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
Hámsai...(+)
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 Viola &
Concert (Pedal) Harp.