Aspects of Irish-language song transmission in Munster, 1700–1850

Abstract

This chapter looks at aspects of Irish-language song transmission in Munster in the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century. As musical airs were ascribed to written poetry with greater and greater frequency in manuscript sources throughout the eighteenth century, the suggested airs to which this sung poetry circulated will be discussed, and reference made to the oeuvre of the most prominent of the eighteenth-century Munster poets, who often set their poetry to the popular tunes of their day. Aspects of oral and literary transmission of song will be given consideration, before focusing on two important collections of Irish song, taken from the field in the mid-nineteenth century.