List of Irish music collectors

Last updated March 09, 2022

This is a list of notable collectors of Irish traditional music:

Collectors

Breandan Breathnach (1912–1985) – collected over 7,000 tunes, published from 1963
Edward Bunting (1773–1843) – collected tunes from the harpers at the Belfast Harp Festival; made extensive collections of tunes which he published in three collections of The Ancient Music of Ireland
Séamus Clandillon – see Maighréad Ní Annagáin
Eileen Costello – Amhrain Mhuighe Seola, 1923, 80 songs from Co. Galway and Co. Mayo
Seamus Ennis (1919–1982) – uilleann piper; collected for the BBC/Irish Folklore Commission, 1952–57
William Forde (c.1759–1850)
A. Martin Freeman (1878–1959) – important collector of songs from West Cork
Canon James Goodman (1828–1896) – collected over 2000 tunes and songs, mainly from the south-west of the country.
Carmel Gunning – a singer, flute and tin whistle player and collector of songs and ballads; author of The Mountain Top (2006) which contains over sixty tunes focusing on tunes popular in south Sligo
Carl Hardebeck (1869–1945) – three volumes of Seoda Ceoil (1908, 1914, 1916)
Frank Harte (1934–2005) – collector of songs and ballads from Dublin and the countryside
Sam Henry (1878–1952) – Song Editor to the Coleraine newspaper Northern Constitution , through which he published his Songs of the People series from 1923 until 1928, and again from 1932 until 1939.
Smollet(t) Holden (c.1755–1813) – Collection of Old Established Irish Slow and Quick Tunes, c.1805, and Collection of the Most Esteemed Old Irish Melodies, c. 1807
Henry Philerin Hudson (1798–1889)
Herbert Hughes (1882–1937) – Songs of Uladh (1904), Irish Country Songs, 4 volumes (1909, 1913, 1934, 1936)
Patrick Weston Joyce (1827–1914)
Fionan MacColuim – Amhrain na nGleann, Cosa Bui Arda (children's songs), 1922–24
John McCreery, compiled a book of Irish airs with American lyrics by John Daly Burk, published Petersburg, USA, 1824. "A selection from the Ancient Music of Ireland, arranged for the flute or violin, some of the most admired melodies, adapted to American poetry. Chiefly composed by John McCreery to which is prefixed historical and critical observations on ancient Irish music"
Ciaran MacMathuna (1925–2009) – broadcaster and collector of music from mid 20th century
John Mulholland – Collection of Ancient Airs, two volumes, 80 airs noted, Belfast, 1810; Mulholland's father started to collect in the mid 18th century
Tom Munnelly (1944–2007) – former chairman of the Irish Traditional Music Archive; he is estimated to have collected around 1,500 tapes' worth of material
Maighréad Ní Annagáin and Séamus Clandillon – Londubh an Chairn, 1927 Munster songs^[1]
Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin – Oriel singer and author of A Hidden Ulster: people, songs and traditions from Oriel (2003). Ní Uallacháin has recorded numerous music recordings of collected traditional song
Liam de Noraidh (1888–1972) – Ceol ó'n Mumhain, Munster songs, 1965
Seán Ó Baoighill [O'Boyle] (1908–1979) – Cnuasacht de Cheoltai Uladh, c.1948, Donegal Gaeltacht
O'Farrell (Patrick?) (active c.1780–1810) – uilleann piper, published the following (containing some 300 tunes):

Collection of National Irish Music for the Union Pipes, c.1800
O'Farrell's Pocket Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes, 1806–11

Francis O'Neill (1848–1936) – chief of the Chicago police and collector of Irish tunes
Luke O'Malley – c.1976 Luke O'Malley's Collection of Irish Music 150 jigs, reels & hornpipes
Fr. L. Ó Muiri – Amhrain Chuige Uladh, 1927, songs from the Omeath and Tyrone Gaeltacht
Donal O'Sullivan (1893–1973) – Songs of the Irish, 1960
George Petrie (1790–1866) – an antiquarian, artist and important collector of Irish airs and melodies.
John Edward Pigot (1822–1871) – collected over 2000 airs
Frank Roche (1866–1961) – born in Knocklong, County Limerick, his father was a dancing master. His first collection of two volumes was published in 1912 and revised to three volumes in 1927. The last collection in 1931, Airs and Fantasied. His works were re-issued by Ossian Publications in 1982 and consist of 566 tunes.
Micho Russell (1915–1994) – musician, folklorist and collector.
William Bradbury Ryan – 1050 Reels and Jigs Hornpipes and Clogs, Boston, 1883
Paddy O'Brien (1945–) – collected 1,500 melodies (jigs, reels, hornpipes, polkas, slip jigs, hop jigs, single jigs, slow airs, set dances, harp tunes, marches) in The Paddy O'Brien Tune Collection: A Personal Treasury of Irish Traditional Music, 1995–2013

Collections by unknown authors

Poets and Poetry of Munster, 1849.

Notes

↑ In 1927 Maighréad Ni Annagáin and her husband, Séamus Clandillon, authors of a song collection called Londubh an Chairn, sued the Irish Statesman Publishing Company Ltd. and a reviewer, for libel. They claimed that the defendants published an article, in the course of which it was stated that in the collection, which consisted of seventy-five airs, there was no note stating the source of airs or words. They also claimed that there were allegations of slovenliness and ignorance on the part of the authors, and that they had taken up a disproportionate amount of space broadcasting their own merits and platform successes. They sought £2,000. The Irish Statesman lost the case.

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References

Comhaltas Tre
Tomas O Canainn, Traditional Music in Ireland, Routledge & Kegan Paul 1978 ISBN 0-7100-0021-9
Sean O Riada, Our Musical Heritage, The Dolmen Press, 1982, ISBN 0-85105-389-0
Irish Music Centre, Boston College
David A Wilson and Mark Spencer, Ulster Presbyterians in the Atlantic World, 4 Courts Press, ISBN 1-85182-949-0, re McCreery/John Daly Burk, p. 93

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[1] In 1927 Maighréad Ni Annagáin and her husband, Séamus Clandillon, authors of a song collection called Londubh an Chairn, sued the Irish Statesman Publishing Company Ltd. and a reviewer, for libel. They claimed that the defendants published an article, in the course of which it was stated that in the collection, which consisted of seventy-five airs, there was no note stating the source of airs or words. They also claimed that there were allegations of slovenliness and ignorance on the part of the authors, and that they had taken up a disproportionate amount of space broadcasting their own merits and platform successes. They sought £2,000. The Irish Statesman lost the case.

[1]