Product Description: Following in the footsteps of his father, George Petrie (1790-1866) devoted his early life to art. However, as he toured Ireland and painted historic monuments, his interest in his country's antiquities began to grow, and his research into the origin and uses of Irish round towers would help cement his reputation as a founding father of Irish archaeology...read more

Product Description: This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience...read more

First published in 1855, George Petrie's "The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland", is widely regarded as one of the most important nineteenth-century collections of traditional Irish music. It contains nearly two hundred melodies collected by Petrie as well as song texts in Irish and English and detailed notes by Petrie about the sources of the songs or pieces. The collection, which was originally published under the auspices of the Society for the Preservation and Publication of the Melodies of Ireland, has been out of print for many years and the few remaining copies are now extremely rare collector's items. This new edition contains all of Petrie's original text, the melodies and his introduction. The text is prefaced with an illuminating biographical essay which positions the collection in the context of Petrie's life, his work and within the broader field of Irish traditional music. In Petrie's 1855 collection, he provides piano accompaniments written by his daughter for the melodies. As these are stylistically inappropriate, the melodies are returned to the form in which Petrie notated them, by reference to Stanford's "The Complete Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland as Noted by George Petrie (1789-1866)" and the original manuscripts held in the National Library of Ireland. This new edition also contains a completely reset version of the text in which the Irish spelling has been modernized and a standard font adopted. The new edition of this book will form an invaluable addition to the bookshelves of both students and performers of Irish traditional music.

Product Description: From the hopeful anticipation of Mary, do you fancy me? to the bitterness of Hag, you've killed me, this extraordinary compilation of Irish melodies runs the emotional gamut, with melancholy airs and sprightly reels aplenty. Its source material, The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland, ranks among the most important 19th-century collections of traditional Irish music, with its song texts in both Irish and English, plus George Petrie's detailed notes about the music's origins...read more