Turlough O'Carolan (1670–1738) was a blind early
Irish harper, composer and singer whose great fame is
due to his gift for melodic composition. He was the
last great Irish harper-composer and is considered by
many to be Ireland's national composer. Harpers in the
old Irish tradition were still living as late as 1792,
as ten, including Arthur O'Neill, Patrick Quin and
Donnchadh Ó Hámsaigh, showed up at the Belfast Harp
Festival, but there is no proof of any of these being
composers. Ó Hámsa...(+)
Turlough O'Carolan (1670–1738) was a blind early
Irish harper, composer and singer whose great fame is
due to his gift for melodic composition. He was the
last great Irish harper-composer and is considered by
many to be Ireland's national composer. Harpers in the
old Irish tradition were still living as late as 1792,
as ten, including Arthur O'Neill, Patrick Quin and
Donnchadh Ó Hámsaigh, showed up at the Belfast Harp
Festival, but there is no proof of any of these being
composers. Ó Hámsaigh did play some of Carolan's
music but disliked it for being too modern. Some of
O'Carolan's own compositions show influence from the
style of continental classical music, whereas others
such as Carolan's Farewell to Music reflect a much
older style of "Gaelic Harping".
Carolan's Welcome is a traditional air composed by
Turlough Carolan. It is also known by a number of
different titles, including "Carden's Welcome",
"O'Carolan's Welcome", and "Carolan's Air".
Although this work was originally written for Folk
Instruments, I created this arrangement for Flute &
Concert (Pedal) Harp.