song called the Irish courtship
Shule agrah
The royal black bird
A new song called Granuaile
The bold and undaunted youth
Father Murphy, or the Wexford men of ‘98
The emigrant’s farewell
A much-admired song called the Irishman’s farewell to his country—bound for America
A favourite song called shan van vought’s farewell to Ireland
The great elopement to America
A lamentation on the execution of Denis Dillane who was executed on the 13th of April, for the conspiracy of Mr. Fitzpatrick / composed by T. Walsh
The words of James Walsh some days before his execution / by James Flynn
Lamentation of the two McCormacks
The true lover’s lamentation
A new song called the Tramore lass
The maid of Lough Gowna shore
A dialogue between a labourer & schoolmaster
Bundle and go / Billy O’Rourke
A new song in praise of the Limerick militia / by James Flynn
Suid mar cahasa fein mola / composed by Eugene O’Sullivan
The two loyal lovers
The days when I was hard up
The glorious victory of Major O’Reilly, Member of Parliament, for the County Longford / by P. J. Fitzpatrick
The downfall of Garibaldi
A new song called I’m a janius
Lament of the emigrant
The cavalier
New lights of Askeaton
The ship Niagara
The lovely sweet banks of the Suir
A new borg called the flourishing states of Kilmurry
A few [sic] song called the maid of Rrth [sic] keale
Mourneen na grouga bauna
The wonders of the world
‘Tally ho! Hark away
A new so[n]g called the twig of Sheallagh!
The soldier’s dream
My boughleen dhoun
Breenan on the [f]loor
A new song called a dialogue between the death & the rake / written by T. T. Cremin
A new song on the dreadful engagement, with a tremendous loss of Irish in America
A new song on the procession to lay the foundation stone, of the O’Connell monument / written by a patriotic Protestant
A new song called shove around the jug
A new song called Sallys lament for her hat and crinoline!
Paddy you’re the devil, or, a parody on Willy, we have missed you
Heenans challenge to mace
Mournful verses
The Ir [torn page]
My Emmet’s no more
A new song called St. Patrick’s morning
A lamentation on the execution & declaration of Thomas Welsh, for the cruel murder of his son-in-law’s grandfather [song cut out]
Duffy’s advice to his country
A favourite comic song called Pat. Molloy
Ballad Sheet Scrapbook I: part II
One pound two
The Pope’s visit to Ireland!!
Drahareen o ma chree
Roger O’Hare
A new song expertly written on Gutta-Percha & clog work
The real McCoy
A new song on the sorrowful lamentation of William Mullen who was drowned on the 15th August in 1804 : Robe River
Oh, the marriage
A new song called the black horse
A new song on the Irishmen now going to America
A sorrowful lamentation on Joseph Kelly for the wilful murder of Michl. Fitzhenry
[no title, torn] / composed by C. Jackson
A hunting so[n]g called the County Galway blazers
Willy Reilly, and his dear cooleen bawn
The seducer outwitted!
An elegy, on the death of the much lamented very rev., D. W. Cahill, D. D.
Beauties of Kingstown
A new song called the tinker and the pawnbroker / by Arthur Quinn
Peace and flourishing trade
A new song called Johnny Hart
Donnelly and Cooper
A much-admired new song called the land of the green
Napoleon talks of war, boys!
Jack and his [landlord]
Sculpture of Dublin
The meeting of Tara
Sir John’s bakery
Lines on the new petticoat hoops
A much-admired love song—called Kitty, with the bonny blue-eye
Mary of the Shannon side
Banks of the Dee
Tim Finegan’s adventures in Australia, o!
The young soldier’s farewell to his sweetheart
A new song called John Morrisy again in the field? Who he is to fight on the 1st of November, 1864
Lines on the removal of the remains o[f] Napoleon
Lines written on the Pope’s meetings
Lines of sacred poetry / written by Mr. T. O’Meara
Patt McCarthy in the Crimea
The green fields of America
An admired song called the parting glass
Answer to the Protestant drum
Erin’s king brave Dan’s no more
The robber outwitted
A new song called the maid of sweet Ballymoat
Lovely Mary of the Shannon side
Bold Trainor, o
The rakish bachelor
The maid of Bon Clody and the lad she loves dear
Galway subsidy
The brave defenders
The Irish peasant girl
My colleen das crutha na mho
[Torn] lover’s discussion
Hibernia’s lovely Jane
A new song called Mary o!
Milking the cows in the farm
Lines written on the trial of the Rev. Father Quin, Catholic Curate, of the parish of Tynan, at the last assizes of Armagh
Nell Flagherty’s drake
I’m off for Charlestown
William and Eliza, or, Lough Erne shore
Willy o!
We are coming Sister Mary
Donald’s return to Glencoe
The lamentation on the loss of lives by the Belfast riots
A lamentation on the American war. Awful battle at Vicksburg.
The praises of Ballyseedy
A lamentation on James Conroy, the farmer
The English prize-fighters and the American champion
The constant Farmer’s son
A poem on the recent visit of his Grace the Duke of Devonshire to Brandon.
A new song called poor Pat must emigrate
Grandfather Bryan’s legacy
Humours of Donnybrook
A lamentation of Wm. Thompson for the murder of Betsy Ryan
A new song called the dickey shirts and jenny lined hats
Lines written on the wreck of the Anglo-Saxon
The young man’s invitation to a pleasant looking wife
A new and favourite song, called sweet ancient Fermoy
The bonny labouring boy
My dear fatherland
A new song called Bold McDermott
The banks of the slaney
The ploughboy on the banks of [D]undee
The great meeting of prelates, peers and people, to lay the foundation stone of the Catholic church in Dublin
A new comic song called the week’s matrimony
A new song on the farmer’s tenant-right
Scotia, our true Irish Queen
Victory of John Morrissy, over the Russian sailor. Fought in Terra del Fuego, South America, for 60,000 dollars
Bloody Alma
The Irish harvest men’[s] triumph
The battle of the kitchen furniture!
A new song called the Connaught rangr [sic]
The sorrowful lamentation of the two brothers Masterson, masons by trade
The rakes of Kildare
The lady’s conversion to Catholicity
A new song on the pulling down the chapels in America by the infidel New Lights
The tan yard side
Sorrowful lamentation on the loss of the North Star
The praises of Macroom / by C. T. Ahern
The Rakish Bachelor
An admired song called the Limerick lovers
Young Edwin the lowlands low
The young man’s address to his sweetheart
The banks of the Boyne
Lines in praise of the chapel in Newcastle and the young men’s society
The Rev. Father Hickie, late Parish Priest of Rathkeal written by James Flynn
The wonderful grey horse
The lily of the west
An admired song called blue-eyed Mary
The jolly young plough boy
The gallant soldier
The lamentation of Patrick Kilkenny who was executed in front of Kilmainham Jail on the 20th of July for the murde[r] of Margaret Farquahar
Mat Hyland
The pontiff’s victory, over Garibaldi
Ballad Sheet Scrapbook I: part III
The humours of the county jail
James McDonald who was executed in Longford for the murder of Anne O’Brien
Mournful verses
Old Erin’s freedom!
The banks of the Nile
A new song in praise of the maid of Wicklow town
The sewing machine
The undaunted female
Lanigan’s ball
Pat of Mullingar
The glorious victory of seven Irish men over the kidnapping Yankees in New York
The vision’s advice to the sinner
The real Irish stew
Lamentable lines on James Walsh
Molly, my darling, don’t leave me
The lily and shamrock
The sons of Hibernia
Dublin Jack of all trades
Captain Colston
An admired song called Glendalough
T[h]e cruel father, or the affectionate lover
A new song called the young volunteer! on his march to battle
My bonny blooming highland Jane
Napoleon Bonaparte
Rise bonny lassy we’ll bundle and go
An admired song, called the maid of sweet gurteen
Poor Pat must emigrate
O’Connell and the Irish tinkers in London
A new song called the bonny blue handkerchief
The boys of Mullaghbawn
The lady and sailor
Miss Pepper’s brigade
Greenmount smiling Anne
A new song called the Wexford lovers
The seeings of Life
A new song on the glorious victory of the Popes brigade at Peruga / by Joseph Sadlier
The sorrowful lamentation Hollywood tragedy two sisters being brutally murdered
The handsome cabin boys
Polly Perkins of Paddington Green
The life and transactions of the witch! in Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary
A new song called Canada Heigho!!
Old dog Tray
A new song called the mantle so green
The Irish mother’s lament for her emigrant son
Free and easy
Bushmills whiskey
My Erin o!
Advice to the soupers
Wait for the waggon
The little shamrock green
The highwayman outwitted
The true-lover’s trip o’er the mountain
The rose of Evergreen; Cork
Cardinal Wiseman’s visit in Ireland / by P. J. Fitzpatrick
The lamentation of Patrick Brady: or, the heroes of ‘98
The whole or none
Billy O’Rourke
The dark maid of the island
The whistling thief
The wonder of the illuminations!
New song on the banishment of Patrick Brady
The exiles’ return
The riches of Ireland
The dark girl dressed in blue
Cabman spare that whip
Song on the death of Charles McCormick who was executed on the 4th of August, 1863
Where are you going on Sunday?
“Garryowen”
Father Murphy, or the Wexford men of ‘98
Kissing at the window
Out for recreation
The broth of the boy
What Paddy can say more
The fair of Clogheen
Harry Blake’s
William and Eliza. Or, Lough Erne shore
The Irishman’s shanty
The boys of Ireland. Written and sung by Harry Blake, at Phoenix Concert Hall, Dublin
Donnely and Oliver
The tinker
Lines written on Montgomery / composed by Joseph Sadler
Willy o!
The big beggarman
The seeings of life
Sweet castle Hyde
Youghal harbour
A new song called the young volunteer! on his march to battle
Lines written on a discussion between a Protestant gentleman and a Roman Catholic lady, in Townly Hall, near Drogheda
A new and favourite song called—kissing at the window
Kissing at the window
Napoleon
My colleen das crutha na mho
The maid of Bon Clody
God bless my Fenian lover
Three great powers about to go to war
The boys of Mullaghbawn
A new song on the melancholy loss of the emigrant ship, Anglo Saxon. On her passage to America
The dear Irish boy
The Irishman’s shanty
The broth of a boy
The lamentation of Patt Brady
A new song composed on the 12th of July demonstrations against the church bill and to obtain the liberties of Ulster
A new song on the Belfast riots
A new song called Canada heigho!!
The premature fall of the infidel Garibaldi
Patrick O’Neill
The ploughboy on the banks of undee [sic]
John O’Dwyer-a-Glana
An admired song called the parting glass
A new song on the O’Connell monument / composed by Joseph Sadler, a dark man
William and Eliza. Or, Lough Erne shore
The vision’s advice to the sinner
The girl I left behind me
A new version on the colleen bawn
Irishman’s glory shines brighter than gold
The wedding above in Glencree
My bonny Irish boy
Lines written on the execution of Thos. Caffrey
An admired song called Youghal harbour
A new song called the dear and darling boy
A sorrowful lamentation on the late great battle in America
My grandmother’s chair
A much-admired song : mantle so green
The shooting of Bailey the ‘alleged informer’
My boughleen dhoun
Ballad Sheet Scrapbook I: part IV
Bonny labouring boy
A new song called the cowardly Englishman
The discontented pair
An admired song called Youghal harbour
The lady and sailor
Execution of Tim. Kelly
Stoney pockets auction
The lily and shamrock
The strike
A new song on the O’Connell monument
The river roe
The ould grey mare
A new song called Th Connaught Rang r [sic]
Off to old Ireland in the morning
A new song [o]n the Popes visit to Ireland
Napoleon
The lovers’ riddle
My bonny Irish boy
Maid of Tralee (Irish)
Connolly’s old bay mare
I’m a happy little wife and I don’t care
Number nine in bow street
The rose of Evergreen; Cork
A new song on the fruitless search for no. one
The undaunted female
Heenans challenge to [blank]
A much-admired song called poor Pat must emigrate
Willy Reilly, and his dear colleen bawn
A new song on the Orange riots, in Belfast
The handsome cabin boy
Kathleen O’Regan
Irish hearts for the ladies
Willy o!
Father Murphy or the Wexford men of ‘98
Kitty of Coleraine
A new song called St. Patrick’s morning
The handsome cabin boy
Quarter day
The lamentation of Patrick Brady ; or, the heroes of ‘98
A new song in praise of O’Sullivan’s grand coach
Napoleon Buonoparte
The soldier’s dream
Skin the goat’s curse on Carey
‘Skin the goat’s’ farewell to Ireland
A new son [sic] on the labourers cottages / composed by Michael O’Brien
Can of Spring Water
A new song on the erecting of O’Connell’s monument for 1882
The happy land of Erin
A new song on the green linnet; or, Erin’s lament [for] her Davitt Asthore
Release of Ml. Davitt, (founder of the Land League)
The old hag and her money
A new song on Heenan and King
Lamentable lines on Michael Lynch, who was executed on the 20th of April, for the murder of his father, near Bantry
You never call up now
Lines written on the trial and sentenc[e] on Tim. Kelly
[An] admired song entitled the emigrant’s farewell to his country
The death of Mrs. O’Rafferty
The dear Irish maid
A new song written on a discussion that lately took place between a Protestant man & a Catholic girl near Limerick town
Michael Boylan, (at the rising of Tara, ’98)
A new song on Michael Davitt
Rattling boys of Paddy’s land
Paddy Carey
Death of Carey
Judy, the doe of Broughshane
A song—the lily of the west
Bundle and go : Billy O’Rourke / Billy O’Rourke?
The old house at home
A new song on the exhibition of 1865
The church of Slane
The rat catchers, daughter
The old stingy man!
How’s your poor feet
A new and admired song called the old settoo
The constant lover and her sailor boy
A new song on the Irishman now going to America
A new song called the praise of Cappannke
The dawning of the day
A favourite new song, the mountain phoenix
Lamentation on Stephen McK[e]own for the Forkhill murder
A new song called Granuaile
The execution of Bernard Cangley at the front of Cavan goal, on the 4th of April, for the barbarous and inhuman murder of Peter Reilly, on the 22nd of January last
My father’s servant man
The river roe
O’Connell & the tinkers
Who’s for Sandymount
The old oak tree
McKenna’s dream
The Pope’s visit to Ireland!
I wish I was lying alone
Paddy’s ould coat / composed by Paddy Reilly
The banks of the Suir
Teddy O’Gra
Mary Neal
A new song called maid of Rathkeal
The river roe
The red haired man’s wife
Kathleen O’Regan
Farewell! my gentle harp
The ballad singer’s crime
Execution of Tim. Kelly
Cabman spare that whip
The servant boy
Paddy the piper
The Irish schoolmaster
The dear Irish maid
Bryan O’Lynn
The lily of the west
[D]uffy’s farewell[l]
Caroline and her young sailor bold
They won’t let me out
Di[gging] for goold
A much-admired new song called the suit of green
The loyal lovers of the County Clare
Brilliant light
A new song on the visit of Lord Randolph Churchill to Belfast, and welcomed by the loyal brethren
Sights and scenes of Dublin
The timid man
Betty Haign and Johnny Sands
A new song called the Connaught rangr
Emigrant’s farewell to his country
‘Skin the goat’s’ letter
My native land so green
The bard of Armagh
The downfal [sic] of Garibaldi
The little shamrock green
A new comic song called Biddy McCarthy of Foley’s hotel
Raal ould Irish gintleman
[No title]
An ad : My £1 5s
Ballad Sheet Scrapbook II: part I
[no title]
Irish street ballads. No. 15. The flowers of Edinburgh
A fragment of an old song on Balinasloe fair
Irish street ballads. No. 18. The banks of Killaloe
Irish street ballads. Sheel na guira
[no title]
Irish street ballads. No. 3. The rights of Ireland
Irish street ballads. No. 14. A new song called tally ho
Irish street ballads. No. 13. Kitty O’Hay
Irish street ballads. No. 12. A new fox-chase
Irish street ballads. No. 21. The farmer
Irish street ballads. No. 11. The humours of Glin
Irish street ballads. No. 16. The phoenix of the hall
Irish street ballads. No. 22. A new song, in praise of Rockbarton. The seat of Chief Baron O’Grady
Irish street ballads. No. 19. A hunting song, called the county Galway blazers
Irish street ballads. No. 17. Star of Slane
Irish street ballads. No. 25. A new song called the Enniskilling dragoon
Irish street ballads. No. 20. The fox chase
Irish street ballads. No. 28. War song of the North Tipperary light infantry
Irish street ballads. No. 29. The wonders of the world
[T]he boughleen dhoun
Irish street ballads. No. 30. A new song on the fall of the Rock of Cashel
Irish street ballads. No. 35. Brennan on the moor
Irish street ballads. No. 23. The brave volunteer
Irish street ballads. No. 24. The milkmaid
Irish street ballads. No. 39. The battle of Tullamore
Irish street ballads. No. 33. Sweet Castle Hyde
Irish street ballads. No. 37. Patrick Fitspatrick’s farewell to Ireland
[All the preceding ballads were cut out of the Cashel Gazette – 1872 or there-about – in which they were reprinted by the editor M. J. Davis [David?] White, a man of taste and culture. PW Joyce 1889]
The blackthorn stick
The bonny labouring boy
The Irishman’s Langolee
Father Malone
My bonny Irish boy
The lover’s riddle
The river roe
The missioners’ farewell
Billy O’Rourke
Captain Colston
O’Connell’s grave
Beautiful Mary, o
The bonny bunch of roses, o
The maid of islandmore
Emperor Louis Napoleon
Holy missioners farewell
A favourite new song called Michael Power’s adventures
Farewell to my native land
A new song on the Russian war
A new song on the wonderful apparitions, of the blessed Virgin, St Joseph, and St John, in Knock Chapel County Mayo. “And behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”
The true lover’s lamentation
No one but ourselves
The downfall of the petticoat
A new song on the departure of lord and lady Aberdeen
The true lovers departure
A new song called the maid of three wells
[Flora Bell]
Lamentable lines on the Belfast riots
Irish street ballads. No. 26. The maid of Mullaheather
Answer to Ballindown Brae!
Where there’s a will there’s a way
The western cottage maid
The banks of the Lee
The Kerry recruit
The lovely sweet maid of Lismore
New song on the census for 1861
Victory of John Morrissy, over Sam the Black
A new song called the Orangeman’s daughter
My mamma’s waiting maid
McDonald’s return to Glenco
Mary in the silvery tide
Mary’s grandeur
The cruel father, or the affectionate lovers
Content and a pipe
Johnny Hart
The Irish brigade
Erin’s king or, Daniel is no more
The sailor and the ghost
The meeting of Tara
Allen’s grave
A new song called quick surrender
The sporting boys of Paddy’s land
O’Connell & the tinkers
The young soldier’s farewell to his sweetheart
A new song on Walshe’s farmer boy
The Irishman’s vision!!
A new song called pretty Polly’s promote[on]
The Athboy tragedy bring the murder of father & child
A sorrowful lamentation on Mrs. Burke who was poisoned by her husband, in Clogheen, he is to die on the 25th Aug. 1862
A new comic song called Doran’s ass
The lovely maid of Abbeyfeale
Emmet’s farewell to his love
The pride of Donegal
A new song expressly written on John Heenan’s challenge to Tom King
The banks of the Nile
The Kerry recruit or the lawyer outwitted
The maid of Dunmore
The general taxes
A new song on the Irish courtship
The mother’s lament for the loss of her son
The united lovers, or James & Flora
[…] maid that sold her barley
Youghal harbour
A new song on O’Donohue’s frolic
The priest & the rake
Paddy’s dream
The Irish A. B. C.
The troubles of Erin
A new song: Charles S. Parnell
The Doneraile fox-chase
The royal blackbird
James and Flora united
The blackbird of Avondale
A new song called the huntsman’s tragedy
The bard of Armagh
A new song called the dear and darling boy
The siege of ‘Kil-o’-Grange’
The Palentine’s only daughter
Charming Mary Neil
The bincheen luachara, o
Spalpeen’s complaint of Darby O’Leary
A new song on Father Tom O’Neill
The squire’s young daughter
A favourite song called the fair Annie Gray
The tradesman’s lamination
An admired song called bold Trainor C.
The glorious victory of John Morrissy over the Russian sailor, fought in Tera del Fuego South America for 60,000 dollars
O’Sullivan’s frolics
The mantle so green
My bonny Irish boy
A new song on the land league
The Kerry eagle
Song of the times
The emigrant’s letter to his mother
Bonny labouring boy
A new song on Ml. Walsh
A new song on the holy mission
A much admired song called the Irish girl
The North star
A much admired song, called the Kerry recruit or the counsellor outwitted
The Kerry courtship
A much admired song called the dark-eyed gipsy o
William and Nancy
Mourneen na grouga bauna
A new song in praise of the North Country flowering girls
Maid of Lismore
The worship of the beast
The Manchester patriot martyrs
The girl I left behind me
I think of old Ireland, wherever I go
The rake of Kildare
The bold deserter
The undaunted female
Bold Trainor o!
Where the grass grows green
The Irish brigade
The Fenian men
The maid of Bon Clody
The little shamrock green
Pat of Mullingar
The river roe
Dear and darling boy
Father Murphy, or the Wexford men of ‘98
James McDonald who was executed in Longford for the murder of Anne O’Brien
Banks of the Dee
The emigrant’s farewell
The banks of Claudy
McKenna’s dream
The true-lover’s trip o’er the mountain
The robber outwitted
My native land so green
Clonbolloge Ba[…]
A new song called the old man’s complaint of his landlord
The rose of Tralee
Dark-eyed gipsy o
The Irish schoolmaster
Teresa Malone
The banks of Pimlico
O’Reilly from the Co. Kerry
A new year’s song
Ballindown Brae
The squire of Edinburgh town
Dark-eyed gipsy o
[Title illegible]
Blue-eyed Mary
Drah Harion O Machree
The jolly farmer
The black horse
The Wexford lovers
The rale ould style
The young soldier’s farewell to his sweetheart!
The gay old woman [ms]
The banks of Claudy [ms]
Young Roger that followed the plough
The maid of sweet Gurteen
A new song on the judgement delivered in Galway
Bellewstown races
There are three PW Joyce music manuscripts in the collections of the National Library of Ireland, which are reproduced here courtesy of the Library.
Detail from NLI Joly MS 25
They are Joly MS 25 (fair-copied tunes chiefly collected by Joyce on holiday in Limerick in July and August 1856), and MSS 2982–2983 (which together form a large and somewhat disorderly single collection from which Joyce intended to draw his next published collection). They contain tunes and the words of song recollected from his childhood or collected by him in his native area in the 1840s and 1850s, and extensive copyings from the manuscripts of other collectors: James Goodman especially, William Forde, John Edward Pigot, and a variety of correspondents. Many are manuscript cuttings pasted in from other sources, and are usually but not always in the hand of Joyce himself.
Irish airs collected by P.W Joyce, chiefly in Co. Limerick, 1856
Joyce was still working on what would have been his final collection at the time of his death in 1914, and the two working manuscripts from which it was to be drawn were supposedly found on the table beside his bed.
They were acquired by the National Library of Ireland, who have kindly given permission for their reproduction on this site.
In the preface to his first publication of 1873, Joyce had said that ‘I will continue to publish [Irish music] as long as I can obtain materials’, and in the preface to his 1909 publication he was, in his early eighties, calling on his readers for the loan of manuscripts that he might examine for his next volume. With undiminished zeal he continued work on this until his death five years later.
The manuscripts of this final work, which contains 878 songs and melodies with notes, have been copied courtesy of the National Library of Ireland for facsimile publication on this site. They are NLI MS 2982 and NLI MS 2983.
Irish songs and melodies collected by PW Joyce : first volume, 1889-1912
Irish songs and melodies collected by PW Joyce : second volume, 1889-1912
National Library of Ireland Joyce Manuscripts, 1889-1912 : Part I
National Library of Ireland Joyce Manuscripts, 1889-1912 : Part II
National Library of Ireland Joyce Manuscript, 1856
