Tea at Trianon: "Londonderry Air"

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, March 24, 2025

"Londonderry Air"

Blasket Islands

On the way to Killarney Cathedral

Never went to Derry, but I saw many other beautiful places in Ireland. And "Danny Boy" has always been a favorite in my family. From Debra Esolen at Word and Song:

Do you recall the first time you ever heard the “Londonderry Air” (or as it is more frequently called, “Danny Boy?” I can’t recall a time when I did not know that song. But if I had to guess, I’d bet that my first experience of it came from watching old TV reruns of “Make Room for Daddy” as a kid. The star of that show, Danny Thomas, was a beloved entertainer, singer, actor, and later television producer. And for obvious reasons, his producers adapted (and jazzed up!) “Danny Boy” to become his theme song. In 1953, when Thomas premiered his show, there couldn’t have been a person in the world who was not familiar with that song. But (other than from Ireland!), just where did it come from?
Well, I wasn’t just spinning my wheels when I began this post talking about collectors. I’ve covered many folk songs over the past few years at Word & Song. But in the case of the “Londonderry Air,” the song might easily have fallen into oblivion but for a few dedicated collectors of songs, and particularly of folk songs, back in the 19th century. Some people guess that the tune is linked to a couple of other folk songs even older than that. But we know that the tune itself first appeared in print, unnamed, in "The Ancient Music of Ireland” ( published by The Society for the Preservation and Publication of the Melodies of Ireland, 1855). The editor of that book, George Petrie, had been about the business of literally collecting old Irish folk tunes which had never been notated, much less published. The unnamed air — along with a good number of other genuine old Irish tunes — had been notated and sent to Mr. Petrie by yet another song collector, Miss Jane Ross of Limavady in County Derry, in Northern Ireland. (Read more.)