Page 98 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2019. Vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju - The Role of National Opera Houses in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 3
P. 98
vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju
– Michele Esposito, The Post-Bag: A Lesson in Irish (1901)
– William Harvey Pélissier, Connla of the Golden Hair (1903)
– Thomas O’Brien Butler, Muirgheis (1903)
– Robert O’Dwyer, Eithne (1909)
– Michele Esposito, The Tinker and the Fairy (1909)
– Thomas Richard Gonsalvez, Jozé (undated, children’s opera)
– Joseph Seymour, An Irish May-Day (c. 1915, children’s opera)
– Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer, Finn Varra Maa (1917)
– Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer, Srúth na Maoile (1923)
– Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer, Grania Goes (1924)
– Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer, Deirdre of the Sorrows (1925)
The increased interest in Irish operatic subjects was part of the Gaelic
revival, a movement emerging in the late nineteenth century that promoted
Gaelic culture in Ireland, focusing particularly on the Irish language, Irish
literature, Irish music, and Irish sports. Societies were formed to support
these activities, led by the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge), founded in
1893 under its first President Douglas Hyde – the librettist of Esposito’s The
Tinker and the Fairy listed above, and later to become Ireland’s first Presi-
dent. Other societies important in this context are the Gaelic Athletic Asso-
ciation (GAA), the Irish Literary Society and the Feis Ceoil (Irish for “Fes-
tival of Music”) which runs an annual music competition in Dublin since
1897, covering by now almost 200 categories across different instruments/
voice registers, groupings, age ranges and genres. While the strong focus
on Irish traditional music as an expression of “Irishness” (sometimes juxta-
posed with classical music as the music of the British colonial occupiers and
the protestant Anglo-Irish ruling class) stems from this period, there was
also a movement advocating a “catching up” with other nations with regard
to all other cultural areas.13 The proposal of a dedicated Irish opera house by
Annie Patterson (who was also a leading driver behind the Feis Ceoil) men-
tioned above falls into the category, as does the increased number of operas
engaging with Irish topics.
13 This may be comparable to earlier and simultaneous attempts by ethnic minorities
in Eastern and Northern Europe (particularly in the Habsburg and Russian Em-
pires) to assert a cultural national identity in the absence of political independence,
for example among Hungarians, Czechs, Poles, Finns, Norwegians etc.
96
– Michele Esposito, The Post-Bag: A Lesson in Irish (1901)
– William Harvey Pélissier, Connla of the Golden Hair (1903)
– Thomas O’Brien Butler, Muirgheis (1903)
– Robert O’Dwyer, Eithne (1909)
– Michele Esposito, The Tinker and the Fairy (1909)
– Thomas Richard Gonsalvez, Jozé (undated, children’s opera)
– Joseph Seymour, An Irish May-Day (c. 1915, children’s opera)
– Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer, Finn Varra Maa (1917)
– Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer, Srúth na Maoile (1923)
– Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer, Grania Goes (1924)
– Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer, Deirdre of the Sorrows (1925)
The increased interest in Irish operatic subjects was part of the Gaelic
revival, a movement emerging in the late nineteenth century that promoted
Gaelic culture in Ireland, focusing particularly on the Irish language, Irish
literature, Irish music, and Irish sports. Societies were formed to support
these activities, led by the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge), founded in
1893 under its first President Douglas Hyde – the librettist of Esposito’s The
Tinker and the Fairy listed above, and later to become Ireland’s first Presi-
dent. Other societies important in this context are the Gaelic Athletic Asso-
ciation (GAA), the Irish Literary Society and the Feis Ceoil (Irish for “Fes-
tival of Music”) which runs an annual music competition in Dublin since
1897, covering by now almost 200 categories across different instruments/
voice registers, groupings, age ranges and genres. While the strong focus
on Irish traditional music as an expression of “Irishness” (sometimes juxta-
posed with classical music as the music of the British colonial occupiers and
the protestant Anglo-Irish ruling class) stems from this period, there was
also a movement advocating a “catching up” with other nations with regard
to all other cultural areas.13 The proposal of a dedicated Irish opera house by
Annie Patterson (who was also a leading driver behind the Feis Ceoil) men-
tioned above falls into the category, as does the increased number of operas
engaging with Irish topics.
13 This may be comparable to earlier and simultaneous attempts by ethnic minorities
in Eastern and Northern Europe (particularly in the Habsburg and Russian Em-
pires) to assert a cultural national identity in the absence of political independence,
for example among Hungarians, Czechs, Poles, Finns, Norwegians etc.
96
