The Reputations of Thomas Moore: Poetry, Music, and Politics 9780367353391, 9780367353407

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Introduction
1 The Role of Community, Network, and Sentiment in Shaping the Reputations of Thomas Moore
PART I: Moore’s Reputations as a Poet
2 “A Canadian Boat Song”: Origins and Impact in English Canada
3 Satire, Militarism, and the Hunt: Appropriations of Thomas Moore in Sporting Bombay
4 Thomas Moore in the Hispanic World
5 When Thomas Moore Was the Headline Act: John Boyle O’Reilly, Cultural Politics, and the Marketability of Moore
PART II: Moore’s Reputations as Established through Music Networks
6 The National Airs and Moore’s Reputation in London
7 Romantic Patriotism and the Building of Reputation: The Case of Robert Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri
8 “Higher universal language of the heart”: The Reputations of Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States
PART III: Moore’s Reputations as Established through Political Networks
9 “Where bastard Freedom waves/Her fustian flag in mockery over slaves”: Thomas Moore in America
10 The Influence of Thomas Moore in the Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World
11 Young Ireland and the Superannuated Bard: Rewriting Thomas Moore in The Nation
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

The Reputations of Thomas Moore

This collection of eleven chapters positions Moore within a developing and expanding international readership over the course of the nineteenth century. In accounting for the successes he achieved and the challenges he faced, recurring themes include: Moore’s influence and reputation; modes of dissemination through networks and among communities; and the articulation of personal, political, and national identities. This book, the product of an international team of scholars, is the first to focus explicitly on the reputations of Thomas Moore in different parts of the world, including Bombay, Dublin, Leipzig, and London as well as ­A merica, Canada, Greece, and the Hispanic world. Through this collection, we will understand more about Moore’s reception and appreciate how the publication and dissemination of poetry and song in the ­romantic and Victorian eras operated in different parts of the world – in particular considering how artistic and political networks effected the transmission of cultural products. Sarah McCleave is senior lecturer in the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen’s University Belfast; she was Director of the Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies (2015–2017). Tríona O’Hanlon is a violinist and musicologist; she was Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow in Music at the School of Arts, ­English and Languages at Queen’s University Belfast (2015–2017).

Poetry and Song in the Age of Revolution

Series Editors: Michael Brown, University of Aberdeen, UK Kath Campbell, University of Edinburgh, UK John M. Kirk, Dresden University of Technology, Germany Andrew Noble, Strathclyde University, UK

1 United Islands? The Languages of Resistance John Kirk 2 Literacy and Orality in Eighteenth-Century Irish Song Julie Henigan 3 Cultures of Radicalism in Britain and Ireland John Kirk 4 The Politics of Songs in Eighteenth-Century Britain, 1723–1795 Kate Horgan 5 James Orr, Poet and Irish Radical Carol Baraniuk 6 Reading Robert Burns Texts, Contexts, Transformations Carol McGuirk 7 Thomas Moore and Romantic Inspiration Poetry, Music, and Politics Sarah McCleave and Brian Caraher 8 The Reputations of Thomas Moore Poetry, Music, and Politics Edited by Sarah McCleave and Tríona O’Hanlon

The Reputations of Thomas Moore Poetry, Music, and Politics

Edited by Sarah McCleave and Tríona O’Hanlon

First published 2020 by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Taylor & Francis The right of Sarah McCleave and Tríona O’Hanlon to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this title has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-35339-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-35340-7 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by codeMantra

Contents

List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors

vii ix xi

Introduction 1 1 The Role of Community, Network, and Sentiment in Shaping the Reputations of Thomas Moore

3

S A R A H M c C L E AV E

PART I

Moore’s Reputations as a Poet

25

2 “A Canadian Boat Song”: Origins and Impact in English Canada

27

D. M . R . B E N T L E Y

3 Satire, Militarism, and the Hunt: Appropriations of Thomas Moore in Sporting Bombay

44

M Á I R E N Í F H L AT H Ú I N

4 Thomas Moore in the Hispanic World

60

S A R A M E D I N A C A L Z A DA

5 When Thomas Moore Was the Headline Act: John Boyle O’Reilly, Cultural Politics, and the Marketability of Moore BRIAN G. CAR AHER

79

vi Contents PART II

Moore’s Reputations as Established through Music Networks

95

6 The National Airs and Moore’s Reputation in London

97

T R ÍONA O’H A N LON

7 Romantic Patriotism and the Building of Reputation: The Case of Robert Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri

117

A NJA BU NZEL

8 “Higher universal language of the heart”: The Reputations of Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States

142

SA R A H GER K

PART III

Moore’s Reputations as Established through Political Networks

167

9 “Where bastard Freedom waves/Her fustian flag in mockery over slaves”: Thomas Moore in America

169

J E N N I F E R M A RT I N

10 The Influence of Thomas Moore in the NineteenthCentury Greek-Speaking World

188

K AT H L E E N A N N O ’ D O N N E L L

11 Young Ireland and the Superannuated Bard: Rewriting Thomas Moore in The Nation

214

F R A N C E S C A B E N AT T I

Bibliography Index

235 237

List of Figures

2.1 “A Canadian Boat Song”, lyrics and music by Thomas Moore ­(London, 1805). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast 30 5.1 Title-Page, John Boyle O’Reilly’s Poetry and Song of Ireland, 2nd edition (1889). Author’s personal collection 83 5.2 Illustration, Thomas Moore’s “The Minstrel Boy”, Poetry and Song of Ireland (1889). Author’s personal collection 84 5.3 Illustration, Thomas Moore’s “Come, Rest in This Bosom”, Poetry and Song of Ireland (1889). Author’s personal collection 85 6.1 “Oft in the Stilly Night”, National Airs… first number. J. Power, (1818). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast 107 8.1 Dedication, G.E. Blake edition of the Irish Melodies (Philadelphia, 1808). Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society 143 8.2 Dedication, James Power edition of the Irish Melodies (London, 1808). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast 144 8.3 “Last Rose of Summer”, broadside (New York, n.d.). Rare Books and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress 151 8.4 “Meeting of the Waters”, in the United States Songster (Cincinnati, c.1836). *42-1358, Houghton Library, Harvard University 152 8.5 “Eveleen’s Bower”, credited to John Stevenson (New York, 1817). Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Irish- Americana Collection AIA 031.004, Box 9, Folder 15. ­A rchives of Irish America, Tamiment Library, New York University Libraries 153 8.6 Introductory symphony to the “War Song. Remember the Glories of Brien the Brave” by Sir John Stevenson,

viii  List of Figures

8.7

10.1 11.1 11.2

Irish Melodies . . . first number (London, 1808). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast 160 Introductory symphony to “St. Senanus and the Lady” by Sir John Stevenson, Irish Melodies . . . second number (London, 1808). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast 162 Ossian’s Dar-thula as drawn by Henry Tidey, reproduced in the Illustrated London News (13 June 1846) 199 “’Tis the Last Rose of Summer”, Lyrics by Thomas Moore (­London, 1813). Courtesy of Special 224 Collections & Archives, Queen’s ­University Belfast “Lament for the Death of Eoghan Ruadh O’Neill”. Lyrics by Thomas Davis, Spirit of the Nation (Dublin, 1845). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast 225

List of Tables

6.1 Arrangements of “Oft in the Stilly Night” 109 7.1 Reviews of Schumann’s Peri in Leipzig and Dublin between 1843 and 1854 (Reviews marked with a * were collected by Robert Schumann and are archived at Robert-Schumann-Haus Zwickau.) 125 11.1 Spirit of the Nation Poems set to Tunes used for Moore’s Irish Melodies and a National Air in 1843 and 1845 222 11.2 Irish Melody Tunes with new Lyrics in Spirit of the Nation (Dublin, 1843 & 1845) 222 11.3 Frequencies of notable Words in Moore’s Irish Melodies and in Spirit of the Nation Poems 226

List of Contributors

Francesca Benatti  is a Research Fellow in Digital Humanities at The Open University. Her digital research interests include stylometry, text analysis, digital editions, and their applications to the study of literature. Her literary research interests are the works of Thomas Moore, nineteenth-century Irish periodicals, book history, and comic books. With Sean Ryder and Justin Tonra, she co-edited Thomas Moore: Texts, Contexts, Hypertext and the Thomas Moore Archive. D.M.R. Bentley  is a Distinguished University Professor and the Carl F. Klinck Professor in Canadian Literature at Western University in ­London, Canada. He is the founding editor of Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews (1977–) and the Canadian Poetry Press (1986–), and he has published widely in the fields of Canadian ­literature and culture, and Victorian literature and art as well as on the importance of the Arts and Humanities in society. His ­recent and forthcoming publications include By Necessity and Indirection: ­Essays on Modernism in Canada and essays on Alice Munro, ­Gabrielle ­Roy, ­A rchibald Lampman, Duncan Campbell Scott, Dante Gabriel ­Rossetti, and Mean Girls. In 2015 he was awarded the ­K illam Prize in Humanities for his contributions to Canadian literary studies. Anja Bunzel  is a musicologist and holds a research position at the ­I nstitute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague. She gained her BA and MA from Freie Universität Berlin. In 2017, she received a PhD from Maynooth University, with a thesis on ­Johanna ­K inkel’s Lieder. Her postgraduate and postdoctoral studies were funded through the Irish Research Council (2013–2016 and 2017–2018). She is co-editor of Musical Salon Culture in the Long Nineteenth Century (Boydell, 2019), and her monograph on ­Johanna Kinkel’s Lieder is forthcoming with Boydell Press (2021). Her ­research interests ­include nineteenth-century music-cultural practice, German Romanticism, and women in music. Brian G. Caraher was Chair of English Literature at Queen’s University Belfast for many years, serving as Head of Graduate Teaching and

xii  List of Contributors Research, and as Research Director in Poetry, Creative Writing, Irish Writing, and Modern Literary Studies in the former School of English during an extensive period of growth and international recognition. He has published widely on topics in aesthetics, modern poetry and poetics, theories of literary reading, literary pragmatics, genre theory, and cultural politics in dozens of journals (including ELH, JJQ, MLQ, American Studies, Criticism, Essays in Literature, The Irish Review, Philosophy and Rhetoric, Poetics, Pretext, Textual Practice, and Works and Days) and numerous book collections. His own books include Wordsworth’s “Slumber” and the Problematics of Reading, Intimate Conflict: Contradiction in Literary and Philosophical Discourse, Ireland and Transatlantic Poetics, and an extensive series of studies of James Joyce. With Sarah McCleave he co-edited Thomas Moore and Romantic Inspiration: Poetry, Music, Politics. Máire Ní Fhlathúin is Professor of English Literature at the University of Nottingham, specialising in the anglophone literature and culture of India under British rule. Recent publications in this area include an edition of the long poem The Griffin, by Thomas D’Arcy Morris, a satire on British life in early nineteenth-century Bombay (­Romantic Circles, 2018). She has also published The Poetry of British India 1780–1905 (Pickering & Chatto, 2011); a monograph on British ­India and Victorian Literary Culture (Edinburgh UP, 2015); and ­essays on Romantic and Victorian women’s writing, crime and the social order, and the periodical press. Sarah Gerk  is Assistant Professor of Musicology at Binghamton University-State University of New York. Her current research focusses on Irish diaspora in nineteenth-century US music, broadly construed. Published essays have examined Amy Beach’s “Gaelic” Symphony and rock band Alice Cooper’s relationship with the city of Detroit. She also contributed several articles to The Grove Dictionary of American Music, second edition, and she has worked with textbook publisher W.W. Norton on several editions of A History of Western Music and The Enjoyment of Music. She holds a PhD in historical musicology from the University of Michigan. Jennifer Martin  was a Visiting Research Fellow at Queen’s University ­Belfast, 2018–2019. She was awarded a PhD in 2013 for her doctoral thesis, entitled “Vanquished Erin and the Minstrel Boy: Thomas Moore as a Political Commentator in Ireland”. Examining Moore as a political commentator had been an underdeveloped area of Moore scholarship, and this study aimed to re-evaluate his place in the ­society, literature, and political fora of his day. This manuscript is currently being edited for completion as a monograph. Overall, ­Jennifer’s ­research interests lie primarily within Irish literature, particularly of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and genealogical studies.

List of Contributors  xiii Sarah McCleave,  a musicologist, is a senior lecturer in the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen’s University Belfast. A founding member of the Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies at Queen’s, her research on the Gibson-Massie Moore collection at Queen’s led to the Horizon 2020-funded project ERIN: Europe’s Reception of the Irish Melodies and National Airs: Thomas Moore in Europe (www. erin.qub.ac.uk). McCleave is co-editor of two volumes of essays on Thomas Moore (Routledge, 2017 and 2020); she considers Moore’s working methods in her chapter, “The Genesis of Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies”, for Cheap Print and Popular Song in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge University Press, 2017). She has also published on Moore and Irish song through the “Romantic National Song ­Network”, www.rnsn.glasgow.ac.uk/. Sara Medina Calzada, PhD, is a lecturer of English language and literature at the University of Valladolid (Spain). Her main research interest is the study of the historical and cultural relations between Britain and the Hispanic world in the nineteenth century. Her published essays examine the representations of Spain in British Romantic print culture and the reception of Byron, Thomas Moore, and Charlotte Brontë in Hispanophone nations. Kathleen Ann O’Donnell,  an independent scholar affiliated with the British School at Athens, completed her dissertation, “The Poems of Ossian and the Quest for Unity in the South-Eastern Balkans and Asia Minor in the Nineteenth Century”, with the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2005. Since then she has delivered papers at conferences in Berkeley, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Oxford, Messalonghi (Greece), La Coruna, (Spain) Besançon, Shkodra (­A lbania), and ­Athens on her findings re the aetiology of translations by nineteenth-­ century Hellenophones (Greek and Rumanian) of Celtic Literature by James Macpherson and Thomas Moore. Her article entitled “­Nineteenth-Century Cycladic Warriors: Celtic Heroes” was published in 2014 by the Athens Institute of Education and Research (ATINER). Her work can be read at Ossian Online, National University of Ireland Galway, ossianonline.org/. Tríona O’Hanlon is a violinist and musicologist. She received her PhD in Musicology in 2012 from the Technological University ­Dublin (formerly Dublin Institute of Technology). She was a Marie ­Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow in Music at the School of Arts, English and Languages, Queen’s University Belfast for 2015–2017, where she worked on the project ERIN: Europe’s Reception of the Irish Melodies and National Airs; Thomas Moore in Europe, which was co-funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union. She has held research fellowships at Marsh’s Library, Dublin (2014), and The Royal Dublin Society Library and Archives (2015), and she

xiv  List of Contributors ­ harlemont Grant for 2016. She was awarded a Royal Irish Academy C is the first musicologist ever to ­receive the Carl H. ­Pforzheimer, Jr., Research Grant awarded by the Keats-Shelly ­Association of America (2017). Tríona’s research interests include the historiography of music ­ ineteenth-century Dublin, song culture and its in eighteenth- and n dissemination, source studies, and bibliography.

Introduction

1 The Role of Community, Network, and Sentiment in Shaping the Reputations of Thomas Moore Sarah McCleave This opening chapter considers the different kinds of agency that shaped Moore’s reputations in the evolving nineteenth-century marketplace. Moore’s reputations, founded on his ability to appeal to particular communities, flourished through networks operating in an intersection of political and cultural concerns. Arguably, his appeal lay in his skilled cultivation of sentimental responses in his readers.1 This mastery is particularly evident in two of his most commercially successful works – the Irish Melodies (1808–1834) and Lalla Rookh (1817).

Terms of Reference My use of the term “community” is influenced by Charlotte Guichard’s description of the amateur’s role in promoting art in eighteenth-­century France: “communities [are groups] in which the language of taste functioned as a social bond, creating new ‘societies’ around objects and nurturing the production of knowledge in all fields” (522). Individuals articulated their taste through actions, including the collection of art works or corresponding with artists (521–22). This expression of “taste” is an element within a social dynamic, Guichard suggests, adding that “In eighteenth-century France, taste was prescriptive, since its function was to create sociability and a sense of community” (532). For this present study, however, there is an important distinction to be made, which Guichard articulates. While her amateurs were operating within a “monarchical artistic system” (542), the communities that consumed Moore’s cultural products were increasingly engaged in the public spheres of print and theatre. As the nineteenth century advanced, cultural consumption was increasingly facilitated by network activity, rather than being led by a centralised community such as a court or an academy. Regarding the concept of “network”, this chapter draws on Ulfried ­Reichardt’s model of network theory. Moore’s reputations were forged by two types of networks: (1) organisations whose very purpose was to exchange and circulate cultural products such as publishing companies or theatres2; (2) particular networks arising from political conviction who exchanged or promoted cultural works as part of a wider series

4  Sarah McCleave of exchanges. Both display characteristics identified by Reichardt in his definition of “network” (19–21). The publishing industry exchanged and produced “concrete objects”; the political networks involved “abstract constructions of systematic relations”; both conform to Reichardt’s ­“defining point”, with “no centre, [and they] are adaptive, flexible, and time and context-dependent” (21). Reichardt further proposes a conceptual model that offers a “decisive shift . . . from autonomous object to ­system . . . An entity can no longer be understood in isolation, as an ‘individual’ case, . . . but has to be conceived of as being constituted within a context, through exchanges with persons, media, . . . environment . . . and within processes” (32). And so, Moore’s reputations are founded on the exchanges of his works through networks whose processes witness the “intersections of humans [arrangers, writers, publishers, musicians] . . . media [print, live performance], objects [books, scores], and technologies [engraving, letter-case, lithography]” (Reichardt 33; specific examples added). The ideas of Guichard and Reichardt suggest the influence of Pierre Bourdieu – although they appear to draw on different aspects of his theories. 3 Guichard’s notion of “taste communities” (531–41) – and in  particular her development of the concept, “taste as knowledge” (534–37) – elaborates on Bourdieu’s observation of the formative roles of education (and levels thereof) as well as social “class” in developing “cultural competenc[ies]” that determine the tastes of individuals and social groups (Bourdieu 1–2). Reichardt’s emphasis on “systematic relations” (rather than on individual works of art) perhaps finds a parallel in Bourdieu’s notion of “embodied social structures”, and, with this, in the “principles” that underpin the notion that “agents are . . . the subjects of acts of construction in the social world” (Bourdieu 467). I will now examine the structures that underpinned the exchange of cultural ­products – with Thomas Moore as my case study – in the nineteenth century.

Moore and Nineteenth-Century Publishing Networks Over the course of the nineteenth century, publishing networks expanded considerably – largely in response to increasing numbers of literate readers (Eliot 293), including a substantial North American market that desired a supply of European material. This situation offered opportunities and challenges for publishers. Technological adaptations – such as favouring lithography over engraving to produce illustrated volumes at lower cost – were relatively straightforward to effect; the expanding public demand for formats such as magazines or periodicals was clearly an opportunity (Wald 246; Barnes 30–48). With this expansion came threats, too, as for most of the century international copyright law remained a development heavily promoted by some, but not yet a reality (Barnes; Mumby 41–45). As James J. Barnes reveals, it was relatively

Community, Network, and Sentiment  5 easy for foreign firms to create pirated copies at competitive prices. Customs laws provided a limited control on personal patterns of consumption and transportation (Barnes 95–115). Some publishing houses set up offices in more than one country4; agents, too, were active in negotiating particular agreements between firms based in different locales (Barnes). Moore’s own publishing history demonstrates the adaptive skills of publishers. His first extended work, The Odes of Anacreon – published with the London-based publisher John Stockdale in 1800 – was the product of a precisely defined social network. The future medic Thomas Hume, a Dubliner in Moore’s social circle, drew on his contacts to secure Moore a contract; Hume also assisted with the compilation of the some 350-strong subscription list, an essential support for a book that was sold for the princely sum of one pound and one shilling. Moore was able to count several dukes, earls, and baronets amongst the subscribers, and was even granted permission to name the Prince of Wales as the dedicatee (R. Kelly 73–81). Through to the 1830s, this model – “quality” editions, supported by subscription, and naming an influential d ­ edicatee  – was pursued by publishers such as James Carpenter, Thomas Longman, and the Power brothers, William and James – each of who had copyright privileges for certain of Moore’s works. As COPAC evidences, a single work by Moore might be enhanced by a network of publications – such as songs to lyrics from the Odes of Anacreon, Lalla Rookh (1817; see below), the Loves of the Angels (1823), and even his Life of Sheridan (1825). While one publisher (normally Longman) would issue the poetry or prose, Moore’s music publisher (normally James Power) would issue the associated musical publications. Most probably Power and Longman undertook these activities as a coordinated network, as their joint publication of the lyrics to Moore’s Irish Melodies from 1821 suggests (see below). Network – which enhanced Moore’s reputation – also extended to musical performance, as Moore would promote his musical works by performing at private parties and in the London clubs (J. Burns, “Give them life”). Publishers also expanded the creative network associated with Moore by adding illustrations to his works. Lalla Rookh is a particularly rich example. In 1817, Longman produced a volume of illustrations for Lalla Rookh drawn by Royal Academician Richard Westall (Heath and Westall); by 1826, these illustrations were added to Longman’s editions of the text (Moore and Westall). By 1838 Longman also issued Lalla Rookh “Illustrated with engravings from drawings by eminent artists under the superintendance of [engraver] Charles Heath” (Moore and Heath). The engraver Edmund Evans set the illustrations for Longman’s Lalla Rookh from 1846 (Moore and Evans); variants of this edition were disseminated by several publishers, including Carey and Hart of ­Philadelphia (1846), Francis & Co. of New York and Boston (1849), and Routledge, Warne and Routledge (between 1860 and 1868). Longman

6  Sarah McCleave alternated production of these distinct editions – adding one with a single image by Daniel Maclise (Moore and Maclise, between 1849 and 1880), as well as a further edition with sixty-nine illustrations drawn by John Tenniel and engraved by the prolific Dalziel brothers (Moore and Tenniel, between 1861 and 1880). In 1860 Day & Son of London produced Paradise and the Peri with colourful lithograph illustrations (Moore, Jones, Warren and Warren). By using reputable or high-profile artists as agents in the production of Lalla Rookh, publishers enhanced Moore’s reputation while broadening the market for his work. Lavishly illustrated editions, or “gift books” were in themselves a product of network (author, illustrator, engraver or lithographer, printer); as Lorraine Janzen Kooistra observes, “the gift-book’s author-function was a corporate entity” (Kooistra 28). Gift books, whose popularity peaked in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, were a “high art” product that also contributed to the process by which “poetry became middlebrow – a commodity for mass consumption” (Kooistra 40). Variety was one form of network adaptation, pricing was another. When Longman issued the ten-volume The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore (MCP) under the poet’s supervision in 1840 and 1841, each volume was priced at five shillings. In contrast, Longman’s ten-volume “People’s Edition” of The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore of 1859, produced in a tighter layout on lower-quality paper, was priced at one shilling per volume. The publishing industry further adapted as the nineteenth century progressed. Regarding Moore, as early as 1819 a proliferation of pirated editions (normally produced abroad), translations, and works in homage to or inspired by him served to expand and enhance his reputation.5 By the 1880s, however, Moore is represented increasingly through anthologies, where the tastes and agendas of individual editors dictate his posthumous reputations. While this process sometimes promoted Moore’s reputation (Caraher, “When Thomas Moore was the Headline Act”), most twentieth-century anthologies of literature accord Moore a very minor status (Caraher and McCleave). He fared better in anthologies of popular song.6 Indeed, Moore’s conflicted position in his native ­I reland is already evidenced in the publications of the Young Ireland movement of the 1840s (see Benatti in the present volume). The reception of Moore’s Irish Melodies evidences controversy from their publication through to our own time. Below I prefer to explore his reputation in the domestic song market by considering it as an “intersection . . . of ­humans . . . media, objects, and technologies” (Reichardt 33).

Thomas Moore and the Domestic Song Market The domestic song market is a network born of the mutual interests of the publishing community and amateur musicians. Song is among the

Community, Network, and Sentiment  7 most portable of cultural objects, as individual works can readily be extracted (including separating the lyrics from the music), translated, arranged, and presented afresh in collected works, anthologies, and magazines. Entirely new poems or songs that draw on older works for models are also part of this network of exchange. The genre of song was to prove very useful for Thomas Moore’s reputation, since Songs for solo voice with pianoforte accompaniment were the dominant form of chamber music for the European domestic music market in the first half of the nineteenth century. Between 1817 and 1880, some twenty-three separate lyrics from Moore’s Lalla Rookh were set by composers based in London, Dublin, and America during Moore’s lifetime and into the later Victorian period. ­(McCleave, ‘The Tales and Travels of Lalla Rookh’, n. pag.) The activities of the network in which Moore’s songs thrived are outlined below. Around 1800,7 Moore began publishing individual songs with the ­London-based firm of James Carpenter. Although Moore is credited on the title-pages with both the lyrics and music for these early efforts (M.L. O’Donnell 163–64), he had already been introduced to his future collaborator – the composer Sir John Stevenson – at a Dublin party in a fortuitous act of local networking (R. Kelly 75–76). Since the older and well-­established Stevenson had already published several songs with the Dublin-based publisher William Power between 1802 and 1805 (­COPAC),8 it is reasonable to assume that it was he who recommended Moore to that publisher; around 1805, Stevenson’s setting of Moore’s “The Maid of Marlivale” was published by the firm of William Power, and also jointly by William and his London-based brother James.9 Thomas Moore was to provide lyrics for the first number only, but its success meant he was retained for the entire series. These publications demanded a numerous team to deliver – engravers of the music, title-page, dedication, and the illustrations; designers for the changing title-page images and the illustrations; and printers to deliver the letterpress lyrics as well as any preface or advertisement. And so, a network was established that went on to publish seven numbers of the Irish Melodies in parallel London and Dublin editions between 1808 and 1818 (for a tabular record of known personnel, see McCleave, “The Genesis of Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies” 66–69). By 1821, with the publication of the Irish Melodies’ eighth number, this network fractured as James Power obtained sole copyright over Thomas Moore’s musical works. And yet, Moore’s lyrics were set by his usual collaborator Stevenson for William Power in Dublin (technically a pirated edition); a new collaborator Henry Bishop set the eighth number, as well as exclusive editions of the ninth and tenth numbers, for

8  Sarah McCleave James Power in London (for further detail see Hunt, “Moore, Stevenson, Bishop, and the Powers”; also McCleave, “The Genesis”). This fracture ultimately expanded the network circulation of Moore’s music. The London-based firm, Cramer Addison and Beale (fl. 1824– 1844) secured the copyright to Moore’s musical works from James ­Power’s widow in the late 1830s; it issued individual songs. With another network fracture, we find Addison and Hodson (fl. 1844–1848) publishing entire numbers from Moore’s Irish Melodies and National Airs as well as individual songs from across his oeuvre. Between 1856 and 1863, the firm of Addison, Hollier, and Lucas published numerous individual songs by Moore, as did Cramer, Beale, and Chappell. The latter also commissioned the London-based composer George A ­ lexander Macfarren to arrange all the Irish Melodies (Moore and Macfarren). This was part of a wave of collected, freshly arranged, or edited editions of the Irish Melodies that emerged between 1859 and 1861, involving the publishers J.A. Novello (Moore and Balfe), J. Allen and the Musical Bouquet Office (Moore and Montgomery), and the Dublin-based James Duffy (Moore and Robinson). In the final year of copyright (1858), ­Addison and Longman issued The Harmonized Airs from Moore’s Irish Melodies (Moore, Stevenson and Bishop).10 Apart from these collected editions, the majority of the Irish ­Melodies were also published as single songs, either in their original guise or in the Macfarren arrangements. Many also attracted instrumental arrangements; after copyright expired, new vocal arrangements also proliferated. Recent collation of much of this activity documents the extent of Thomas Moore’s reputation in the musical sphere while offering researchers a platform to explore this phenomenon further (McCleave and O’Hanlon, ERIN). The reach of the Irish Melodies also expanded when the lyrics began to be published separately. In 1821, an alliance of Longman (copyright publisher to Moore’s poetry and fictional work) with Moore’s music publisher James Power saw the publication of the lyrics alone to the Irish Melodies. This adaptation was most probably in response to previous, pirated initiatives in Paris (Galignani, 1819 and 1820) and also in Dublin (William Power, 1820). While this did not stem a tide of European and American editions of the lyrics in English and in translation (see McCleave, “Moore’s Irish Melodies in Europe”), the several editions by Power and Longman presumably granted them some profit. Although Moore’s pocket did not benefit from these foreign editions, his international reputation grew accordingly. Publishing activity regarding songs set to lyrics from Moore’s Lalla Rookh was most intense while James Power (d. 1836) held copyright. As previously noted, Most [of these songs] were composed by active professional musicians such as George Kiallmark, Thomas Attwood, and John

Community, Network, and Sentiment  9 Clarke-Whitfield, all who included song-writing as part of a busy professional portfolio of activities. Moore’s tremendously popular poem would have been an attractive association for them. It also stimulated responses from amateur composers in high society, such as one Lady Flint as well as John Fane Lord Burghersh. . . . Moore’s correspondence gives no clues as to how any of these people became involved in setting these particular pieces, but it seems likely that James Power may have commissioned some of these settings while in other cases the composer may have approached the poet or the publisher. (McCleave, “The Tales and Travels of Lalla Rookh”) While it is difficult to determine in most cases where the initial connection lay, notably all the composers who set Moore for James Power  – with the exceptions of Thomas Welsh (c.1780–1848) and the shadowy figure of Lady Flint – had prior or subsequent works issued by that publisher (COPAC). Networks proliferate. The Power copyright seems to have quelled pirated editions of Moore’s music in Europe (another dampener may have been the sheer expense of investing in engraved plates), but publishers in the United States were undaunted. Some of the American networking of songs from Lalla Rookh involved new settings to Moore’s lyrics – including R. Taylor’s setting of “Come hither, come hither” for G.E. Blake of Philadelphia, or R.W. ­Wyatt and S. Wetherbee’s setting of “Bendemeer’s stream” for G. Graupner of Boston. Yet how the settings of Moore, such as Stevenson, Kiallmark, and Clarke-Whitfield – to name but three examples – came to be published in Philadelphia (G.E. Blake; Klemm), Boston (James L. Hewitt; G. Graupner; E.W. Jackson), Baltimore (George ­Willig), and New York (Firth & Hall; E.S. Mesier) is beyond the scope of the present study to determine (for a tabular record of the phenomenon see ­McCleave, “The Tales and Travels of Lalla Rookh”). Moore’s reputation in America was surely enhanced through this exchange.

Thomas Moore and Choral Societies By the 1840s, the principal musical response to Moore’s Lalla Rookh changes from individual songs to larger-scale works suitable for the newly popular choral societies. These institutions, whose activities were supported by music publishers, facilitated a widespread and repeated exposure to music inspired by Moore’s “oriental romance”. This phenomenon continued in a sustained way into the early years of the twentieth century (McCleave and O’Hanlon, “Project ERIN and the Response of European Composers”). The first and most famous choral work set to Moore’s Lalla Rookh was Robert Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri (Leipzig 1843); this was subsequently performed in other German-speaking cities or towns

10  Sarah McCleave (from 1843), America (from 1847), Dublin (1854), London (1856), and Paris (1869) – sometimes in English (H.W. Dulcken) or in French (Victor Wilder) translation. Schumann’s setting of an adapted version of Moore’s tale of the Peri helped establish his own reputation (Daverio 267; 284); it also seems to have planted a seed at the Leipzig Conservatory – of which Schumann was a founding member – that saw further settings of Moore by British musicians who trained there. John Francis Barnett composed a cantata, Paradise and the Peri (Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival, 1870). Over the following years, The Musical Times records repeated performances of this work at Crystal Palace, and also by choral societies in South Norwood, Brixton, and Frith, as well as in far-off Madras (“Brief Summary” 38). In 1877 Frederic Clay’s setting of W.G. Wills’s Lalla Rookh premiered at the Brighton Festival. Loosely based on Moore’s love story between the princess and her poet, this cantata features added characters and a series of imagined interactions, ending as in Moore’s original with a wedding. The poet’s beguiling song, “I’ll sing thee songs of Araby” was an immediate hit: COPAC reveals various single-sheet publications as well as arrangements – for men’s chorus by A.D. Woodruff (New York, 1910); for piano accordion by T.W. Thurban (London, 1934); it was also translated into Swedish as “For dig en sang jag qvada ma” (Stockholm, 1900) (COPAC). This is a clear example of cultural network in operation. In the musical networking of Thomas Moore’s Lalla Rookh, the change in emphasis from domestic song to larger-scale works for chorus and orchestra mirrored a broader societal shift in amateur music-­ making. While after 1840 fewer musical works inspired by Lalla Rookh were composed, the three orchestral works previously discussed would have demanded large forces to perform, and with repeated performances over the years would have reached a wide audience. Moore’s creative output was the spark behind each exchange. The scale of network was expanding.

Moore’s Popular Touch: Community and Sentiment Moore’s reputations were enabled by the networks who exchanged, adapted, and performed his works, and established by the responses of communities of readers, auditors, and performers. Through his craft, Moore himself was an agent in the building of his reputations; his remarkable popular appeal is suggested by notable evidence of network activity until around the time of the First World War (COPAC). This appeal is arguably based on Moore’s extraordinary capacity for establishing sympathy – for characters in Lalla Rookh, and for the Irish nation through his Irish Melodies. Moore commands sympathy by adopting sentimental language and creating pathetic situations; through these strategies he cultivates a sense of community.

Community, Network, and Sentiment  11 Moore’s skill in this respect was not unique: Kristie Blair considers the place of “sentimentality and community” in popular Victorian poetry, featuring Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Evangeline (1847) and Alfred Tennyson’s Enoch Arden (1864) as case studies. In these, certain protagonists demonstrate appropriate feelings that become models for communal emulation (Blair 4–5). In Moore’s Lalla Rookh, Azim’s enduring demonstration of faith in Zelica is one such model. He neither rejects nor reproves her upon learning of her liaison with the veiled prophet; after Zelica’s death, he attends her grave continuously until his own demise. Hinda’s rejection of her father’s sectarian values is another role model. Moore’s characters promote the communal sentiments of faith and tolerance.

Sentiment and Song in Lalla Rookh and the Irish Melodies Sympathy is an important ingredient in the stimulation of sentiment. As Joe Sutliff Sanders explains, “Sympathy is, for current scholars, that process by which people achieve a synchronicity of feeling” (43). Song has a special place in Moore’s attempts to invite sympathy and build communities, especially in Lalla Rookh and the Irish Melodies. In the former, the songs have two lyric origins: either as purpose-written lyrics within the text or as a passage set by a composer but not intended as a song. Moore’s first song occurs in the “The Veil’d Prophet”, when the unwilling Zelica is sent to seduce Azim. She – who has altered so much that he does not recognise her – performs “There’s a bower of roses by Bendemeer’s stream”. The singer/narrator remembers a bower from childhood; she wonders whether the roses still bloom, and the nightingales sing. The third verse offers a sadly sentimental reflection on the passing of youth: No, the roses soon wither’d that hung o’er the wave, But some blossoms were gather’d, while freshly they shone, And a dew was distill’d from their flowers, that gave All the fragrance of summer, when summer was gone. (MCP 6: 78) The song’s lyrics mirror Zelica’s own beliefs that it is not possible to return to the community of one’s childhood. Azim notes that this maiden may have been sent “To wake unholy wishes in this heart”, but the “vestal eyes” of the singer arouse in him the sentiment of pity instead (MCP 6: 78–79). Shortly after this episode, a further appeal to his senses is made by a troupe of dancing maidens, who sing “The Spirit’s Song” in chorus. Moore’s lyrics describe the somatic responses that Love can inspire: A Spirit there is, whose fragrant sigh Is burning now through earth and air:

12  Sarah McCleave Where cheeks are blushing, the Spirit is nigh, Where lips are meeting, the Spirit is there! (MCP 6: 81) In contrast with this anacreontic episode, Moore creates pathos by sustaining Zelica’s isolation and displacement: although Mokanna and his forces are defeated in battle, she determines to sacrifice herself by dressing in the false prophet’s veil – thus falling to Azim’s own sword in a tragic case of mistaken identity. Azim is only united with his beloved by dint of attending her grave. He dies while kneeling to pray there, giving thanks because Zelica – appearing to him in a vision – had assured Azim that she is “blest” (MCP 6: 142). Moore’s ending is frankly sentimental, and also pious. Moore’s “Paradise and the Peri” has but one song lyric within. This is the Peri’s rapturous response to her own redemption – signalled by “a bright smile the Angel threw / From Heaven’s gate” (MCP 6: 184). This lyric attracted a song setting by Clarke-Whitfield. In “Joy, joy for ever! My task is done — / The Gates are pass’d, and Heaven is won!” the Peri rejoices that she may finally join that community (MCP 6: 184). ­Fadladeen’s censorious response to this “incomprehensible” and “incurably frivolous” tale stimulates Lalla Rookh to defend her young and handsome poet, shortly before she reflects that “she was in love, irretrievably in love, with young Feramorz” (MCP 6: 188; 191). To heighten the sentimental atmosphere, Moore introduces another song – in this case sung by a banished (and thus isolated) Feramorz but overheard by Lalla Rookh: Tell me not of joys above, If that world can give no bliss, Truer, happier than the Love Which enslaves our souls in this. (MCP 6: 196) Lalla Rookh understands “that Feramorz was to the full as enamoured and miserable as herself” (MCP 6: 197). Moore’s final verse is therefore most apt: Who, that ‘midst a desert’s heat Sees the waters fade away, Would not rather die than meet Streams again as false as they? (MCP 6: 196) When Lalla Rookh’s train enters the Vale of Cashmere, Feramorz is invited to rejoin that community. He tells them the tale of “The Fire-­ Worshippers”, which has at its core a pair of young lovers whose future happiness is thwarted by the bitter sectarian struggle between their two communities. Hinda, an Arab princess whose father intends to conquer Persia, is wooed in secret by a mysterious man who reveals himself as an

Community, Network, and Sentiment  13 enemy Gheber before disappearing to join his comrades. She takes leave of her father by night in a bark in order to warn her lover of the Arab plan of attack in yet another “narrative of separation” (Blair 4): And all was boding, drear, and dark As her own soul, when Hinda’s bark Went slowly from the Persian shore. No music tim’d her parting oar, Nor friends upon the lessening strand Linger’d, to wave the unseen hand. Or speak the farewell, heard no more;– But lone, unheeded, from the bay The vessel takes its mournful way, Like some ill-destin’d bark that steers In silence through the Gate of Tears. (MCP 6: 261; emphasis added) Hinda’s complete isolation is a significant stimulus for the reader’s imagination. Moore’s passage describing the effects of her declared rejection of her faith for her lover stimulated another musical setting from Clarke-Whitfield: Her hands were clasp’d – her eyes upturn’d, Dropping their tears like moonlight rain; And though her lip, fond raver! burn’d With words of passion, bold, profane, Yet there was light around her brow, A holiness in those dark eyes, Which show’d, – though wandering earthward now, – Her spirit’s home was in the skies. (MCP 6: 264–65) Clarke-Whitfield sets this tumultuous passage, which describes the earthbound passion and the piety of a single character, in a musically flexible recitative. This is followed by an aria – a genre associated with emotional outpourings – which directs the reader’s response to Hinda: “Yes—for a spirit pure as hers/ Is always pure, ev’n while it errs” (MCP 6: 265). Once again, Moore blends sentiment with piety. Moore’s regular musical collaborator Stevenson found inspiration in a passage shortly after this: Hinda, captured by a Gheber warship, awakes ­ heber’s from a swoon to hear the words: “Tremble not, love, thy G here” (MCP 6: 278). Hinda’s response to this – an outpouring of pure ­sentiment – was an inspired choice for the composer to set: ‘Twas his own voice –she could not err— Throughout the breathing world’s extent

14  Sarah McCleave There was but one such voice for her, So kind, so soft, so eloquent! (MCP 6: 278) Hinda’s sense of isolation has vanished, although her forebodings for her lover and his community remain (“thoul’t never see / To-morrow’s sun”; MCP 6: 292). Indeed, the invading Arabs vanquish the Ghebers; Hinda, again at sea (sent away by her beloved Hafed for safety) witnesses her lover throw himself into the flames of the Ghebers’ sacred temple; she, in turn, throws herself into the water, “Deep, deep,– where never care or pain / Shall reach her innocent heart again!” (MCP 6: 319). Moore marks this most poignant of moments by introducing the Peri to sing a song, “Farewell—farewell to thee, Araby’s daughter”. The lyrics offer a crafty balance of imagery celebrating the beauty of Hinda and her surroundings sharply juxtaposed with the vocabulary of strong sentiment. And so, we have “Oh! fair as the sea-flower close to thee growing” contrasted with the “wither’d” frame of a lute, the “doom” of Hinda’s “tomb” remembered by those in “Araby’s green sunny highlands”, a “merry date-season” whose attendees will “weep” as they hear this story, and a flower-bedecked village-maid “mournfully” turning from her mirror as she remembers Hinda’s “fate”. Later verses list the beautiful objects the Peri will gather to embellish Hinda’s grave, from the “gem of the billow” to the “rosiest stems” of coral, before the song concludes with a torrent of tears: Farewell – farewell- until Pity’s sweet fountain Is lost in the hearts of the fair and the brave, They’ll weep for the Chieftain who died on that mountain. They’ll weep for the Maiden who sleeps in this wave. (MCP 6: 319–22) Moore’s lyrics conclude with a community of witnesses united in their shared somatic response to the pathetic story of Hinda and Hafed. Feramorz sings “The Light of the Haram” to Lalla Rookh while they enjoy “the most exquisite moments” together as their journey draws to a close (MCP 7: 10). As befits the gentle nature of Feramorz’s tale (essentially a lover’s tiff smoothed over by the actions of a benign enchantress), the evocation of song within this story embellishes rather than intensifies. “I know where the winged visions dwell”, rendered by the enchantress Namouna, details the ingredients for a love potion she will make to help the lovely Nourmahal – “light” of Selim’s harem – win back the attention of her lord and master (MCP 7: 32–34). “From Chindara’s warbling fount” is sung by Love’s spirit to remind the sleeping ­Nourmahal of music’s power to effect reconciliation (MCP 7: 35–38). At an evening’s feast, “a lovely Georgian maid” celebrates pleasure in song: “Come hither, come hither—by night and by day, / We linger in pleasures that never are gone” (MCP 7: 47–49). The banqueters are

Community, Network, and Sentiment  15 immediately treated to the strains of a second song; all present declare the singer to be “the mask’d Arabian maid” Nourmahal (MCP 7: 51). She sings a lyric of some eleven verses, a direct sentimental appeal to her lover that reminds him of the good times they have shared. The first, tenth, and final verses suffice for suggesting the narrative arc: Fly to the desert, fly with me, Our Arab tents are rude for thee; But, oh! the choice what heart can doubt, Of tents with love, or thrones without? ............................ But if for me thou dost forsake Some other maid, and rudely break Her worshipp’d image from its base, To give to me the ruin’d place; – Then, fare thee well – I’d rather make My bower upon some icy lake When thawing suns begin to shine, Than trust to love so false as thine! (MCP 7: 51–54) Selim, deeply moved by the “pathos in this lay”, embraces his beloved while promising eternal love (“And never leave those eyes again”; MCP 7: 54). As he catches Nourmahal in his arms, he releases a series of somatic responses from her: “blushes”, “brighten’d glance[s]”, “dawning smiles”, and “sighs” all serve to tell us that the lovers are firmly united (MCP 7: 55). Aptly, Moore reserves this lightly pitched appeal to our sentiments for this, the one song that affects the denouement of the plot – and is sung directly by one protagonist to the other. The story of Lalla Rookh contains no further songs, as she has come to journey’s end and Feramorz departs her train. After a “wakeful and anxious” night she processes in “melancholy pageant” to her unfamiliar groom (MCP 7: 64–65). Moore introduces a sudden plot twist: as the princess approaches the throne of Aliris – King of Bucharia and her rightful spouse – she is presented with the vision of Feramorz in royal garb. He had travelled with her train in disguise in order to woo her. And so Lalla Rookh marries the man to whom she is already emotionally bound, for what we are assured is a life of “happiness” (MCP 7: 69). If Lalla Rookh features sympathetic characters, pathetic situations, and moving songs, the Irish Melodies, as a ten-volume series with first editions spanning just over a quarter of a century (1808–1834), can be understood as Moore’s sustained bid to cultivate a community of readers sympathetic to Ireland, to her history, to her culture – and, through this process, also to her contemporary political situation. Yet Moore is

16  Sarah McCleave extremely careful not to directly evoke current or recent events (Hunt, Sources and Style 15–17), demonstrating a political savvy that is not always appreciated (cf L. Davis 152). As Sanders explains, “Sympathy is an emotion . . . made up of a potent concoction of guilt, affection, and admiration” (43–44). Moore is particularly adept at cultivating these feelings through his lyrics. Moore develops Ireland – personified as Erin – as worthy of affection. In “Erin, the tear and the smile in thine eyes”, she is a sorrowful figure longing for peace. In “As Vanquish’d Erin”, she weeps at the annual event (12th July) of Discord arising from the river Boyne to shoot “venom’d darts” (MCP 4: 67). The pathos of Erin’s situation is developed further in “Tho’ dark are our sorrows” (“The Prince’s Day”): And thus, Erin, my country tho’ broken thou art, There’s a lustre within thee, that ne’er will decay; A spirit, which beams through each suffering part, And now smiles at all pain on the Prince’s Day. (MCP 3: 287) “Let Erin remember the days of old” sees Ireland recalling her past glories; in “Oh! Blame not the bard”, Moore promises to celebrate the glorious past of a figure worthy of love: “Thy name, loved Erin, shall live in his songs” (MCP 3: 266). In living up to this promise, Moore cultivates admiration for Ireland through a number of strategies. He establishes it as a place of extraordinary beauty, as in the final two verses of “Sweet Innisfallen”: Weeping or smiling, lovely isle! And all the lovelier for thy tears— For tho’ but rare thy sunny smile, ’Tis heav’n’s own glance when it appears. Like feeling hearts, whose joys are few, But, when indeed they come, divine— The brightest light the sun e’er threw Is lifeless to one gleam of thine! (MCP 4:54) Moore further suggests that Ireland’s people are honourable: in the story of “Rich and rare were the gems she wore”, a richly attired and ­bejewelled young lady travels the length and breadth of Ireland without any insult (MCP 3: 236–37; anecdote drawn from Warner’s History of Ireland).11 Moore further draws on the ancient history and mythology of Ireland in a dozen of the Irish Melodies that highlight the bravery of past leaders or warriors.12 In doing so, he evokes a “taxonomy of glory” as one of several “strategies . . . deployed to maintain an imagined national self” (Pittock 235). “Remember the glories of Brien the brave” celebrates

Community, Network, and Sentiment  17 Brian Bohru, High-King of Ireland whose forces were victorious against a Viking-Irish alliance at the Battle of Clontarf (23 April 1014). Bohru’s warriors establish their mettle with a pledge to “Freedom, whose smile we shall never resign” (MCP 3: 225). In Moore’s “Song of O’Ruark” (“The valley lay smiling before me”), Moore blends a celebration of Irish valour with the pathos of a personal tale of betrayal to render the situation immediate as well as sympathetic to his readers: Moore’s lyrics tell the story of Mach Murchad king of Leinster, who abducts the all-too-willing wife of O’Ruark prince of Breffni. Mach Murchad flees to England, enlisting the help of Henry II and thus encouraging the English to military action in Ireland. While the first two verses concentrate on Breffni’s emotions at the absence and evident betrayal by his spouse, the third verse moves from personal to political reflection – ‘Our country shall bleed for thy shame’. The last verse continues in this mode, anticipating that the invaders as ‘tyrants . . . long will remain’, with a notably direct final couplet: ‘On our side is Virtue and Erin, / On theirs is Saxon and Guilt’. (McCleave, “The Pretty Girl Milking her Cow”) In this adept blend of the personal and the political, Moore calls on our sympathy in more than one quarter. Many Irish Melodies invite sympathy for a wronged party; in no fewer than nine where freedom or liberty is a theme,13 the wrong experienced is liberty’s loss. Remarkably, Irish Melodies that evoke the harp often concern themselves with lost freedom, including “My gentle harp”, “Sing, sweet harp”, and “The harp that once”. In the conclusion of “The Minstrel Boy”, the fallen musician destroys his harp rather than risk it becoming a slave to the enemy: The Minstrel fell!—but the foeman’s chain Could not bring his proud soul under; The harp he lov’d ne’er spoke again, For he tore its chords asunder; And said, ‘No chains shall sully thee, Thou soul of love and bravery! Thy songs were made for the pure and free, They shall never sound in slavery.’ (MCP 3: 318) The narrator manages to restore freedom in “Dear harp of my country”: “When proudly, my own Island Harp, I unbound thee, / And gave all thy chords to light, freedom, and song!” (MCP 3: 354). But usually the harp’s fate (an allegory for Ireland’s) is a sad one. She is cast as a wronged mistress in “’Tis believed that this harp”; she mourns the death of a patriot in “Shall the harp then be silent”. In these songs, wrong or

18  Sarah McCleave deprivation is affected by an (usually) unnamed guilty party. Remember Sander’s suggestion that guilt is part of the “potent concoction” that arouses sympathy (43–44). Moore creates a community of sympathetic readers through his choice of themes and use of language. Notably, many of his Irish Melodies are actually about community or friendship – no fewer than twenty-eight, or 23% of the entire series. At the lighter end of the spectrum we have drinking songs that celebrate community and conviviality,14 at the darker end are the numerous songs concerned with the loss of community, or with exile from a loved one.15 At one extreme, the community left behind is now but a desolate ruin, as in the final couplet for “Yes, sad one of Sion”: “And, a ruin, at last, for the earthworm to cover, / The Lady of Kingdoms lay low in the dust” (MCP 4: 34). The song’s sub-title, “The Parallel”, invites a particular association with Ireland. Sometimes Moore’s narrator is an unwilling exile from a place of refuge, as in the final verse to “Sweet Innisfallen”: No more unto thy shores to come, But, on the world’s rude ocean tost, Dream of thee sometimes, as a home Of sunshine he had seen and lost. (MCP 4: 53) Moore creates for his community of readers a world of ruin and refuge, of sorrow and joy, of displaced exiles and convivial communities.

The Reputations of Thomas Moore: An Introduction to the Volume The present volume of chapters stems from a call for papers issued as part of McCleave and O’Hanlon’s project, ERIN, co-funded by the ­Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union. The response demonstrated a coherent concern with determining who was reading or drawing on Moore, and the responses (implicit or explicit) of these communities and networks to his work. In our opening section on poetry, David Bentley demonstrates that “A Canadian Boat Song”, read as it was by distinct English, French, and Irish communities within a nascent nation state, performs a variety of cultural tasks acting as an index of the adaptability to Moore’s work to different purposes, circumstances, and historical moments in the course of the nineteenth century. This sense of adaptability is reinforced by Máire Ní Fhlathúin’s essay exploring the evocation of Moore’s verse style between 1828 and 1833 in Bombay’s Oriental Sporting Magazine, a monthly periodical. These new poems, she concludes, “exhibit concerns and values radically at odds with those of their source-texts, as Moore’s language of Irish sentimental nationalism is adapted in the service of a colonial poetics of dominance over India” (44).

Community, Network, and Sentiment  19 In Sara Medina Calzada’s study of Moore in the Hispanic world, he variously served as a model for “literary renovation” (61–62), as a reflection of “the different aesthetic, moral, and political concerns” of different translators (63), or as an indication of “the evolution in the literary tastes and sensibilities in the Hispanic world” (70). Moore’s periodic presence in the geographically and temporally diverse series of cultural exchanges outlined by Medina is a most interesting example of network. Brian Caraher’s chapter considers the impact of the writer and editor, John O’Reilly, on the presence of Moore in the public spheres of newsprint and published anthology in the United States. O’Reilly, Caraher argues, draws on Moore to enhance his own promotion of Irish cultural pluralism. This editor’s heavy favouring of Moore in two anthologies of Irish song published in the late 1880s demonstrates the force that an influential individual can have within a network – as well as indicating the high reputation that Moore enjoyed in America at that time. In the second section, Music, Tríona O’Hanlon considers the place of Moore’s six-volume series of National Airs as inspiration for ­L­ondon-based musicians who arranged or edited his songs for publication between 1825 and 1880. These activities formed part of a wider European network of musical exchange that promoted the music of national or regional communities. Regional factors determine different appreciations of Robert Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri, but these are broadly united in reflecting “patriotic modes of thought” (134), as Anja Bunzel’s study of this work’s reception in Leipzig and Dublin reveals. Moore’s Irish Melodies also appealed to “American patriotism and the egalitarian ideals of republicanism”, as Sarah Gerk demonstrates (142). Gerk examines the reception of the Irish Melodies in the context of transnational political and social networks that connected Ireland and the United States. She argues that Stevenson’s music deserves to be appreciated as part of a cosmopolitan and multi-national music practice associated with revolutionary causes. Our final section, Politics, continues the discovery of Moore’s reputations in America with Jennifer Martin’s chapter. Moore’s early political writing was influenced by his early exposure to the partisan network of Federalists, and contained intellectual inconsistencies – despite exposure to dispossessed communities (native Americans, slaves) during his American travels. While American reception of Moore’s combative Epistles, Odes and other Poems (1806) was uniformly frosty, he eventually managed to gain a favourable reputation as his Irish Melodies and Lalla Rookh appealed to a broad community of taste. In her chapter on the reputation of Moore in the “Greek-speaking world”, ­Kathleen O’Donnell demonstrates how Balkan radical scholars translated Celtic literature to “unite people of different faiths” (142) – and so, here Moore’s “In Imitation of Ossian” (1797) becomes part of a wider

20  Sarah McCleave network of political and cultural exchange as an example of what we now term fratriotism, or writing combative of imperialism (Pittock 235–58). Benatti’s contribution on the Young Ireland movement of the 1840s is a fitting close to this particular volume. This network’s various acts in the public sphere of print (newspapers and anthologies) were intended, she argues, to broaden its community of readers. These actions demonstrated the complex and nuanced responses of a single network’s members to Moore; he was clearly read and appreciated in quite distinct ways, serving both as a model and as an impetus for change in Young Ireland’s quest to define a national school of poetry.

Conclusion Moore’s cultivation of sentimentality has an obvious benefit for his reputation in creating works that could have a mass appeal and which suited the sensibilities of the Victorian era particularly well. His renowned opaqueness meant his writing – in celebrating freedom, harmonious community, and other universal values such as faith – could appeal to a wide community of readers. Much of Moore’s work was also readily adaptable to the interests of political networks looking for cultural works to fuel their cause. These very acts of adaptation, translation, and circulation pooled his works within the wider network of the marketplace itself, within which they were prominent participants for a good century or so before the process of literary canonisation marginalised Moore as a writer for much of the twentieth century. Moore was more than a mere commercial success, master of a genre of writing (the sentimental) that is perhaps easy to dismiss. Blair champions Longfellow and Tennyson for commanding an “emotional range, in many instances . . . closer to the difficult responses of affect or ­passion – including unresolvable emotions of pain or loss – than the emotions traditionally associated with clichéd sentimentality, such as pity and tenderness”; she also observes that her authors “ask tricky questions, questions with political as well as personal implications, about the possibility of shared communal feeling” (14). Moore, too, confronts “unresolvable” pain and loss (e.g. “The Fire-Worshippers” and many of the Irish Melodies), and was a master at blending the personal and the political. While some in the Young Ireland movement may have found his “melancholy, defeatist tone” problematic (Benatti, 215), this quality establishes him as an estimable author of some depth and range. And yet the moral dimensions of his poetry and song lyrics, as well as their accessibility for his readers, have the potential to appeal to “popular judgement” (Bourdieu).16 This collection of chapters positions Moore – his successes and the challenges he faced – within a widespread, international community of readers which evolved and expanded with the growth and change of global

Community, Network, and Sentiment  21 networks for disseminating cultural products. The artistic tastes of these readers, and the political or financial goals of particular networks, all affected the transmission of Moore’s work, as the chapters demonstrate. Moore’s spheres of influence and the role of his work in the articulation of personal and political identities take centre stage in this, the first study to focus on his reputations across the world.

Notes 1 I was stimulated to develop my ideas about Moore and sentimentalism after hearing Jane Moore’s presentation, “Re-thinking [Thomas] Moore”. Keynote paper, Queen’s University Belfast, 1 June 2018. 2 This chapter was to explore theatre networks that disseminated Thomas Moore’s works, but due to space constraints this consideration has been deferred to a future publication. 3 I am grateful to Brian Caraher for the recommendation to read Bourdieu while developing this chapter. 4 In 1854, the London-based firm of George Routledge, who published some of Moore’s work from the late 1830s, expanded to add an office in New York. 5 For further on European editions of the lyrics to the Irish Melodies, see ­McCleave, “Moore’s Irish Melodies: Texts and Illustrations”. 6 As Moore’s contributions to the musical sphere were only in the genre of domestic song, he would have been excluded from the musical canon as a matter of course (see Erauw for the link between musical canonisation and repertory primarily experienced in the concert hall). Paradoxically, this meant that Moore’s lyrics appear to have enjoyed a more prominent profile in anthologies of song for a longer period than was the case with anthologies of poetry; see Hathi Trust for evidence of Moore’s sustained presence in published musical scores – both individual settings and in anthologies – post 1890. Also, Moore’s songs remained likely subjects for “covers” by diverse recording artists across the twentieth century, as these activities were not part of a self-conscious attempt at canonisation. 7 Until the final decades of the nineteenth century, published music was produced on engraved plates, which publishers might keep and re-use for future editions. British music publishers, in particular, tended to omit the date of publication. 8 From 1 August 2019, COPAC will be superseded by the Library Hub ­Discover service. 9 Moore credits William as “the original publisher”; see Hunt, “Moore, ­Stevenson, Bishop and the Powers”, 84. 10 For further, see McCleave, “Music to Moore’s Irish Melodies in Dublin and London”. 11 This is either The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in Ireland, or The History of Ireland: from the Earliest Authentic Accounts to the Year 1171, by Ferdinando Warner (1703–1768). 12 Irish Melodies demonstrating a taxonomy of glory include: “Go where glory waits thee”, “Remember the glories of Brien the brave”, “The harp that once”, “How oft has the Benshee cried”, “When he, who adores thee”, “Let Erin remember the days of old”, “Sublime was the warning”, “By the hope within us springing” (“Before the Battle”), “Night clos’d around the conqueror’s way” (“After the battle”), “Avenging and bright”, “While History’s muse”, and “Lay his sword by his side”.

22  Sarah McCleave 13 Irish Melodies with freedom or liberty as a theme include: “Remember thee”, “Remember the glories of Brien the brave”, “The harp that once”, “Sublime was the warning”, “Erin, oh Erin”, “By the hope within us springing” (“­B efore the Battle”), “Night clos’d around the conqueror’s way” ­(“After the Battle”), “Weep on, weep on” (“Song of sorrow”), “Dear harp of my country”, “The valley lay smiling before me” (“Song of O’Ruark”), “The minstrel boy”, “Oh, where’s the slave so lowly”, “Though humble the banquet”, “My gentle harp”, “Oh for the swords of former time!”, “Oh, the sight entrancing”, “Sing, sweet harp”, “The dream of those days”, “Come o’er the sea”, “’Tis gone, and for ever”, “Forget not the field”, “Lay his sword by his side”, and “The wine cup is circling”. 14 The drinking songs in the Irish Melodies include “Wreath the bowl”, “Ne’er ask the hour”, “Drink of this cup”, “One bumper at parting”, “Fill the bumper fair”, and “Quick! we have but a second”. For an analysis of “Come send round the wine”, see Rooney, “Problematizing Primitivism”. 15 The Irish Melodies that consider loss of community or exile include: “Tho’ the last glimpse of Erin with sorrow I see”, “Take back the virgin page”, “St Senanus and the Lady”, “’Tis the last rose of summer”, “When through life unblest we rove”, “Farewell! but whenever you welcome the hour”, “No, not more welcome”, “As slow our ship”, “Sail on, sail on”, “Sweet Innisfallen”, “Alone in crowds”, and “Oh Arranmore”. 16 For the “ethical base” of working-class or popular taste; for the distinction (in classification) between works of arts offering immediate “gratification” as compared with those inviting “contemplation”; for the concept of “popular judgement” see Bourdieu, especially pp. 5–6.

Bibliography Works not found here are listed in a concluding Bibliography, which contains references common to more than one chapter. Barnes, James J. Authors, Publishers and Politicians: The Quest for an Anglo-­ American Copyright Agreement 1815–1854. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974. Blair, Kristie. “‘Thousands of Throbbing Hearts’ – Sentimentality and Community in Popular Victorian Poetry: Longfellow’s Evangeline and Tennyson’s Enoch Arden.” 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century, vol. 19, no. 4, 2007. doi:10.16995/ntn.455. Accessed 21 Apr. 2019. Bourdieu, Pierre. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. 1979. Translated by Richard Nice, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984. “Brief Summary of Country News.” The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, vol. 21, no. 443, 1880, pp. 37–39. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3358950. Caraher, Brian G., and Sarah McCleave. “(Introduction) Thomas Moore and Romantic Inspiration Reassessed: Enlightened Tolerance and Interdisciplinary Poetics.” Eds. McCleave and Caraher, pp. 1–27. Clarke-Whitfield, John. The Spirit’s Song in Lalla Rookh written by Thomas Moore the Music by Dr. John Clarke of Cambridge. London, 1817. Daverio, John. Robert Schumann: Herald of a “New Poetic Age.” Oxford UP, 1997. Eliot, Simon. “From Few and Expensive to many and Cheap: The British Book Market 1800–1900.” Eds. Eliot and Rose, 2007, pp. 291–302.

Community, Network, and Sentiment  23 ———, and Jonathan Rose, editors. A Companion to the History of the Book. Blackwell, 2007. Erauw, Willem. “Canon Formation: Some more Reflections on Lydia Goehr’s Imaginary Museum of Musical Works.” Acta Musicologica, vol. 70, no. 2, 1998, pp. 109–15. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/932705. Accessed 21 Apr. 2019. Guichard, Charlotte. “Taste Communities: The Rise of the Amateur in ­Eighteenth-Century Paris.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 45, no. 4, 2012, pp. 519–47. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/ecs.2012.0055. Heath, Charles, and Richard Westall. Illustrations of Lalla Rookh, an Oriental Romance by Thomas Moore, Engraved by Charles Heath, from Paintings by R. Westall, R.A. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Browne, 1817. Kooistra, Lorraine Janzen. Poetry, Pictures, and Popular Publishing: The Illustrated Gift Book and Victorian Visual Culture, 1855–1875. Ohio UP, 2011. McCleave, Sarah. “The Genesis of Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies, 1808– 1834.” Cheap Print and Popular Song in the Nineteenth Century: A Cultural History of the Songster. Eds. Paul Watt, Derek B. Scott, and Patrick Spedding, Cambridge UP, 2017, pp. 47–69. ———. “Moore’s Irish Melodies in Europe.” O’Hanlon and McCleave, ERIN. ———. “The Pretty Girl Milking her Cow.” Romantic National Song Network, U of Glasgow, 2019. https://rnsn.glasgow.ac.uk/ireland/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2019. ———. “The Tales and Travels of Lalla Rookh.” O’Hanlon and McCleave, ERIN. ———. “Moore’s Irish Melodies: Texts and Illustrations.” O’Hanlon and ­McCleave, ERIN. ———, and O’Hanlon, Tríona. “Project ERIN and the Response of European Composers to Thomas Moore’s Lalla Rookh.” 15th Annual Plenary Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland – School of Arts, English and Languages, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom. 17 June 2017. Moore, Thomas, and Charles Heath. Lalla Rookh an Oriental Romance by Thomas Moore Illustrated with Engravings from Drawings by famous Artists under the Superintendance of Charles Heath. Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1838. Moore, Thomas, and Daniel Maclise. Lalla Rookh an Oriental Romance. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1849. Moore, Thomas, and Edmund Evans. Lalla Rookh an Oriental Romance by Thomas Moore with Illustrations Engraved by Edmund Evans from Original Drawings by G.H. Thomas, F.R. Pickersgill, R.A., Birket Foster, E.H. Corbould, etc. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1846. Moore, Thomas, and Francis Robinson. A Selection of the Irish Melodies with Symphonies and Accompaniments by Sir John Stevenson … and characteristic Words by Thomas Moore edited by Francis Robinson. Robinson and Bussell, 1850? Moore, Thomas, and George Alexander Macfarren. Moore’s Irish Melodies with New Symphonies and Accompaniments by G.A. Macfarren. Cramer, Beale & Chappell, 1860?

24  Sarah McCleave Moore, Thomas, John Stevenson, and Henry Bishop. The Harmonized Airs, from Moore’s Irish Melodies, with the Original Symphonies and Accompaniments by Sir John Stevenson, Mus. Doc. and Sir Henry Bishop for Two, Three, or Four Voices. Addison, Hollier, and Lucas; Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts; Hime and Addison, 1858. Moore, Thomas, and John Tenniel. Lalla Rookh an Oriental Romance by Thomas Moore with Sixty-nine Illustrations from Original Drawings by John Tenniel, Engraved on Wood by the Brothers Dalziel and five Ornamental Pages of Persian Design by T. Sulman Engraved on Wood by H. N. Woods. Longman, Green, Longman, & Roberts, 1861. Moore, Thomas, and Michael William Balfe. Irish Melodies by Thomas Moore, with New Symphonies and Accompaniments by M.W. Balfe. J.A. Novello, 1859. ———. A Selection of fifty of Moore’s Irish Melodies Harmonized for four Voices by M.W. Balfe. J. A. Novello, 1859. Moore, Thomas, Owen Jones [illuminator], Henry Warren [illuminator], and Albert Warren [lithographer]. Paradise and the Peri. Day & Son, 1860. Moore, Thomas, and Richard Westall. Lalla Rookh an Oriental Romance by Thomas Moore. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1828. Moore, Thomas, and William Henry Montgomery. Moore’s Irish Melodies, Thirty-six of the Best, as Vocal Duets with Symphonies and Accompaniments for the Pianoforte by W. H. Montgomery. Musical Bouquet Office, J. Allen, 1861? Mumby, Frank A. The House of Routledge 1834–1934 with a History of Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Other Associated Firms. George Routledge & Sons, 1934. Reichardt, Ulfried. “The Network as a Category in Cultural Studies and as a Model for Conceptualizing America.” Amerikastudien / American Studies, vol. 60, no. 1, ‘Network Theory and American Studies’, 2015, pp. 17–35. www.jstor.org/stable/44071893. Accessed 30 Jan. 2019. Rooney, Sheila. “Problematizing Primitivism: Contesting Antiquarianism in Moore’s Irish Melodies.” Eds. McCleave and Caraher, pp. 108–27. Sanders, Joe Sutliff. “Spinning Sympathy: Orphan Girl Novels and the Sentimental Tradition.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 1, Spring 2008, pp. 41–61. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/chq.2008.0005. ­Accessed 7 Feb. 2019. Stevenson, Sir John. ‘Twas his own Voice … Written by Thomas Moore, the Music by Sir John Stevenson. J. Power, 1817? Wald, James. “Periodicals and Periodicity.” Eds. Eliot and Rose, pp. 421–33.

Part I

Moore’s Reputations as a Poet

2 “A Canadian Boat Song” Origins and Impact in English Canada D.M.R. Bentley

“We drove up the beautiful shores of the St. Lawrence [from Montreal], and saw the villages and villas which adorn them”, wrote Arthur Conan Doyle in Our Second American Adventure (1923); “[o]ne small house of stone was pointed out in which Tom Moore dwelt and where he wrote the ‘Canadian Boat Song.’ . . . I must confess that I never knew before that Moore had been in Canada” (235). That Doyle knew of Moore’s poem but not the circumstances of its production is perhaps not surprising, for its staying power as lyric and song was remarkable. ­Certainly, of all the pieces that Moore wrote in and about North America in Epistles, Odes and Other Poems (1806) and later gathered together as “­Poems Relating to America” in his Poetical Works (1840) none has had a greater and more extended impact on Canadian writing and culture than “A Canadian Boat Song”. Written on the River St. Lawrence, one of six poetic products of his visit to Upper Canada (Ontario), Lower Canada (­Quebec), and Nova Scotia in the summer and autumn of 1804. First published in London with accompanying music by Moore himself, “A Canadian Boat Song” has been recognised as having exerted a significant influence on nineteenth-century French-Canadian poetry, especially (but not solely) through the translation by Dominique ­Mondelet that was first published in La Bibliothèque canadienne in 1827 and subsequently reprinted, as Yolande Grisé has made widely known, in the Répertorie national, ou Recueil de littérature canadienne in 1848 and 1893 (51–54). Among the works discussed by Grisé in her survey are Louis-Honoré Fréchette’s “Chant du batelier canadien” (1859), a loose translation of “A Canadian Boat Song” that is notable for its studied ­Romanticism, Benjamin Sulte’s “Le Vallon des raisseaux” (1869), a grudging acknowledgement of Moore’s prestige in French Canada, and Émile Nelligan’s “Le Vaisseau d’or” (1904) a classic of French-Canadian literature that may owe debts both to “A Canadian Boat Song” and to another of Moore’s poems about Canada, “Written on Passing Deadman’s Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Late in the Evening, September 1804” (Bentley, “Thomas Moore in Canada” 361). Less systematically examined, and no less significant, are the origins of “A Canadian Boat Song” in previous writing about Canada and its long-lived and multi-faceted

28  D.M.R. Bentley presence in English Canada as, by turns, a literary site piece, a source of Irish-Canadian pride, a contributor to the rhetoric of Canadian nationalism, and a component of tourist guides of the sort that Conan Doyle may have read.

I “A Canadian Boat Song” is brief enough to quote in full (its epigraph from Quintilian’s De Institutione Oratoria 1.10.16 translates as “And song encourages the rower”): A Canadian Boat Song. Written on the River St. Lawrence “Et remigem cantus hortatur” Quintilian Faintly as tolls the evening chime Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time. Soon as the woods on shore look dim, We’ll sing at St. Ann’s our parting hymn. Row, brothers, row, the stream runs fast, The Rapids are near and the daylight’s past. Why should we yet our sail unfurl? There is not a breath the blue wave to curl. But, when the wind blows off the shore, Oh! sweetly we’ll rest our weary oar. Blow, breezes, blow, the stream runs fast, The Rapids are near and the daylight’s past. Utawas’ tide! this trembling moon Shall see us float over thy surges soon. Saint of this green isle! hear our prayers, Oh, grant us cool heavens and favouring airs. Blow, breezes, blow, the stream runs fast, The Rapids are near and the daylight’s past. (MCP 2: 322–24)1 Clearly, Moore’s poem owes much in diction and temporal setting to Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” (1751), the opening line of which is, of course, “The curfew tolls the knell of parting day” (117), but it also draws upon materials closer to its declared compositional setting. By Moore’s own account in his footnotes to “A Canadian Boat Song”, it was composed to an “air which . . . [the] boatmen sang . . . frequently” during his voyage on a bateau (not, as is sometimes assumed, in a ­canoe)2 down the St. Lawrence from Kingston to Montreal in August 1804 (see ML 1: 78–79). Moore may have been cued to listen and respond to the

“A Canadian Boat Song”  29 singing of French Canadian boatmen by two works that he mentions in his notes to “Poems Relating to America” (MCP 2: 233n. and 296n.) and elsewhere: Isaac Weld’s Travels through . . . the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada (1799), and the Duc de La Rochefoucauld Liancourt’s, Travels . . . with an Authentic Account of Lower Canada – an English translation of which by H. Neuman was published in 1799. “The French Canadians have in general a good ear for music, and sing duets with tolerable accuracy”, writes Weld; “[t]hey have one very favourite duet amongst them, called the “rowing duet”, during which, as they sing, they mark time to with each stroke of the oar; indeed, when rowing in smooth water, they mark the time of most of the airs they sing in the same manner” (2: 51). “Canadians [that is, French Canadians] rowed our boat”, recalls La Rochefoucauld Liancourt of an outing on Lake Ontario near Kingston, and according to their custom ceased not a moment to sing. One of them sings a song, which the rest repeat, and all row to the tune. The songs are gay and merry, and frequently somewhat more; they are only interrupted by the laugh they occasion . . . [T]hey never cease until they lay the oars down again. You fancy yourself removed into a province of France; and this illusion is sweet. (1: 293) It is possible to hear echoes of both these accounts in “A Canadian Boat Song” – Weld’s in “Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time” and, more faintly, La Rochefoucauld Liancourt’s “Oh! sweetly we’ll rest our weary oar”3 (Figure 2.1). Neither Weld nor La Rochefoucauld Liancourt made an attempt to transcribe the songs that they heard, but Moore states that the “air” that he “adapted . . . appeared to be a long, incoherent story, of which  . . . [he] could understand but little, from the barbarous pronunciation of the Canadians”, adding that “[i]t begins ‘Dans mon chemin j’ai rencontré / Deux cavaliers très-bien montés’; And the refrain to every verse was, ‘A l’ombre d’un bois je m’en vais jouer, / A  l’ombre d’un bois je m’en danser’” (MCP 2: 322–23n). No song has been found that would either confirm or disconfirm the accuracy of Moore’s transcriptions, but there is no reason to doubt that he made an honest attempt to understand the words of the voyageurs. If “très-bien montés” was a double entendre (very well mounted/very well endowed), the song was an example of the “somewhat more” to which La Rochefoucauld Liancourt tactfully refers. Moore’s decision to set the poem near St. Anne Rapid – off the south western end of Montreal Island where the Ottawa River joins the St.  Lawrence – was probably suggested by a paragraph in A ­ lexander Mackenzie’s “General History of the Fur Trade” in Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Laurence, through the continent of North

30  D.M.R. Bentley

Figure 2.1  “ A Canadian Boat Song”, lyrics and music by Thomas Moore (London, 1805). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, ­ Queen’s University Belfast.

America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, in the Years 1789 and 1793 (1801), from which he quotes in his note to “We’ll sing at St. Ann’s our parting hymn”: Leaving La Chine . . . [the voyageurs] proceed to St. Ann’s, within two miles of the Western extremity of the island of Montreal, the

“A Canadian Boat Song”  31 lake of the two mountains being in sight, which may be termed the commencement of the Utawas River. At the rapid of St. Ann they are obliged to take out part, if not the whole of their lading. It is from this spot that the Canadians consider they take their departure, as it possesses the last church on the island, which is dedicate to the tutelar saint of voyagers. (1: xxix; italics added to indicate the sentences quoted by Moore, MCP 2: 232n) In a previous note to the title of the poem, Moore states that the “air” that “he ventured to harmonize” in “A Canadian Boat Song” is “supposed to be by . . . voyageurs who go to the Grand Portage by the Utawas River” and directs readers to Mackenzie’s “General History of the Fur Trade” for “an account of this wonderful undertaking”. By quoting and referring to Mackenzie’s Voyages, he simultaneously lends authenticity to “A Canadian Boat Song” and evokes “the spirit of adventure” and “the idea of traversing a vast and unknown continent” that a few years earlier had “engaged and inflamed” the “imagination” of the reviewer of Mackenzie’s book in the October 1802 number of the Edinburgh ­Review (qtd. in Hopwood 29). Yet it was not only “the spirit of adventure” that appealed to the imagination of its early readers: its tranquil and crepuscular mood lends psychological complexity to the voyageurs and, indeed, constructs them as sensitive and introspective Romantics whose piety marks them as part of a culture that has escaped the French ­Revolution. (As G.F. Needler notes, Moore composed “A ­Canadian Boat Song” “almost at the moment when Napoleon . . . crowned himself ­Emperor of the French” [14].) Both in its centrifugal evocation of the vast territories of the north and west and its centripetal depiction of the quietist subjectivity of the voyageurs “A Canadian Boat Song” is aligned with what Grisé aptly calls the “courant littéraire romantique” (52) of the early nineteenth century. In concert with Mackenzie’s Voyages, it created the “mythical image” of the voyageurs as “pious, devout, singing” adventurers (Gross 78).

II In the two decades following its publication in England in Epistles, Odes and Other Poems and, in the previous year as a pamphlet with sheet music entitled “The Rapids. A Canadian Boat Song”, “A Canadian Boat Song” was sung, quoted, and reprinted numerous times in Canada.4 Within two years of its initial publication it appeared as “The Rapids. A Canadian Boat Song” in the 11 May 1807 issue of the Quebec Mercury, a newspaper owned and edited by Thomas Cary, the author of Abram’s Plains. A Poem (1789), and an assiduous promoter of poetry in Lower Canada. In May 1813 while in Trois-Rivières (on the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Quebec) awaiting the arrival of a ship to take him

32  D.M.R. Bentley up the St. Lawrence to take part in the War of 1812, John Lang wrote in his diary that Here for the first time I heard the celebrated Canadian boat song sung with all its native graces. A large canoe full of people struck it up crossing the river in the evening. Two voices sung a stanza first and at the end of it the whole party joined in chorus. It was evidently the original air which Moore has harmonized . . . It happened to be Ascension eve and a number of the habitants who had been across the river at chapel were returning in their canoes. As they passed they struck up their boat song with all its native wildness. The scene was new and we almost fancied ourselves in a fairy land. (Lynde Part II: np) In Five Years’ Residence in the Canadas: Including a Tour through the United States of America in the Year 1823 (1824), the often unreliable Edward Allan Talbot quotes “A Canadian Boat Song” in its entirety below Moore’s transcript of lines from the voyageurs’ song, apparently on the assumption that the lines are part of the “favourite air, called the Boat Song”, that “[t]he Canadians who navigate . . . Batteaux . . . always sing whilst rowing up and down” the St. Lawrence (1: 85n.). That Moore’s poem was widely known among residents of Lower Canada and visitors to the province in the twenty years following its first publication is beyond doubt, and but a premonition of what was to come. Some of the most striking of the subsequent manifestations of the impact of “A Canadian Boat Song” in Canada belong to the subgenre of the literary site piece, the core element of which is a writer’s response to a place whose association with another writer “makes it sacred” (Samuel 209) or, in Henri Lefebvre’s terms, endows it with “an affective kernel or centre” – a cluster of resonances contingent on “a sense of what happened [there] . . . and thereby changed it” (42, 47). (Examples include Wordsworth’s “Where Once We Stood Rejoicing” and his Yarrow series on sites associated with, respectively, Burns and Walter Scott). In such “[r]epresentational spaces”, states Lefebvre, a place is simultaneously “present” in its “actuality” and as a “script” of “associations and connections” (33, 37). Probably the first and most influential literary site pieces inspired by the site associated with “A Canadian Boat Song” appears in Basil Hall’s Travels in North America, in the Years 1827 and 1828, which was first published in 1829 and several times reprinted in the 1830s. “One of the trips which we made from Montreal”, writes Hall of his visit to the island and town in August 1827, “was up the river Ottawa, a stream which has a classical place in every one’s imagination from Moore’s Canadian Boat song; and I shall certainly not destroy, by any attempt at description, the images which that exquisite composition must have left on the mind” (1:190). Before turning to the poem, Hall

“A Canadian Boat Song”  33 describes the large canoes and paddling techniques of the voyageurs and provides a description of their singing that echoes Moore’s description of the poem’s structure and rhythm: “[e]ach Voyageur wields a short . . . paddle, with which he strikes the water about once in a second, keeping strict time with a song from one of the crew, in which all the others join in chorus” (1: 199). The literary site piece that follows is a fulsome tribute both to Moore and to “A Canadian Boat Song”: While, with the true spirit of a master, the great poet . . . retained all that is essentially characteristic and pleasing in these boat songs, and rejected all that is not so, he has contrived, with the skill and taste so peculiarly his own, to borrow the loftiest inspiration from numerous surrounding circumstances, presenting nothing remarkable to the dull senses of ordinary travellers. Yet these highly poetical images, drawn in this way, as it were carelessly, and from every hand, he has combined with such graphic – I had almost said geographical truth, – that the effect is great, even upon those who have never, with their own eyes, seen the “Utawa’s tide ” – nor “flown down the Rapids,” – nor heard “the bell of St Anne’s toll its evening chime”; while the same lines give to distant regions, previously consecrated in our imagination, a vividness of interest when viewed on the spot, of which it is difficult to say how much is due to the magic of the poetry, and how much to the beauty of the real scene. (1: 199) Hall continues, “[i]t is on these occasions that the poet’s fancy, by linking together such scenery and such verse, best knows how to draw all the world in his train, as willing worshippers of his genius” (1: 200). To reinforce his point Hall quotes the last eight lines of the poem (“[l]ines so beautiful, that no use, or abuse, has ever been able to render them commonplace!” [1:200]), and then the part of one of Moore’s notes to the poem describing the effect of the song on him (“I . . . heard this simple air with a pleasure which the finest compositions of the first masters have never given me”, and so on). In Hall’s mind, “A Canadian Boat Song” has not just transformed the scene that inspired it into a “classical ” and “consecrated” place in the “imagination” of its admirers; its “magic” has bestowed on the site a “vividness of interest” that is inseparable from the aesthetic appeal of the scene that inspired it. So gratified was Moore by Hall’s commentary that in 1840 he quoted it extensively in the Preface to the second of the ten volumes of his Poetical Works (MCP 2: xix–xxi) and in 1850 included the same Preface in the much reprinted one-volume edition, thus giving it fresh currency and greatly increasing its reach.5 Probably with an eye on Hall’s literary site piece as well as on the poem itself, Catharine Parr Traill records in The Backwoods of ­C anada: Being Letters from the Wife of an Emigrant Officer (1836) that, as she

34  D.M.R. Bentley and her husband ascended the St. Lawrence in 1832 en route to her backwoods’ farm in Upper Canada, “the island of St. Anne’s” brought “to . . . mind . . . Moore’s Canadian boat song: ‘We’ll sing at St. Anne’s our parting hymn’” (46). Later in the same decade, Caroline Gilman would fantasise in The Poetry of Travelling in the United States (1838) that, as she travelled down the St. Lawrence towards Montreal under a “trembling moon”, she was “perhaps on the very spot where Moore conceived the Canadian boat song” (118). Gilman’s reference to “hear[ing] the beautiful melody [of the song] swell forth on the silent air” on the deck of the steamer suggests that by the late 1830s renditions of “A ­Canadian Boat Song” were sometimes part of the tourist experience on the St. Lawrence.6 It is not known whether it was sung at the appropriate moment in the unrolling of the enormous spools in the entertainment sensation of the northeastern United States and central Canada from 1849 to 1854, William Burr’s Moving Mirror of the Lakes, the ­Niagara, St. Lawrence, and Saguenay Rivers; however, its opening stanza is quoted in the Descriptive and Historical View (1850), which includes the comment that “[m]any who never will see the ‘Uttawas’ [sic] tide’ have sung in cadence to its murmuring tide, till it has become almost a household word” (Burr 23). The most extended and eloquent response to St. Anne Rapid as a “consecrated” site came from the Kingston (Ontario) poet Charles ­Sangster who in August 1853, Burr’s Descriptive and Historical View in hand, travelled by steamer down the St. Lawrence and up the Saguenay River on the journey that would give rise to a series of letters in the ­British Whig (Kingston) and then to his long poem The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay (1856). By 1853, the Rapid had been bypassed by a set of locks, with physical consequences that for Sangster had almost destroyed their “affective kernel”: I expected to see the Rapid (St. Anne’s) which Moore had immortalized in his ‘Canadian Boat Song,’ somewhat deserving the honor with which Erin’s gifted Bard has covered it; but I was sadly mistaken, and found that my imagination had been indulging itself too freely. At the present time it is a mere ripple; at the best of times not to be compared with the meanest of the many Rapids of the St. ­Lawrence. What it may have been when the brilliant author of “Lalla Rookh” condescended to elevate it into classic ground, I cannot tell, but I fancy that many tourists, approaching the Rapid with book in hand, their eyes upon the page, and their lips humming the beautiful air to which the words of the “Boat Song” have been wedded, have felt very much as if they had been hoaxed . . . Notwithstanding this, the ground is sacred, one of the “green spots upon memory’s waste” dedicated to Moore, and it will continue such, though the stream were dried to-morrow, and nothing but the

“A Canadian Boat Song”  35 pebbles at the bottom remained to mark the spot. Peace be to thy manes, Tom Moore! would there were others like thee to fling their classic verse broadcast over the many Isles of Beauty and nooks of fairy loveliness with which Canada is strewn”. (The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay 125–26) Whatever its present condition, St. Anne Rapid connects Sangster to Moore, allowing him to address the Irish poet’s spirit (“manes”) with cheery familiarity and, as important, permitting him to envisage his own poetry as part of a continuity of “classic verse” in Canada.7 That ­Sangster did indeed consider himself Moore’s heir in elevating C ­ anadian sites to “classic ground” is almost paradoxically indicated by the fact that St. Anne Rapid is not among “the many Rapids on the St. L ­ awrence” that are mentioned in passing in The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay and described at length in the supplementary stanzas that he began to write in the 1860s with a view to enhancing the poem’s appeal to tourists. As is the case with most, if not all, early Canadian writers, Sangster wanted to replicate an admired writer’s achievement but in and for different locales and themes.

III Two years after the publication of The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay, the association of St. Anne Rapid with Moore was made the subject of a poem by the writer who has been described as “the chief orator and literary man . . . among the founding ‘Fathers of [the Canadian] Confederation’”: Thomas D’Arcy McGee (Klinck 155). Before coming to Montreal by way of the United States in 1857, McGee was associated in the late 1840s with “Young Ireland”, the group of Irish cultural nationalists who followed Friedrich von Schlegel and other German Romantic philosophers and critics in regarding literature and, especially, epics and ballads as essential ingredients of national consciousness and cohesion. As Schlegel puts it in his Lectures on the History of Literature, Ancient and Modern, “there is nothing so necessary . . . to the whole intellectual existence of a nation, as the possession of a plentiful store of those national recollections and associations . . . which it forms the great object of the poetical art to perpetuate and adorn” (10). Almost immediately after settling in Montreal, McGee began adapting such ideas to Canada. “Every country, every nationality, every people, must create and foster a National Literature, if it is their wish to preserve a distinct individuality from other nations”, he argued in “Protection for Canadian Literature” in the 24 April 1858 issue of his newspaper, The New Era (1857–1858), adding that “[t]here is a glorious field upon which to work for the formation of . . . [a Canadian] National Literature . . . We have the materials [and] our position is favorable

36  D.M.R. Bentley [for] northern latitudes like ours have ever been famed for the strength, variety and beauty of their literature” (np). Less than a year later, in ­December 1858, McGee published Canadian Ballads, and Occasional Verses, a volume dedicated to his Young Ireland colleague Charles ­Gavan Duffy “in memory of Old Times” and presented “to the younger generation of Canadians” in the belief “[t]hat we shall one day be a great northern nation, and develope [sic] within ourselves that best fruit of nationality, a new and lasting literature” (vii). As significant a product of M ­ cGee’s cultural nationalism as any of the pieces in Canadian Ballads (and, arguably, in the commemorative collection of McGee’s Poems that was published in Montreal a year after his assassination by a Fenian in 1868) is “Thomas Moore at St. Anne’s”, a brief treatment of the poet’s visit to Canada that uses his response to the “glorious song” of the St. ­Lawrence and its “boatm[e]n” to make the point that ­Canadian poets do indeed possess “a glorious field upon which to work for the formation of . . . [a] National Literature” (McGee, “Protection”): . . . mark the moral, ye who dream To be the Poets of the land: He nowhere found a nobler theme Than you, ye favor’d, have at hand. Not in the storied summer Isles, Not ’mid the classic Cyclades, Not where the Persian Sun-God smiles, Found he more fitting theme than these. So, while our boat glides swift along, Behold! from shore there looketh forth That tree that bears the fruit of song— The Laurel tree that loves the North. (V–VII, Canadian Ballads p. 43) Just as the “Laurel” (or, more accurately, the Kalmia) whose leaves and branches are emblematic of literary accomplishment “loves the North”, so – to quote again from McGee’s article in The New Era – “northern latitudes” contain an abundance of “materials” to inspire a “National Literature”, one very specific one being, as McGee explains in a note, the “particular spot” where by 1857–1858 Moore was supposed to have “composed his well-known ‘Canadian Boat-Song’” (McGee, Canadian Ballads 63). For McGee, as, implicitly, for Sangster, a site associated with an esteemed poet and poem was a source of inspiration as well as an object of veneration – a token of the capacity of Canadian “material” to generate accomplished poetry, not only in the past but also in the present and the future. What had been done in Canada by “A poet from the

“A Canadian Boat Song”  37 farther shore” (McGee, Canadian Ballads 42) could surely be emulated by a Canadian poet. The most fulsome assessment of “A Canadian Boat Song” came in 1877 in The Irishman in Canada by another Irish-born writer, the lawyer, journalist, poet, and later parliamentarian Nicholas Flood Davin8: Moore is not only the [poet] laureate of Ireland, but of Canada. His “Canadian Boat Song” has as yet found no successful rival. Dr.  [Henry] Scadding and Dr. [Daniel] Wilson declare that it has ­“become alike in words and air a national anthem for the ­Dominion.”9 . . . The verses of Moore are known to every ­Canadian ­school-boy, and echo every summer along our lakes and rivers. Sometimes the voice is that of a captain of a raft, sometimes the notes are those of a lady who would be equal to a selection from ­Mozart . . . “It could scarcely be heard,” says Dr. Wilson, “by any Canadian wanderer, when far away among strangers, without a thrill . . . tender and acute”. (187; Wilson 92) After quoting “A Canadian Boat Song” in its entirety and providing lengthy excerpts from “To the Lady Charlotte Rawdon. From the Banks of the St. Lawrence”, Davin adds, “Yes! Moore belongs to Canada as well as to Ireland in that special sense which links a poet’s name with a locality” (190). The notion of Moore as “the laureate . . . of Canada” on the basis of “A Canadian Boat Song” received short shrift from the anonymous reviewer of The Irishman in Canada in the 1877 number of Belford’s Monthly Magazine (Toronto), who damns both the poet and the poem with faint praise: “A Canadian Boat Song” is “a very pretty little trifle in its way, as most of Moore’s lyrics are, but it owes its popularity to the air which he picked up from the boatmen, and cannot by any stretch of literary charity be called a ‘National Anthem’” (“Current Literature” 854). In 1877 “A Canadian Boat Song” was still popular but literary tastes had changed in the wake of such poets as Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, and the Brownings. Nevertheless, seven years later S.E. Dawson in his Hand-Book for the Dominion of Canada. Prepared for the Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at Montreal, 1884 would direct visitors to “St. Anne’s bout-de-L’Isle” as a village “immortalized by Moore”, though hardly, as a “distinguished” but unnamed Canadian poet had claimed, ‘“the only historical spot in Canada, because here Tom Moore wrote his ‘Canadian Boat Song’” (290). Despite the shifts in taste and national sentiment registered by the reviewer in Belford’s and Dawson in his Hand-Book, “A Canadian Boat Song” continued to be a sporadic presence in Canadian writing during the literary period that dawned with the publication of Charles G.D. Roberts’s Orion, and Other Poems in 1880 and all but ended before the

38  D.M.R. Bentley turn of the century. The poem’s riverine setting and crepuscular mood may lie in the background of “Between the Rapids” (1888) by Archibald Lampman, one of the members of the Confederation group of poets that Roberts assembled in the name of “Young Canada” (Roberts, Collected Letters 29) initially to articulate and further the goal of independence from Britain and then, in response to the fear of annexation to the United States, the goal of imperial federation. The opening and closing lines of Lampman’s poem indicate that its narrative of a voyageur’s return and departure is framed by “A Canadian Boat Song”: The point is turned; the twilight shadow fills The wheeling stream, the soft receding shore, And on our ears from deep among the hills Breaks now the rapid’s sudden quickening roar. Ah, yet the same, or have thy changed their face, The fair green fields . . . .  .  . . . . we have far to go; Bend to you paddles, comrades; see, the light Ebbs off apace; we must not linger so. Aye, thus it is! Heaven gleams and then is gone: Once, twice, it smiles, and still we wander on. (Lampman 36, 38) (The fact that the voyageur is returning to the scene that he describes after “five years” and the loud echo of “Dover Beach” in the penultimate line place Moore briefly in the company of Wordsworth and ­A rnold, two of Lampman’s most admired and emulated poets.) Among Lampman’s fellow members of the Confederation Group, Roberts and ­William ­Wilfred Campbell quote “A Canadian Boat Song” in relation to its compositional site in pot-boiling travel guides to Canada; Roberts in The Canadian Guide-Book. The Tourist’s and Sportsman’s Guide to Eastern Canada and Newfoundland (1891), with the comment that it made “the village of St. Anne . . . forever musical” (47); and the latter in Canada (1907), with the claim, probably stemming from an excess of tartan zeal, that “the . . . immortal lines”, “so long ascribed to the Irish poet, Thomas Moore . . . [are] now said to have been written by the Scottish poet, Thomas Campbell” (86, 85). “No matter who was the writer”, he adds, “the poem is strikingly beautiful” and captures the “whole spirit of that period of Canadian life” (86). Outside the Confederation Group, the “mythical image” of the voyageurs that “A Canadian Boat Song” helped to create found ready consumers, especially among English Canadian writers such as William Kirby and William Wye Smith who saw the voyageur as a romantic and relatable figure with appeal on both sides of the French-English divide.

“A Canadian Boat Song”  39 ­ omance Kirby’s historical romance The Golden Dog (Le Chien d’or): A R of Old Quebec was published in 1876, translated into French in 1884– 1885, and thereafter reprinted numerous times in both languages. In a chapter entitled “The Canadian Boat Song”, a character in the novel lugubriously explains the French origin of boat songs, describes their characteristics (“pure in thought and chaste in expression and their admirable singers” (“a crew of broad chested fellows”), and  – probably ­ ifferentiates with an anachronistic eye on “A Canadian Boat Song” – d them from “the sweet little lyrics sung in soft falsettoes to the tinkling of a piano forte in fashionable drawing rooms, and called ‘Canadian boat songs’” (274). The songs sung by the voyageurs themselves are authentic, masculine, and rooted in history; the songs sung in “fashionable drawing rooms” are inauthentic, feminine, and contrived. In Wye’s “The Canadians on the Nile” (circa 1884), a refrain reminiscent of “A Canadian Boat Song” is combined with Kiplingesque phrases and sentiments to celebrate the stamina of the corps of Canadian lumbermen and Caughnawaga Indians under the command of Colonel Frederick ­Denison that ascended the Nile in 1884 to relieve General C.G. Gordon at Khartoum: O, the East is but the West, with the sun a little hotter; And the pine becomes a palm, by the dark Egyptian water: And the Nile’s like many a stream we know, that fills its brimming cup,— We’ll think it is the Ottawa, as we track the batteaux up! Pull, pull, pull! As we track the batteaux up! It’s easy shooting homeward, when we’re at the top! (qtd. in Lighthall 11) With “The Canadians on the Nile”, “A Canadian Boat Song” entered the literature of late nineteenth-century Canadian nationalism and ­British imperialism. McGee might have been dismayed by Wye’s use of his poem. … In 1889 the English historian, travel writer, and sometime resident of Australia Douglas Sladen travelled across Canada by rail, a journey that he recorded with considerable charm in On the Cars and Off: Being the Journal of a Pilgrimage along the Queen’s Highway to the East, from Halifax in Nova Scotia to Victoria in Vancouver’s Island (1895). Prompted very likely by the entry in Roberts’s Canadian Guide-Book, a copy of which he apparently had with him on the journey,10 he visited the village of St. Anne in search of the house in which Moore was and is reputed to have been staying “when he wrote ‘Row, brothers, row,’ and

40  D.M.R. Bentley his other Canadian poems” (121). When he was eventually directed to the correct house, which was owned in Moore’s day by the fur-trader Simon Fraser, what he found was [an] ordinary old-fashioned house of French Canada – built in this instance of stone . . . The house has – as one can easily fancy, a commendation in Moore’s eyes – a fine cellar half underground . . . and a wooden porch tumbling into picturesque decay . . . Inside . . . rooms divided up into little cabins . . . showing that the house had . . . fallen to low estate and been cut up into the most meagre of tenements . . . [the house] has a romance . . . (125–26) Built with local materials, partially below ground, falling into decay, appealing in its picturesqueness, imbued with the spirit of romance, and subjected to adaptive reuse: Sladen could almost be describing the character and trajectory of Thomas Moore’s “A Canadian Boat Song”.

Notes 1 All quotations from “Poems Relating to America” are taken from the text in the second volume of Moore’s Poetical Works (MCP 2). 2 Bateaux were flat-bottomed boats used for carrying cargo and passengers on the rivers and lakes of Upper Canada and Lower Canada. They were propelled by oars, poles, and frequently a sail, and crewed by Scots, Metis, and Indians as well as French Canadian boatmen. 3 In the entry for 15 August 1835 in his Journal (MJD 4: 1701–02) and in the Preface to “Poems Relating to America” (MCP 2: xxi–xxiv), Moore provides a detailed account of the inspiration and composition of “A Canadian Boat Song”, including the information that he made “hasty notations” of “the air” and “the French words” of the boat song that occasioned it in the flyleaf of ­Joseph Priestley’s Lectures on History. (1793), which he “had with [him] to read on the way”. “[T]he music of the Canadian Boat Song is in reality my own”, he claims, “having been merely suggested by . . . [a] wild, half-minor melody”. 4 During the nineteenth century, the sheet music was reprinted at least sixteen times in the United States (sometimes as an arrangement, most notably by Amy Beach) and at least twice in Canada. See Hathi Digital Trust, WorldCAT, and America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets, accessed 15 October 2017. 5 Hall’s commentary was also given currency and reach by quotations from it in the biographical essay on Moore in John Passmore Edwards’s Lives of the Illustrious (1852) (224–25). “A Canadian Boat Song” was itself given currency by major American authors such as Thoreau, who records singing it in the Maine woods in “Ktaadn” (first published in 1848) (see 42), Longfellow, who included it in the America volume of Poems and Places (1879) 78–79. 6 Describing St. Ann in Hochelaga; or, England in the New World (1846), George Warburton writes: “here, in the old time, the voyagers used to bid farewell to the haunts of men, in the church of their tutelary saint . . . We all heard their beautiful boat song in our English homes; its tones are very sweet on their own bright waters” (2: 57). Warburton visited the area during the Rebellion of 1837 when, as he puts it, “this lovely country was deformed by the evil passions of men . . . led by a man named [Amury] Girod”.

“A Canadian Boat Song”  41 7 “A Canadian Boat Song” is a presence in such lines as “Their voices keep pace with the quickening speed” in Sangster’s “The Rapid” (1860) (­Hesperus 93–94), which appears in two of the most important anthologies of ­Canadian poetry: Edward Hartley Dewart’s Selections from Canadian Poets (1864) and William Douw Lighthall’s Songs of the Great Dominion (1889). 8 Almost needless to say, Moore’s work appealed especially strongly to ­Canadians of Irish descent, a group that includes such poets as Nelligan, Adam Kidd, Standish O’Grady, and James Donnelly. 9 Scadding, Toronto of Old (1873) 23 and Wilson 92 in a review of the book. “Toronto should be duly appreciative of the distinction of having been named by Moore”, adds Scadding; “[t]he look and sound of the word took his fancy, and he doubtless had pleasure in introducing it in his verses to Lady Rawdon”. 10 Sladen had stayed with Roberts in Nova Scotia, and quotes The Canadian Guide-Book, 14 in On the Cars and Off, 164.

Bibliography Works not found here are listed in a concluding Bibliography, which contains references common to more than one chapter. America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets. Library of Congress, 1999. www.loc.gov/collections/nineteenth-century-song-sheets/. Accessed 15 Oct. 2017. Burr, William. Descriptive and Historical View of Burr’s Moving Mirror of the Lakes, the Niagara, St. Lawrence, and Saguenay Rivers: Embracing the Entire Range of Border Scenery of the United States and Canadian Shores, from Lake Erie to the Atlantic. George F. Bunce, 1850. Campbell, William Wilfred, et al. Canada. A & C Black, 1907. “Current Literature.” Belford’s Monthly Magazine, a Magazine of Literature and Art, vol. 2, Nov. 1877, pp. 853–60. Davin, Nicholas Flood. The Irishman in Canada. Sampson Low, Marston, ­Maclear, 1877. Dawson, S.E. Hand-Book for the Dominion of Canada. Prepared for the Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at Montreal, 1884. Dawson Brothers, 1884. Doyle, Arthur Conan. Our Second American Adventure. Hodder and Stoughton, 1923. Gilman, Caroline. The Poetry of Travelling in the United States … with Additional Sketches, by a Few Friends; and a Week Among Autographs, by Rev. S. Gilman. Colman, 1838. Gray, Thomas. Poems of Thomas Gray, William Collins, Oliver Goldsmith. Ed. Roger Lonsdale. Longmans, Green, 1969. Longmans’ Annotated English Poets. Grisé, Yolande. “La présence de Thomas Moore, auteur de A Canadian Boat Song, dans la poésie canadienne-francaise, au XIXe siècle.” Journal of ­C anadian Studies, vol. 32, no. 2, 1997, pp. 48–71. Gross, Conrad. “Coureurs-de-bois, Voyageurs, and Trappers: The Fur Trade and the Emergence of an Ignored Canadian Literary Tradition.” Canadian Literature, vol. 127, 1990, pp. 76–91. Hall, Basil. Travels in North America in the Years 1827 and 1828. 1829, Vol. 2. Carey, Lea & Carey, 1829.

42  D.M.R. Bentley Hopwood, Victor G. Explorers by Land to 1860. Literary History of Canada: Canadian Literature in English. Ed. Carl F. Klinck. 1965. U of Toronto P, 1973, pp. 19–40. Kirby, William. The Golden Dog (Le Chien d’or): A Romance of the Days of Louis Quinze in Quebec. Joseph Knight, 1896. Klinck, Carl F. Literary Activity in Canada East and West, 1841–1880. Literary History of Canada: Canadian Literature in English. Ed. Carl F. Klinck. 1965. U of Toronto P, 1973, pp. 145–62. Lampman, Archibald. Poems. Eds. Duncan Campbell Scott and George N. ­Morang, 1900. La Rochefoucauld Liancourt, [François-Alexandre-Frédéric], Duc de. Travels through the United States of North America, the Country of the Iroquois, and Upper Canada, in the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797; with an Authentic Account of Lower Canada, 2 vols., Translated by H. Neuman, R. Phillips, 1799. Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. 1974. Translated by Donald ­Nicholson-Smith, Blackwell, 1991. Lighthall, William Douw, editor. Songs of the Great Dominion: Voices from the Forests and Waters, the Settlements and Cities of Canada. Walter Scott, 1889. Longfellow, Henry W., editor. Poems of Places: America. Houghton, Osgood, 1879. Lynde, Adam Norman. The War from the Saddle: The Diary of Lieutenant John Lang, 19th Light Dragoons, 1813–14. The War of 1812. www.military heritage.com. Accessed 17 May 2017. Mackenzie, Sir Alexander. Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Laurence, through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, in the years 1789 and 1793, with a Preliminary Account of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Fur Trade of that Country. Vol. 1. T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, W. Creech, 1801. McGee, Thomas D’Arcy. Canadian Ballads, and Occasional Poems. J. Lovell, W.C.F. Caverhill, 1858. ———. A Canadian Boat Song, Arranged for Three Voices by Thomas Moore, Esq. James Power, 1805. ———. “Protection for Canadian Literature.” New Era (Montreal), 24 Apr. 1858, np. Needler, G.H. Moore and his Canadian Boat Song. Ryerson, 1950. Roberts, Charles G.D. The Canadian Guide-Book. The Tourist’s and Sportsman’s Guide to Eastern Canada and Newfoundland. D. Appleton and Co., 1891. ———. Collected Letters. Ed. Laurel Boone. Goose Lane Editions, 1989. Samuels, Raphael. Theatres of Memory. Verso, 1994. Sangster, Charles. Hesperus and Other Poems and Lyrics. John Lovell, John Creighton, 1860. ———. The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay. Ed. D.M.R. Bentley. Canadian Poetry Press, 1990. Scadding, Henry. Toronto of Old: Collections and Recollections Illustrative of the Early Settlement of the Capital of Ontario. Stevenson, 1893.

“A Canadian Boat Song”  43 Schlegel, Friedrich. Lectures on the History of Literature, Ancient and Modern from the German of Frederick Schlegel. Translated by J.G. Lockhart. New edition, T. Blackwood and sons, 1841. Sladen, Douglas. On the Cars and Off: Being the Journal of a Pilgrimage along the Queen’s Highway to the East, from Halifax in Nova Scotia to Victoria in Vancouver’s Island. Ward, Lock and Bowden, 1895. Talbot, Edward Allen. Five Years’ Residence in the Canadas: Including a Tour through the United States of America in the Year 1823. 2 vols., Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1824. “Thomas Moore.” Lives of the Illustrious. (The Biographical Dictionary). Vol. 1. Ed. J. Passmore Edwards. J. Passmore Edwards, 1852, pp. 214–35. Thoreau, Henry David. “Ktaadn.” Writings. Vol. 3, The Maine Woods. ­Houghton Mifflin, 1906. Traill, Catharine Parr. The Backwoods of Canada: Being Letters from the Wife of an Emigrant Officer, Illustrative of the Domestic Economy of British America. 1836. New Canadian Library. McClelland and Stewart, 1989. Warburton, George. Hochelaga; or, England in the New World. Ed. Eliot ­Warburton. 2 vols., Henry Colburn, 1846. Weld, Isaac. Travels through the States of North America, and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, During the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797, 2nd ed., 2 vols., John Stockdale, 1799. Wilson, Daniel. “Toronto of Old.” Rev. Toronto of Old. By Henry Scadding. Canadian Monthly and National Review, vol. 4, no. 2, 1873, pp. 89–96.

3 Satire, Militarism, and the Hunt Appropriations of Thomas Moore in Sporting Bombay Máire Ní Fhlathúin Spatial and cultural distance from the imperial centre complicated the reading of Moore’s work in British India.1 In the first half of the nineteenth century, a readership largely drawn from the civil and military servants of the East India Company looked to the metropolis for models of literary form, but in doing so also realised the inadequacy of these forms, and their stereotypically Orientalist tropes, to accommodate fully the representation of the quotidian East within which they lived. The extensive body of poetry produced from India during this period offers evidence of the significance of Moore’s poems as literary models. This chapter opens with a brief discussion of the cultural presence and influence of Moore’s poetry throughout the nineteenth century; this discussion is succeeded by a case study of appropriations of the Irish Melodies and similar poems in the Oriental Sporting Magazine, a monthly periodical published in Bombay between 1828 and 1833. The poets of the OSM frequently had recourse to Moore’s works, using their familiar forms to chronicle and celebrate the hunt and all its associations. Their portraits of sporting life retain the metre and colour of the originals, but exhibit concerns and values radically at odds with those of their sourcetexts, as Moore’s language of Irish sentimental nationalism is adapted in the service of a colonial poetics of dominance over India. The influence of Moore’s work is visible throughout the literature of nineteenth-century British India. Lalla Rookh frames India for a generation of travel writers and poets, as the work of Archer and Lightbown has established: many “lesser publications” took over Moore’s imagery of languid women, floating lamps, and “splendid cavalcades” (104–105). Contemporary observers noted the effect of the text on Western awareness of the East more generally, even in apparently small details: the travel writer Anne Elwood remarks that the mangoes of Mazagong, long famed in the East, had attained an “equal celebrity in the West” through their appearance in the “fascinating Lalla Rookh” (389). Those who had lived experience of the East also found it framed through Moore’s work. For Emily and Frances Eden, making camp by the Shalimar gardens in the course of their tour of India in the 1830s, Shalimar is not only the

Thomas Moore in Sporting Bombay  45 place “where Dr. D. and W. lived when they suffered so much from heat last year” but is also “where Lalla Rookh recognised Feramorz”. It is indicative of the force of Moore’s vision that his version is the one described by Emily as “the real Shalimar” (Eden 223). While Moore’s imagined space thus became part of the West’s experience of the East, his poetry exerted a more specific influence on the works of other poets. He sits alongside Byron in the Calcutta Literary Gazette series titled “Hours of Imitation”, in a poem by the pseudonymous “K” (9: 260); and his satiric narratives served as model for the “Company poetry” of the 1820s. This tradition is more often associated with Byron’s Don Juan (Kopf 222) but was also inspired by the example of Moore’s Fudge Family satires, which in India became the model for poems such as “Letter from Sir Anthony Fudge to his friend, Sir ­Gabriel, 36 Writers’ Building, Calcutta” – a comic account of an East India ­Company civil servant’s experience of India (Calcutta Journal, 27 June 1820, p. 675). The main body of parody and satire based on Moore’s poetry, however, plays with his own celebrity status, and with his sentimental and romantic, rather than satiric, works. Moore (like Byron) is a sufficiently recognisable figure to be incorporated into other works as an item of literary furniture, the object of parody. This is apparent in the work of “Pips”, whose rook – an Indian counterpart of Edgar Allan Poe’s raven – holds forth while perched on a “bust of Thomas Moore” in “The Union Bank Shareholder and the Rook” (49–55); also, George Stack’s “A  ­Literary Forgery”, which looks back to Lalla Rookh with Moore’s Peri at the gates of Paradise reimagined as a “placeman” hoping for a government job (113–19). The anonymous author of “The Calm ­B endemeer” uses the knowing subtitle “Not according to Thomas Moore” in order to alert the reader to the presence of Lalla Rookh underlying the description of “a snug little Pot-house in Whitechapel Road / And Cab-­drivers drinking there all the day long” (Delhi Sketch Book 5.ii (February 1854), 17; cf Moore, Lalla Rookh 63). “Oft in the Stilly Night”, with its plaintive invocation of “the light / Of other days around me” (MCP 4: 167–68), becomes the comic pastiche “Happy Faces Round Me” (Indian Daily News, 18 November 1867). Though these appropriations appear at first sight to be satiric rejections of Moore’s romantic vision, they also confirm his significance as a shaping force on the experience and representation of India by the poets who lived there. Against this broad over-view, investigation of individual responses to Moore’s work reveals a more complex pattern of appropriation and rejection. For the poets of “Young Bengal” in the 1820s, Moore became the model of bardic nationalism: his motif of the harp, made famous in works like “Dear Harp of my Country” (MCP 3: 354–55), was taken up by H.L.V. Derozio as the “Harp of India” in the poem that stands

46  Máire Ní Fhlathúin first in the first volume of his work, Poems (1827). Kasiprasad Ghosh, in turn, transforms Moore’s harp into a lute, in a poem demonstrating the influence of Moore’s polite, yet revolutionary nationalism: Lute of my country! why dost thou remain Unstrung, neglected, desolate, and bound With envious Time’s and Ignorance’s chain? Although Ghosh’s opening apostrophe exactly parallels Moore’s, the remainder of the first line, and the rest of the poem, reveals the degree to which the poem is constrained by its intended audience. The title “The Viná; or, The Indian Lute” glosses its subject for (in Ghosh’s own phrase) the “European reader”; a footnote further explicates it, and also directs the reader to “Mr Wilson’s Sanskrit Dictionary” as well as to the scholarly Asiatic Researches (185). Ghosh’s practice as a poet is hemmed in by poetic and social allegiances and debts in ways reflected by the multiple dedications to British poets and patrons including W ­ illiam Jones, Byron, and the then Governor-General, William Bentinck. His lute remains no more than an incipient force, its “sweet, triumphant minstrelsy” anticipated, but not realised, in the “hope” of the final line (186). Nonetheless, it is clear that he deploys Moore to authenticate and set the pattern for an emerging nationalist voice, even though this voice is compromised by both its constitution and its audience. 2 The poetry of Mary Carshore, written a generation later, evidences a more conflicted relationship with Moore’s originary texts: she questions the authenticity of his representations of the East even as her work echoes themes and concerns found in his. Carshore, herself like Ghosh looking across cultural boundaries by virtue of her Indian birth and Irish heritage, accuses Moore, the “sweet minstrel of Erin”, of writing an account of Kashmir as “false” as it is “sweet and . . . precious”: “Yes, false tho’ still sweet, for the valley so blest / Is trampled with scorn by the sons of the west. And the maidens, tho’ beauteous, are dusky, not fair, / And the roses, tho’ bright, not uncultured, grow there” (3). By contesting Moore’s representation of the East (and linking him to David Lester Richardson, doyen of the Calcutta literary scene during the 1830s and 1840s), Carshore’s work attempts to reclaim poetic India from an earlier, masculine Orientalism, foregrounding her own lived experience: Moore mentions that Lalla Rookh saw a solitary hindoo girl bring her lamp to the river. D. L. R. [Richardson] says the same, whereas the Beara festival is a Moslem feast that takes place once a year in the monsoons, when hundreds and thousands of females offer their vows to the patron of rivers. (Carshore iiin5; see Gibson 170–72) Her work not only demonstrates Moore’s continued influence on the poetry of British India but also demonstrates that tensions between his

Thomas Moore in Sporting Bombay  47 orientalist representations and the lived reality of colonial experience can problematise his reception in India. At the same time, Carshore’s tactic of taking issue with Moore’s representations of India on the grounds of authenticity and experience goes alongside her appropriation of the literary forms of these representations. Her simultaneous exploitation and rejection of Moore’s shaping force echoes that of the parodists discussed above. It also characterises the general trend of responses to Moore in British Indian poetry, not least in the periodical press of colonial Bombay. The evidence of the periodical press suggests that Moore’s work was well known in Bombay during the 1820s and 1830s. Extracts from his Life of Byron and selected poems appear in the two main Bombay newspapers, the Gazette and the Courier, alongside reviews and discussions of his poetry.3 The Oriental Sporting Magazine is therefore not unusual among its contemporaries in featuring Moore, but it is singular in the extent to which Moore’s work comes to shape – almost to define – the character of its poetic voice. This is partly to do with the recognisably distinctive “sound” of Moore’s work but is also a function of the periodical’s niche in the literary marketplace. The OSM was set up in 1828 by J.H. Stocqueler, the entrepreneurial editor then in charge of the Bombay Courier who was later to become a combative presence in Calcutta as editor of the Englishman. Though its pages carried reports of English sporting occasions as well as news from race meetings across India, its main selling point was the input of w ­ riters from the colonial society of the Bombay Presidency. These contributors were drawn from a cohesive group of military men and like-minded civilians: they included the prolific and popular poet Thomas D’Arcy Morris, an officer of the 24th Bombay Native Infantry (writing as S.Y.S., John Dockery, Stephen), Charles Cromwell Massey of the 7th Bombay N.I. (writing as Yessam), and Patrick Scott of the Bombay Civil Service (writing as Andropais, S.P., Sigma, and S), among several pseudonymous others. Alongside their interest in sport, these writers also shared a deep, though not uncritical, knowledge of Moore’s work, and made it the springboard for many of their contributions to the OSM.4 The work of this group shares some of the characteristics of coterie poetry, originally defined with reference to the circulation of manuscript poetry within a small group, for example, by John Donne and his circle, but also increasingly being used to address some of the published literature of the early nineteenth century (see F. James). The authors of the OSM write in the awareness of their shared concerns and subject matter, evident in frequent cross-referencing between texts. Their preferred form of poetry is imitative and often parodic, drawing on well-known originals including popular songs and poems from England, Scotland, and France as well as Moore’s works.5 A few examples will suffice: Thomas Gray’s “Elegy in a Country Churchyard” provides the inspiration for a poem titled “Parody on ‘The Curfew Tolls’”, culminating in a lament

48  Máire Ní Fhlathúin for “yon huge Boar” (OSM 1: 341–42). “Hurrah for the Spur and the Spear” derives its metre and jaunty refrain from the Scottish folksong “Hurrah for the Bonnets of Blue” (OSM 1: 459); “Tis the Boar” (OSM 2: 282) draws on the popular French song “C’est l’Amour” (Piston). “Goblin Grey” is modelled on Mrs Philip Millard’s popular song “Alice Gray: A Ballad”, replacing the unattainable woman of the source-text with a racehorse: “For my heart, my heart was throbbing / For the gallant ‘Goblin Grey’” (OSM 2: 267–68). As these themes indicate, the parodies are frivolous in concept and execution, clearly written as jeux d’esprit. Taken as a body, however, they encode, circulate, and reinforce a particular mindset and a method of interacting with India, revealing the values and concerns of the colonial society that produced them. The hunting of wild boar, a central topic of the parodies, was a favourite pursuit of military (and some civilian) British men throughout the nineteenth century. The hunt enacted a performance of dominance over the Indian landscape, implicitly highlighting the extent of ­British colonial power and the resources at its disposal. Events such as the “great gathering of pig-stickers” held by Henry Torrens, the Resident at Moorshedabad, were renowned in the annals of sporting prowess: “Twelve days did this incomparable chase endure, and ninety-and-nine were the boars whose skulls and tushes recorded the hunters’ prowess” (Braddon 24). Pramod Nayar’s analysis of hunting literature focusses on the later nineteenth century, but the connections he demonstrates between “hunting and colonial cultures of masculinity and domination” (138) are equally clearly evident in the pages of the OSM. India, multiply figured through the landscapes of the Deccan and the boar roaming its mountains and jungles, is conquered over and over again in each monthly issue. The repetitive detailing of chases and kills forms a sporting counterpoint to the military actions that punctuate the history of the Bombay NI regiments, from the third Anglo-Maratha war of 1817–1818 which brought about the consolidation of East India Company control in the Deccan to the foray against Bhil raiders where Thomas Morris, the OSM’s most prolific poet, met his death in 1835. The songs of the OSM extol the ideal hunt, and focus on its core ­elements: horse, hunters, landscape, and at its centre the boar, fetishised as both object of the hunt and totemic animal. They adopt a voice and register that draws together members of the coterie and excludes outsiders. This effect becomes apparent in works such as “Song: Parody on ‘Oh, think not my spirits are always as light’” (OSM 1: 117). Moore’s source-text, explicitly invoked in the parodic title, arrives at its meaning through the deployment of conventional metaphors with a wide currency. Lines such as “the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers / Is always the first to be touched by the thorns” offer the heart as proxy for the feeling individual, flowers and thorns as indications of positive and negative aesthetic and emotional experience (MCP 3: 232).

Thomas Moore in Sporting Bombay  49 The  anonymous author of the parody uses an equally conventional ­metaphor – “the chase which begins with the first blush of day / May be crown’d with success with the first shade of night!” – but grounds it in the minutiae of the hunting field, with its accoutrements of “raspers” (high and difficult fences) and sounders (herds of wild swine). Moore’s source-text is described by Tessier as “a drinking song: let us forget the sorrows of life” (165); the parody reflects this central theme, but again makes it specific to the hunting field: “off with each glass – while a sounder shall stray / In mountain or jungle let’s drink with delight”. In this way, the parody sets up a relationship of inclusion, bringing together the writer, the sportsmen, the coterie, and its wider audience but excluding those whose lack of experience or interest denies them access to its language. Shared knowledge of Moore’s work serves a similarly unifying/exclusive purpose throughout the years of the OSM’s publication. Transformed in a series of parodies into lyrical evocations of the hunting field, the Irish Melodies and other nationalistic poems inspire paeans of praise to the totemic boar and satiric narratives of the hunters’ escapades. All underline and sustain the social bonds between them. The process of this transformation reveals a fundamental disconnection between the concerns of Moore and those of the Bombay poets. The title and prosody of the source-texts are more often than not retained in the parodies, as are traces of Moore’s characteristic modes of nostalgia and lament, and elements of his imagery. But the core concern of the Irish Melodies with nationalism is decisively cast aside, despite what appear at first sight to be clear parallels between colonised Ireland and colonised India. These parallels were apparent to Moore himself, who used the satirical squib “A Dream of Hindostan” to highlight the injustice of the mainly Catholic Irish being compelled to maintain a Protestant established church (Moore, The Poetical Works 1850, 592–93). Lalla Rookh, similarly, has been read as a vehicle for more-or-less veiled accounts of Ireland’s plight: Taylor, for example, argues that the “Indian setting and orientalist rhetoric” of the poem become a cover for Moore’s nationalist purpose, enabling him to “articulate concerns about Irish liberation in the guise of an Eastern tale” (para 1). Recent scholarship (L. Davis, R. Kelly) has produced a nuanced view of the Irish Melodies, acknowledging their expression of conventional nostalgia commodified for a metropolitan drawing-room audience but also noting how their incorporation of Irish music and nationalist sentiment invites a response of “sympathy that ideally evolves into radical self-identification” (R. Kelly 292). In the colonial society of Bombay, a reverse movement is visible: the language, metre, music, and subject matter of Moore’s work are co-opted in the service of expressions of British colonial power over India. The substitution of a nationalist with a colonialist trope is most clearly evident in the appropriation of Moore’s central symbol of Irish nationalism, the harp. In the OSM, “Song: Parody on ‘The Harp that once

50  Máire Ní Fhlathúin thro’ Tara’s Halls’” replaces the harp with a spear, the ruins of Tara (associated with pre-colonial Irish sovereignty) with the recently assimilated Indian lands of the Deccan, and the creative impulse of music with destruction: The spear that once o’er Deccan dust The blood of wild Boars shed, Now stands as soiled in Deccan rust As if all Boars had fled! (OSM 1: 124) In Moore’s elegiac work, the “chiefs and ladies” of Tara are gone, the only music is a “tale of ruin”, and the “heart indignant” breaking is the only sign that an impulse to freedom and nationalism is asleep rather than dead (MCP 3: 229). The parody fills the sorrowful silence of the harp with lines of performative conviviality: welcome to the “joyous guest”, a “song while bumpers foam”, and a toast to all elements of the hunt: “bottom to the Horse”, “Size to the Boar”, “And nerve and skill to aid and guide / The Arm that wields the spear!” (OSM 1: 124). Making the conquered Deccan and the slaughtered boar the subject of the “music” of communal revelry, the parodic “Harp” transforms a lament for dormant nationalism – the harp as “helpless victim rather than . . . steely victor” (Hunt, Sources and Style 20) – into a tribute to the enduring power and success of the British colonial presence in India, expressed as a celebration of the hunt. This transformation of a nationalist voice into an expression of colonialist sentiment is the prevailing characteristic of the Bombay parodies, but other patterns of adaptation and appropriation are also visible within this body of texts. These include a movement from the universal to the local, a tendency to use and privilege masculine rather than feminine forms and associations, and a concern with signalling the distinctive, individual nature of the colonial society in India. Moore’s poetry highlights themes and concerns likely to be recognised and shared by wide and disparate audiences – often developing these simultaneously with more specifically nationalist subjects. Among the National Airs published alongside Irish Melodies is “Should those fond hopes”, a heartfelt address to a negligent lover by a speaker who finds himself “slighted” and neglected. Its key image, the migrant bird, resonates with one of the main themes of Irish nationalism, foregrounding both abandonment and hope for the future: Like that dear bird we both can remember, Who left us while summer shone round, But, when chill’d by bleak December, Upon our threshold a welcome still found. (MCP 4: 159)

Thomas Moore in Sporting Bombay  51 This evocation of migrancy and return strikes an evocative note for an Irish audience likely to connect it with instances of national defeat and exile, such as the flight of the Jacobite “Wild Geese” following the treaty of Limerick in 1691.6 (This event was already associated with Moore’s nationalist poems through the air “Na Géanna Fiáine” – ­anglicised as “Gage Fane” – the tune of “Tis Believed that this Harp” (MCP 3: 281–82; M. Campbell, “Moore, Maclise and New Mythology” 78–79.) In Moore’s characteristically ambiguous style, however, the poem also deploys a wider range of associations. It is identified with a Portuguese (rather than an Irish) air; it invokes the almost universally familiar pattern of seasonal change, and explores broadly human concerns with parting, loss, and hope. It thus speaks to a wide readership (in keeping with the Anglo-Irish tradition’s centring of a British market (Dunne 71), as well as offering an understated gesture towards the specifically political concerns of the Irish Melodies. As often in Moore’s work, its themes are relatable above all to individual experience and secondarily to nationalist feeling. In contrast, the Bombay version, “Song: Parody on ‘Should those fond hopes e’er forsake thee’”, replaces the universal with the local, repositioning Moore’s work again in the hunting field. The “fond hopes” (not further specified) of the source-text become the “Spirit of Sport”, and the migratory bird becomes a “Lovely Sow”, the object of the hunt. Rather than the indeterminate, unidentified “thee” of Moore’s address, the OSM parody addresses itself to a concrete and stereotypically identifiable figure, a “tame Tinker”. The cowardice of this figure in the hunting field exposes him to the risk of social opprobrium, when “every Spoon would despise thee, / Every Snob would enjoy thy disgrace” (OSM 1: 175). While the Tinker’s predicament is thus specific to its hunting context, the language of the parody further emphasises the singular and individual (rather than universal) frame of reference of the poem and the OSM. The capitalised jargon terms “Tinker”, “Snob”, “Spoon”, etc., become a feature of the OSM, foregrounded by the writers’ recurrent concerns with their meaning and implication. “Tinkers” are glossed elsewhere in the OSM as “would-be sportsmen and can’t-be good ones” (“Tales of the Tinkers”, OSM 1: 15). Although clearly of low status, they are “far above” the “spooney set”: those who will “sulk, and skulk at home” (“Song: Parody on ‘Those Evening Bells’”, OSM 1: 185). The protagonist of “Sorrows of a Snob” describes himself also as a “spoon” (OSM 1: 314); and a parody of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” speech refers to the boasting of the OUKOI, glossed as “from OUKOs, a spoon” (OSM 1: 230). The use of these terms becomes a playful shibboleth, as when a contribution begins with a disingenuous request for clarification on the meaning of such “odd-sounding words” as “Snob, Spoon, and many of similar kind” (“Critique Extraordinary”, OSM 1: 260).

52  Máire Ní Fhlathúin While Moore’s work invokes in parallel an Irish context and a universal pattern of affective response, the parody looks firmly inwards to the concerns of the highly stratified and self-conscious society of the hunt. This society is represented in the OSM parodies as aggressively masculine, an effect achieved in part by appropriating and transforming the feminine sensuality characteristic of Moore’s work. “To One of the Old Bristler Hunt”, for instance, replaces femininity with sexualised masculinity and acts of masculine dominance, the latter visible in the way the chronicles of the hunt are used to demarcate, range over and take possession of the newly acquired lands of the Deccan. Moore’s poem, the early work “Come, take thy harp”, has its protagonist seeking refuge from the “gathering ills” of the world in listening to the music of the harp and looking at the feminised body of the harpist. The song will “make my soul forget”, and the sight and proximity of the musician’s body, with its feminine-associated “snowy arm”, promises freedom from anxiety: “I will cease to dream of harm, / . . . while thou art nigh” (MCP 2: 165–66). In the parody, the harp becomes a phallic “long bright spear” bathed in “boar-blood”; and the feminised body of the interlocutor becomes the definitively male “old boy”, a fellow hunter: Let me but see that long bright spear Once more in boar-blood bathe its blade, And I would blush to feel a fear, Would even funk to be afraid, Give him, old boy, that dexterous touch We used to try long, long ago, Before the snobs had known as much As now they all pretend to know!7 The poem valorises masculinity and individual achievement, setting the successful, spear-wielding hunter aside from “all the wavering tinkering crew” and anticipating the chase as an exercise in control of the Arab horses to be ridden with “sharp spurs”. In the course of thus claiming mastery over animals (horse and boar), it also dramatises the hunters’ access to and freedom to range over the Indian landscape, underlined in the final exhortation: “Mount, mount at once and off we go, / ‘For one more chase at Casselsye’” (OSM 1: 358). The masculinity celebrated in poems like the above is further emphasised in the verses titled “Song: ‘I’ll lend thee these’”, by the pseudonymous “D”, which also foregrounds the homosocial bonds of the hunt. The tune is identified as “I’ll Give thee All”, signalling its debt to Moore’s “My Heart and Lute”, sometimes known by its first line, “I’ll give thee all – I can no more” (Moore, The Poetical Works 1850, 354). Moore’s “heart and lute” are tropes of courtship: the lute’s “gentle song” and the lover’s “feeling heart” signify the protagonist’s offering of bodily and spiritual

Thomas Moore in Sporting Bombay  53 devotion to the object of attraction. In D’s work, they are transformed into a “spur and spear”, offered as an “aged sportsman’s loan” to a fellow hunter (OSM 2: 269–70). While this change in itself suggests an immediate move from the realm of stereotypical femininity to that of the masculine, the language of the appropriation retains some of the characteristics of the source-text. The “gentle song” of the lute is echoed in the “gentlest touch” of the spurs, leading to a disconcerting amalgamation of clashing tropes that sexualises the spur and spear by the association of violence and tenderness. The horse “coax[ed]” by the spur, and the boar “laid low” by the “pokes” of the spear both become the object of vigorously masculine action, in a process that comically reverses the diffident lover’s “poor . . . offering” in the source-text. The OSM parody thus emphasises the traits of aggression, control, and homosocial masculinity in the hunting field. The language, as well as the subject matter, of the OSM parodies works to establish a distance and difference between the colony and the metropolis. The India represented by the writers of the OSM is simultaneously known and alien, domesticated by association with the familiar metres and cadences of Moore’s work and de-familiarised by the writers’ frequent recourse to terminology derived from the indigenous languages of India. Moore’s “Farewell but whenever you welcome the hour” (MCP 3: 324–25) lacks any identifiable referents to anchor a reading beyond that suggested by Tessier, a “song of the exile who will never forget his friends (perhaps a vision-poem)” (176). “Parody”, the work of the pseudonymous “Yessam”, does not mention or otherwise directly acknowledge its source-text, but follows it closely. Moore’s delicate invocation of pleasure is brought down to earth in the characteristic manner of the OSM poems: the “night-song of mirth in your bower” (MCP 3: 324) becomes an episode of convivial gluttony: “you open your beer, / And feast upon oysters or any such cheer”, in the company of a friend who “forgot his own grills to eat oysters with you!” (OSM 1: 449). Part of this movement towards the quotidian involves the highlighting of the linguistic distinctiveness of the colony. Alongside the jargon of the hunting field, the vocabulary of Yessam’s “Parody”, like that of other OSM texts, advertises its Indian ­ Khubber” (news) – indicating that origins with the use of terms such as “ game has been spotted – or “Dekh Dooker jata hie” (drawing attention to a running boar, a parallel to the “gone away” of the British hunting field). References to specific hunting locations, such as the heights of Casselsye (OSM 1: 358), similarly underline the familiarity of this region of India for the coterie, and thereby also its inaccessibility for any other audience.8 While thus distancing British India from the metropolitan audiences associated with Moore’s work, the parodies also function to alienate the hunting grounds of Bombay from their setting in a wider India. Nayar contends that such places become for colonial hunters “a space that is simultaneously India and not-India” – un-Indian in that it is free of the dirt, disease, and treachery associated with India in the colonial

54  Máire Ní Fhlathúin imagination (150). The Deccan, recently taken into East India Company administrative control, is being invented in the OSM as a British space as well as explored as an Indian space. By using the works of Moore (and other metropolitan authors) as source-texts, the poets of the OSM can frame India via a Western gaze. Recent scholarship on the literature of colonial India has emphasised the role of cross-cultural networks of influence and collaboration in the 1820s and 1830s in both the literary constitution of the public sphere (D.  White 107–108), and the development of individual British and ­I ndian poets (Chaudhuri 63, Gibson 66–69, Mulholland). The OSM ­poets’ use of Moore, his works, and his literary associations can in some ways be similarly read within a framework of transoceanic influence. The trajectory of influence is one-directional, however: Moore might be regarded as an inadvertent collaborator in the authorship of Bombay, his metres and forms appropriated to furnish the colonial representation of India without reference to his own literary or political concerns.9 At the same time, the set of textual transformations produced in the course of this unequal authorial partnership has the paradoxical effect of unsettling the literary currency and hegemonic presence of metropolitan literature, even though apparently sustaining them. This is brought about partly by the element of satire and parody in the OSM texts, and their tendency to flatten and simplify their source-texts. Moore’s “When first I met thee” (MCP 3: 337–39), for instance, explores its theme of disappointment in two overlapping but distinct contexts: the “complaint of Maria Fitzherbert”, the neglected mistress of the Prince of Wales, and the lament of an abandoned Ireland (R. Kelly 260–61). The OSM version, “Song: To a Bomb-Proof Spec”, takes up this complex model and as usual relocates it to the realm of the quotidian and the sporting, addressing a horse whose purchase turned out to be an error of judgement on the part of the unwary purchaser: “I vow’d at once to buy thee, / For in thy shape such promise shone / I did not wait to try thee” (OSM 1: 244). Rather than being the hoped-for “good un”, the horse is revealed as a “broken-winded garran!” This ending echoes the resignation of the source-text, though the substitution of the broken-down horse for the romantic lover/national saviour adds a particular bathetic ­nihilism. Lalla Rookh commandeered Oriental tropes and costume to the ends of profit and – through its “numerous veiled . . . political references to ­Ireland” (J. Moore, “Introduction” xxiv) – political commentary. ­Parodies such as “Song: To a Bomb-Proof Spec” reverse the direction of exploitation, co-opting Moore’s work for the purposes of satire and frivolity, and also in order to foreground the concerns of colonial Bombay. In the course of producing such works, the parodists of the OSM were also directing their own and their readers’ gaze back towards the metropolis, not simply in imitation but also constructing through their parodies a new framing and interpretation of the originals.

Thomas Moore in Sporting Bombay  55 The selection of source-texts tells its own story: Moore is represented in the OSM by his sentimental and melancholy airs and melodies, his own satiric works notably absent. Through the lens of the OSM, Moore’s protagonists look all the more detached and solitary by comparison with the revellers of the hunting field. The performances of physical and violent action in the hunting songs stand in revealing contrast to the stasis, contemplation, and introspection of Moore’s work. The stereotypically masculine agency demonstrated by the OSM’s ­protagonists contrasts with the feminised, disempowered characteristics of Moore’s speakers. For a final example, we can look to Moore’s poem “Those Evening Bells”, from the first number of the National Airs. The poem anticipates not only his own death but also the future silencing of his poetic voice: “other bards shall walk these dells, / And sing your praise, sweet evening bells!” (MCP 4: 157). Its corresponding parody, “Song: Composed in a Jungle, while beating for Hog”), moves in the opposite direction, turning away from the ­“tinker-time” of the envisaged future to the happy present. By contrast with Moore’s solitary speaker, the OSM protagonist addresses his “brothers” in a call to arms: “Let’s join and cheer yon merry chime; / The game’s afoot – the uproar swells; / Hark, hark, and cheer those shouts and yells” (OSM 1: 185). Centring the values of collective action, the colonial poets of the OSM draw the boundaries of Bombay to exclude the sentimental, the elegiac and the romantic, and evolve instead a new mythology of quasi-militaristic domination.

Appendix: Two Poems from the OSM Song: Parody on “Oh, think not my spirits are always as light!” Oh, think not our spear-blades are always as bright And as free from a stain as they now may appear, Nor expect that the steel all so flashful to-night Will return back to-morrow, unsullied and clear. No! Dayspring shall see us, all dangers disdaining, Our untainted weapons to purple with gore, For the man that is last to debate about craning Is always the first – for a touch at the Boar! Then off with each glass, ’twill be pleasure indeed To bumper our toast when the pastime is o’er, Here’s the Boar that has bottom to puzzle the steed, And the steed will carry us up to the Boar! The chase of the Hog would be dull, Heaven knows, If we had not some raspers to vary the Hunt; And we care not o’er what sort of ground our horse goes

56  Máire Ní Fhlathúin While we see the Grey Boar dashing on in our front. Oh, ride as you will but the bolder and truer, More certain you are the heart’s wish to obtain, For the Hog, tho’ he once fairly beat his pursuer, Is a rare one indeed if he beat him again. Then off with each glass – while a sounder shall stray In mountain or jungle let’s drink with delight, That the chase which begins with the first blush of day May be crown’d with success with the first shade of night! (OSM 1: 117) Song: Parody on “The Harp that once thro’ Tara’s Halls” The spear that once o’er Deccan dust The blood of wild Boars shed, Now stands as soiled in Deccan rust As if all Boars had fled! So dies each spirit-stirring thought, And they who would have flown With wild hogs’ bristly forms to sport Now ride to sport their own. No youth – so hunting-zeal doth fade – The idle weapon heeds, The gore alone that taints its blade Tells of its former deeds; And thus that flush that tints each face Tells its own story too, And proves the spirit of the chase Once found a home with you. Then bid that spirit welcome home! High pledge the joyous guest, And join my song while bumpers foam To give the toast a zest. Here’s bottom to the Horse we ride, Size to the Boar we rear, And nerve and skill to aid and guide The Arm that wields the spear! (OSM 1: 124)

Notes 1 Research for this article was carried out with the help of a British Academy/ Leverhulme Small Research Grant. 2 As Mary Ellis Gibson points out, the ultimate source for the harp is Psalm 137, with its framing question: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a

Thomas Moore in Sporting Bombay  57 strange land?” (78). Her work explores in more detail Derozio’s and Ghosh’s use of the trope and their relationship to bardic nationalism (76–82, 142– 47); see also Chaudhuri 68–72. 3 See, for instance, the Bombay Gazette’s reviews of Moore’s National Airs (30 August 1820), Irish Melodies (27 February 1822), and Life of Byron (26 May 1830); and selections from his works in the Bombay Courier (7 May 1825, 23 August 1828, 11 June 1832) – these are indicative rather than exhaustive. 4 Although my focus in this chapter is the Irish Melodies and similar lyric works, writers of the OSM also referenced other works by Moore, notably Morris’s “Tales of the Tinkers” (1: 13–21, 1: 57–64), a hunting narrative based on Loves of the Angels (1822) which featured in the first issue of the magazine. A more ambiguous case is the poem “A Song”, by “S” (Patrick Scott); its subtitle invokes the tune of “Lala Rookha sumsun bura” (OSM 2: 416), but it makes no reference to Moore’s Lalla Rookh. Compare also the later version “Tune – ‘To the Persian air of Lalu-rūkhā, sumun-bura’” (Scott, Oriental Musings 111–13). 5 The question of what exactly these second-order texts should be termed was, and remains, an issue. As Blackwood’s Magazine – reprinting some of the OSM material in an article titled “Literature in the Jungles” – remarked, “an imitation is a very superior thing to a parody; and what may be called a parallelism is a finer thing still” (March 1840, 352). I have settled for “parody” in this analysis, following the authors’ own practice (the word appears in the subtitle to many of their works). 6 See Childs 209; see also Ó hAnnracháin. 7 The “snob” is an incompetent sportsman who has pretensions to do better but forever comes to grief (“Sorrows of a Snob”, OSM 1: 314–15). 8 See also, for instance, the anonymous “Parody: On Childe Harold’s Song of the Suliotes”: “True lovers of sport, all arise at the cry, / ‘Dekho! gala sahib gala’: –This day he must die!” (OSM 1: 238); and the use of specific place names in lines such as “In Khunner’s distant glades the tigers prowl” (“Death of the Tiger”, OSM 1: 350). 9 Appropriations of Moore (as of other widely read poets) were not confined to the colonial marketplace: Tessier identifies several contemporary verse parodies and satires modelled on his work (108–10).

Bibliography Works not found here are listed in a concluding Bibliography, which contains references common to more than one chapter. Archer, Mildred, and Ronald Lightbown. India Observed: India as Viewed by British Artists 1760–1860. Victoria & Albert Museum, 1982. Braddon, Edward. Thirty Years of Shikar. Edinburgh, 1895. Bombay Courier. 1825, 1828, 1832. Bombay Gazette. 1820, 1822, 1830. “The Calm Bendemeer.” Delhi Sketch Book, vol. 5, no. 2, Feb. 1854, p. 17. Campbell, Matthew. “Thomas Moore, Daniel Maclise and the New Mythology: The Origin of the Harp.” The Voice of the People: Writing the European Folk Revival, 1760–1914. Eds. Matthew Campbell and Michael Perraudin, Anthem P, 2012, pp. 65–86. Carshore, Mary [as Mrs W.S. Carshore]. Songs of the East. Calcutta, 1855.

58  Máire Ní Fhlathúin Chaudhuri, Rosinka. Gentleman Poets in Colonial Bengal: Emergent National­ ism and the Orientalist Project. Seagull, 2002. Childs, John. “The Williamite War, 1689–1691”. A Military History of Ireland. Eds. Thomas Bartlett, and Keith Jeffrey, Cambridge UP, 1996, pp. 188–210. Dunne, Tom. “Haunted by History: Irish Romantic Writing 1800–50”. Romanticism in National Context. Eds. Roy Porter and Mikuláš Teich. Cambridge UP, 1988, pp. 68–91. Derozio, H.L.V. Derozio, Poet of India. Ed. Rosinka Chaudhuri. Oxford UP, 2008. Derozio, H.L.V. Poems. Calcutta, 1827. Eden, Emily. Up the Country: Letters Written to Her Sister from the Upper Provinces of India. London, 1867. Elwood, Anne [as Mrs Colonel Elwood]. Narrative of a Journey Overland from England to India. Vol. 1. London, 1830. Ghosh, Kasiprasad. The Sháïr and Other Poems. Calcutta, 1830. Gibson, Mary Ellis. Indian Angles: English Verse in Colonial India from Jones to Tagore. Ohio UP, 2011. “Happy Faces Round Me.” Indian Daily News, 18 November 1867, p. 3. James, Felicity. “Charles Lamb, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and the Forging of the Romantic Literary Coterie”. Re-evaluating the Literary Coterie, 1580–1830. Eds. Will Bowers and Hanna Leah Crummé. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp. 137–58. K. “Hours of Imitation, No 2 – Thomas Moore.” Calcutta Literary Gazette, 26 Apr. 1834, p. 260. Kopf, David. British Orientalism and the Bengal Renaissance: The Dynamics of Indian Modernization, 1773–1835. U of California P, 1969. “Letter from Sir Anthony Fudge to his friend, Sir Gabriel, 36 Writers’ Building, Calcutta.” Calcutta Journal, 27 June 1820, p. 675. “Literature in the Jungles.” Blackwood’s Magazine, vol. 47, Mar. 1840, p. 352. Millard, Virtue [as Mrs. Philip Millard]. Alice Gray: A Ballad. London, c.1830. Moore, Jane. Introduction. British Satire 1785–1840, Vol 5: The Satires of Thomas Moore. Ed. Jane Moore. Pickering & Chatto, 2003. Moore, Thomas [as Thomas Brown the Younger]. The Fudge Family in Paris. 6th ed, London, 1818. Moore, Thomas. Lalla Rookh: An Oriental Romance. 3rd ed, London, 1817. Moore, Thomas. The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore. New York, 1850. Mulholland, James. “Connecting Eighteenth-Century India: The Translocal Poetics of William and Anna Maria Jones.” Representing Place in British ­Literature and Culture of the Long Eighteenth Century: From Local to Global. Eds. Evan Gottlieb and Juliet Shields. Ashgate, 2013, pp. 117–36. Ó hAnnracháin, Eoghan. “Who were the ‘Wild Geese’.” Etudes Irlandaises, vol. 25, no. 1, 2000, pp. 105–23. Oriental Sporting Magazine. 1828–1833, 2 vols, London, 1873. Nayar, Pramod K. English Writing and India, 1600–1920: Colonizing Aesthetics. Routledge, 2008. Pips [pseud]. “The Union Bank Shareholder and the Rook.” Lyrics and Lays. Calcutta, 1867, pp. 49–55. Piston, Julia. C’est l’Amour: Ronde chantée par Vernet dans La Marchande de Goujons Vaudeville de M.Mrs. Francis et Dartois. 1817. Rpr. in Chansons

Thomas Moore in Sporting Bombay  59 nationales et populaires de France accompagnées de Notes historiques et  ­littéraires. Eds. Théophile Marion Dumersan and Noël Ségur, vol. 2, ­Garnier Paris, 1866, pp. 180–81. Scott, Patrick. Oriental Musings and Other Poems. James Fraser, 1840. Stack, George Augustine. “A Literary Forgery.” Songs of Ind. Calcutta, 1872, pp. 113–19. Taylor, Susan B. “Irish Odalisques and Other Seductive Figures: Thomas Moore’s Lalla Rookh.” The Containment and Re-deployment of English India. Ed. Daniel J. O’Quinn, Romantic Circles, 2000. www.rc.umd.edu/ praxis. Accessed 31 Oct. 2018. White, Daniel. From Little London to Little Bengal: Religion, Print and ­Modernity in Early British India, 1793–1835. Johns Hopkins UP, 2013.

4 Thomas Moore in the Hispanic World Sara Medina Calzada

Introduction Throughout the nineteenth century, Thomas Moore’s works were widely read, profusely translated, and broadly distributed. They also reached the Hispanic world, but the reception of Moore in the Hispanophone nations on both sides of the Atlantic has been totally neglected by scholars, despite studies of the reception of other contemporary writers, such as Lord Byron (Shaw; Flitter), Walter Scott (García González; García González and Toda), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Perojo Arronte), or W ­ illiam ­Wordsworth (González García; Flores Moreno). This chapter thus aims to fill this research gap by examining the reputations of Moore in the Hispanic world and reconstructing the diffusion and impact of his poetry in both Spain and Spanish America between the 1820s and the 1910s. Moore’s reception may be considered part of a broad process of political and cultural renovation in the Hispanic world as a consequence of the crisis of the Old Regime and the eventual collapse of the Spanish Empire. Aware of the decline of Spain, Spanish intellectuals reflected on the causes of this decadence and longed for the regeneration of their country, proposing either a return to the traditional values of the ­Spanish national character or the emulation of other European nations. On the other hand, Spanish Americans, who had recently obtained their independence or were struggling for it as in the case of the Cubans, were also immersed in the creation of their national identities. Their situation contrasted with the splendour of Great Britain. Political hegemony often entails cultural hegemony, and British literature spread all over the world propelled by the supremacy of the British Empire. Considering the diverging circumstances of Britain and the Hispanic world, this chapter also explores the roles attributed to Moore in the gradual transformations of the Hispanophone cultures and, more particularly, in their literary evolution. In order to do so, my study is articulated into three sections: first, I explore the first references to Moore in Spanish texts and the role as literary renovator that the Spanish liberal exiles attributed to him in the 1820s and 1830s; second, I examine the Spanish translations of Lalla Rookh, which illustrate the ways in which Moore’s Orientalism,

Thomas Moore in the Hispanic World  61 Catholicism, and nationalism were understood; and third, I analyse the Spanish versions of some of Moore’s Irish Melodies and National Airs in order to discern how they reflect the evolution of ­Spanish poetry throughout the nineteenth century.

A Model for Literary Renovation: The Early Reception of Moore in the Hispanic World Leaving aside rare allusions in the Spanish press prior to 1823, the first significant references to Moore in Spanish publications are found in the works of the Spanish liberal exiles forced to flee their homeland with the restoration of Ferdinand VII as absolute monarch in 1823. Most found refuge in France, but around 1,000 families settled in England (Lloréns, Liberales 23). Moore was admired by some of these exiles in Britain, including José Joaquín de Mora (1783–1864) and Antonio Alcalá Galiano (1789–1865). These two Anglophile intellectuals, who became well acquainted with British Romanticism during their exile, assumed a role of literary renovators and argued that Spanish literature should emulate the simplicity of British poetry and reject the affectation of the French models that had dominated Spanish Neoclassicism (Lloréns, Romanticismo 78–82; Medina Calzada, Britain and the Regeneration 235–50). Mora, who sympathised with Moore’s liberalism as well, commended his “passionate songs” to the readers of his periodicals and presented him as one of the British literary models who should be considered in the renovation of Spanish poetry, together with Scott, Wordsworth, and Byron (Mora, “Poesías” 754; “Ensayo” 550). Similarly, Alcalá Galiano included Moore among the main English-speaking authors of the time and described his poetry as gallant, witty, and full of fantasy in his famous preface to Ángel Saavedra’s El moro expósito (xxv). Moore’s poetic style fitted the naturalness and plainness that they promoted, but their proposals were mostly ignored by his contemporaries. The literary ideas of Mora and Alcalá Galiano were significantly influenced by those of José María Blanco White, another Spaniard exiled in Britain who paid attention to Moore’s works. One of the greatest Spanish intellectuals of his time, Blanco showed a remarkable interest in theology, which accounts for his connection with Moore. He was a Catholic priest who converted first to Anglicanism and then to Unitarianism and wrote several works on religion, including Second Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion, which he published in 1833. This book is a response to Moore’s defence of Catholicism in Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion, also published in 1833. Blanco believed that the object of Moore’s work was “to increase the hatred of the Irish Catholics against the Protestants” and regretted that a “professed partisan of liberty” like the Irish poet could have employed “his powerful talents in the service of the Irish priests” (Blanco White

62  Sara Medina Calzada 25). As opposed to Blanco, other Spanish conservative authors praised Moore’s Travels and his promotion of Catholicism, as I explain below. The Spanish liberal exiles in London were also the first to translate Moore’s poetry into Spanish: an anonymous Spanish translation of “What the Bee is to the Floweret” appeared in the magazine Ocios de Españoles Emigrados in 1826 (“Imitación”). This translation is analysed in the section titled “Evolving Literary Tastes: The Spanish Irish Melodies and ­National Airs” below. Meanwhile, in Spain, the censorship established by Ferdinand VII did not prevent the publication of a Spanish translation of Moore’s novel The Epicurean in Barcelona in 1832.1 According to the title-page, its translator was “P. A. O. y O.”, whom Rabadán has identified as Pedro Alonso O’Crowley y O’Donnell (249). Its publisher was Antonio Bergnes, who promoted the introduction of European Romantic fiction in Spain in the 1830s by publishing translations of Scott’s historical novels – including Ivanhoe, The ­Talisman, The Black Dwarf, and Quentin Durward – and of Chateaubriand’s Les martyrs, among others. The Epicurean, with its combination of elements from the historical novel and the Gothic tradition, must have appealed to the Spanish readership, as this translation was reprinted in Málaga in 1847, and a new translation was published in Barcelona in 1898 under the title Sacerdotisa y mártir. In the twentieth century, The Epicurean was again translated by Ramón Hurtado, whose text was used for an edition with illustrations by Alfredo Opisso (1945) and for another published by Espasa-Calpe (1951). The ­Epicurean is thus one of Moore’s most translated texts into Spanish, and this taste for Romantic fiction is also related to the popularity of Moore’s Lalla Rookh, which is examined in the following section. Whether as a representative of Romantic fiction or as a poet who could be followed by Spanish writers, Moore’s early reception in the Hispanic world is remarkably connected with the renovation of Spanish letters at a time when Romanticism was successfully replacing the Neoclassical Frenchified literary models that had prevailed in the preceding decades.

Orientalism, Catholicism, and Nationalism: The Spanish Translations of Lalla Rookh Propelled by the vogue for Oriental themes that infected Romantic literature and the popularity of Byron’s Turkish Tales, the publication of Lalla Rookh in 1817 cemented Moore’s fame across Europe. The success of this Oriental romance overseas is well attested by subsequent translations and renditions, some of which were produced in the H ­ ispanic world. Although no complete Spanish translation of Lalla Rookh has ever been published, six partial translations – in both prose and verse – were composed in Spain, Puerto Rico, and Cuba from the mid-1830s until the first decades of the twentieth century. As examined in the

Thomas Moore in the Hispanic World  63 following pages, these translations respond to the different aesthetic, moral, and political concerns of their translators. Lalla Rookh was first translated into Spanish in 1836, when William Casey (ca. 1795–1857) translated “The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan” and published it in Barcelona as El falso profeta de Corassan: romance histórico oriental. His translation of Moore’s poem is also related to the Spanish liberal exile in London (1823–1833) since the work is dedicated to Juana María de la Vega, the wife of Franciso Espoz y Mina, the famous guerrilla leader who fought against the Napoleonic troops in the Peninsular War (1808–1814) and then supported the Liberal Triennium (1820–1823). Both Espoz y Mina and his wife were exiled in England from 1823 to 1833 and, according to Casey, she knew Moore personally (ii). Furthermore, in this dedication, Casey underlines the moral tendency of Moore’s poem, thus claiming that the story of the false prophet Mokanna shows that fanaticism causes misfortune while hypocrisy enhances superstition (ii). The most prominent feature of Casey’s translation is that it is written in prose. The translator incorporates Moore’s notes and, as the following passages show, he follows rather closely the original verses – although arranging them in standardised prose: Month after month, in widowhood of soul Drooping, the maiden saw two summers roll Their suns away—but, ah, how cold and dim Ev’n summer suns, when not beheld with him! From time to time ill-omen’d rumours came, Like spirit-tongues, muttering the sick man’s name, Just ere he dies:— (MCP 6: 33) De mes en mes envuelta esa doncella en la viudez del alma, veía ya corridos por la vía solar dos veranos; mas ¡con qué frialdad y negrura pasaron sin la vista de Azim los soles estivales! De cuando en cuando, sí, llegaban rumores ominosos, como lenguas fatídicas pronunciando el nombre del paciente antes de morir. (Casey 35–36) ­ articular – Translating English Romantic poetry – and metrical tales, in p in prose was not an uncommon practice at the time. In fact, Amédée Pichot published a French prose version of Lalla Rookh in 1820, and both French and Spanish prose translations of Byron’s poems appeared in the 1820s and 1830s. Following this translation strategy, Casey presented “The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan” as a novel. The connection between the Spanish translation and the novel genre was strengthened by references to contemporary novelists in Casey’s foreword, where he regrets that in Spain Moore’s “historical romances” were not as popular as those by Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, and Washington Irving (i). Emphasis is placed on the historical nature of the narrative, which is also

64  Sara Medina Calzada underlined in the subtitle of the work (“romance histórico oriental”) by adding the adjective “histórico” (i.e. historical) to the original ­“oriental romance”. These two components – historicism and ­Orientalism – ­foretold the success that the version of Moore’s poem could have in Romantic Spain, where historical novels and Orientalising narratives enjoyed a considerable popularity, especially from the 1830s onwards. However, El falso profeta de Corassán made little impact on the Spanish literary scene, and the new translations of Moore’s poems that Casey promised to undertake if this one succeeded (iii) were never published. No further Spanish translation of Moore’s Lalla Rookh appeared until the following decade. In 1847, a three-part verse translation of “Paradise and the Peri” appeared in the Madrid magazine El Artista. The translator was Juan Valera (1824–1905), a young critic and writer who was to become a celebrated novelist with the publication of Pepita Jiménez in 1874. Valera was well acquainted with the English literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and, by the time he composed this version of Moore’s “Paradise and the Peri”, he had already published some imitations of Byron’s poems (Moreno Hurtado 132–35, 173–99; Torralbo Caballero 262–64). Nevertheless, although his e­ nthusiasm for Byron soon cooled, his interest in Moore’s Lalla Rookh did not diminish over time. More than thirty years after the publication of his version of “Paradise and the Peri”, in 1878, Valera approached his friend Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo (1856–1912) to work on a joint translation of Lalla Rookh as he believed that the manuscript could be easily sold to Spanish publishers (Menéndez Pelayo, Epistolario 161). However, Menéndez Pelayo, one of the most influential critics in Spain in the late nineteenth century and even in the first decades of the twentieth century, rejected this proposition. Despite his admiration for Moore, he dissuaded Valera from translating the entire poem, anticipating that their efforts would not be economically rewarded (­Menéndez Pelayo, Epistolario 167). Valera abandoned the project and so the above-mentioned youthful translation remains his only rendition of Lalla Rookh. In a footnote at the beginning of the poem, Valera presents his version of “Paradise and the Peri” as an Oriental legend translated freely from Moore’s Lalla Rookh (Valera, “Paraíso I” 18). Comparison of his verse translation and the original poem reveals that the Spanish translator was not particularly concerned about imitating Moore’s style and diction, but his verse is vigorous and proves his talent for poetry. His poem is arranged in silvas, a traditional metrical form in Spanish poetry that combines seven- and eleven-syllable lines without a fixed rhyme pattern. As the following lines illustrate, the Spanish translator shows a tendency to amplification and the use of hyperbaton, thus constantly altering the syntactic structure of the sentences: But whither shall the Spirit go To find this gift for Heav’n? — ‘I know

Thomas Moore in the Hispanic World  65 The wealth,’ she cries, ‘of every urn, In which unnumber’d rubies burn, Beneath the pillars of Chilminar;— I know where the Isles of Perfume are Many a fathom down in the sea, To the south of sun-bright Araby; I know, too, where the Genii hid The jewell’d cup of their King Jamshid, With Life’s elixir sparkling high’ – (MCP 6: 159–60) ¿Mas dónde irá el espíritu del viento, A encontrar su presente? ‘Yo (decía), Del alto Chilminar en el cimiento Los inmensos montones de rubíes Y las cándidas perlas que los Genios Escondieron he visto, yo poseo La copa de diamantes guarnecida De Jamshid su monarca, toda llena Del elixir de vida; Y del Arabia amena Más allá, mi deseo Pueden saciar aun con perfumadas Playas las islas del aroma, ahora Por siempre hundidas en la mar sonora’. (Valera, “Paraíso I” 19) Despite the stylistic variations, the Spanish poet tries to maintain Moore’s imagery and references to Eastern cultures. Moreover, Valera translated Moore’s footnotes explaining these cultural references to help the reader understand the text (Valera, “Paraíso I” 18). Only three years after the publication of Valera’s poem, another translation of Moore’s “Paradise and the Peri” appeared in the Spanish press. This is the prose version published by Fernán Caballero – that is, Cecilia Böhl von Faber (1796–1877) – in the magazine Semanario Pintoresco Español in 1850. As Valera, Fernán Caballero is celebrated as a novelist, especially for her costumbrista narratives like La gaviota (1849) or La familia de Alvareda (1849). Although the brief article that precedes the prose translation of “Paradise and the Peri” is signed by her, Caballero clarifies that the poem had been translated by a late lady very dear to her with the purpose of amusing her children (“Paraíso I” 380). This comment hints that the translator could have been her own mother, Francisca Larrea, who had died in 1838. Larrea was well read in English literature, and her personal documents reveal that she was familiar with works by Shakespeare and Wordsworth (Carnero 83). Her activities also include a translation of Byron’s Manfred, which was published posthumously in 1857 in Revista de Ciencias, Literatura y Artes and an unpublished partial translation of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Letters Written during a Short

66  Sara Medina Calzada Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Given her literary interests, it is perfectly plausible that Larrea could have translated Moore’s “Paradise and the Peri” as well. Although Amores attributes it to Fernán Caballero indicating that she claims the translation in one of her personal letters, in the letter in question (Heinermann 107), sent to Juan Eugenio de Hartzenbusch on 10 October 1849, she simply states that she had a translation of “Paradise and the Peri” that could be published in the press. There is no apparent reason to believe that the information in Fernán Caballero’s article is false, so I would argue that her mother was the translator of Moore’s poem, even if there is no documentary evidence to prove the authorship. Whether she is the translator or not, Fernán Caballero warns her readers that the composition is a literal prose translation and admits that the language and the expressions used may seem forced and unusual (“Paraíso I” 380). The translation follows rather closely the English original, but, on the whole, the Spanish text is idiomatic and conforms to contemporary standards. In fact, the style is more polished than that of Casey’s El falso profeta de Corassan. References to the Eastern culture and their correspondent notes are reproduced, and the images and metaphors are usually maintained. The following excerpts – indicative of the translation’s style – illustrate these points: Rapidly as comets run To the’ embraces of the Sun:― Fleeter than the starry brands Flung at night from angel hands At those dark and daring sprites, Who would climb the’ empyreal heights, Down the blue vault the Peri flies, And, lighted earthward by a glance That just then broke from morning’s eyes, Hung hovering o’er our world’s expanse. (MCP 6: 158–59) Con la rapidez que corren los cometas a los abrazos del sol; más veloz que las estrellas incendiarias que en la noche lanzan los ángeles a aquellos negros y osados espíritus que procuran ascender las imperias alturas bajo la azulada bóveda, vuela la Peri; y alumbrada su derrota hacia la tierra por una centella que en aquel instante despidieron los ojos de la mañana, cerniose sobre la anchura de nuestro mundo. (Caballero, “Paraíso I” 380) In the translation, Fernán Caballero provides some information on Moore’s life extracted from the section devoted to Moore in Rubens’s Brittische Blumenlese aus ältern und neuern Dichtern (120–23). Rubens’s

Thomas Moore in the Hispanic World  67 work was published in 1820, and therefore does not include Moore’s later works, but Caballero mentions Moore’s biographies of Sheridan (1825) and Byron (1830), The Epicurean (1827), and Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion (1833). Regarding this last title, Caballero praises Moore for having dared to affirm that the Catholic Church was the only Christian Church (“Paraíso I” 380). She obviously approved of an English-speaking writer who defended the Catholic faith as she and her parents – the aforementioned Francisca Larrea and the German Hispanophile Johann Nikolaus Böhl von Faber – were renowned for their conservative political ideas and their profound Catholicism. Caballero connects the poem with the Catholic faith and argues that only C ­ atholics could know about repentance, atonement, and God’s forgiveness (379). She admires the poem, but she admits that she would have preferred a Catholic setting rather than the Oriental one (380). In fact, she argues that the numerous references to the Orient hinder the reading of the poem since they distract the readers and force them to read the notes (380). Therefore, to a certain extent, she rejects the Orientalism that had attracted so many European readers of Lalla Rookh since its publication. Fernán Caballero was not the only Spanish author who highlighted Moore’s Catholicism. The above-mentioned Menéndez Pelayo, also a staunch Catholic, briefly refers to it in his famous Historia de los heterodoxos españoles (1880–1882), his three-volume study on non-Catholic Spanish writers. In his view, Moore was the third-best poet in Britain after Byron and Shelley, and his defence of Catholicism certainly enhanced his literary merits (Historia 809). The Spanish critic celebrates Moore’s attacks on the Anglican Church, describing Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion (1833) as a perfect combination of erudition, powerful argumentation, and brilliant literary style (­Historia 810). Hence, Moore’s Catholicism became a meeting point between him and conservative sectors of the Spanish intellectual elites, who, by underlining his promotion of Catholicism, implicitly establish a contrast between him and other British (Protestant) writers. By doing so, they also attempt to domesticate the Irish poet presenting him as one of their own: a defender of the Catholic faith. On the other hand, the interest in Moore’s Orientalism did not disappear completely in the Hispanic world after 1850, when further fragmentary translations of Lalla Rookh were produced. Miguel Sánchez Pesquera (1851–1920) published a verse translation of “The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan” in Puerto Rico (1892), which was also distributed in Spain. It was reviewed in La Época (“Autores y libros”) and, according to the anonymous reviewer, the translation was good, but the Orientalism and Romanticism that permeated Moore’s poem were outdated (2). Moreover, a new translation of “Paradise and the Peri” was published in Barcelona in 1913. The translator was Sebastián Gomila

68  Sara Medina Calzada (1861–1934), and his version appeared under the title La entrada del Paraíso, célebre fragmento del poema indio Lala-Rook [sic]. Finally, there is another text that deserves to be considered in this section: the lost translation of Lalla Rookh carried out by the Cuban politician and writer José Martí (1853–1895). Martí’s translation was never published, and his manuscript has not survived, but, as documented by Félix Flores, the references to Lalla Rookh in his correspondence prove that he undertook the translation of the poem in the late 1880s. His letters reveal that the Boston publisher Estes and Lauriat expected the translation to be submitted by mid-June 1887 (F. Flores 130–31). Martí probably did not meet the deadline, but he must have completed the translation by February 1888, when he informs his friend Enrique Estrázulas that his version of Lalla Rookh, which was to include illustrations, would be published soon (Martí, OC 20: 189). Two years later, on 3 June 1890, he provides further information on his translation in a letter to Manuel de la Cruz, in which he states that he had translated it in blank verse to please his editor, but he was not satisfied with that decision (Martí, OC 20: 180–81). Martí argues that it was impossible to separate Moore from his rhyme, so it was disloyal to use blank verse when translating his poetry. In addition, Martí affirms that he had Cuba in mind when translating the text and, by linking the despotic rule of Mokanna, the suffering of the Irish people, and the situation in Cuba, he establishes an implicit parallel between England’s dominion over Ireland and Spain’s control over Cuba (180–81). Martí was one of the leaders of the Cuban independence movement, and he died fighting for it in the Battle of Dos Ríos in 1895, so he must have believed that Moore’s nationalism could be used to promote the Cuban cause. This is not the only case in which Moore’s poetry served political purposes abroad. As analysed by Minuto, Moore’s reception in Italy is notably determined by political circumstances as well. She indicates that although Moore enjoyed a “notable and lasting” success there throughout the nineteenth century, the popularity of the Irish ­Melodies reached its peak in the 1870s and 1880s, when, after the unification of Italy, they were trying to create a national identity (193). Although Martí’s Lalla Rookh has not been preserved, Félix Flores ­(136–37) could identify two surviving stanzas of the translation. These stanzas, found among Martí’s papers, appear in the twenty-second volume of his Obras completas as fragment 266 (162). The first stanza is part of “The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan” and is preceded by the ­English original: And music, too—dear music! that can touch Beyond all else the soul that loves it much— Now heard far off, so far as but to seem Like the faint, exquisite music of a dream . . . (MCP 6: 73) Y la música allí, música cara Que más que todo el corazón conmueve

Thomas Moore in the Hispanic World  69 De quien la adora, y desde lejos llega Como el rumor de un delicioso sueño. (Martí, OC 22: 162) The second stanza reads as follows: Cuando a la hora de harén, le llevo flores Y refrescos de olor: “Hinda,” me dice; Si está de hora feliz, “Hinda, tu novio Un soldado ha de ser: a las doncellas Mejor con las batallas se enamora”. (Martí, OC 22: 162) This stanza does not include any additional information on its source-text, but it is the translation of this fragment from “The Fire-­ Worshippers”, as Félix Flores also indicates (136–37). ‘And still, whene’er at Haram hours, I take him cool sherbets and flowers, He tells me, when in playful mood, A hero shall my bridegroom be, Since maids are best in battle woo’d, And won with shouts of victory!’ (MCP 6: 220) These passages are too brief to reach any conclusion about Martí’s translation, but they reveal some of its features. As Martí himself indicated in one of the above-mentioned letters (OC 20: 180–81), his translation is written in blank verse, which alters significantly the style of the composition. At least these two stanzas resemble prose in their simplicity and naturalness, and the Cuban author does not translate the lines literally, but rewrites them trying to maintain the meaning of the source-text. Unfortunately, these lines do not provide any clue on how he reflected Moore’s nationalism or linked the poem with the situation in Cuba. These six Spanish versions of Lalla Rookh reveal different approaches and interpretations to Moore’s Oriental poem. Lalla Rookh was translated both in prose and in verse, using both rhyme and blank verse, at different times and places. Depending on their own literary and political agendas, the translators placed the focus on different aspects of the poem: its Orientalism, its Catholic themes, or its nationalism. Although fragmentary and dispersed, these translations suggest that the interest in Lalla Rookh in the Hispanic world persisted even when Romanticism and the vogue for Oriental themes had receded.

Evolving Literary Tastes: The Spanish Irish Melodies and National Airs Moore’s Irish Melodies and National Airs also reached the Hispanic literary markets in the nineteenth century. Although no complete

70  Sara Medina Calzada translation of the National Airs has been ever published, and the only one of the Irish Melodies is Rafael María de Mendive’s Melodías irlandesas (New York, 1863), other authors translated spare poems from these works during the period between the 1820s and the early twentieth century. As this section explores, their compositions reflect the evolution in the literary tastes and sensibilities in the Hispanic world. The first Spanish translation of one of Moore’s Irish Melodies, “What the Bee is to the Floweret”, was published in 1826 in Ocios de Españoles Emigrados, a magazine edited by the Spanish liberals exiled in London, as indicated above. The translation was published anonymously, but given the similarities with other poems published in that magazine, its author could have been Pedro Pascual Olivier (Lloréns, Liberales 323). His translation is essentially a Neoclassical rewriting of Moore’s poem cluttered with stylistic affectation while conforming to contemporary conventions of Spanish lyric poetry. The translator maintains the image of the bee and the flower, but modifies significantly the poem’s content. Verdurous banks and waves are replaced by two loving doves, and the ending is altered to respect morality. While Moore embraces the principles of carpe diem arguing that lovers should enjoy their love while they can (MCP 3:302), the Spanish translator places the focus on the constancy of the male lover, who promises that he would never abandon his beloved one: Yo nunca abandono mi paloma amada, Aunque sus caricias obtenga lograr; Que a gozar caricias mi alma acostumbrada, Glorias siempre nuevas sabe ardiente hallar. (“Imitación” 85)2 The Spanish translator also modifies the metrical pattern of Moore’s poem and arranges it in dodecasyllabic lines, a choice which diminishes the simplicity and naturalness of the original text. The popular tone of Moore’s composition is better preserved in another version of this poem published by Federico Muntadas (1826–1912) in the Madrid periodical Revista Literaria de El Español in 1845. A brief article precedes this translation; Muntadas notes that he had decided to convey Moore’s style, which was different from that of his English peers, by imitating the compositions of Andalusian poets (Muntadas 7). This is a remarkable instance of domestication by which Moore’s Irish melody is assimilated to the Andalusian ballads and other popular forms of poetry in vogue in Spanish Romanticism. Muntadas’s translation employs simple diction and syntax, arranging Moore’s poem in octosyllabic fiveline stanzas (quintillas), as the following lines from the first stanza show: Lo que es la abeja a la flor Cuando liba su licor

Thomas Moore in the Hispanic World  71 Por entre el follaje espeso, Eso quiero yo ser, eso Para ti, mi dulce amor. (Muntadas 7–8) His version is completely different from the anonymous imitation of 1826, and it reflects a change in aesthetics and poetic style in Spanish literature. Whereas the version of 1826 is basically a Neoclassical adaptation of the English original, Muntadas’s poem conforms to the tenets of Romantic poetry and follows the Romantic vindication of popular forms of poetry. Moore’s “What the Bee is to the Floweret” certainly attracted the attention of Hispanophone translators: there is another Spanish version of this poem composed by the Cuban author Mercedes Matamoros (1851–1906) and collected in her Poesías completas (1892). Matamoros, who unfortunately has not received the critical attention that her poetry deserves, also translated some of the poems included in Moore’s Sacred Songs and Legendary Ballads, which can be found both in her Poesías completas and in Sánchez Pesquera’s Antología de líricos ingleses y angloamericanos. In her translation of “What the Bee is to the Floweret”, she follows rather closely Moore’s lines and imagery, transmitting his voice more effectively than her predecessors. The first stanza of her translation reads as follows: Semejante a la abeja que se oculta de la flor en el cáliz perfumado y liba miel en gotas de rocío, seré yo para ti, dulce amor mío. (Matamoros 90–91) As these lines show, Matamoros’s style is graceful and simple and conveys the musicality of Moore’s text. This musicality and the abundance of sensual images make her translation relatively closer to Modernism, a literary trend that emerged in the late nineteenth century in the Hispanic world. As mentioned above, apart from these versions of “What the Bee is to the Floweret” and other translations of selected compositions published in the press or in anthologies (Sánchez Pesquera 59–66), there is one complete Spanish translation of the Irish Melodies: Rafael María de Mendive’s Melodías irlandesas, first published in New York in 1863 and re-issued in that city in 1875. Mendive (1821–1886) was a Cuban poet who acted as the mentor of José Martí in the 1860s. Due to his involvement in the origins of the Cuban independence movement, he was exiled in New York from 1869 to 1878. Although his translation contains no explicit allusion to the Cuban conflict, he must have been attracted to Moore’s nationalism too. Mendive translated some of Moore’s more patriotic compositions, such as “Erin! Oh Erin!”, “The Harp that once

72  Sara Medina Calzada through Tara’s Halls”, or the famous “The Minstrel Boy”. Mendive’s version of this last poem reads as follows: El joven trovador partió a la guerra: la muerte le adornó con su guirnalda, y un sable empuña cuyo brillo aterra, y un arpa ciñe su robusta espalda. ... Sucumbe el trovador, más la cadena no doblega su espíritu patriota, y el arpa, un tiempo de suspiros llena, duerme a su lado silenciosa y rota. ¡No mancharán tus cuerdas los esclavos, arpa de amor, cuando solemne vibres; tu acento sólo escucharán los bravos pechos que encierren corazones libres! (Mendive, “El trovador” 13) Mendive maintains the stanza division and rhyme pattern of Moore’s poem, managing to convey the heroic spirit of his source. His version is a song to war and freedom in which Moore’s nationalism is expressed as vehemently as in the English original. In fact, Mendive underlines the patriotism of the young warrior by translating “proud soul” (line 10) as “espíritu patriota” (i.e. patriotic spirit). Furthermore, in the last stanza, he translates “slavery” as “esclavos” (i.e. slaves): this personification may allude to the contemporary situation in Mendive’s homeland. Slavery was not abolished in Cuba until 1886 – although there had been several unsuccessful attempts to forbid it in the preceding decades – so, Mendive’s mention of slaves may allude not only to oppression in general but also to the actual situation in Cuba. As for Moore’s National Airs, they also attracted the attention of several Hispanophone authors in the second half of the nineteenth century, as reflected in the compilation edited by Miguel Sánchez Pesquera (Antología 100–14). One of these authors is the Colombian writer Jorge Isaacs, renowned for his novel María (1864–1867), who translated Moore’s “Oft in the Stilly Night” as “En la noche callada”. In both the source and the translated text, the melancholic poetic voices lament the passing of time and the death of their beloved ones. Isaacs borrows from Moore the images of the fallen leaves and the empty hall, but he intensifies the sorrowful tone of the poem by amplifying and making more explicit the ideas contained in the English original. The Colombian translator thus includes a reference to his friends’ tombs which is absent in Moore’s poem: “. . . mi memoria evoca, / y hallo en torno de mí sólo sus tumbas” (Isaacs 101). Furthermore, he alters its ending so as to

Thomas Moore in the Hispanic World  73 emphasise the solitude of the poetic voice. In Moore’s poem, the chorus is introduced for the third time, and the last lines are: Thus, in the stilly night, Ere the slumber’s chain has bound me, Sad Memory brings the light Of other days around me. (MCP 4:168 By contrast, the Spanish version contains no chorus, and Isaacs adds the following lines to conclude his poem: … Lo han dejado Todos, excepto yo; y así en la vida ¡Ay! ¡Cuántas veces me contemplo solo! (Isaacs 102) Therefore, the poet complains about his loneliness once again and by doing so, he moves the focus of the poem from the memories of the past to his current situation. Other texts from Moore’s National Airs contained in Sánchez Pesquera’s Antología de líricos ingleses y angloamericanos are versions of “Those Evening Bells” by the Venezuelan author José Antonio Calcaño (100), four imitations of Moore by the Spanish translator and diplomat Enrique L. de Vedia (102–108), and translations of “Oh, come to me when Daylight sets” and “The Dream of home” by the Colombian politician and intellectual Miguel Antonio Caro (112). Moreover, Sánchez Pesquera’s anthology includes “The Young Muleteers of Grenada” by Carmela Eulate Sanjurjo, an eminent intellectual from Puerto Rico. All these translations reveal that the interest in Moore’s Irish Melodies and National Airs was at its height in the second half of the nineteenth century, and that these works especially attracted Spanish American Romantic poets. These authors include the above-mentioned Mendive (Cuba), Isaacs (Colombia), and Calcaño (Venezuela). Even poets whose style reflects the transition from Romanticism to Modernism, such as Matamoros (Cuba) or Eulate Sanjurjo (Puerto Rico) were interested in Moore’s compositions. Consequently, there is a considerable chronological gap between the composition of Moore’s poems and their reception in the Hispanic world, which is connected with the late development of Romanticism in Spanish literatures. Romanticism had already declined in Britain when it emerged both in Spain and Spanish America (from the 1830s onwards), a circumstance that illustrates the alleged backwardness of Spanish letters at the time and explains why Romantic models like Moore coexisted with later literary trends in the Hispanic world. The case of Moore is not exceptional and, to a certain extent, it mirrors that of Byron, whose works were still remarkably popular in the

74  Sara Medina Calzada second half of the nineteenth century. Moore and his friend Byron are inevitably connected in the reception of their works in the Hispanic world, and several of the above-mentioned Spanish translators of Moore were also translators of Byron. Eulate Sanjurjo translated some minor poems by Byron, Vedia translated Byron’s Parisina (1844), and ­Matamoros translated several compositions from Byron’s Hebrew Melodies. Furthermore, Francisca Larrea, the presumed translator of the version of “Paradise and the Peri” published by Fernán Caballero, also produced an unpublished translation of Manfred; and Martí, who undertook the translation of Lalla Rookh, also started translating Byron’s A Mystery in his youth, although this remained unfinished. In addition, Byron’s name frequently appears in the texts about Moore found in Spanish ­nineteenth-century periodicals, where the Irish author is often presented as a friend of Byron and the recipient of his memoirs. In addition, it is not uncommon that Spanish critics compared Moore and Byron – usually to the benefit of the latter. Although according to nineteenth-century critics Moore may have lacked Byron’s genius, his poetry was less sceptical and, consequently, less disturbing. This view is reflected in the brief article on Moore’s poetry that precedes Muntadas’s translation of “What the Bee is to the Floweret”, in which he establishes a sharp contrast between Moore’s playful muse and Byron’s ardent and destructive inspiration (Muntadas 7).3 Definitely, Moore did not arouse the suspicions and criticism that Byron’s figure provoked among the most conservative sectors of Spanish society at the time. Yet the Irish poet did not arouse the passionate admiration enjoyed by Byron either, so although their names were frequently connected, Byron’s fame generally overshadowed that of his friend. Finally, returning to Moore’s Irish Melodies, it is worth noting that apart from the translated poems discussed above, Spaniards were familiar with Moore’s Melodies owing to the inclusion of “Tis the last Rose of Summer” in Friedrich von Flotow’s Martha (1847). This opera, which premiered in Spain at the Teatro Principal in Barcelona on 9 February 1860 and ran for more than two months in that theatre, was warmly received by audience and critics alike. One year later, Martha premiered at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, but, in this case, Flotow’s opera was transformed into a zarzuela, a Spanish type of operetta. Furthermore, the success of Martha in Spain is attested by the inclusion of some of its songs in the repertoire of Spanish orchestras and the publication of leaflets with the music and lyrics of these songs, including Moore’s “Last Rose”. A musical score of Moore’s poem ­(arranged for male voices), whose manuscript is preserved at the Spanish National ­Library, was printed under the title “Melodía Yrlandesa [sic]” in ­Madrid around 1863. The author of the Spanish lyrics is Francisco Asenjo ­Barbieri (1823–1894), a renowned composer of zarzuelas. His

Thomas Moore in the Hispanic World  75 text is based on Théophile Manotte’s French setting rather than Moore’s original, as he acknowledges in the title-page. The motif of the last rose of the summer is central in his adaptation, but he focusses on the decay and fragility of the flower, rather than on its loneliness. His version does not provide an extremely accurate idea of Moore’s poetry, but illustrates that the Irish Melodies spread in the Hispanic world in various – and unexpected – ways.

Concluding Remarks The preceding analysis reveals a moderate but continuous interest in Moore’s works in the Hispanophone nations from both sides of the Atlantic for almost a century (1820s–1910s). The apparently scattered and unconnected attempts to translate Moore’s poetry into Spanish actually reflect the evolution of Spanish literatures throughout the nineteenth century and show several trends in the process of dissemination of his works across Spain and Spanish America. The Spanish liberal exiles in London (1823–1833) regarded Moore as a model who could contribute to the renovation of Spanish poetry and, although their proposals were mostly ignored in Spain, Moore’s works entered the Hispanophone literary markets with the emergence of Romanticism in the Hispanic world. The different editions of The Epicurean and the six partial translations of Lalla Rookh suggest that these two texts enjoyed a significant popularity at the time, probably fostered by the success of Oriental themes and historical fiction in Spanish ­Romanticism. Moore’s Irish Melodies and National Airs received little attention in the first half of the nineteenth century, but in the following decades they captivated some renowned Romantic and post-Romantic Spanish American intellectuals. In particular, his poetry appealed to Cuban writers in the immediate years before the independence of Cuba from Spain (1898). In fact, Martí and Mendive, who were leading figures in the Cuban independence movement, appropriated Moore’s Irish nationalism to their own patriotic cause. This political reading of Moore’s works was absent in Spain, where, on the other hand, conservative authors like Fernán Caballero or Menéndez Pelayo placed the focus on Moore’s Catholicism. Moore’s texts elicited different responses and interpretations among the Hispanophone readership; these deserve to be explored in further depth in the future. Although the fame and influence of Moore in the Hispanic world cannot be compared with that of Byron and Scott, there are conspicuous traces of the presence of his works in the Hispanic literary markets for over a century. He is thus a notable figure to be considered in the study of the transatlantic literary and cultural exchanges between the British Isles, Spain, and Spanish America.

76  Sara Medina Calzada

Notes 1 A few passages from The Epicurean had been translated into Spanish by the Cuban poet José María Heredia (1803–1839) and included in the ­Mexican periodical Miscelánea: Periódico Crítico y Literario in 1830 (­Heredia 183–87). 2 A literal translation of these lines reads as follows: “I never abandon my loving dove / Even if I obtain her love; / My accustomed and ardent soul always / Finds new glories in her caresses” (translation Medina Calzada). 3 Muntadas takes most of the information from L. Salvel’s entry on Moore in Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture (Salvel 484–86). The comparison between Moore and Byron is thus based on the opinion of the French author, although Muntadas must have agreed with his views. French literary criticism was highly influential in nineteenth-century Spain, and the reception of English literature was frequently mediated by the cultural influence of France. However, this French influence is not as relevant in the process of reception of Moore in the Hispanic world as in that of other contemporary authors like Byron.

Bibliography Works not found here are listed in a concluding Bibliography, which contains references common to more than one chapter. Alcalá Galiano, Antonio. “Prólogo.” El moro expósito, written by Ángel Saavedra, duque de Rivas, vol. 1, Imprenta de Robledo, 1834, pp. ix–xxxi. Amores, Montserrat. “El paraíso y la Peri.” GICES XIX database, 2008, http:// gicesxix.uab.es/showCuentoT.php?idCuento=341. Accessed 13 Jul. 2017. Asenjo Barbieri, Francisco. “Melodía irlandesa que se canta en la ópera Martha, de Flotow.” [ca. 1863], Spanish National Library, MC/4420/62. ———. “Melodía yrlandesa [sic]. Arreglada para voces de hombres por Manotte.” Antonio Romero, [c.1863]. “Autores y libros. El velado profeta del Korassan.” La Época, no. 14,276, 6 Jun. 1892, p. 2. Blanco White, José María. The Life of the Rev. Joseph Blanco White, Written by Himself. Ed. John Hamilton Thom. Vol. 2, John Chapman, 1845. Caballero, Fernán (Cecilia Böhl von Faber). “El Paraíso y la Peri” [Part I and II]. Translation attributed to Francisca Larrea. Semanario Pintoresco Español, nos. 48 and 49, 1 and 8 Dec. 1850, pp. 379–81; 385–87. Carnero, Guillermo. Los orígenes del romanticismo reaccionario español: el matrimonio Böhl de Faber. U de Valencia, 1978. Casey, William. El falso profeta de Corassan, romance histórico oriental. Imprenta de Miguel Borrás, 1836. Flitter, Derek. “‘The Immortal Byron’ in Spain: Radical and Poet of the Sublime.” The Reception of Byron in Europe. Volume 1: Southern Europe, France, and Romania. Ed. Richard A. Cardwell, Thoemmes Continuum, 2004, pp. 129–43. Flores, Félix. “El Lalla Rookh de Thomas Moore: la traducción perdida de José Martí.” Revista de la Facultad de Humanidades y Lenguas Modernas, vol. 8, 2005, pp. 127–39.

Thomas Moore in the Hispanic World  77 Flores Moreno, Cristina. “Imported Seeds: The Role of William Wordsworth in Miguel de Unamuno’s Poetic Renewal.” Romanticism and the Anglo-­ Hispanic Imaginary. García González, José Enrique. Traducción y recepción de Walter Scott en España: estudio descriptivo de las traducciones de Waverley al español. 2005. U de Sevilla, PhD dissertation. García González, José Enrique, and Fernando Toda. “The Reception of Sir ­Walter Scott in Spain.” The Reception of Sir Walter Scott in Europe. 2006. Ed. Murray Pittock, Bloomsbury, 2014, pp. 45–63. Gomila, Sebastián. La entrada del Paraíso, célebre fragmento del poema indio Lala Rook [sic]. Henrich y Cª, [1913]. González García, Jonatan. “Un estudio sobre la recepción de la poesía traducida de William Wordsworth en la España de los años 20: ‘Tintern Abbey’ y ‘Personal Talk’.” Odisea: Revista de Estudios Ingleses, vol. 16, 2015, pp. 59–82. Heinermann, Theodor, editor. Cecilia Böhl de Faber (Fernán Caballero) y Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch: una correspondencia inédita. Espasa-Calpe, 1944. Heredia, José María. Miscelánea: Periódico Crítico y Literario, edited by ­A lejandro González Acosta, U Nacional Autónoma de México, 2007. “Imitación de la canción, ‘What the Bee is to the Floweret’, por Thomas Moore Esq.” Attributed to Pedro Pascual Oliver. Ocios de Españoles Emigrados, no. 28, Jul. 1826, p. 85. Isaacs, Jorge. “En la noche callada.” Sánchez Pesquera, Antología, pp. 101–102. Lloréns, Vicente. Liberales y románticos: una emigración española en Inglaterra (1823–1834). Castalia, 1968. ———. El romanticismo español. Castalia, 1989. Martí, José. (OC) Obras completas. Vol. 20: Epistolario. Editorial Nacional de Cuba, 1965. ———. (OC) Obras completas. Vol. 22: Fragmentos. Editorial Nacional de Cuba, 1965. Matamoros, Mercedes. “Semejante a la abeja.” Sánchez Pesquera, Antología, pp. 90–91. Medina Calzada, Sara. Britain and the Regeneration of the Hispanic World: A Study of José Joaquín de Mora’s Anglophilia. 2017. U of Valladolid, PhD dissertation. Mendive, Rafael María de. “El trovador.” Sánchez Pesquera, Antología, p. 13. Menéndez Pelayo, Marcelino. Epistolario III: Enero 1878 – Junio 1879. Ed. Manuel Revuelta Sañudo, Fundación U Española, 1983. ———. Historia de los heterodoxos españoles. Vol. 2, Biblioteca de autores cristianos, 1978. Minuto, Emanuela. “The Reception of Thomas Moore in Italy in the ­Nineteenth Century.” Nation/Nazione. Irish Nationalism and the Italian Risorgimento. Eds. Colin Barr, Michele Finelli, and Anne O’Connor, U College Dublin P, 2014, pp. 193–205. Mora, José Joaquín de. “Ensayo sobre el hombre, de Mr. Pope, versión por D.J.J. de Olmedo. Lima, 1823.” El Mercurio Chileno, no. 12, 1 Mar. 1829, pp. 545–50. ———. “Poesías de D.J. Fernández. Madrid—Segunda edición—Londres 1828.” El Mercurio Chileno, no. 16, 15 Jul. 1829, pp. 749–56.

78  Sara Medina Calzada Moreno Hurtado, Antonio. Don Juan Valera y su relación con las literaturas extranjeras. Delegación Provincial de Turismo y Deporte de la Junta de Andalucía, 2003. Muntadas, Federico. “Literatura extranjera. Muestra de Tomás Moore.” Revista Literaria de El Español, vol. 1, 1 Jun. 1845, pp. 6–8. Perojo Arronte, María Eugenia. “A Path for Literary Change: The Spanish Break with Tradition and the Role of Coleridge’s Poetry and Poetics in ­Twentieth-Century Spain.” The Reception of S. T. Coleridge in Europe. Eds. ­Elinor Shaffer, and Edoardo Zuccato, Continuum, 2007, pp. 167–96. Rabadán, Rosa. “De la Ilustración al Romanticismo: los O’Crowley.” Livius, vol. 1, 1992, pp. 243–56. Rubens, L. Brittische Blumenlese aus ältern und neuern Dichtern. Christian Georg Ackermann, 1820. Salvel, L. “Moore (Thomas).” Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture. Vol. 38, Belin-Mandar, 1837, pp. 484–86. Sánchez Pesquera, Miguel, editor. Antología de líricos ingleses y angloamericanos. Vol. 4, Sucesores de Hernando, 1918. ———. El velado profeta del Korassan: primera leyenda del poema Lalla Rookh. José González Font, 1892. Shaw, Donald L. “Byron and Spain.” Renaissance and Modern Studies, vol. 32, no. 1, 1988, pp. 45–59. Torralbo Caballero, Juan de Dios. “Poesía y traducción de Juan Valera.” Traducción y Multiculturalidad. Eds. María Pilar Blanco García and Pilar Martino Alba, Instituto U de Lenguas Modernas y Traductores, 2006, pp. 257–68. Valera, Juan. “El paraíso y la Peri” [Parts I, II and III]. El Artista. Periódico Semanal, nos. 3, 4, and 5, 21 Feb., 28 Feb., and 7 Mar. 1847, pp. 18–20, 26–28, and 38–40.

5 When Thomas Moore Was the Headline Act John Boyle O’Reilly, Cultural Politics, and the Marketability of Moore Brian G. Caraher I: Moore’s Literary Reputation, 1810s to 1890s: The Headline Act John Boyle O’Reilly’s impressive folio edition of The Poetry and Song of Ireland first appeared in New York City in 1887, thirty-five years after the death of Thomas Moore. The volume’s immense popularity prompted a massive second edition in 1889 (O’Reilly, Poetry and Song i), including a “publisher’s supplement” of ninety-six additional Irish, Irish-born, Ireland-linked, and Irish-American poets, including Lady Morgan (Sydney Owenson), Felicia Hemans, Alfred Percival Graves, William Drennan, Michael Davitt, and Oscar Wilde, among ninety other writers. O’Reilly’s original selection of nearly 800 pages featured forty-two poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, James Clarence Mangan, J. J. Callanan, Charles Gavan Duffy, Thomas Davis, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, Katherine Tynan, and Lady Wilde ­(“Speranza”), among thirty-two others. Thomas Moore, however, held pride and priority of place in both editions. Significantly Moore’s selection came first, and it amounted to well over 20% of the first edition and to just over 17% of the second edition in terms of the allocation of pages. Thus, Moore’s work occupied over a sixth of an encyclopaedic project in its second iteration that included 138 poets in total. Moore was ­distinctly and summarily “the headline act” when it came to modern Irish poetry and song in the 1880s, and his poetical work had an enormous presence in both of John Boyle O’Reilly’s vigorously “marketable” and “best-selling” anthologies.1 O’Reilly’s two anthologies still remain so notable when it comes to measuring the reputation and the marketability of Thomas Moore in the nineteenth century because they are inaugural, emphatic, and highly influential. There are, of course, numerous reprints and re-issues as well as inexpensive popular editions (especially after 1829) of Moore’s work during his lifetime and soon after, as amply reflected in the publishing

80  Brian G. Caraher ­ ollection history of Moore’s work embodied in the Gibson-Massie Moore C at Queen’s University Belfast. There are also ­nineteenth-century collections of ancient, pre-modern and “folk” materials but not yet the sort of massive modern anthology or “encyclopaedia” of Irish materials that O’Reilly attempts in the late 1880s. Henry Morley and George Saintsbury inaugurate the collection and anthologisation of English literary materials at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. 2 Innovatively and inaugurally, O’Reilly’s two earlier anthologies collect modern Irish literary materials in breadth and depth for the first time on either side of the Atlantic. In doing so, these two encyclopaedic anthologies provide strong evidence for Thomas Moore’s unquestionable literary reputation and peak marketing appeal in a transatlantic, nineteenth-century, Anglophone book trade. O’Reilly was commissioned in 1886 by the prominent, New York City-based, commercial publisher Gay Brothers & Company to prepare a comprehensive “volume of Poets and Poetry of Ireland” for the then-handsome sum of $500 (O’Reilly, Poetry and Song ii–iii).3 The agreement with the publishers (reproduced in the 1889 edition) mentions the desire to include ample selections from the work of Moore, including a plan to reproduce Lalla Rookh in its entirety close on the heels of considerable selections from Irish Melodies (ii). O’Reilly’s capacious selections from Moore’s poetical works and prose writings, moreover, are truly remarkable. Moore’s famous, manifesto-like “Letter” that prefaced the third number of the Irish Melodies (1810) was reprinted in full (O’Reilly, Poetry and Song 27–30; MCP 4: 117–35). Ninety-three of Moore’s 124 lyrics to the Melodies were reproduced in a sequence established by Moore’s own ten-volume, 1840–1841 Longman edition (O’Reilly, Poetry and Song 31–68), and representing all ten numbers of the original Irish Melodies. The internationally best-selling Orientalist masterwork Lalla Rookh (1817) was reprinted in its full text, with lush, folio-sized illustrations (69–159). Moreover, forty-five “Miscellaneous Poems” followed – including the once-notorious “Odes to Nea” and the lyrics to the internationally renowned melody “A Canadian Boat Song” (160–74).4 A selection of nine Sacred Songs (1816 and 1824) concluded the arrangement (O’Reilly, Poetry and Song 175–77). Moreover, O’Reilly consolidates this peerless placement of Moore’s work by positioning Moore historically and pre-eminently at the start of a crucial revival of the fortunes and influence of modern Irish poetry and song in the Introduction to the anthology: All the cultivated poetry of the 18th century was cast in English moulds. The old songs of Ireland were lost in the transition; and for a whole century or more the Irish people made no songs or only those of a rude versification. They carried the ancient wordless music in their hearts; the wandering piper and harper played the dear

When Thomas Moore Was the Headline Act  81 melodies and planxties to them; the ploughboy whistled and the milkmaid sung the archaic airs; and so they were preserved like the disconnected jewels of a queen’s necklace, till the master-singer came, eighty years ago, and gathered them up lovingly and placed them forever in his precious setting of the ‘Melodies.’ Ireland’s indebtedness to Thomas Moore is inestimable. (O’Reilly, Poetry and Song vi) O’Reilly’s rhetoric verges on the sentimental, yet his dual claim is driven home: (1) Moore, “the master-singer”, mentors modern Irish poetry and song into being in its new and second tongue, and (2) modern Ireland’s debt to its Anglophone master of song and verse waxes nothing short of “inestimable”. Moore had not only succeeded in his own time during the first half of the century, but with the two editions of O’Reilly’s highly successful and hugely influential Stateside anthology he was chosen to set and mark the unrivalled standard for modern Irish poetry and song in the closing years of the nineteenth century. Significantly, O’Reilly had perhaps framed his intentions regarding Moore even earlier than 1886. In a prominent editorial piece for an issue of The Pilot published on 4 July 1874, O’Reilly both commented upon and quoted liberally from a new biographical study of one of Thomas Moore’s friends and compatriots, Samuel Lover (1797–1868). Author of such famous comic novels as Handy Andy and Rory O’More, Lover also wrote Lyrics of Ireland and light Metrical Tales, often in imitation of his mentor and master Thomas Moore. Indeed, O’Reilly selects forty-four of Lover’s Irish lyrics and metrical tales – including the still notable “The Angel’s Whisper”, “Rory O’More”, and “Norah’s Lament” – for inclusion in his two anthologies and positions them immediately following Moore’s considerable body of work (179–98). However, on American Independence Day 1874, O’Reilly published a substantial celebratory piece entitled “Lover’s First Appearance as a Song-Writer” in The Pilot, a Boston-based newspaper for which he served as principal editor from the early 1870s until his death in 1890. The article had no by-line, but it strongly exhibited the interests and skills of the editor who wrote dozens of similar commentaries on Irish writers, books, and celebrities over his editorial career.5 “Lover’s First Appearance as a Song-Writer” extols first and foremost Thomas Moore by selecting the moment at which Samuel Lover praises the former “at the memorable Moore banquet, given in 1818” through public performance of the latter’s song “The Poet’s Election”. According to O’Reilly’s setting of the moment, “[t]he bard of Erin, who was then acknowledged not only as the foremost of her songsters, but as one of the most devoted of her sons, was at the height of his popularity”. Indeed, the sumptuous, well-attended banquet in London occurred the year after the publication of Lalla Rookh and in the wake of the first seven issues of

82  Brian G. Caraher Irish Melodies and the first number of Sacred Songs among other notable works. O’Reilly then quotes at length from William Bayle Bernard’s new book Life of Samuel Lover (1874): “‘The subject [of ­Lover’s song] was a happy one, the election of a Poet-Laureate for Olympus, which, of course, was to be contested by all the leading bards of England, and in which, Venus and the Graces giving plumpers for their favorite, Moore at length was to win the day’”. In full, the song has over two dozen verses, yet five of them best encapsulate the occasion, the praise, and the level of Moore’s nineteenth-century reputation: The first who applied for the honor was Scott, Who the voices of Clio and Euterpe had got. Campbell next made a claim to whom Mars gave a vote, While from bold Hohenlinden many lines he could quote. Next claiming the place, Southey came into court, And Somnus soon gave him his warmest support; Him quickly the doubled-faced Janus could scan, And a plumper he gave for his favorite man. But Mercury said he should now bring in sight A bard who was every one’s pride and delight – Who Melpomene, Venus, Thalia could lure; They all knew who he meant, and so need he say – Moore? With one acclamation his presence they greet, While Flora her best treasures lays at his feet; Apollo the laurel-wreath placed on his head, And the rainbow of Iris around it was shed. But endless t’would be here to tell all the gods Who gave to the poet their smiles and their nods; And he who from Erin his heart ne’er could sever Was duly elected Jove’s poet forever. Though Scottish poetic greats such as Walter Scott and Thomas ­Campbell win a few notable gods and muses to their side, the English bard ­Robert Southey garners to his soporific verses the divine patron of sleep (­Somnus) and the two-faced Janus (both “Jacobin” and “Tory” perhaps, given Southey’s notorious change of heart as poet laureate of ­England). Moore, however, wins Mercury (thought and inspiration), ­Venus (love and carnal affection), the muse of song (Melpomene), the muse of comedy (Thalia), the goddess of flowers and springtime (Flora), Apollo (the Olympian god of music, prophecy, and healing), and Iris (Olympian ­ ercury – of the spirit of the rainbow and messenger – like Hermes or M gods) to his side. Then general acclamation by a host of unnamed gods assures the appointment of the Irish bard to the Olympian post of “Jove’s

When Thomas Moore Was the Headline Act  83 poet forever” an immortal headline act, if there ever was one to covet. Lover trumps the tragic historian Scott, the quotable chronicler of war Campbell and the diffident versifier Southey with the peerless choice of gods and muses, Thomas Moore.6 The “election” of Moore’s absolutely top-table reputation resounds as a popular choice in the 1810s as well as the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s, as O’Reilly’s editorial efforts clearly lead us to believe. O’Reilly’s anthology, especially in its second edition – recast as A ­Standard Encyclopedia of Erin’s Poetry and Song (see Figure 5.1) – ran

Figure 5.1  Title-Page, John Boyle O’Reilly’s Poetry and Song of Ireland, 2nd edition (1889). Author’s personal collection.

84  Brian G. Caraher to 1028 pages in length and included over a hundred “choice engravings”, mostly found in the “biographical portrait gallery” of all its poets and lyricists offered as a prologue to the volume. However, there were also numerous folio-sized illustrations, both in the unnumbered preliminary pages and accompanying selected major works, including such notable Irish melodies by Moore as “The Minstrel Boy” and “Come, Rest in This Bosom” (see Figures 5.2 and 5.3). The second edition, especially, also eventually took on the mantle of a “sacred book” of songs to set alongside the family Bible on parlour tables and bookshelves in many working-class and middle-class Irish-American households. This latter observation chimes well with the fact that Gay Brothers Publishing,

Figure 5.2  I llustration, Thomas Moore’s “The Minstrel Boy”, Poetry and Song of Ireland (1889). Author’s personal collection.

When Thomas Moore Was the Headline Act  85

Figure 5.3  I llustration, Thomas Moore’s “Come, Rest in This Bosom”, Poetry and Song of Ireland (1889). Author’s personal collection.

New York City was perhaps best known in the 1880s as the publishers of elegantly designed and handsomely bound editions of the Holy ­Bible for American families. This chapter will next explore O’Reilly’s ­extraordinary background and make a case for his two anthologies as the culmination of his own life’s work. They also constitute an amazingly successful bid to place Thomas Moore as keystone author, cultural expositor, and lyricist for a transatlantic construction of what constituted modern Irish poetry and song in the nineteenth century, the c­ entury in which Moore’s reputation was nothing short of Olympian.

86  Brian G. Caraher

II: John Boyle O’Reilly as Editor, Anthologist, and Champion of Moore John Boyle O’Reilly was born on 28 June 1844 in Dowth Castle, County Meath to an accomplished, fairly well educated, and prosperous family. He was apprenticed at the age of eleven to work on the Drogheda Argus in Meath, Ireland and at age fifteen to work on The Guardian in ­Manchester, England. In his own words, he “became a journalist in early manhood, and at twenty-one years of age was a revolutionist, arrested, tried for high treason, and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment in an English penal colony” in Western Australia (O’Reilly, Poetry and Song ciii). O’Reilly had joined a unit of the British army in the early 1860s but was arrested and accused of recruiting fellow soldiers for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB or “Fenians”) by 1866. He escaped imprisonment in Australia in February 1869, and after a series of extraordinarily Melvillean and Conradian misadventures on the ­Pacific, Indian,  and Atlantic Oceans, fled to the United States (Roche and OReilly 103–21). Curiously enough, O’Reilly is not forgotten in certain quarters in popular Irish culture today: U2’s song “Van Diemen’s Land” (written and sung by The Edge on the 1988 album Rattle and Hum) is dedicated to O’Reilly and evokes his banishment to Australia. O’Reilly lived in Boston from late 1869–1890, working first as a journalist and then as an editor for The Pilot (a widely known Irish-American newspaper, partially sponsored by the Roman Catholic diocese of B ­ oston, ­Massachusetts) and published numerous books of poems (O’Reilly, ­Poetry and Song ciii). An early, formative experience during his years at The Pilot seems to have been his assignment to accompany and report on the third, final, unsuccessful Fenian invasion of the Dominion of Canada in 1870. Indeed, an earlier editor of The Pilot – Thomas D’Arcy McGee – had gone on to be one of the so-called “founding fathers” of the Dominion of ­Canada in 1867.7 Three attempts by Stateside Fenians – many of whom had served on the side of the Union Army in the American Civil War – to invade and hold Canada as ransom until Ireland was granted independence from the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland proved costly and farcical. ­O’Reilly’s personal witness and public reportage of the final North ­American Fenian misadventure in 1870 was a watershed experience. It moved him closer to the then-emergent politics of the Home Rule League, first demanded by Isaac Butt (MP for Limerick) in May 1870 and pivotal in Irish parliamentary and cultural politics in the 1870s and 1880s.8 ­Witnessing such disastrous “physical force” Fenianism, moreover, was also highly significant for O’Reilly’s own career and developing cultural politics in the sense that journalism, writing, education, and promoting Irish cultural esteem and pluralist social identity now became the chosen path to follow to public success and political influence (see Roche and O’Reilly).

When Thomas Moore Was the Headline Act  87 In many respects, O’Reilly found the Irish “national bard” Thomas Moore to be a prime model and a mentor for his new cultural project and turn towards democratic, parliamentary politics. Thomas Moore and his reputation, moreover, posthumously found in John Boyle O’Reilly an artistic impresario and cultural promoter without peer. The archives of The Pilot and O’Reilly’s papers archived at Boston College prove very useful in tracking the dual course of this mutually beneficial, literary symbiosis. A long-out-of-print biography, co-written by James Jeffrey Roche and Mary Murphy O’Reilly (O’Reilly’s widow and fellow journalist), was published the year following his comparatively early death (age 46) in August 1890; it helps to underscore the narrative of a pivotal sea-change in the career and cultural politics of O’Reilly in the wake of his own Fenian misadventures in the 1860s and the Canadian catastrophe of “physical force” Irish-American Fenianism in 1870. Moreover, O’Reilly’s extensive correspondence with Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa through 1890, as well as his frequent editorial commentary in The Pilot on O’Donovan Rossa as well as the leaders of the Young Ireland movement of the 1840s – Thomas Davis, Charles Gavan Duffy, and D’Arcy Magee – corroborates this ameliorative turn in cultural politics. The change demonstrated by O’Donovan Rossa, Gavan Duffy, and D’Arcy Magee – all formerly violent men who come latterly to pursue more democratic, dialogical, and parliamentary means of social action and political progress in their adopted new homelands of the United States, Australia, and Canada – parallels this perceived pivotal sea-change in O’Reilly’s socio-political direction. Following a massively destructive fire at the old offices of The Boston Pilot in November 1872, The Pilot under the strongly directive helm of O’Reilly reinvented itself at central, new premises and with a clear, refreshed agenda for 1873 and the future (see [O’Reilly], “The Pilot for 1873”). This agenda was prominently reprinted in numerous, subsequent issues of the newspaper. O’Reilly published not only his own topical poetry but reprinted progressive, political poems by such British writers as Lord Byron, Leigh Hunt, Robert Southey, and Lord Tennyson alongside old and new work by Irish writers such as John Banim, ­G erald ­Griffin, D’Arcy Magee, James Clarence Mangan, Thomas Moore, ­Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, and “Speranza” (Lady Wilde). All of the latter writers he would feature in his anthologies in the late 1880s, including work he initially published in The Pilot in the 1870s. However, the progressive, integrative, inter-cultural, cross-cultural, democratic, and even republican nature of the chosen work is highly notable. He also published work by nineteenth-century American writers such as Will Hays, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Adelaide Proctor, and Walt Whitman that ran along political lines similar to the work he favoured by British and Irish writers.

88  Brian G. Caraher This notable literary agenda characteristically inflected the manner in which O’Reilly introduced new Irish writers to his principal American audience. For instance, Alfred Percival Graves’s ballad “The Wreck of the Aideen” is published on the first page of The Pilot for 29 November 1873 with these two sentences which subtly reveal class, cultural, and religious differences being crossed and integrated through a nuanced sense of the pluralist ethnicity of Irish-ness: “The author of the following beautiful poem is a young Irish gentleman, son of the Protestant Bishop of Limerick, who is earning a high literary reputation in the best circles in London. All, or nearly all, his poems are in the dialect of the people, and he has a rare power of expressing the finer feelings of the Irish peasant, whether of drollery or pathos” (Graves). Moreover, the reports by O’Reilly on more expressly political matters tend to reflect this integrative and pluralist agenda for Irish social and cultural politics. For instance, an editorial piece entitled “The ­Orangemen of Boston” in the 8 February 1873 issue advocates non-­ bigotry and cross-partisan feeling among “sects” of Irishmen: Last year the Orange and the Green were twined on The Pilot building on Franklin Street. Will the Orangemen carry both colors in their procession [on George Washington’s Birthday]? Come, now, that’s the way to kill bad feeling. Don’t let a few sore-headed bigots keep us apart. ([O’Reilly], “The Orangemen”) In place of “physical force”, Fenianism and religious antipathy, ­O’Reilly’s editorials feature strong support for Isaac Butt, Donegal native, MP for Limerick and early champion and first leader of the Irish Home Rule movement. Butt was also an elder colleague of the younger, emerging Irish political leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, who led the fight for the First Irish Home Rule Bill in 1886. Significantly, O’Reilly writes in every issue of The Pilot from January through March, 1874 about the “Home Rule” leader Butt and the opportunities of the UK Parliamentary General ­Election of February 1874 to secure fresh chances for peaceful, parliamentary strength in favour of Irish self-autonomy within the fabric of UK politics. Thomas Moore’s poetry and opinions are never far from many of these journalistic reflections. Most notably and fully O’Reilly invokes Moore on 4 April 1874 in a lengthy editorial entitled “A Poet’s Opinion of Young America”: About seventy years ago, Mr Thomas Moore, the distinguished Irish poet, visited this country, and that his observation was keen and satirical was proved in several poems and letters soon afterwards published. His judgment of the infant Republic was very severe; and his predictions, looked at from the present time, possess a peculiar interest. We do not think that Moore looked with a friendly eye on

When Thomas Moore Was the Headline Act  89 the young Republic, but we cannot help being struck by some of his passages. Even in those youthful days, the poet saw in our public morality the seed of what has since burst into sunflower shamelessness. O’Reilly cites Moore’s critical and satirical disapproval of the crassness and the boorish morality of the American Republic during the years 1803–1804, perhaps in order to play a similar role himself in criticising the “sunflower shamelessness” of the post-bellum States of 1873–1874. He quotes liberally and at length from various “Epistles” by Moore (published collectively in 1806) regarding travels and encounters in ­Norfolk, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and Philadelphia, New York City, and New York State.9 O’Reilly esteems and extols the public role of Moore as satirist and moralist in matters of culture and state, and he seems to relish and covet a similar role himself as prominent editor of The Pilot and as Irish-American poet. Significantly, in pursuing his own social and public agenda, O’Reilly promotes and champions Thomas Moore as not only “the distinguished Irish poet” but as a prior and principal model for the role of public moralist and ethical mentor in a transatlantic setting. O’Reilly, moreover, organises a huge centennial, natal celebration for Moore in Boston in late May 1879. He invites the distinguished, major American poet, writer, public moralist and social commentator, Ralph Waldo Emerson, to attend. Although, due to poor health, ­Emerson declines attendance, he does write to O’Reilly mentioning his own “­delight” in “the genial verses of Moore” (Emerson).10 In Moore’s centennial year, 1879, O’Reilly gave a speech to the ­Boston Press Club as its new President. He set his standard high, clearly modelling the role and function of the journalist as one that follows on from bardic social duties and ethical responsibilities: “Ours is the newest and greatest of the professions, involving wider work and heavier responsibilities than any other. For all time to come the freedom and purity of the press are the test of national virtue and independence. No writer for the press, however humbled, is free from the burden of keeping his purpose high”. O’Reilly notably singles out the importance of Thomas Moore’s own “newspaper contributions” to the latter writer’s social, moral, ethical, and financial responsibilities in the biographical portrait he lavishly constructs for “the greatest Irish lyrist [sic]” in the second edition of his anthology of Irish poetry and song (Poetry and Song xciii). For O’Reilly, Moore’s journalistic works of the 1810s through 1830s have the same social and ethical stature as his epical poetry (Lalla Rookh) and lyrical songs (Irish Melodies). Indeed, it may be significant to detect a subtle agenda at play in the positioning of Moore’s 1810 “Letter” prefaced to the third number of Irish Melodies as the “Author’s Introduction to the Irish Melodies” in O’Reilly’s two anthologies (Poetry and Song 27–30). Moore’s prose manifesto thus functions as an introduction to “the improvements of the moderns” – not just

90  Brian G. Caraher in the sense of Moore’s well-known quarrel with reactionary Irish antiquarians regarding the nature and antiquity of Irish song – but also to register prominently the subtler message that Irish poetry and song may best be served through its popular modern practitioners (including John Stevenson and Thomas Moore) who improve style, harmony, and balance without misconstruing the past and mis-constructing tradition (O’Reilly, Poetry and Song 28–30). O’Reilly’s admiration for Moore as a strong model for an Irish writer and as an exemplary mentor for a vibrant and cosmopolitan sense of Irish cultural esteem, identity, and politics emerges as a central pillar in the latter’s late nineteenth-century reputation, especially in the shaping, editorial agenda of both The Pilot of the 1870s and the two anthologies of the 1880s. The development of new parliamentary and non-violent strategies in Irish and British politics of the 1870s and 1880s, including the Irish Home Government League and the First Home Rule Bill of 1886, may well be at play too, I want to suggest. O’Reilly’s sense as journalist, editor, and anthologist regarding how to reflect and support these political developments appears deftly handled in the manner in which he shapes and promotes the cultural reputation of Moore through The Pilot and Poetry and Song of Ireland.

III: O’Reilly’s Anthologies in Context: Moore’s Reputations The singularity and achievement of O’Reilly’s massive and massively influential anthologies, especially the 1889 tome, may be constructively counter-pointed to a handful of subsequent, significant moments of measuring Moore’s reputation in the transatlantic book trade. Of particular note is the treatment of Moore at the hands of later Irish poets and e­ ditors, W. B. Yeats and Thomas Kinsella. However, there are also a ­couple of highly instructive handlings of Moore’s work in early twentieth-­century Stateside anthologies which do help to punctuate the fluctuating fortunes of Moore on both sides of the Atlantic in the twentieth century. W. B. Yeats, who makes absolutely no appearance in John Boyle O’Reilly’s two anthologies, might well have been piqued at the omission. Some of Yeats’s earliest work appeared in the late 1880s, and O’Reilly and The Pilot did pay him handsomely for a handful of poems published from January through July 1890 (Foster 94–95). The enormous, international presence of O’Reilly’s two anthologies may well have been the prompt for Yeats to bring his early work to the attention of the editor of The Pilot, of course. However, when it came to collecting and promoting Irish poetry and song in A Book of Irish Verse (1895), Yeats dispenses with the catholicity and spirit of inclusion shown by O’Reilly. Though not a wide-ranging anthology in the manner of O’Reilly as well as late twentieth-century anthologies by Field Day, W. W. Norton, and others,

When Thomas Moore Was the Headline Act  91 A Book of Irish Verse appears in London in 1895 as an attempt to promote Yeats and his highly select, preferred circle of then-­contemporary poets at the expense of earlier nineteenth-century poets – Davis, Duffy, ­Magee, and Moore included. Even Yeats’s best-known biographer admits that “the old game of self-advertisement” reveals itself at work in the tactics marking out the organisation of A Book of Irish Verse (­Foster 145–46). Moore is allowed the “genuine Celtic note” but is pigeonholed as a derivative (“artificial and mechanical”) performer for English ­drawing-rooms and not permitted to be the “authentic” heir of an Irish oral, bardic, ballad tradition (Foster 146), which Yeats claims as his own with such prominently displayed poems as “The Stolen Child”. Yeats’s tactics are so narrow, self-serving and exclusionary as an editor that one of his friends whose poetic work is included, Lionel Johnson, remarked to another mutual friend, Katherine Tynan, that Yeats “will certainly be massacred by a certain kind of Irish poet if he ever sets foot in Ireland again. And Moore’s statue will certainly fall and crush him” (qtd. ­Foster 146). Johnson’s allusion to the end of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni when the vain, egotistical and self-serving Don Juan is overcome by the statue of the Commendatore may be purely accidental, but it’s nonetheless very telling. Yeats trammels Moore’s reputation in 1895 because he covets for himself Moore’s bardic role as peerless, Olympian lyricist both in Ireland and in London’s drawing-rooms. Thomas Moore, however, still was sought out and anthologised in the transatlantic book trade, regardless of Yeats’s efforts to legislate otherwise. For instance, Thomas Moore’s Love Poems (1917) – a selection of ballads, melodies, songs, and extracts from longer works, including Lalla Rookh – comprise an elegant, hand-press edition by The R ­ oycrofters, an Arts and Crafts Movement (1895–1938) modelled on William Morris’s earlier movement in England. In upstate New York The Roycrofters promoted elegant work across numerous arts and crafts, and their Moore edition combined refined work in poetry and song with highly refined printing and binding techniques. It was also seen as a significant fund-raiser for The Roycrofters Movement.11 A selection of Moore’s comic and satirical verse (“The Donkey and his Panniers”, “Rhymes on the Road”, “ ­ Literary Advertisement”, and “Epitaph on a Tuft Hunter”), furthermore, are included in a top-selling American collection aimed at secondary schools across the United States, Comic Poems: An Anthology, in the 1920s and 1930s. Moore’s work sits prominently among comparable selections of work by Byron, Shelley, Thomas Love Peacock, and Thomas Hood. A Book of Irish Verse, however, started the process of W.B. Yeats’s own personal denigration of Moore, a process perhaps best encapsulated in Yeats’s later, notoriously partisan, self-serving, and highly controversial 1936 collection, The Oxford Book of Modern Verse. In an earlier essay on Moore’s troubled reputation in the twentieth-century, Yeats’s views were set within the context of larger social and political

92  Brian G. Caraher changes, especially in the 1910s, that impacted upon Moore’s stature and standing as the Irish bardic icon (Caraher and McCleave 16–18). It’s a rather sad observation, nevertheless, that Ireland’s best-known poet of the early twentieth century was intricately implicated in undermining the latter-day reputation of its best known and internationally respected nineteenth-century poet and lyricist without peer. This process of denigration thankfully was ruptured with Thomas Kinsella’s capacious and circumspect revision of Yeats’s poetic prejudices and reputational biases in 1986 with the publication of The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse. A highly regarded Irish poet, translator, and editor of the latter half of the twentieth century, Kinsella recovers a treasure trove of materials from the sixth to the eighteenth centuries, including material originally composed and circulated in Irish, material ignored by his predecessor. Moore is reinstated and presented as a foundational figure for the third and final segment of the anthology, “Book III: The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries” (xviii, xxvi–xxvii, 265). Kinsella doesn’t return Moore to the status of “the headline act” of modern Irish poetry and song that he most certainly held for John Boyle O’Reilly in the 1880s, yet Moore is permitted the same allotment of pages and poems (seven apiece) as his envious bardic rival in the transatlantic marketplace of Irish verse. Kinsella notes Yeats’s neglect of Moore, yet he measures the reputation of Moore much more closely in concert with his nineteenth-century predecessor as careful, circumspect editor, John Boyle O’Reilly: “Moore is probably the most successful Irish poet, in either language, who has ever lived, reaching a wide audience and satisfying it, and continuing to do so” (Kinsella xxvi; emphasis in original). Thomas Moore’s twenty-first century reputation appears at least solid and certain, once such circumspect revision of Yeatsian prejudices has been well understood. However, once John Boyle O’Reilly’s ambitious literary, cultural, and socio-political narrative of Irish poetry and song for the nineteenth century comes back into critical and historical perspective, it should help consolidate Moore’s deservedly “Olympian” reputation as both national and international “master-singer”.

Notes 1 The nineteenth-century office records of Gay Brothers Publishing Company in New York City have not been saved and archived, and so precise sales figures are no longer available. There is an online, digitized version of the complete copy of The Library of Congress’ 1887 edition of O’Reilly’s anthology (accession number 373/1482; PR8851.O7/ 1887) available via OpenLibrary. org. For UC Berkeley’s copy of the 1889 anthology, see https://catalog.hathi trust.org/Record/006493725. 2 Morley was the inaugural Professor of English Literature at the University of London and well-known collaborator with Charles Dickens on Household Words. Professor of English at Oxford, Saintsbury provides James Joyce with the historical sequence of English prose materials to parody in the

When Thomas Moore Was the Headline Act  93 fourteenth chapter of Ulysses (Ellmann 475), that linguistic tour-de-force known as the “Oxen of the Sun” episode. 3 This appears in the form of a hand-written note signed by O’Reilly. See ­Library of Congress PR8851.O7 1889, available at openlibrary.org. 4 See Caraher and McCleave, pages 2–13, for a full discussion of these pivotal, early compositions by Moore; also chapters by Bentley and Martin in the present volume. 5 The Pilot has been published continuously from 1829 to today, with a current circulation (2018) in excess of 30,000 subscribers. Initially known as The Boston Pilot, it was renamed, principally under O’Reilly’s editorship, and in concert with a strong marketing appeal for subscriptions throughout the United States, eastern Canada, and Ireland. See also Riley. 6 O’Reilly also notes that Moore was so pleased with Samuel Lover’s “The Poet’s Election” that he demanded to meet the young Irish poet and singer after the performance and banquet in 1818. Lover became a life-long friend of Moore and even served as a pall-bearer in May 1832 for Thomas Moore’s revered mother, Anastasia Jane Moore, who also befriended Lover. 7 Maye notes D’Arcy Magee’s earlier association with Daniel O’Connell and The Freeman’s Journal in Dublin as well as his shift “to the more radical Young Ireland movement” and The Nation newspaper following the outbreak of The Great Famine (13). Maye comments that “Fenianism had grown in Ireland and the US in the late 1850s and 1860s. McGee opposed its violent, republican philosophy (despite his own Young Ireland background) because he now favoured the Canadian model of self-government within the British Empire” (13). 8 Isaac Butt (1813–1879), a native of Glenfinn, Donegal, served as Professor of Political Economy at Trinity College, Dublin, 1836–1841, before being called to the bar. As a lawyer, he defended the Young Ireland movement leadership charged with treason in 1848 as well as serving as principal counsel for numerous IRB defendants from 1865 to 1869. As an economically conservative, non-violent, Irish nationalist he called publicly for Irish “Home Rule” in May 1870 and went about establishing the Home Government Association (later Home Government League), for which he served as Leader from 1873 to 1877. 9 See also Ronan Kelly’s assessment of much of this same material in Chapter 5 (“Bermuda and America”) of his biographical study, especially pages 109–27. 10 Kathleen Williams, Senior Reference Librarian and Bibliographer for Irish Studies, Boston College Libraries, has been enormously helpful and generous with her time in helping me locate this and other correspondence during my researches in Autumn 2017. 11 The Roycrofters carried out the same sort of inter-arts, printing, and publication work that occupied Yeats’s two sisters, Susan and Elizabeth. Susan (or ‘Lily’), who had trained with William Morris, and Elizabeth (‘Lolly’) were instrumental in founding Dun Emer Industries and the Cuala Press from 1902 onward (Foster 274), and the sisters printed and published a lot of the early work of their brothers, William and Jack.

Bibliography Works not found here are listed in a concluding Bibliography, which contains references common to more than one chapter. Caraher, Brian G., and Sarah McCleave. “Thomas Moore and Romantic Inspiration Reassessed: Enlightened Tolerance and Interdisciplinary Poetics.” Eds. McCleave and Caraher, Routledge, pp. 1–27.

94  Brian G. Caraher Comic Poems: An Anthology. Halderman-Julius Co., 1926. Little Blue Book, No. 962. Ellmann, Richard. James Joyce. New and revised ed., Oxford UP, 1983. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Letter to John Boyle O’Reilly, 12 May 1879. Boston College Collection of John Boyle O’Reilly, accession number MS.204.093, Box 1, folder 8. Foster, Robert Fitzroy. W. B. Yeats: A Life. I: The Apprentice Image, 1865– 1914. Oxford UP, 1997. Gibson-Massie Moore Collection, Special Collections, McClay Library, Queen’s University Belfast. www.qub.ac.uk/lib/. Graves, Alfred Percival. “The Wreck of the “Aideen.” The Pilot (Boston), 29 November 1873, vol. 36, no. 48, p. 1. Kinsella, Thomas, editor. The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse. Oxford UP, 1986. Maye, Brian. “A Father of Modern Canada: An Irishman’s Diary on Thomas D’Arcy McGee.” The Irish Times, 7 Apr. 2018, p. 13. Moore, Thomas. Thomas Moore’s Love Poems. The Roycrofters, 1917. Morley, Henry. A First Sketch of English Literature. Revised ed., Cassell, 1896. O’Reilly, John Boyle, editor. Poetry and Song of Ireland, with the Publisher’s Supplement to the Second Edition, the Whole Forming a Standard Encyclopedia of Erin’s Poetry and Song; and a Biographical Portrait Gallery of her Poets. Gay Brothers & Co., 1889. ———. Speech to the Boston Press Club, 1879 (unpublished). Boston College Collection of John Boyle O’Reilly, accession number MS.2004.093, Box 1, folder 35. O’Reilly, John Boyle. “Lover’s First Appearance as a Song-Writer.” The Pilot (Boston), vol. 37, no. 27, 4 July 1874, p. 2. ———. “The Orangemen of Boston.” The Pilot (Boston), vol. 36, no. 68, 8 Feb. 1873, p. 4. ———. “The Pilot for 1873.”The Pilot (Boston), vol. 36, no. 1, 4 Jan. 1873, p. 7. ———. “A Poet’s Opinion of Young America.” The Pilot (Boston), vol. 37, no. 14, 4 Apr. 1874, p. 4. Riley, Arthur. “Early History of The Pilot (Boston)”. The Pilot (Boston), vol. 100, no. 10, 8 Mar. 1930, pp. 21–22. Roche, James Jeffrey, and Mary Murphy O’Reilly. Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, together with his Complete Poems and Speeches. Cassell, 1891. Saintsbury, George. A History of English Prose Rhythm. Macmillan, 1912. Yeats, William Butler, editor. A Book of Irish Verse. Methuen, 1895. ———. The Oxford Book of Modern Verse, 1892–1935 Chosen by W. B. Yeats. Clarendon, 1936.

Part II

Moore’s Reputations as Established through Music Networks

6 The National Airs and Moore’s Reputation in London Tríona O’Hanlon

This chapter will examine how Thomas Moore’s reputation in ­London was harnessed and utilised by certain of his creative c­ ontemporaries – thus sustaining interest in the wider national airs’ phenomenon that influenced cultural activity across nineteenth-century Europe. To contextualise the argument, I will first examine the factors which influenced how Moore cultivated his reputation in London, before briefly discussing the National Airs and outlining the collection’s wider cultural and political significance.1 Owing to Moore’s relationships with several individuals from amongst the city’s publishing, literary, and social elite, London represents a key location within the wider context of principal developments in his career. Indeed, in defining Moore’s status within the cultural and social contexts of that city we can begin to understand more fully the overwhelming response of others to his work. From the late 1850s onwards, his musical oeuvres became more widely accessible to other arrangers, publishers, and, by proxy, audiences following the expiry of copyright initially held by his primary music publisher James Power (1766–1836).2 By arranging Moore’s popular songs, lesser-known composers were presented with an opportunity to gain attention or break into the commercial music market, and even though later vocal and instrumental settings are distinct from the Moore-Stevenson and Moore-Bishop arrangements, they are important indicators for studying his reception across national centres and dispersed networks throughout the nineteenth century and beyond. The considerable influence Thomas Moore’s work had on his musical peers is reflected in arrangements of the ­ eethoven, Irish Melodies by European composers such as Ludwig van B Hector Berlioz, and Felix Mendelssohn, and is also seen in the songs, operas, cantatas, and ballets from or based on Lalla Rookh, by composers such as Thomas Attwood, John Clarke-Whitfield, Félicien David, ­Robert Schumann, and Gaspare Spontini (McCleave and O’Hanlon, ERIN). As established by Ronan Kelly, the template and themes (nostalgia, romance, sentimentality) employed for the National Airs mimicked those of the Melodies, and consequently presented nothing new to audiences in terms of Moore’s national songs (314). However, examination of the interconnections between the Airs, the Melodies, and

98  Tríona O’Hanlon Moore’s “celebrity status as the Irish ‘other’” (Burns, “Give them life” 101) ­enables us to understand the cultural and reputational value of the Airs in a more complete way. Kelly emphasises how the Airs “show little trace of foreign accents and could – and did – pass easily for Irish ­Melodies” (314). In light of this well-justified assessment, it is difficult to examine the Airs in isolation. The main arguments in this chapter will be presented across two case studies which aim to extend critical considerations of Moore to the ways in which his reputation was ­exploited by his contemporaries and successors for their own professional gain: Charles ­William Glover’s collected edition of National Airs (1859–1860); also select single sheet arrangements of “Oft in the Stilly Night” (1825–1880). Glover’s edition was issued in two bibliographic formats – first across ten volumes (1859) and subsequently in one complete volume (1860). It appears to be the only known collected edition (music and text) ­dedicated to the Airs alone, while “Oft in the Stilly Night” is one of the most popular songs from the collection. In terms of Moore’s song collections, scholarship tends to focus on the Irish ­Melodies (Burns; Hunt “The Harper’s Legacy”, “My Gentle Harp”, Sources and Style; Klein; McCleave “­G enesis”; Ní Chinnéide; Tessier; H. White), highlighting the relative neglect of the National Airs in studies of musicology and literature to date. This imbalance is slowly ­being addressed however, with recent research investigating the ­National Airs within the context of musical and poetical antiquarianism (Burns, Music in the Life and Works) while the compositional process Moore employed for the Airs has been analysed in systematic detail (M. L. O’Donnell). This chapter will identify the network of composers and publishers which contributed to furthering Moore’s reputation in ­London and will uncover aspects of his reputation within the broader context of the ­national song collections published in nineteenth-century Europe while providing a contextual overview of one of the most popular songs from the National Airs collection. The emergence of nation states across nineteenth-century Europe (Berger; Rapport) resulted in a growing sense of national identity and many communities and networks responded by articulating ideas and experiences through a variety of cultural media (Riley and Smith). This led to the establishment of distinct creative networks, specifically between composers, poets, and publishers, which resulted in the increased commercialisation of printed music across Britain throughout the 1800s, and the associated widespread popularity of national air arrangements. According to Riley and Smith, “ethnic music offered a source of ­authenticity for the newly valorised creative artist and a way to ­reintegrate the individual within a reformed society” (45). The interest in the ­phenomenon was such that it stimulated composers and publishers to ­respond, and this is clearly reflected in the high volume of national air arrangements, both vocal and instrumental, published in London alone.3

The National Airs and Moore’s Reputation  99 Borsay’s conclusions aptly sum up the characteristics of nineteenthcentury London, and highlight key aspects of metropolitan life that ­contributed to the city’s “distinctive culture: a gateway function, commercialisation and innovation, dominance, diversity and fragmentation, a capacity to stretch the social norms, and reflexivity” (183). The city’s music scene encompassed all aspects of this particular framework. With a population of one million by 1800, and a status as the third largest city globally, for London music was multifunctional, not least of all in linking communities and enabling its inhabitants to foster aspects of social and cultural identity. Indeed the contexts for music-making which evolved during Moore’s lifetime reflect the city’s “demographic and ­spatial fragmentation”, and its “economic and social differentiation” (Clark 251). Such contexts include subscription concerts and ­outdoor performances at pleasure gardens for the entertainment of the elite (McVeigh, Cowgill), benefit concerts for advancing the career of individual musicians (McVeigh), and societies for organising and regularising the music profession (Golding ed.); each musical activity can be linked to a particular locale – for example Vauxhall, Ranelagh, and the West End, all non-adjoining areas which demonstrate that nineteenth-century London comprised a series of disjointed cultural hubs. Moreover, the system of musical patronage as practised in the eighteenth century was still in operation, as may be seen in the popularity of domestic music-making in the homes of the elite (Bashford, Heller, Temperley, D. Scott). The appetite in the capital for accessible repertoire suited to the tastes and skills possessed by amateur musicians performing in social and domestic contexts undoubtedly contributed to sustaining the national airs’ market. Collections dedicated to the indigenous airs of Scotland and Ireland (Hunt “The Harper’s Legacy”; McAulay; McCleave “Genesis”; McCue) were the most popular, while anthologies containing airs from several countries or regions also circulated widely (O’Hanlon, “Dissemination National Airs”). Even though musical life in nineteenth-century London was multifaceted and evolving, Moore’s National Airs may be located at the intersection between the city’s social and cultural networks.

Moore’s London and the National Airs Analysis of Moore’s actions and behaviour, as recorded in his personal writings, reveals that he largely displayed the characteristics and skills of musical entrepreneurship as identified by Weber (3–13): he became a cultural opportunist who was adept at self-promotion, but was a [poor] manager (particularly when it came to financial matters), and an [incorrigible] idealist. References in his journals and letters provide comprehensive information about his London networks and his activities in that “great world” (MJR 1: 72). He moved there initially in 1799 to study law

100  Tríona O’Hanlon at Middle Temple and remained for the next four years. In later life when Sloperton Cottage in Wiltshire became his home, he would continue to associate London with his business interests.4 It is obvious from some remarks on the subject that he was comfortable in London society and had a profound understanding of how to navigate the city’s social and cultural landscape. Furthermore, he devised considered strategies to promote his work. In letters to his mother (1800), James Power (1813), John Wilson Croker (1823), and Thomas Wildman (March, 1828), he wrote: I am just going out to dinner, and then to two parties in the ­evening – Mrs. Harwood’s and Dr. Grant’s. This is the way we live in L ­ ondon, no less than three every evening. Vive la bagatelle! “Away with ­melancholy.” (To his Mother, MJR 1: 104) You will be glad to hear that Bessy has consented to my passing next May in town alone [. . .] I shall make it a whole month of company and exhibition, which will do more service to the sale of the songs than a whole year’s advertising. I have a plan when I return to London for good (that is, for our grand project) which I hinted once to you, and which cannot fail to make money, both by itself and the publication that will result from it, – which is a series of lectures upon poetry and music, with specimens given at the pianoforte by myself; very select you know, by subscription among the highest persons of fashion: it would do wonders [. . .]. (To Mr. Power, MJR 1: 330–31) [. . .] I called upon you the very day after I arrived in town for the express purpose of securing this pleasure before I should get into the regular tread-mill of dinners – but you said “some day” and “any day”, which I felt at the time was a fatal latitude to give me, and accordingly, [w.d.] in less than three days after, my doom was fixed for the whole ensuing month, and I was no longer a creature of freewill, but became a part of that pre-established Harmony of Dinners, through which one revolves inevitably during a London season [. . . ]. (To John Wilson Croker, Vail, UL 1: 271–72) My dear Wildman – At last I’ve got home to peace & quietness after the never ending distractions of that whirlpool London, where one has no chance of getting on unless one can be, like Sir Boyle Roche’s bird, “in two places at once”. [. . .]. (To Thomas Wildman, Vail, UL 2: 39) These four excerpts capture the light-hearted style and tone of Moore’s personal writings, they also display varying degrees of excitement, ­enthusiasm, purpose, and intention, thus allowing us to track his evolving thoughts on London across approximately a thirty-year period. They convey the youthful excitement of his earliest time in the city while also capturing the more seasoned artist perhaps tiring somewhat of the

The National Airs and Moore’s Reputation  101 promotional and networking scene. As identified by Ronan Kelly (74), Moore showed no hesitation about pursuing the opportunities which he deemed advantageous. Moore’s journal and his correspondence also show – as these excerpts demonstrate – his ability to select and communicate information that would safeguard his reputation within and across his personal, business, and social networks. While the volume of personal letters written by Moore constitutes an invaluable resource for scholarship, it is also testament to the role his letters played in a wider strategy he employed to establish and maintain his professional connections and relationships. Moore systematically utilised the bourgeois domestic market to promote his work. Performances of the Irish Melodies in the drawing-rooms of the literary and social elite undoubtedly contributed greatly to cultivating his reputation in London. Burns attests that “[p]ositioned somewhere between professional entertainer and dinner-party guest, Moore balanced outright advertisement for his work and light-hearted, social entertainment of such Irishness in the performance of his songs in the drawing room” (“Give them life” 104). Indeed, this “Irishness” was so strongly established in the music world by 1818 that it must be understood as having an impact on the reception of the National Airs. First published between 1818 and 1827, the National Airs offers an example of Moore’s response to the music of different cultures. The collection contains ninety-four song arrangements (including harmonised versions) arranged across six volumes and featuring melodies from a range of European countries and regions.5 Tracing the sources for each song arrangement in the collection is beyond the scope of this chapter; of more relevance to the arguments made here is the process of transnational cultural exchange involved in shaping the collection. Moore acquired some tunes from attending musical evenings (MJR 1: 270), others were sent to him by the general public (Vail, UL, 1: 358), and he may have consulted earlier collections by James Aird (1782), William Crotch (1808), and ­William Reader (1816) (M.L. O’Donnell 160). He also consulted the collection of Edward Jones (1784) (MJR 1: 143). By the time that Moore’s series was launched, dealings with Dublin-based publisher ­William Power had ceased following a litigation with Power’s London-based brother James (for further, see Hunt, “Moore, ­Stevenson, Bishop, and the Powers”). His previous music collaborator Sir John ­Stevenson (1767 [or c.1761?] –1833) had been replaced by the young and newly successful Henry Bishop (1786–1855). The introduction of Bishop to the project must have been unsettling for Moore, however, comments in his journal demonstrate that he identified the potential associational value in collaborating with a composer whom he considered to be “one of the very few men of musical genius England can boast at present” (MJR 1: 97). In addition, a significant portion of Moore’s work for this project (considering the National Airs as a complete collection) coincided

102  Tríona O’Hanlon with some difficult experiences, including the Bermuda deputy scandal. Moore had been appointed Registrar to the Court of Vice-Admiralty in Bermuda, but subsequently his deputy absconded with £6,000, leaving Moore accountable for this theft. Following news of this, Moore went into exile in Europe for a period of three years, 1819–1822 (R. Kelly 91–108, 182). This situation impacted his work in positive and negative ways. Travelling throughout Italy – visiting Milan, Venice, Rome, and Florence – and living in Paris for a considerable period (R. Kelly 334–68) enabled Moore to access a diverse range of cultural and musical influences – he had to contend with managing the National Airs project remotely in cooperation with James Power. Moreover, one could speculate that Moore’s prolific output in the years prior to the publication of the National Airs may have led to a degree of creative exhaustion. Considering this possibility, key questions for the remaining arguments in this chapter include the following: Are the similarities between the Airs and the Melodies simply representative of Moore’s overarching creative style? Did he adopt the same format for both collections purely for convenience, and largely determined by Power’s commercial drive? Is it possible to identify a more tangible connection between both song collections? Jennifer Martin has concluded that Fables for the Holy Alliance, Rhymes on the Road, &c. &c. “functions as part of a wider debate which Moore enters into regarding Ireland and its relationship with Britain, a relationship which was under particular examination in the 1820s in the lead-up to the granting of Catholic Emancipation” (“The ‘dull lapse’” 213). I would argue that the National Airs also functioned as part of the wider debate on Ireland’s political relationship with Britain; in this instance Moore engages with this debate through the media of European national song, sentimentality and entertainment. An analysis of the breakdown of melodies Moore selected according to European country and region reveals that across the whole collection the highest percentage of melodies is French in origin (11%), with Italian (just over 9%) and Spanish (6.8%) melodies coming in a close second and third, respectively. Of course, these figures may simply reflect his ease of access to this particular canon of tunes; however, this observation may be modified in light of Moore’s interest in European politics in the post-­ Napoleonic era (Martin, “The ‘dull lapse’”). The dominance of melodies from France could represent Moore’s initial admiration for Napoleon – “his daring, his genius, and his defiance of the monarchs of Europe” (Vail “Standard of Revolt” 8) – while in giving prominence to Italian and Spanish melodies he may be viewed as condemning the coalition that was the Holy Alliance of Britain, Prussia, Russia, and Austria, and its treatment of Italy and Spain.6 This analysis allows us to identify overarching themes between Moore’s musical and textual works, particularly those he was working on simultaneously or successively. Comments

The National Airs and Moore’s Reputation  103 published in the Westminster Review suggest that the political references in Moore’s Airs, identified and discussed here, although somewhat implicit, were apparent to nineteenth-century reviewers: The success of the songs subsequently written for the melodies of various nations has, if possible, – even up to the last number [Fourth Number], – been more decisive and striking. Mr. Moore is inexhaustible in the art of giving a new complexion to the same idea as often as he wishes to repeat it to a new melody; and the only complaint we have to make in regard to this latter publication, is the large proportion of poetry of a desponding and disheartening cast. [. . .] Life is so beset with real evils, – with pain in every shape, – that the man who exerts his powers to aggravate our misery, is, so far, an enemy to his species. This is the offence with which we gravely charge Mr. Moore and the whole tribe of sonnetteers [sic] and sentimentalists. Instead of pointing our hopes to the future, they are eternally damping our few enjoyments with unavailing regrets for the past, and conjuring up every image which shall constantly r­ emind us of the brevity of life, and the transient nature of human enjoyment: setting suns, fading colours, dying leaves, moaning winds, broken vows, departed friends, lost pleasures, and voices from the tomb, – these form the sentimentalist’s apparatus of torture, and his gratification seems proportioned to the misery he is enabled to inflict. [. . . ]. (“Art. VII.1. Moore’s Popular Airs” 134–35)7 Leith Davis has claimed that “Moore’s strategy of ambiguity was designed to appeal to different audiences at the same time” (155), while Harry White has observed that “Moore quite deliberately mediated between the musical past and the political present with a romantic zeal” (Keeper’s Recital 47). Within the textual framework of European ­national song Moore has alluded to deception and oppression of the weak, thus referencing Ireland’s situation.8 So, while on the one hand the Airs provided Moore’s audiences with an exposition of musical aspects of nineteenth-century European culture, in assembling and arranging this collection he once again utilised song as a medium to “softly” articulate his views on Ireland’s cultural and political history. Consequently, the Airs and the Melodies are deeply aligned stylistically, textually, thematically, and politically. The following excerpt published in The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review 9 reveals that the stylistic similarities between the Airs and the Melodies were commented on by nineteenth-­c entury music critics. The review in question is not particularly positive in highlighting the perceived limitations in the First Number, and emphasising stylistic characteristics that are most associated with Moore’s work: “So much for the verbiage of the collection, and the

104  Tríona O’Hanlon verbiage, be it remembered, is the twin-brother, youngest born, of the melodies” (“Art. XII. A selection of popular National Airs” 227). The critic’s use of the word verbiage is disparaging and he depicts the Airs as merely a reiteration of the Melodies, the “poor relation” in other words. In the following excerpts, he takes a reasonably ­balanced ­approach by identifying the perceived weaknesses in the collection yet counterbalancing these aspects by highlighting Moore’s elegance of expression. Perhaps there is nothing particularly new – perhaps there is a great deal of what is absolutely old in these verses, but nevertheless they are so full of elegance and feeling that they are irresistible [. . .] Nothing can be more hacknied [sic] than the thoughts; nothing more common place [sic] than the expression; but in the measure and the melody taken together there is something so exquisitely touching, that dull indeed must be his soul and rigidly severe his cast of thought, who can bar the passage to his heart against their combined insinuations [. . .] (“Art. XII. A Selection of popular National Airs” 227) The review concludes by highlighting the elegant bibliographical presentation of the volume, which ultimately appears to take precedence over the content: “Upon the whole, however, we commend this little volume to ‘my lady’s chamber’, as a high source of elegant entertainment. It is literally elegant in every sense, for we recollect no instance of a music book more ornamentally embellished or more clearly engraved” (“Art. XII. A Selection of popular National Airs” 229). Langley (583) highlights how articles produced for the nineteenth-­ century press can vary in terms of reliability and quality, while Watt (110–26) explores the evolution of musical criticism and its gradual professionalisation in nineteenth-century England. Contemporaneous critical viewpoints are crucial, enabling us to ascertain Moore’s reputation amongst the community of professional music critics active in ­nineteenth-century London. While Moore’s reputation in London was not redefined by the publication of the Airs, the collection certainly contributed to reinforcing established aspects of his reputation, such as Moore the sentimentalist, political Moore, Moore the idealist, Moore the poet-songwriter, or Moore the exponent of national song.

Glover’s Collected Edition Today, Charles William Glover (1806–1863) may be perceived as a composer whose works have had little, if any, impact on the standard ­musical canon or popular repertoire in circulation in nineteenth-century Britain. In nineteenth-century London however, where Moore enjoyed

The National Airs and Moore’s Reputation  105 celebrity status, Glover cultivated a profile as a composer, arranger, violinist (Drury Lane Theatre, Covent Garden Theatre), and musical director (Queen’s Theatre, Tottenham Street).10 His compositions include songs, duets, piano works and several song and piano arrangements; by the late 1840s and early 1850s he had published arrangements of popular Irish, Scottish, and English airs.11 His network of several ­London publishers included Charles Jeffreys, Addison and Hodson, and Chappell & Co. (for further on each of these firms see Kidson; also Humphries and Smith). Owing to the publication of Moore’s National Airs with symphonies and accompaniments for the pianoforte edited by Charles William Glover author of “Jeannette and Jeannot” and “The Cavalier etc.” (London, 1859) his network expanded to include Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts, the primary publishing firm for Moore’s poetry and fictional prose.12 Issued monthly in ten small quarto volumes and sold for one shilling each (“People’s Edition” 8), the edition marks a key point in the evolution of Moore’s reputation, particularly amongst arrangers and consumers of music in nineteenth-century London.13 Until this point, and largely due to the Power network, the Airs, like the Melodies, were a “branded luxury product”, only to be seen on ­piano-tops or bookshelves in the homes of London’s middle and upper classes.14 Glover’s 1859 edition is characterised by the use of an ­inferior quality paper, several catalogues, and brash advertisements for other musical works, and thus reflects the bibliographic trends evident in small format songsters (pocket-sized anthologies of popular song texts) published in Britain and America during the nineteenth century (for ­further see Watt, Scott, and Spedding eds). It is therefore reasonable to ­speculate that Glover’s edition was produced for a range of musical and commercial purposes. The prominence given to Moore’s name in the title clearly serves as an advertisement for the edition, while Glover’s status as the author of the popular songs Jeannette and Jeannot and The Cavalier is also exploited. This strategy, no doubt consciously employed by Longmans, offers a clear example of how “individual reputations are determined by collective reputations, and vice versa” (Tirole 18). Further examples can be identified in the advertisements published in the London press: PEOPLE’S EDITION OF MOORE’S NATIONAL AIRS AND MUSIC On Tuesday, the 31st inst., will be Published, No. 1, in small 4to., price One Shilling, to be continued Monthly, MOORE’S ­NATIONAL AIRS and Other SONGS, with Pianofore [sic] ­Accompaniments; People’s Edition, Edited by C.W. GLOVER. ­Uniform with the “People’s Edition of Moore’s Irish Melodies, ­Music and Words.” To be completed in Ten Numbers, price One Shilling each. (“People’s Edition” 8)

106  Tríona O’Hanlon In 1860 Glover and Longman issued a subsequent collected edition of the Airs, bound in green cloth boards, with gilt edges and a gold stamped upper cover. Its publication suggests that they identified the need to exploit Moore’s established popularity with middle- and ­upper-class amateurs. The preface to that edition is quoted in full here: The “National Airs,” to which Moore gave universal popularity by linking them with his graceful and appropriate words, are as warmly admired as the celebrated “Irish Melodies,” and with equal reason. In the entire range of Modern Song there is nothing more exquisite than these charming lyrics, which were produced by the Poet, and harmonized under his supervision, when his taste had been matured, and his experience had been formed in the preparation of the Irish Melodies. “Oft in the Stilly Night,” “Flow on, thou shining river,” “Oh come to me when daylight sets,” “Hark the Vesper Hymn is stealing,” are amongst the songs which every one knows and admires; and there are but few of the whole collection which, for beauty and expressive melody, are considered inferior to those more universally known. In this, “The People’s Edition of Moore’s National Airs,” it has been my study to arrange the symphonies and accompaniments in the simplest appropriate form, so as to render the whole easy of execution, and thus extend the circulation of the work to all admirers of vocal melody. (Glover, “Preface”) Even though the language used draws attention to the scope of Moore’s fame and reputation, it is also very clear that the symphonies and ­accompaniments were deemed inaccessible to the less accomplished musician. A comparison of the variants between arrangements for “Flow on thy Shining River”, “Oh, come to me when Daylight sets”, and “Hark the vesper Hymn is Stealing” reveals that although Glover employed the same tempi, keys and time signatures as are used in the Moore-Stevenson arrangements, the symphonies and accompaniments are simplified in some passages by his use of fewer notes or augmentation, facilitating ease of coordination between the hands.15 While the Moore-Stevenson arrangements complemented each of the engraved songs with the poetry alone in letterpress format, and also featured one or two engraved illustrations per number, these are lacking in the Glover edition. Stylistic differences can also be identified in the typeset and printing. Consequently, Glover’s collected edition was a practical and commercial project rather than an artistic one, and its layout and stylistic alterations reflect wider developments in printing practices in London from the mid-nineteenth-century onwards. Several of ­Glover’s publications reveal a figure eager to break into the national airs’ market,

The National Airs and Moore’s Reputation  107 and certain single sheet publications create the impression that he was (somewhat) knowledgeable about the music of Scotland, I­ reland, ­Poland, and Germany.16 Essentially, Moore’s ­celebrity status was used to endorse Glover’s work, and to authenticate the ­latter’s ­musical identity while enhancing his regional reputation. N ­ otably, within a year of the publication of the collected edition Glover’s reputation was under threat, owing mainly to the difficulties he experienced in paying his creditors17 (Figure 6.1).

Figure 6.1  “Oft in the Stilly Night”, National Airs… first number. J. Power, (1818). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast.

108  Tríona O’Hanlon

“Oft in the Stilly Night” The approach to this case study has been influenced by Emily H. Green’s research, which examines the function of reciprocal dedications printed on title pages in the mid-nineteenth-century marketplace. Green argues these dedications – specifically between Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt – were multifunctional, acting as advertisements, allusions to composer biography, and public gifts (312); I would argue, however, that the presence of Thomas Moore’s name on certain subsequent arrangements of “Oft in the Stilly Night”, although an act of acknowledgement, served primarily as an advertisement and endorsement for the arrangement and composer-arranger.18 Moreover, the Scottish air to which Moore’s text was set has been repeatedly identified on title pages of subsequent ­arrangements as an “Irish melody” or “Irish air”, illustrating that a distinct network of musicians and publishers active in nineteenth-­century London held clear cultural associations of Moore and his work. The exemplars for this case study are listed in Table 6.1 and were published in London during the period 1825 to 1880.19 The chronology of these particular publications allows us to track the evolution of Moore’s reputation. The Moore-Stevenson arrangement of “Oft in the Stilly Night” originally appeared in print in the First Number of the National Airs (­L ondon, J. Power, 1818). It enjoyed such success that James Power swiftly re-issued it in single sheet format thus extending its ­circulation. The symphonies and piano accompaniment are simple, which may ­account for its appeal amongst amateur musicians performing in domestic contexts. Four examples (Ries, Richards, Mount, Rockstro) listed in ­Table  6.1 represent a key network in terms of promoting Moore’s work and it is possible to identify a clear line of transmission ­ erdinand from publisher to publisher, and from publisher to composer. F Ries (1784–1838), best known as a pupil of Beethoven, had a­ ttracted considerable attention in ­L ondon as a pianist and composer. There are many published accounts of his performances and compositions in the London press (British Newspaper Archive): “As a composer, Mr Ries is, ­manifestly, a disciple of the ­B eethoven school; not only his symphonies, and other ­orchestral works, but his quartets, piano-forte ­sonatas, and even his minor productions, evidence his predilection for the general style of its founder [. . .] Mr Ries is justly ­celebrated as ­ iano-performers of the present day” (“The Memoir one of the finest p of Ferdinand Ries” 35). Brinley Richards (1817–1885) had cultivated a considerable profile in London as a teacher, a pianist, and as director of the Royal Academy of Music (Edwards and Thomas). Born in ­Carmarthen, Wales, his publications and performances have been recorded in the nineteenth-century London and Welsh press, and he was widely recognised as an advocate for Welsh national song (­British Newspaper Archive). The following excerpt from the South Wales

The National Airs and Moore’s Reputation  109 Table 6.1  A  rrangements of “Oft in the Stilly Night” Composerarranger Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838)

Title of work

“Oft in the stilly night” from Moore’s National Melodies. Arranged with variations for two performers on the piano forte and inscribed to Miss Sarah & Miss Mary Crabtree, by Ferdinand Ries, Member of the Royal Academy of Music in Sweden. Op. 136 No. 1 (Henry) Brinley The favorite [sic] air Richards usually entitled “Oft in (1817–1885) the stilly night”: no. 2 of three Irish melodies by Brinley Richards George Mount Oft in the stilly night. (fl. 1850–1883) Bagatelle de Salon for the Pianoforte by George Mount W(illiam) S(mith) Whispers from Erin, [Smyth] phantasy, introducing Rockstro the favorite [sic] Irish [Rackstraw] melodies, “Oft in the (1823–1895) stilly night” & “The young May moon”, composed for the pianoforte, by W.S. Rockstro Edward Land Oft in the stilly night, (1815–1876) Scottish melody, the poetry by Thomas Moore, newly arranged by Edward Land Oft in the stilly night H. [Henry] Irish melody (words by Haverhill T. Moore), with new (fl. 1878–1880) symphony and accomp. By H. Haverhill

Publication details

Repository

London: J. Power, [1825]

British Library h.296.(25.)

London: Chappell, [1850–1860]

Uppark, National Trust (COPAC)

London: British Library Ashdown & h.571.(14.) Parry, [1864] London: British Library Ashdown & h.3030.(15.) Parry, [1867]

London: Lamborn Cock, [1875]

British Library H.1559.b.(10.)

[ca. 1880]

Bodleian Library (COPAC)

Daily News captures his commercial appeal as perhaps perceived by the publishing network active in nineteenth-century London: Of Brinley Richards’s pianoforte works, by far the larger portions are transcriptions. [. . .] These transcriptions were at the time much in fashion, and Mr Brinley Richards was always most happy in

110  Tríona O’Hanlon his transcriptions of well-known songs, thus making acceptable to ­pianoforte players generally who did not sing songs which had ­become popular. In fact, he was so ready and expert a hand at this employment, that publishers found him most useful, and their catalogues contained pages of them; and, as a matter of fact, there were very few popular songs that did not receive this artistic dress from his hands. (Atkins) English music historian, composer, teacher, and pianist, William Smith Rockstro (1823–1895) was regarded as an authority on early music and most noted for his contributions to Grove’s Dictionary (Williamson), while London born pianist and composer Edward Land (1815–1876) was active within London’s catch and glee club scene, most notably the Glee and Madrigal Union and the Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Catch Club (Middleton, rev. Golby). The absence of biographical information on George Mount (fl. 1850–1883) and H. [Henry] Haverhill (fl. 1878–1880) from key reference works and digital resources suggests that both composer-arrangers cultivated modest profiles. However, searches on the British Library catalogue reveal that Mount published at least thirty known works, some of which were collaborations with an array of London publishers including Campbell and Ransford and Co.; Ashdown and Parry; also, Addison, Hollier and Lucas. Haverhill’s works include the following arrangements: “The Minstrel Boy” (1878), “The Last Rose of Summer” (1878), and “The Harp That Once” (1878). Consequently, Moore’s reputation permeated London’s music networks, attracting composers of varying profile and talent. The Power-Ries collaboration appears to be the earliest “network fracture” (McCleave, “The Role of Community” 7–8) in the dissemination of “Oft in the Stilly Night”, and it seems highly probable that James Power decided to harness and exploit the reputations of both Ries and Moore in this venture. Indeed, Ries had already affiliated himself with the national airs’ phenomenon, having published numerous piano works, rondos, rondolettos, fantasias, and variations based on Russian, Irish, Welsh, and German airs (Hill). The publication of the Richards-­Chappell edition reflects the expansion of the Power network (McCleave, “The Role of Community” 6–9) while also demonstrating how Chappell exploited Richards’s reputation for popular song-piano transcriptions. Three of the six exemplars, all arranged by lesser-known figures, emphasise the perception of “Oft in the Stilly Night” as an Irish Melody. This demonstrates that Irish culture dominated the commercial music market in nineteenth-century London and that Moore’s status as “Irish” crossed musical and publishing networks. It is clear from the t­ itle pages how these composer-arrangers and publishers wanted consumers to ­receive their arrangements. Their work has contributed to both the professional and amateur repertoire. By the time the arrangement by

The National Airs and Moore’s Reputation  111 George Mount (1864) was published Moore’s reputation had diminished, which may account for the absence of references to him or the Irish Melodies in the title of Mount’s publication. It would therefore seem that Mount or his publisher chose not to publicly align themselves with Moore’s work.

Conclusion The narrative surrounding Moore’s London is key to determining and understanding his reputation in that city, while the music and publishing networks involved in disseminating his works were fundamental to sustaining the wider national airs movement. He was one of the most popular and celebrated artists active in nineteenth-century London, and his significant contribution to the romantic national song repertoire is evidenced by subsequent editions and arrangements. “Oft in the Stilly Night” gained status as an Irish Melody rather than a National Air, illustrating the dominance of Moore’s “Irishness” in the English psyche. Moore’s already established reputation in relation to the Irish ­Melodies proved the catalyst for the consequent exposure and ­popularity of the National Airs. His success stimulated a generation of subsequent ­London-based composers and publishers who engaged further with ­national song, while inadvertently they exploited Moore’s own reputation. The social networks and professional collaborators cultivated by Moore were most significant in terms of determining his reputation in London; however it would appear that the immediate connection ­between Moore and each of the composer-arrangers discussed in this chapter is the city’s publishing networks, which undoubtedly enabled the dissemination of Moore’s National Airs within and across London’s creative networks and communities.

Notes 1 For a comprehensive catalogue of subsequent editions and arrangements of the Irish Melodies, National Airs, and the songs, operas, and ballets ­inspired by or based on Lalla Rookh see www.erin.qub.ac.uk. This digital resource was an output from ERIN: Europe’s Reception of the Irish Melodies and National Airs; Thomas Moore in Europe, hosted at the School of Arts, ­English and Languages, Queen’s University Belfast which was co-funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union. The resource is co-moderated by Dr Sarah McCleave (QUB) and Dr Tríona O’Hanlon (MSC Research Fellow QUB 2015–2017). This chapter is based on research carried out as part of project ERIN. 2 For a detailed analysis of publication and copyright arrangements practised in London from the 1770s to c.1830 see Rowland. For a detailed account of Moore’s publishing network see McCleave, “The Role of Community”. 3 A simple search on the British Library online catalogue (http://explore.bl.uk) entering the term “national airs”, and filtering by “scores” and “creation date before 1930” yields 317 results published between 1800 and 1899.

112  Tríona O’Hanlon 4 Frequent references to “town”, contained in Moore’s journals and letters, refer to London. 5 For a full list of the countries and regions which inspired Moore’s National Airs see M. L. O’ Donnell, pp. 246–52. 6 It should be noted that Vail, “Standard of Revolt” draws attention to the fact that Moore had conflicted feelings about Napoleon. For discussion on Moore’s reception in the Spanish-speaking world see Medina-Calzada. 7 Vail [UL 1: 287n4] attributes that article to Peregrine Bingham the younger (1788–1864). 8 Examples include “All that’s bright must fade!”, “Oft in the Stilly Night”, “Reason, Folly and Beauty”, and “Should those fond Hopes”. 9 The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review (1818–1828) was an English periodical, modelled after the Edinburgh Review (see Kitson). 10 For an overview of the existing archives pertaining to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane see http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F160960; for Covent Garden Theatre see http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ details/c/F176419. 11 My source was the British Library online catalogue (http://explore.bl.uk), searching under the terms “Charles William Glover” and filtering by “score” and “creation date before 1930”. 12 The Longman Group Archive is extant at Special Collections, The University of Reading. For an overview see www.reading.ac.uk/adlib/Details/ archiveSpecial/110014342. The firm had several partners including Owen Rees (1770–1837) and Cosmo Orme (1780–1859). Moore appears to have had a good relationship with Rees; his journal and letters record frequent dinner meetings and suggest Rees was somewhat of a confidant to Moore. Hime of Manchester, and also Addison and Hime, were involved in publishing this edition. For further on Addison see McCleave, “The Role of Community”. 13 The advertisement for Glover’s edition was repeated in Bell’s Weekly Messenger 23 May 1859 and The Globe and Traveller 6 June 1869. British Newspaper Archive, accessed 9 Mar. and 14 Apr. 2019, respectively. 14 Glover and Longmans had already collaborated to publish the People’s Edition of Moore’s Irish Melodies: “PEOPLE’S EDITION of MOORE’S IRISH MELODIES, now complete, price 12s. cloth, gilt edges; or in Ten Numbers, separately, price 1s. each. ‘Longman and Co.’s People’s Edition’ should be specified in all orders” (“People’s Edition”). 15 These three songs have been selected since they were identified in the preface to Glover’s edition as some of Moore’s best-known songs. “Oft in the Stilly Night” has not been included here since it will be treated as a separate case study later in this chapter. 16 Examples include: The Krakoviak Quadrilles [. . .], London, Jefferys & ­Nelson, [c.1840]; Musical Tourist, no. 1., London, [1845]; Trois Airs Ecosses, London, [1846]; Trois Airs Irlandais, London, [1847]; Irish Songs without Words, a Collection of favourite Irish Airs, 12 sets, London, Leoni Lee & Coxhead, [1852]. 17 “IN BE CHARLES WILLIAM GLOVER. This insolvent, a professor of ­music, applied under the / Protection Act; supported by Mr. Sargood. [. . .] The insolvent had dealt some time with the creditors, and had paid them money. His income had fallen off owing to ill-health, and, as his prospects were brightening, his goods were seized for rent, and Mr. Jefferys, the music-seller, and other friends, had purchased the same and the insolvent was now living at Kentish Town. [. . .] Mr. Sargood hoped the Court would not comply with the request. He thought, with a man like Mr. Glover, the parties would fare better;

The National Airs and Moore’s Reputation  113 and when – by his exertions in the musical world – he could, he would be most happy to pay his creditors” (“Insolvent Debtors’ Court, Oct. 31”). 18 It should be noted that in some examples Moore is acknowledged as the author of the words. 19 It should be noted that Special Collections at St Andrew’s University assigns a publication date of [1824] to Ries’s arrangement, The National Library of Wales assigns a publication date of [185-] to Richards’s arrangement, and Trinity College Dublin and the British Library assign a publication date of [1880] to Haverhill’s arrangement. My source for this information is COPAC (https://copac.jisc.ac.uk).

Bibliography Works not found here are listed in a concluding Bibliography, which contains references common to more than one chapter. “Art VII.1. Moore’s Popular Airs”, The Westminster Review, vol. 1, 1824, pp. 120–37. Hathi Trust. Accessed 28 Feb. 2019. “Art. XII. A Selection of Popular National Airs, with Symphonies and Accompaniments, by Sir John Stevenson, Mus. Doc. The words by Thomas Moore, Esq.”, The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, vol. 1, 1818, pp. 225–29. Hathi Trust. Accessed 28 Feb. 2019. Atkins, Fredk. “Brinley Richards and Welsh Music”, South Wales Daily News, 19 May 1891. British Newspaper Archive. Accessed 13 Apr. 2019. Bashford, Christina. “Historiography and Invisible Musics: Domestic Chamber Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain.” Journal of the American Musicological Society, vol. 63, no. 2, 2010, pp. 291–360. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/­stable/10.1525/ jams.2010.63.2.291. Accessed 31 Jan. 2019. Berger, Stefan, editor. A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Europe 1789– 1914. 2006. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Borsay, Peter. “London, 1660–1800: A Distinctive Culture?” Two Capitals London and Dublin 1500–1840. Eds. Peter Clark and Raymond Gillespie, Oxford UP, 2001, pp. 167–84. British Library Catalogue. “Explore the British Library.” explore.bl.uk. The British Newspaper Archive. www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. Burns, Joanne. Music in the Life and Works of Thomas Moore, 1779–1852. 2015. Queen’s U Belfast, PhD dissertation. Clark, Peter. “The Multi-Centred Metropolis: The Social and Cultural Landscapes of London, 1600–1840.” Two Capitals London and Dublin 1500–1840. Eds. Peter Clark and Raymond Gillespie, Oxford UP, 2001, pp. 239–64. Cowgill, Rachel. “Performance Alfresco: Music-Making in English ­Pleasure Gardens.” The Pleasure Garden: From Vauxhall to Coney Island. Ed. ­Jonathan Conlin, Philadelphia UP, 2012, pp. 100–26. Edwards, Owain, and A.G. Leighton Thomas. “Richards, (Henry) Brinley.” Grove Music Online. oxfordmusiconline.com, doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630. article.23384. Accessed 21 Apr. 2019. Glover, Charles William. Moore’s National Airs with Symphonies and Accompaniments for the Pianoforte Edited by Charles William Glover Author of “Jeannette and Jeannot” “The Cavalier” etc. 10 vols., Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, Addison & Co., Hime & Addison, 1859.

114  Tríona O’Hanlon ———. National Airs, with Words by Thomas Moore, Edited by Charles W. Glover. Longman, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1860. ———. Preface. National Airs, with Words by Thomas Moore, Edited by Charles W. Glover. Longman, Green, Longman, & Roberts, 1860. Golding, Rosemary, editor. Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain: The Music Profession in Britain, 1780–1920. New Perspectives on Status and Identity. Routledge, 2018. Green, Emily H. “Between Text and Context: Schumann, Liszt, and the Reception of Dedications.” Journal of Musicological Research, vol. 28, no. 4, 2009, pp. 312–39. Taylor & Francis online, doi:10.1080/01411890903210529. Accessed 31 Mar. 2019. Haverhill, H. Oft in the Stilly Night…Irish Melody, (Words by T. Moore), with New Symphony and Accomp. by H. Haverhill, [c.1880]. Heller, Benjamin. “Leisure and the Use of Domestic Space in Georgian London.” The Historical Journal, vol. 53, no. 3, 2010, pp. 623–45. JSTOR, www.jstor. org/stable/40865672. Accessed 9 Jan. 2019. Hill, Cecil. “Ries Family (4): Ferdinand Ries.” Grove Music online. oxfordmusiconline.com, doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.23444. Accessed 21 Apr. 2019. Humphries, Charles, and William C. Smith. Music Publishing in the British Isles: From the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century; A Dictionary of Engravers, Printers, Publishers, and Music Sellers, with a Historical Introduction. Cassell, 1954. Hunt, Una. “The Harper’s Legacy: Irish National Airs and Pianoforte Composers.” Journal of the Society for Musicology in Ireland, vol. 6, 2010–2011, pp. 3–53. musicologyireland.com/jsmi/index.php/journal/article/view/75. Accessed 21 Apr. 2019. ———. “Moore, Stevenson, Bishop, and the Powers: A Series of Complex Relationships.” Eds. McCleave and Caraher, pp. 72–91. ———. “‘My Gentle Harp’: The Genesis of the Irish Melodies and an Introduction to the New Audio Archive.” Thomas Moore Texts, Contexts, Hypertext. Eds. Francesca Benatti, Seán Ryder, and Justin Tonra. Lang, 2013, pp. 27–44. “Insolvent Debtors’ Court, Oct. 31.” Morning Advertiser, 1 Nov. 1861. British Newspaper Archive. Accessed 9 Mar. 2019. Kidson, Frank. British Music Publishers, Printers and Engravers. 1900. Benjamin Blom, 1967. Kitson, Richard. “The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review.” The Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (1760–1966). www.ripm.org. Accessed 22 Feb. 2019. Land, Edward. Oft in the Stilly Night, Scottish Melody, The poetry by Thomas Moore, Newly Arranged by Edward Land. [1875]. Langley, Leanne. “The Musical Press in Nineteenth-Century England.” Notes, Second Series, vol. 46, no. 3, 1990, pp. 583–92. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/941425. Accessed 28 Feb. 2019. Martin, Jennifer. “The “Dull Lapse of Hopeless Slavery”: European and Irish Politics in Moore’s Fables for the Holy Alliance, Rhymes on the Road, &c. &c.” Eds. McCleave and Caraher, pp. 197–214. McAulay, Karen Elisabeth. Our Ancient National Airs: Scottish Song Collecting from the Enlightenment to the Romantic Era. 2013. Taylor & Francis, 2016.

The National Airs and Moore’s Reputation  115 McCleave, Sarah. “Role of Community, Networks and Sentiment.” McCleave and O’Hanlon The Reputations of Thomas Moore, pp. 3–24. McCue, Kirsteen. “‘Difficult to Imitate and Impossible to Equal’: Byron, Burns, Moore and the Packaging of National Song.” Byron Journal, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 113–25. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/683070. Accessed 21 Apr. 2019. McVeigh, Simon. “An Audience for High-Class Music: Concert Promoters and Entrepreneurs in Nineteenth-Century London.” The Musician as Entrepreneur, 1700–1914: Managers, Charlatans and Idealists. Ed. William Weber. Indiana UP, 2004, pp. 162–84. ———. “The Benefit Concert in Nineteenth-Century London: From ‘Tax on the Nobility’ to ‘Monstrous Nuisance’”. Nineteenth-Century British Music Studies 1. Ed. Bennett Zon. Ashgate, 1999, pp. 242–66. ———. “The Musician as Concert-Promoter in London, 1780–1850.” Le Concert et son Public: Mutations de la Vie musicale en Europe de 1780 à 1914. Eds. Hans-Erich Bödeker, et al. Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 2002, pp. 71–92. https://books.openedition.org/editionsmsh/6761. Accessed 31 Mar. 2019. “The Memoir of Ferdinand Ries. The Harmonicon, vol. 2, no. 15, Mar. 1824, pp. 33–35, 60–61. Middleton, L.M., Rev. David J. Golby. “Glover, Charles, William.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10822. Accessed 15 Mar. 2019. Moore, Thomas, and Sir John Stevenson. A Selection of Popular National Airs with Symphonies and Accompaniments by Sir John Stevenson, Mus. Doc.; and Characteristic Words by Thomas Moore Esq., nos 1–6, J. Power, 1818–1827. Mount, George. Oft in the Stilly Night, Bagatelle de Salon for the Pianoforte, by George Mount. [1864]. Ní Chinnéide, Veronica. “The Sources of Moore’s Melodies.” The Journal of the Royal Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 89, no. 2, 1959, pp. 109–34. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25509361. Accessed 21 Apr. 2019. O’Hanlon, Tríona. “The Dissemination of Thomas Moore’s National Airs in Nineteenth-Century Europe.” Digital Exhibition Hosted at Special Collections and Archives, Queen’s U Belfast, 2017. http://omeka.qub.ac.uk/exhibits/ show/the-dissemination-of-thomas-mo/thomas-moore-national-airs. Accessed 21 Apr. 2019. “People’s Edition of Moore’s National Airs and Music.” Bell’s Weekly Messenger (London), 21 and 23 May 1859. British Newspaper Archive. Accessed 9 Mar. 2019. Rapport, Michael. Nineteenth-Century Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Richards, (Henry) Brinley. The Favorite Air Usually Entitled “Oft in the Stilly Night”: no. 2 of three Irish Melodies by Brinley Richards. Chapell, [c.1855]. Ries, Ferdinand. “Oft in the Stilly Night” from Moore’s National Melodies Arranged with Variations for Two Performers on the Piano Forte, and inscribed to Miss Sarah & Miss Mary Crabtree, by Ferdinand Ries. Op. 136 No. 1. J. Power, [1825]. Riley, Matthew, and Anthony Smith. Nation and Classical Music from Handel to Copland. The Boydell P, 2016.

116  Tríona O’Hanlon Rockstro, William Smyth. Whispers from Erin, Phantasy, Introducing the Favorite Irish Melodies, “Oft in the Stilly Night” & The Young May Moon: Composed for the Pianoforte, by W. S. Rockstro. Ashdown & Parry, [1867]. Rowland, David. “Composers and Publishers in Clementi’s London.” Ed. R ­ osemary Golding, pp. 32–51. Scott, Derek B. The Singing Bourgeois: Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour. 2001. Routledge, 2017. Temperley, Nicholas. “Domestic Music in England 1800–1860.” Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 85th sess., 1958–1959, pp. 31–47. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/766225. Accessed 9 Jan. 2019. Tirole, Jean. “A Theory of Collective Reputations (with Applications to the Persistence of Corruption and to firm Quality)”. The Review of Economic S­ tudies, vol. 63, no. 1, 1996, pp. 1–22. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2298112. Accessed 28 Feb. 2019. Vail, Jeffery W. “‘The Standard of Revolt’: Revolution and National Independence in Moore’s Lalla Rookh.” Romanticism on the Net, vol. 40, 2005. Érudit. doi:10.7202/012459ar. Accessed 21 Apr. 2019. Watt, Paul. “The Rise of the Professional Music Critic in Nineteenth-Century England.” Ed. Golding, pp. 110–26. Watt, Paul, Derek B. Scott, and Patrick Spedding, editors. Cheap Print and Popular Song in the Nineteenth Century: A Cultural History of the Songster. Cambridge UP, 2017. Weber, William, editor. The Musician as Entrepreneur, 1700–1914 Managers, Charlatans, and Idealists. Indiana UP, 2004, pp. 3–24. Williamson, Rosemary. “Rockstro [Rackstraw], W(illiam) S(mith) [Smyth].” Grove Music Online. oxfordmusiconline.com, doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630. article.23630. Accessed 21 Apr. 2019.

7 Romantic Patriotism and the Building of Reputation The Case of Robert Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri Anja Bunzel Introduction1 The secular oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri (Paradise and the Peri) by Robert Schumann (1810–1856) was first performed on 4 December 1843 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. The words were adapted from Thomas Moore’s poem “Paradise and the Peri”, the third of four tales found within the larger narrative framework of a wedding journey in Thomas Moore’s Lalla Rookh (1817). Schumann’s Peri was well received throughout Germany, and was soon performed internationally. ­Christopher Gibbs points out that a New York performance was planned as early as 1848, and he sees the Peri as Schumann’s “international calling card”. Schumann’s notes on the Peri’s title page reveal that performances took place in Utrecht in 1844–1845 and in Amsterdam during the following season (Nauhaus, “Schumanns” 133).2 It seems that Schumann’s contemporary Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) helped to promote the Peri outside of Germany. Mendelssohn first visited Britain in 1829 where he performed publicly as both a pianist and a conductor. His music was popular, and he returned for further performances in Birmingham, ­London, and Manchester between 1837 and 1847 (Todd). According to an article in The Musical Times, Mendelssohn sent a letter to the English publisher Ewer & Co. (1844), in which he praised the Peri as “a very important and noble work full of eminent beauties” and “a worthy musical translation of that great beautiful inspiration of your great poet Moore” (E., F. G. 716). Schumann’s Peri also attracted the attention of Irish musicians and journalists. Led by John William Glover (1815–1899), the Royal ­Choral Institute performed it in Dublin in 1854.3 Glover was an enthusiastic ­advocator of Moore’s music (Beausang, “From national” 36–37). ­Besides events on the occasions of Moore’s birthday (28 May) and the anniversary of his death (25 February), in 1853 Glover organised a series of “Grand Irish national concerts” featuring Moore’s Irish Melodies.4 Emer Nolan observes that the Irish Melodies “became as important for an emergent Irish nationalism as opera was for its later counterpart in Italy” (Catholic Emancipations 1). J. C. M. Nolan explains that Moore’s

118  Anja Bunzel Irish Melodies were more significant for Moore’s nineteenth-century reputation as Ireland’s national hero than Lalla Rookh because the Irish dimension of Lalla Rookh was overlooked both in Ireland and abroad (91 and 98). Thus, it is not surprising that Glover foregrounded the Melodies in his performances, although he programmed Lalla Rookh just one year later. More generally, Harry White (“Cultural theory”) and Ita Beausang (“From national”) have argued for the importance of music in nurturing patriotism and strengthening a sense of Irish national identity during the nineteenth century, an observation that will form the basis of analytical enquiry throughout this chapter. This chapter considers Thomas Moore’s reputation in Leipzig and ­Dublin through a chapter of reviews of Schumann’s Peri published between 1843 and 1854.5 While the Dublin reviews focussed on the libretto and the Leipzig reviews focussed on the compositional aesthetic, both cities’ reviews reveal similar reception patterns when examined through the lens of Romantic patriotism. My chapter comprises three parts. First, I will scrutinise the ways in which the reception of Moore’s Lalla Rookh in Ireland, Scotland, and England reflects Moore’s wider reputation as an Irish poet. Lalla Rookh was reviewed primarily in British and Scottish newspapers for different reasons. Moore was resident in England at the time of publication; he was associated publicly with the British poet Lord Byron; owing to the Act of Union (1801) there were close political and cultural links between Dublin and London (see J. C. M. Nolan 82–83). This contextualisation of Moore’s reception will lay the foundation for a comparison with both Moore’s reception later on and Schumann’s reception. The second section is devoted to the differences and similarities between Leipzig’s and Dublin’s cultural infrastructures. Third, I will analyse performance reviews of Schumann’s Peri in Leipzig and Dublin with a view to determining Moore’s reputation in those two cities.

Lalla Rookh’s Reception in Ireland, Scotland, and England Only one Dublin paper, Freeman’s Journal, acknowledged Lalla Rook’s publication in 1817 (“Lalla Rookh”) and that review was originally published in the Scottish Blackwood’s Magazine.6 Lalla Rookh’s poor recognition in the Dublin press calls for an examination of Scottish and English papers in order to situate the work within a relevant reception context. In doing so, I will show that these reviews helped to shape Moore’s reputation as an Irish national poet, drawing on such concepts as poetic and imaginative ingenuity, exoticism, and morality. In ­Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine Moore is described as “beyond all comparison the most ingenious, brilliant and fanciful poet of the present age. [. . .] Whatever is wild, impassioned, chivalrous, and romantic in the history of his country, and the character of his countrymen, he has touched with a pencil of

Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri  119 light” (“Review of new Publications” 279). The reviewer’s depiction of Moore’s wild personality and his labelling of the poet as the “Burns of Ireland” underline the significance of Moore’s standing. In light of the critic’s notion of ingenuity, they expect to find “beauty in every page” of Lalla Rookh, a criterion which led other reviewers to criticise Moore’s work (“Review of new Publications” 280). For instance, the Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal of November 1817 regrets that “you cannot open this book without finding a cluster of beauties in every page” (“Art. I. Lalla Rookh” 2). A great work, according to this reviewer, should include no more than one beauty overall – an approach, which points to different conceptions of ingenuity and aesthetic ideals. They acknowledge that “Paradise and Peri” “breathes throughout a most pure and engaging morality” (“Art. I. Lalla Rookh” 19), an impression which is shared by the British Critic of June 1817 (“Art. VII. Lalla Rookh” 610). By contrast, the reviewer of the British Review, and ­London Critical Journal posits that Moore’s positive depictions of exoticism were unsuccessful, as Christian values and attributes were incompatible with a Persian setting (“Art. II. Lalla Rookh” 33).7 Considering these hegemonic views on Eastern religions and cultures, it is remarkable that he acknowledges Lalla Rookh’s important role regarding the presentation of gender. Referring to the inflated topoi centring on beauty, the reviewer regrets that the plot would be unacceptable if set in England, but is considered legitimate when set in the Orient (“Art. II. Lalla Rookh” 32). In a similar manner, the British Lady’s Magazine denounces the work’s political incorrectness ([Review of Lalla Rookh] 180). The Literary Panorama and National Register of September 1817 analyses the use of oriental stereotypes, whereas “Paradise and the Peri” is praised for its poetical imagery (“Lalla Rookh” 897–98, 908). This view is shared by the Eclectic Review (“Art. III: Lalla Rookh” 349), whose reviewer also regrets that Moore’s style “is so easily counterfeited” (“Art. III: Lalla Rookh” 343). This observation contrasts the judgement voiced in Scots Magazine, and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany in which “Paradise and Peri” is described as “singular” and so peculiar “that no analysis could give any idea of it” (“Review. II. Lalla Rookh” 328). Despite the flaws mentioned in the reviews cited above, all critiques contain positive points. For instance, the wording and imagination of Moore’s poetry receives praise on many occasions, often leading to comparisons with such other poets as Robert Southey, Walter Scott, Lord Byron, or William Wordsworth (see for instance Eclectic Review, “Art. III: Lalla Rookh” 341). Moore’s Lalla Rookh appeared just a few years after Byron had published some tales inspired by his travels to Greece, The Giaour (1813), The Bride of Abydos (1813), The Corsair (1814), and Lara (1814). The Corsair included an exuberant dedication to Moore, which caused much debate among reviewers, particularly those of Tory-supporting newspapers (see J. C. M. Nolan 82). Thus, it

120  Anja Bunzel is not surprising that Moore’s Lalla Rookh was often reviewed through the lens of his reputation as an Irish national hero, of his friendly but complicated connections with Byron, and of Britain’s complex socio-­ political relationship with Ireland. Nevertheless (or precisely because of this), Lalla Rookh helped to shape Moore’s reputation as a poet of large-scale works in Britain, although not all reviewers recognised the work’s regional-political dimension. Exoticist plots were en vogue and Moore had already established himself as an Irish national hero through his Melodies; these aspects are reflected in the popularity Lalla Rookh enjoyed outside of the British colonies.

Lalla Rookh’s Reception in Germany Considering that Schumann was born in 1810, it is unlikely that he was familiar with these English-language reviews of 1817. However, Lalla Rookh was publicised in Germany during the 1820s. Its performance as tableaux vivants at the Prussian Court on 27 January 1821 reflects its international significance, as this costly and innovative event gathered influential political figures from all over Europe. According to Terrence Brown (19), this performance included 186 actors and several orchestras. A letter from Berlin, published in Freeman’s Journal on 6 March 1821, confirms that the Prussian Court put much effort into this performance (“Lalla Rookh”). A theatre had been installed in the Royal Castle where the tableaux vivants were performed by the Duchess of Russia (Lalla Rookh), the Duke of Russia (Abiris = Feramorz in Moore’s original), Prince ­William of Prussia (Aurengzeb), the Duke of Cumberland (Abdallah), and Princess Elisa Radziwill (Peri), to name but a few (“Lalla Rookh”). Songs of ­Gaspare Spontini (1774–1851) to words by the Royal librarian Samuel Heinrich Spiker (1786–1858) preceded the individual scenes. All protagonists wore fanciful expensive costumes. In 1822 the Prussian court painter Wilhelm Hensel (1794–1861) produced a memorial album including twenty-three drawings (Tessier 330; ­Nauhaus “Wilhelm Hensels ‘Peri’”). Tessier (331) claims that the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) must have owned a copy of this album, and that he must have read Moore’s Lalla Rookh as well as The Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Little and The Loves of the Angels. Exoticist plots were very popular on German grounds during the first half the nineteenth century. Goethe wrote his West-Östlicher ­Divan (West-Eastern Diwan) between 1814 and 1819. It was a poetry cycle inspired by the work of the Austrian orientalist Joseph von Hammer-­ Purgstall (1774–1856), who published his Die Geschichte der Assassinen aus morgenländischen Quellen in 1818 (an English translation appeared in 1835). It is this context as well as that of nineteenth-century Celticism that shaped Moore’s reputation in ­Germany.8 In his 1947 article in the Nenagh Guardian, Hennig (1946) suggests that Goethe must have known Moore’s original English-­language works, as he was friendly with Lord

Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri  121 Byron. Crabb Robinson, a friend of Moore’s publisher John Murray, travelled to Weimar in 1829, where he hoped to collect some Byron materials from Goethe. On that occasion, Goethe received copies of Moore’s Life of Byron and Life of Fitzgerald, which, ­according to Hennig, he praised as “masterly and inspiring”. Brown, too, highlights Goethe’s admiration of Moore (18). Lalla Rookh was translated into many European languages (see R. Kelly 136), and it was the first work of Moore’s of which a translated version was published in Germany. Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué (1777–1843) ­produced a ­German translation in 1822, and the Schumann brothers, Robert Schumann’s father and uncle, published a translation by Johann Ludwig Witthaus (1795–1840) in the same year (Nauhaus, “Schumanns” 134). It is likely that Schumann knew the latter version.

Schumann’s Encounter with the Peri Exoticist sujets were an inherent part of the German nineteenth-century music-cultural discourse. Ralph P. Locke (111) ascertains that the Middle East was the second favourite location for European operas and ballets in the mid-1840s, following the south of Spain. Like many of his contemporaries, Schumann rejoiced in such settings; he had set exoticist plots by Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866) and Goethe before he conceived the Peri (Nauhaus, “Das Paradies” 323). On 4 August 1841, Emil Flechsig showed his own translation of Moore’s “Paradise and the Peri” to Schumann. However, Schumann’s Projektenbuch (project diary) reveals that he had already started to work on the lyrics by 1840 (Nauhaus, “Schumanns” 134–35). Nevertheless, it seems that Flechsig’s visit motivated him to engage with the words more actively. On 10 August 1841, Schumann contacted the Byron interpreter Böttger and asked him for a copy of his “Peri” translation. Furthermore, Schumann must have known Theodor Oelckers’s translation (Nauhaus, “Das Paradies” 321). However, the ­final version, which was completed on 6 January 1842, originated from Schumann himself (Nauhaus, “Schumanns” 135). He did not seem to be fully content with his own translation, so, while sketching ideas for the overture, he scrutinised Lindner’s translation (Wendt 123–24). Schumann also took a considerable amount of time contemplating which musical genre to choose. While his project diary records that he originally planned to write an opera, he ultimately chose to compose a large-scale dramatic work in concerto style. Up until then, Schumann had never published a dramatic work of this calibre. He was aware of the Peri’s significance within his own oeuvre, as he wrote to his contemporary Eduard Krüger on 3 June 1843: I have written many hundred thousand notes recently, and, on Ascension Day, I completed a large-scale work, the longest [work] I have attempted thus far. The libretto is based on Thomas Moore’s “Paradise and Peri”, and it is an oratorio, but not for the church, but

122  Anja Bunzel for cheerful people, and, while I was composing this work, I could hear a little voice whispering that what I do is not done in vain. (qtd. in Nauhaus, “Das Paradies” 322)9 Schumann completed the music on 10 September 1843; the work was premiered at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on 4 December 1843. A repeat performance followed at the same venue just one week later, on 11 ­December 1843.

Musical Infrastructures and Socio-Cultural Circumstances in Leipzig and Dublin Besides the quite exclusive Gewandhaus concerts, 1840s Leipzig boasted a number of choral societies and four further musical institutions: the popular music association Euterpe (founded in 1824), which offered high-standard musical entertainment at more affordable prices; the Theater der Stadt Leipzig (Theatre of the City of Leipzig); the university singing association (Pauliner Sängerverein); and the Thomaner Choir (see SL, Krause and Hempel). The last two were involved in the 1850 and 1854 performances of Schumann’s Peri, since it demanded a large number of singers (“Tageskalender”, Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger 3 December 1850 and 6 April 1854). Furthermore, the Leipzig conservatory, a milestone in Leipzig’s musical education system, was opened in 1843; it aspired to train advanced musicians and offered practical and theoretical lessons at an advanced level (Wasserloos 29). The musical infrastructure in Dublin, on the other hand, was entirely different to that of Leipzig. While eighteenth-century Dublin had a vibrant public musical scene – its significance is highlighted by the premiere of Handel’s Messiah in 1742 – the number of art-music performances declined in the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, amateur music-­making flourished during that time. The Royal Irish Academy of Music was founded in 1848, and a large number of music societies ­existed throughout the nineteenth century (Boydell 319; Beausang, “Music Societies” 710). Most of these societies were choral societies, and their members and audiences mainly originated in Dublin’s middle and upper classes (Beausang, “Music Societies” 711). Thus, access to these cultural spheres was quite exclusive. In 1851, music teacher and organist, John William Glover founded the Royal Choral Institute (see Collins). It aimed to make classical music available to the public at moderate prices and charged no subscription fees for members (“Advertisements and Notices: Royal Choral Institute [1]”; also Beausang, “Music Societies” 711). Freeman’s Journal of 29 November 1851 applauds Glover on the foundation of this choir by stating that “The material of vocal excellence has been proved to exist not alone amongst the youth

Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri  123 of Germany and Italy – it is found wild and uncultivated amongst ourselves” (“Antient Concert Rooms”). The Royal Choral Institute held its performances in the Antient Concert Rooms in 52 Great Brunswick Street. Glover was very proud of his Irish Peri premiere. In 1878, in a letter to The Nation, he responded to a review of the Peri performance in Dublin that described it as the first performance of its kind (“Paradise and the Peri” 12; also Freeman’s Journal  “To the editor of THE FREEMAN”). In the letter, Glover writes that: It is not my province to quote any of the high eucomiums expressed by the Dublin journals of all shades of opinion; [. . .] and many of them were translated into the Leipsig [sic] journals of the time. I received at that time a letter from Herr Schumann, through his amanuensis, he being ill at the time, thanking me for what he was pleased to call the excellent performance of the work. Unfortunately, I have been unable to confirm the two sources mentioned by Glover. The Briefdatenbank der Schumann-Briefedition (Schumann-­ Portal) lists a letter from Glover to Schumann, dated 1  ­February 1854. However, a response by Schumann, or, as Glover states, by Schumann’s assistant, does not surface in the database. Examining the relevant Leipzig newspapers of 1854, I was unable to trace any translations of the Dublin reviews.10 Nevertheless, Glover’s statement is remarkable, as it reveals that Glover thought the performances of the Peri which he directed were a great achievement. In order to contextualise the Dublin Peri performances, one needs to consider the changing socio-politics between 1817, when Lalla Rookh appeared, and 1854, when Schumann’s Peri was performed in Dublin. The Irish Catholic community of Moore’s Dublin strove for Catholic emancipation, which was achieved officially in 1829. Derek B. Scott (155–56) explains that exoticist works may encourage a form of social critique by way of inverted dominant values. In this light, Moore’s Lalla Rookh could be interpreted as an attempt of socio-­c ultural criticism of the British dominance in Ireland – one of the reasons why this work and Byron’s dedication in The Corsair resulted in press outrage (J.C.M. Nolan 81 and 88). However, different aspects predominated in 1850s Dublin. The Great Industrial Exhibition took place in Dublin in 1853, and the effects of the Great Famine (1845–1852) occupied the 1854 newspaper headlines. Thus, the significance of Moore as a national bard might have changed ­b etween 1817 and 1854 (see Benatti in the present volume), although following his death in 1852 Glover programmed Moore’s works more regularly. Either way, his concerts of the Royal Choral Institute carried a political connotation, as their programmes featured patriotic

124  Anja Bunzel announcements of national music, and their audiences and performers originated from lower societal strata than those of most other concerts in 1850s Dublin. In a similar way to Ireland, it is difficult to separate socio-politics from (musical) culture in nineteenth-century Germany, where patriotism, however, evolved following developments and challenges different to those in Ireland. During the 1840s Germany comprised a scattered and discordant Flickenteppich (rag rug) of states ruled by individual sovereigns, characterised by a wealth of regional administrative, religious, and legal customs. Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, the German lands faced revolutionary attempts at fighting for a united Germany and civil participation. The rise of German musical nationalism and patriotic musical identity cannot be viewed in the same light as the rise of similar sentiments in Ireland, as “German musical nationalism contradicts the commonplace understanding of musical n ­ ationalism as a species of liberation from the colonial model” (H. White, “Is this Song” 138). Nevertheless, ­n ineteenth-century Germany and Ireland shared a certain socio-­ political sentiment, perhaps simplified in a longing for ­l iberation from political paternalism. It is this commonality which nourished a distinct form of patriotism in both Germany and Ireland, and which, alongside an admiration of rural, untouched landscapes and a pre-­ industrialised society, led to a pronounced fascination with Irish ­a rtistic outputs in Germany.11 However, because of ­G ermany’s layout as a conglomeration of individual states, the socio-political climate in German cities was far from homogeneous. For instance, Dresden, as Residenzstadt (place of residence) of the Elector of Saxony, had an ­entirely different cultural scene than Leipzig, even though both cities are located in Saxony. Leipzig was a centre of the revolutionary middle class during the 1840s, which enabled the formation of a large number of associations, unions, and salons, some of which had a strong impact on Leipzig’s public and semi-public musical-cultural daily routine (see SL, Krause and Hempel).

Peri Reception in Dublin and Leipzig Musical criticism was more specialised in Leipzig than it was in Dublin and this is evidenced by the publication of two music journals: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik and Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung. There was no such special-interest paper in Dublin. Furthermore, music critics were not professionally trained or experts in the field. Table 7.1 shows that some of Dublin’s daily newspapers covered the Peri performances, but the critics writing for those papers were not trained musically (Murphy 252). While many papers in Leipzig and Dublin praised the Peri’s textual and musical oriental setting, the reviewer of Allgemeine Zeitung

Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri  125 Table 7.1  Reviews of Schumann’s Peri in Leipzig and Dublin between 1843 and 1854 (Reviews marked with a * were collected by Robert Schumann and are archived at Robert-Schumann-Haus Zwickau.) Date 1843 7 December* 7 December* 15 December* 16 December 27 December* December* no date* 1847 17 February 23 February 25 February 1 March 3 March 1850 3 December 13 December 7 December 7 December 1854 8 April 6 April 8 April 14 April No date* 9 February 11 February 11 February 8 March 9 March 9 March 9 March 9 March

Press Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung Leipziger Zeitung Rosen Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung Der Wandelstern Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger Neue Zeitschrift für Musik Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger Neue Zeitschrift für Musik Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger Neue Zeitschrift für Musik Allgemeinen Zeitung, supplement Freeman’s Journal Saunder’s News-Letter Freeman’s Journal Freeman’s Journal Daily Express Saunder’s News-Letter Dublin Evening Post (same as in Saunder’s News-Letter) Freeman’s Journal

explains the disappointing impression of the music by way of the theme and libretto. The reviewer writes: ‘Das Paradies und die Peri’ is adapted from Thomas Moore’s Lalla Rookh; following the general habit of despising the words, we do not learn who arranged the text. [. . .] With the exception of the chorus at the end of the second part, [. . .] the effect of the music is modest, and the reason for this is certainly the sujet and the obsession to set to music absolutely everything. The half-epic, half-­didactic poem only allows the music to roam along or colour out [the words]. (“Deutschland. Leipzig” 146)

126  Anja Bunzel The reviewer’s observation that the librettists are typically under-­ represented in reviews might be true for German music criticism; however, the Irish reviews contradict this pattern. On 10 February 1854, Freeman’s Journal published a synopsis of Moore’s “Peri” as part of a concert announcement (“Advertisements and Notices: Royal Choral Institute [2]”). On 11 February 1854 (“Dublin Markets: Royal Choral Institute [3]”), there follows a review in Freeman’s Journal, which reads: The desire of this society to make known new musical works of art was evinced on last evening in the production, for the first time out of Germany, of Dr. Schumann’s “Paradise and the Peri”. This was originally set to a translation of Moore’s beautiful poem, and the music has been now re-adapted to the poet’s own lyrics, [e]specially for the concert of last evening. The reviewer is wrong in stating that the Peri had never been performed outside of Germany, which supports the idea that the musical expertise of the Dublin reviewers might have been limited. The emphasis the reviewer places on the libretto and its adaptation demonstrates the significance placed on Moore’s text in the Dublin review. In Dublin Moore’s reputation was stronger than that of Schumann, and his achievements were foregrounded. In contrast, the critic of Allgemeine Zeitung regretted that the music depended too much on the words, and most other German reviewers, too, focussed on an analysis of the music. The Monatsschrift für Dramatik, Theater, Musik published a four-page musical interpretation including three musical examples and in-depth analyses of selected harmonic progressions: (“Der Kritik der Kunst und ihrer Literature”). Most of the Dublin reviewers, on the other hand, described the music in passing as “romantic”, “descriptive”, “oriental”, and “fanciful”, but very few of them provided detailed discussions. Saunder’s News-Letter and Freeman’s Journal praised the first two numbers from the work (“Von Eden’s Thor im Morgenprangen” and “Wie glücklich sie wandeln”) for Schumann’s elegant coordination of the text and music, the harmonic language, and modishness. The idea of a coherent work had occupied Schumann, who, according to Hansjörg Ewert (492), was especially proud of inter-title links which he achieved through shared harmonic functions. However, it is uncertain whether the reviewer of the Freeman’s Journal of 8 March 1854 referred to harmony in a music-theoretical sense when they described the first two numbers as “a harmonious plaint of the Peri, mingled with the delicious harmonies of the world of bliss” – further music-analytical details are missing (“Royal Choral Institute [4]”). One day later, on 9 March 1854, Freeman’s Journal praised the elegant harmony and the oriental character, but the reviewer regrets the difficult voice leading in the choirs: “The

Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri  127 immense difficulty of the score would be sufficient to prevent the work from being ever generally known. – The orchestral parts would require a band of first-rate players and many rehearsals” (“Royal Choral Institute [5]”). The same reviewer remarks that melody and poetic character step into the background in favour of an “overloaded orchestration”. The reviewer’s tongue-in-cheek comment regarding the Peri’s degree of popularity might reflect the Dublin perspective, but certainly not the opinions held in Leipzig. Although some Dublin reviewers perceived the rich orchestration as overpowering and too challenging, individual passages were highlighted in some Irish reviews as effective and fanciful. Freeman’s Journal of 11 February 1854, for instance, praised the final chorus, “Willkommen, willkommen, unter den Frommen” (“Thou’rt welcome to the realms of bliss”), which “with all its faults, [. . .] has the peculiar charm of elegant and well-wrought instrumentation throughout” (“Dublin Markets: Royal Choral Institute [3]”). Despite the high degree of difficulty, the Dublin public was proud of the Peri performance and its patriotic effect, as is shown in the review of the rehearsal, published in Freeman’s Journal of 9 February 1854. Here, the critic highlights the astonishing achievement of having gathered enough performers to enable this event: “With feelings of pride we refer to the first production in Dublin of this great work, [.  .  .]. We congratulate ourselves and the country at large in possessing an institution capable of producing this chef d’œuvre of poetry and music, and on terms which bring it within the reach of all classes of society” (“Royal Choral Institute. Paradise and the Peri [3a]”). ­A llgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of 10 January 1844, on the other hand, recommends this work to all singing associations and bigger private circles, as “its performance only demands the usual means which can be found everywhere, and it does not offer any excessive difficulties” (“­Nachrichten. Dresden” 28).12 A further difference of perception surfaces in relation to the singers. The aforementioned announcement of the Royal Choral Institute’s foundation revealed some pride of the singers’ “wild” and “uncultivated” nature. By contrast, the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of 8 April 1854 criticised the technical flaws of a young singer who was involved in the Peri performance of 1854 (“Leipzig” 679). It seems that musical ambition and effort outweighed perfection in the Dublin reviews, while the latter received more attention in Leipzig. German reviewers examined the peculiar position of Schumann’s Peri within the context of genre, while Irish reviews did not discuss this music-conceptual question at all. In Germany, both musical and ­general-interest media discussed the Peri within the context of Bach and Haydn and addressed such formal issues as the Peri’s categorisation as an oratorio or an opera, the libretto’s implications towards a

128  Anja Bunzel dramatic or a poetic-dramatic work, and the non-Christian subject. The Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of 7 December 1843 opens their review by stressing that “the performed work was an oratorio, whose subject, however, is not based on the Christian or Jewish history of religion, but on ­Oriental mythology” (“Wissenschaft und Kunst. Leipzig” 2685).13 On 16 December 1843, the supplement of the same paper rectifies this article and apologises that the Peri “was erroneously called an ‘oratorio’ in our previous article (no. 251), which, going by the formal and stylistic implications of this word, it is not” (“Leipzig” 2530).14 The undated Allgemeine Zeitung’s supplement cited earlier states that “in terms of its new peculiar form, the composition is situated between oratorio and opera, but closer to the latter” (“Deutschland. Leipzig” 146).15 The exact same phenomenon is mentioned in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of 10 January 1844, where the opposite conclusion is drawn by referring to the work’s suitability for a concertante performance (“Nachrichten. Dresden” 28).16 In 1847, the reviewer of Berliner Musikalische Zeitung, Fiod. Geyer, discussed the genre in detail: [The Peri] is unique in its form, as it does not conform to any existing genre. It is not an oratorio for it would need to have a religious sujet [. . .]. It is also not a purely dramatic poem, because the plot on which it is based is narrated like in Bach’s passions or in Haydn’s ‘Creation’. Bach’s works are part of [our] culture, a memory which is experienced anew in the religious ceremony. Thus we take part in them, and therefore they are dramatic in a certain sense. In a similar way, [the ‘Peri’] is also epic-dramatic. It is based on a myth, which, to us, includes little objective truth, which is narrated to us, and to which we may feel conflicted, as the plot, from our perspective, lacks substance. Apart from this criticism, the sujet is embraced most interestingly in a mystical chiaroscuro, which will be appreciated by a certain group of Pietists.17 Although the review of the Monatsschrift für Dramatik, Theater und Musik reveals a quite antisemitic view, it proves insightful as regards the contemporary concerns surrounding the genre of the oratorio: The question about the adequate reformation of the oratorio, which has been asked by many for some time, and particularly that about the omission of Judaism, which has been expatiated upon endlessly since Bach, starts to attract more interest day by day. One may or may not appreciate the unsustainable necessity of the sujets known in oratorios so far; one may have accepted in them Christ’s miracles and suffers, a lapidated Stephan, chromatic-enharmonic-­ philosophical prophets and God’s voice raised four – or recently eight

Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri  129 times – it does not matter – an enlightened age may adjudge these sujets to be an overused principle, if not even a long-passed viewpoint. Robert Schumann enters these archaic but most comfortable proceedings with his oratorio: ‘Das Paradies und die Peri’. Among the most significant contemporary composers he may be the first who, despite the Priests and Pietists, dared cleansing the oratorio from its original subject, from a Pietist-Christian-Jewish foundation, and from the strict psalmody of apostolic fanaticisms and captivated Jews. (“Zur Kritik der Kunst und ihrer Literatur” 1)18 Lastly, the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of 27 December 1843 refers to the non-Christian sujet and contextualises Schumann’s choice of words: We have a work before us which deviates considerably from the typical characteristics of an oratorio in terms of sujet, concept, style, and presentation of the individual parts. It has been attempted to apply this genre for non-Christian sujets before, but these works, by Handel (Alexanderfest), Haydn (Seasons), Winter, Schuster (Lob der Musik) are rooted so obviously in the oratorio, partly through their inclusion of religious elements, partly through their overall composure, that they do not justify a categorisation as an own genre. (“Das Paradies und die Peri” 954)19 Notably, the German reviewers discussed the genre in detail, some even identifying the Peri as a new genre. The Dublin reviewers paid no attention to this question, possibly because the latter were more focussed on Thomas Moore. And yet, it is equally puzzling that the German reviewers granted so little attention to Moore himself, even though they were heavily occupied with the Peri’s sujet. A similar difference in perception emerges in the programming approaches in Dublin and Leipzig. While the Leipzig performances featured the Peri in isolation, the work was paired with excerpts from more famous works by Handel (at both Dublin performances) and Mozart (at the second Dublin performance). This aspect enables us to speculate in terms of the durations of the Dublin and Leipzig performances: ­Dublin’s concerts generally tended to be longer in duration than Leipzig’s, and concerts often featured more than one composer. For example, the concerts of the Philharmonic Society could feature a full symphony, followed by different solo and ensemble works (Ferris 60). Likewise, the concerts of the First Dublin Grand Musical Festival (1831) included miscellaneous content. For instance, the Wednesday morning concert witnessed a performance of “a new oratorio entitled The triumph of faith [sic], with a grand selection of sacred music”, and Handel’s Messiah was performed alongside “accompaniments by Mozart” on Thursday

130  Anja Bunzel morning (The first Dublin Grand Music Festival, programme booklet). Perhaps the programming conventions in Dublin were one reason why Schumann’s work was programmed alongside other compositions in Dublin. Alternatively, the Peri may have been considered more significant in Leipzig than in Dublin – possibly because of Robert Schumann’s strong reputation in Leipzig. While the Peri was a compositional sensation in Leipzig, it was combined with better-known works in Dublin. Moreover, Leipzig boasted more professional performers than Dublin, which might have enabled a quicker rehearsal of new works, although not all Leipzig Peri performances were praised for their professionalism: the Peri required an unusually large corpus of well-trained singers and instrumentalists even by Leipzig standards. As a composer, Schumann received less attention in the Irish reviews, some of which referred to Schumann’s then better-known colleague Mendelssohn. The latter was well known in the Anglophone world due to his musical sojourns to Britain between 1829 and 1847. The first Peri announcement, published in several Dublin newspapers, reads: “Paradise and Peri was first produced in Leipsig [sic], under the direction of Mendelssohn, in the year 1847, and has been since performed in all the leading cities of Germany with the greatest enthusiasm” (“Notice”). The 1843 premiere under Schumann’s own conductorship remains unacknowledged; although Mendelssohn led the Gewandhaus in 1843, it was Schumann who conducted the Peri premiere. The reviewer of ­Saunder’s News-Letter of 11 February 1854 does not even name the “German composer” (“Royal Choral Institute”). Instead, the critic remarks that “Mendelssohn considered [the work] so excellent as to produce it at Berlin”. The German reviews, on the other hand, gave more weight to the work’s Leipzig origin. The reviewer of Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung wrote (23 February 1847): “It is worth thanking [the organisers] for choosing this composition, which originates from our midst, which has not been performed for a few years, but which has become increasingly popular and is being performed frequently abroad” (“Leipzig” 470). 20 A similar patriotic tone emerges in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of March 1847, in which Schumann is praised for his positive individual development: There have always been erring talents, even in times when the arts were flowering out or blooming already, but usually these were weak talents who did not appeal to anyone, who made their way into oblivion in solitude and without harming anyone. This is now different in music. The two sad byroads, shallow unsubstantial or overloaded music lacking melody and emotion are taken by very significant talents, and particularly the latter is also taken by beautiful German talents, and even Schumann once had a short period when he took this direction. For some time Schumann has recognised his wrong

Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri  131 steps, and has taken a direction which is chosen by all true artists in all arts. He strives for truth and beauty, but expressed through clear, simple, accessible and comprehensible form. The best evidence of this is Das Paradies und die Peri. (“Nachrichten. Leipzig” 144)21 Here, the reviewer alludes to the romanticist search for truth and clarity; many composers during the first half of the nineteenth century strove to express true emotions but were perceived as dull, worn-out, or overloaded. Particularly valued was the ability to express true beauty by way of simplicity and clarity, and yet through innovative form and style. It seems that this development of an artist was part of their establishment as a genius, which was a popular concept among romanticists – Thomas Moore received similar criticism thirty years previous in the 1817 review published in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine cited above (“Review of new Publications” 279). Furthermore, many German reviewers emphasised Schumann’s poetic talent, while the Irish press stressed Moore’s musicality. This aspect ties in with an 1817 review of Moore’s Lalla Rookh published in the Asiatic Journal. Here, Moore was praised as “the most harmonious of modern poets”, who turned “our language to melody of which it had not before appeared capable” (“Lalla Rookh: An Oriental Romance” 466). Thus, both the German and Irish reviewers attributed their own compatriot with a remarkable versatility, which outshone the other artist who contributed to the work. Unlike most Leipzig papers, the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of 7 December 1850 referred to the libretto in detail: “The text, most likely compiled by Schumann himself, is a very good one, and, in terms of its poetic content, it differs quite positively from many similar ones” (“Wissenschaft und Kunst. Leipzig” 2685).22 The reviewer omits Thomas Moore’s name while criticising the plot as illogical and too descriptive (“Wissenschaft und Kunst. Leipzig” 2685). A similar pattern can be traced in the Irish reviews, most of which seemed to foreground Moore and his poetry. Saunder’s News-Letter of 11 February 1854 focussed on a synopsis of Moore’s poem and an acknowledgement of the performers, followed by a very brief description of Schumann’s Peri (“Royal Choral Institute [6]”). The Daily Express, dated 9 March 1854, compared the two Dublin performances without mentioning any compositional-aesthetic aspects (“Royal Choral Institute [7]”). The reviewer of Freeman’s Journal of 11 February 1854 described the oratorio as too descriptive and regretted the lack of musical memorability, as it had no melodies “that will haunt the hearers for days after” (“Dublin Markets: Royal Choral Institute [3]”). However, less than a month later, on 8 March, a critic of the same paper praised the “delicious morceaux of melody in the piece which, when once heard, haunt the memory, and echo sweetly on the ear for many a day afterwards” (“Royal Choral Institute [4]”). This aspect points to the subjectivity of

132  Anja Bunzel music criticism when geared towards such associative categories as effect and impression. Finally, both the Dublin and Leipzig reviewers used the c­ oncepts “­genius” and “sublime” quite generously for both Moore and Schumann – categories which also emerged in reviews of Lalla Rookh in 1817. ­A lthough some scholars have tried to tackle the definition of the “sublime genius”, an elaborate examination of the term’s semantic evolution would be worthy of a new project on its own, and so would the attempt to classify these concepts as regards subjectivity and judgement. 23 In this light, it is uncertain whether the reviewers assigned a specific meaning to these concepts, or whether their choice of words merely reflects contemporary fashion. We find an inconsistent use of these terms in both the Dublin and Leipzig reviews. Freeman’s Journal (9 February 1854) observes that the choral and orchestral effects “shadow forth the sublime conceptions of the poet in the most brilliant colouring”, but we do not learn what these “sublime conceptions” are (“­Advertisements & Notices [1]”). Similarly, the Daily Express (7 March 1854) speaks of “sublime conceptions of the composer” without telling the reader what is meant by this attribute (“Royal Choral Institute [8]”). The reviewer of Rosen (15 December 1843) wrote that the Peri was a noble work with a “sublime sentiment” (“erhabene Empfindungen”, “Feuilleton. [Schumann’s ‘Peri’]” 1999), and Deutsche ­Allgemeine ­Zeitung, on 7 December 1850, acknowledged the “sublime simplicity” (“erhabene Einfachheit”) of the work (“Leipzig” 2685). Neue Zeitschrift für Musik of 1 March 1847 praised Schumann as a “high genius” (“hoher Genius”) because of the work’s romantic and oriental character without acknowledging Moore’s impact on this achievement (“Leipziger Musikleben” 72). Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger (25 February 1847) referred to the Peri as an “ingenious and beautiful composition which is recognised by dilettantes and connoisseurs alike” (“Die Aufführung von Schumann’s Peri” 511). 24 The German reviewers of Der Wandelstern (December 1843, “Feuilleton für Literatur, Kunst und Weltleben” 799), Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger (1843, “Nachrichten” 3126), Leipziger Zeitung (1850, “­Dresden” 189 and 1843, “Wissenschaft und Kunstnachrichten” 4793), and Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung (1843, “Das Paradies und die Peri” 952) saw the wealth of ideas and aesthetic surprise as positive. By contrast – but similar to the criticism imposed on Moore’s Lalla Rookh in The Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal (“Art. I. Lalla Rookh”) – Freeman’s Journal (11 February 1854) viewed Schumann’s wealth of ideas in a negative light: “[The work features] varied orchestral effects and figurative passages waving throughout the entire band in fragments of much beauty, as if the author had grasped at many subjects, but was unable to retain them till he fully carried them to a close” (“Dublin Markets: Royal Choral Institute [3]”). Finally, the review of Saunder’s

Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri  133 News-Letter (11 February 1854) summarises Moore’s ingeniousness and his musicality: The German dress of music might be supposed to accord but little with an Eastern subject handled by the graceful and fanciful genius of Moore, and how can a musician equal a composition which is in itself the musical echo of the thoughts that sprung [sic] from the soul of one who was not alone a poet but likewise a musician? (“Royal Choral Institute [6]”) These excerpts demonstrate two aspects. First, the terms “sublime” and “genius” referred to a wide range of characteristics including formal simplicity, suitable expressions of emotion, multi-genre productivity, international reception, success in more than one artistic strand, and knowledge of – and susceptibility to – different cultural areas. Second, both the Dublin and Leipzig reviewers felt that their local hero was wellequipped in more than one artistic field.

Conclusion Both the Leipzig and Dublin reviewers praised the Peri’s exoticist setting, reflecting the general popularity of such plots during the nineteenth century. The German reviewers prioritised the work’s musical component by discussing issues around genre, compositional aesthetics, and Schumann’s personal development as an artist. The Irish reviews, in contrast, focused strongly on the Peri’s libretto – offering synopses of the poem and detailing Moore’s poetic achievements, as well as those of Glover’s Royal Choral Institute. When they noticed the music, the critics felt that the orchestration at times overpowered the melody. If we understand Moore’s oeuvre as prominent in the cultivation of “an Irish nationalist sensibility” (Nolan, Catholic Emancipations 3), it is not surprising that many Dublin papers announced Glover’s performances of Moore settings with patriotic enthusiasm. Nolan’s concept of Irish literary naturalism might be worthwhile exploring in relation to music, as many Dublin reviewers disapproved of Schumann’s complex orchestration and voice leading, preferring a stronger focus on melody and aesthetic naturalism. The German reviewers did not voice such criticism of the music, but some of them identified errors in Moore’s original lyrics, praising Schumann for his adaptation. Regarding Germany’s search for a unifying identity during the nineteenth century and its established oratorio tradition, one could situate these developments alongside Nolan’s cultural comparison of Ireland and Italy. Here, Freeman’s Journal of 29 November 1851 had compared the vocal capacities of Dublin with those of Germany and Italy. Indeed, the reviewer of Dublin’s Freeman’s

134  Anja Bunzel Journal (“Antient Concert Rooms”) was compelled to compare the vocal capacities of the three countries: Ireland, Germany, and Italy. Differences in Dublin and Leipzig’s reception of the Peri reflect such regional characteristics as musical infrastructure; the relative popularity; and the reputation of Schumann, Moore, and Glover, and with this the resultant focus on poetry and/or music. Notionally, however, all these aspects reflect patriotic modes of thought. The Peri established Schumann as a composer of large-scale works in 1843; Lalla Rookh shaped Moore’s reputation as a writer of large-scale works in 1817. In Germany, Moore’s Irish Melodies had already established him among German poets, composers, and publishers (Klein) – but when the Peri was performed in Leipzig, Schumann’s compositional innovation attracted more notice, leading to claims of Germany’s leading role in the oratorio as a musical genre. Likewise, when the Peri was performed in Dublin, it reinforced Moore’s musical and cultural status in Ireland, where his works suited particularly the socio-economic and cultural circumstances of 1850s Dublin. This chapter argues that examining the performance reviews of Schumann’s Peri in Dublin and Leipzig has provides insights into the musical reception patterns in those cities as well as the socio-cultural circumstances that surrounded them. From this, we may conclude that music has an impact on socio-cultural life and so music historiography is valuable to writing socio-cultural history.

Notes 1 I would like to thank the following individuals and institutions for their input during different research stages of this topic: Ita Beausang, Bodo ­Bischoff, Lorraine Byrne Bodley, Patrick Devine, Axel Klein, Franz Michael Maier, Emer Nolan, and Harry White; The National Library of Ireland and Trinity College, Dublin, Library, Ingrid Bodsch (Schumann-­Netzwerk), Thomas Synofzik (Schumann-Haus Zwickau), Matthias Wendt (­RobertSchumann-Forschungsstelle Düsseldorf), and Helen Pearce (Royal Philharmonic Society, London). 2 The Peri score including Schumann’s notes is archived at the RobertSchumann-Haus Zwickau (Schumanns 133). 3 Schumann noted the Dublin performance for 1853. However, the 1853 announcements in Saunder’s News-Letter (“Royal Irish Institution”, 27 and 28 May 1853) refer to rehearsals rather than concerts. 4 See announcements in Daily Express of 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 26 May 1853, for example. 5 The Peri was performed in Leipzig on 4 and 11 December 1843, 21 February 1847, 5 December 1850, and 6 April 1854. 6 Freeman‘s Journal of 9 June 1817 mentioned that the Sunday issue of Freeman’s Journal contained “an original critical review of Mr. Moore’s oriental romance, and accompanied with copious extracts from the poem (“Moore’s New Poem”). The title of the oriental romance is not mentioned, but it can be assumed that it is Lalla Rookh to which this article refers. Unfortunately,

Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri  135 The Sunday Freeman’s Journal of 8 June 1817 cannot be located in either the National Library of Ireland or through any online newspaper database. 7 See Roberts (187ff.) for a detailed discussion of nineteenth-century British newspaper reviews regarding orientalism in Moore’s Lalla Rookh. 8 Moore was also well known outside of Germany. According to Tessier, the French writer Marie-Henri Beyle (pseudonym Stendhal) wrote to Moore in March 1820 that he has just started reading Lalla Rookh for the fifth time (330). The Poles and Russians liked Lalla Rookh, which, like the Irish Melodies, included many national and Romantic aspects (Tessier 331). Harry White ascertains that Moore’s “influence – expressly through the medium of the Melodies – on the development of a nationalist aesthetic in the poetry of Adam Mickiewicz and the piano music of Chopin significantly enlarges our awareness of him as a primary agent of European Romanticism in his own right” (Music 41). 9 “Ich [habe] viele 100 000 Noten geschrieben in letzter Zeit, und [. . .] ich [bin] grade an Himmelfahrt mit einem großen Opus fertig geworden, dem größten, das ich bis jetzt unternommen. Der Stoff ist Das Paradies und die Peri von Th. Moore – ein Oratorium, aber nicht für den Betsaal – sondern für heitre Menschen – und eine Stimme flüsterte mir manchmal zu, als ich schrieb ‘dies ist nicht ganz umsonst, was du tust’”. 10 I scrutinised the print versions of all major Leipzig papers from February and March 1854. However, it is imaginable that these reviews were published with a considerable delay, in which case I may have missed them. 11 For further details on links between music and politics in nineteenth-­century ­Ireland see White (The Keeper’s Recital) and Ryan. For details on nineteenthcentury German socio-politics and culture see Breuilly; Eyck; and Vick. 12 “[E]ben nur die gewöhnlichen, überall zu findenden Mittel für ihre Aufführung erfordert [und] auch nicht übermässige Schwierigkeiten dabei bietet”. 13 “Ein Oratorium war das aufgeführte Werk, dessen Stoff jedoch nicht der christlichen oder jüdischen Religionsgeschichte, sondern der morgenländischen Sagenwelt entnommen ist”. 14 “Irrthümlich wurde dasselbe in unserm frühern Berichte (Nr. 251) ‘Oratorium’ genannt, was es nach der üblichen Bedeutung dieses Wortes nach Styl und Stoff nicht ist”. 15 “Die Composition steht ihrer neuen eigenthümlichen Form nach zwischen Oratorium und Oper, doch letzterer näher”. 16 “[E]igenthümliche Gattung der Komposition [. . .], die sich durch ihre ­völlig neue Form, zwischen Oper und Oratorium innestehend, obschon im ­Wesentlichen mehr dem Letzteren sich nähernd, namentlich zu Aufführugen in Concerten eignet”. 17 “Es steht einzig in seiner Art da, indem es sich einer bestehenden Gattung von Kunstwerken nicht anschliesst. Ein Oratorium ist es nicht. Dazu würde ein religiöser Stoff gehören [. . .]. Ein rein dramatisches Gedicht liegt eben so wenig zu Grunde, denn die Handlung, woran angeknüpft wird, wird nur erzählt etwa wie in den Passionsmusiken Seb. Bach’s oder in der Schöpfung Haydn’s. Jene Werke Bach’s gehören unmittelbar in den Cultus selbst, eine Erinnerung, die in dem Gottesdienst völlig neu durchlebt wird, und in so fern betheiligen wir uns wahrhaft an ihnen, in so fern sind sie dramatisch in gewissem Sinne. Das Werk in Rede ist nun wohl ähnlich episch-dramatisch. Es liegt indess eine Sage zu Grunde, die für uns wenig objektive Wahrheit hat, die äusserlich an uns kommt, die wir uns erzählen lassen, mit welcher wir indessen in Conflict gerathern, weil sie, von unserem Standpunkt genommen, nicht Stich hält. Abgesehen von einer solchen Kritik, ist der Stoff

136  Anja Bunzel

18

19

20

21

22 23 24

höchst interessant in ein mystisches Helldunkel, das von einer gewissen pietistischen Richtung gern gesehen werden mag, gehüllt”. “Die seit einiger Zeit von Mehreren laut gewordene Frage über die zeitgemäße Neugestaltung des Oratoriums, und besonders über die Entfernung des seit Bach unendlich oft breitgetretenen Judenthums aus demselben, fängt an, von Tag zu Tag ein allgemeineres Interesse für sich zu gewinnen. Mag man das Unhaltbare der Nothwendigkeit der bisher bekannten Stoffe in Oratorien einsehen oder nicht, mag man in ihnen die Wunder and Leiden Christi, einen gesteinigten Stephan, chromatisch-enharmonisch-­philosophische Propheten und eine vier- in neuester Zeit achtmal potenzirte Stimme Gottes bisher geduldet haben – gleich viel – ein aufgeklärtes Zeitalter kann solche Stoffe, wenn nicht für einen längst überschrittenen Standpunkt, so doch wenigstens für ein bis zum Ueberdruß abgenutztes Prinzip betrachten. [. . .] Inmitten dieses veralteten, jedoch höchst bequemen Treibens tritt Robert Schumann mit seinem Oratorium: “Das Paradies und die Peri” auf. Er ist vielleicht unter den bedeutendsten Komponisten der Jetztzeit der Erste, der es wagte, trotz Pfaffen und Pietisten, das Oratorium von seinem herkömmlichen Inhalte, einer pietistisch-christlich-jüdischen Unterlage, und von der strengen Psalmodie apostolischer Fanatiker und gefangener Juden zu säubern”. “Es liegt hier offenbar ein Werk vor, das in Stoff, Auffassung, Styl, ­G estaltung der einzelnen Theile, entschieden vom Wesen des Oratoriums abweicht. Eine Anwendung der Gattung für nichtkirchliche Stoffe ist wohl öfter versucht, die derartigen Werke aber, von Händel (Alexanderfest), Haydn (Jahreszeiten), Winter, Schuster (Lob der Musik) wurzeln theils durch Beimischung relgiöser Elemente, theils durch ihre ganz äussere ­H altung zu sichtlich im Boden des Oratoriums, um eine eigene Gattung zu begründen”. “Sehr dankenswerth war die Wahl dieser Composition, die in unserer Mitte entstanden, seit einigen Jahren nicht zu Gehör gebracht worden war, seit dieser Zeit aber im Auslande immer größere Geltung sich errungen und zahlreiche Aufführungen erlebt hat”. “Wohl hat es zu allen Zeiten, wo eine Kunst sich ausbildete oder auch schon blühte, Talente gegeben, welche auf Abwegen gingen, aber es waren meist schwache Talente, die Niemanden verführten, die ihren Weg harmlos und allein in die Vergessenheit machten. Anders ist das jetzt in der Musik. Die zwei traurigen Nebenstrassen, flache, kern- und inhaltlose oder überfüllte, melodie- und gefühlsarme Musik werden von sehr bedeutenden, namentlich die letztere auch von schönen deutschen Talenten betreten, und selbst Schumann hatte früher eine kurze Periode, wo er diese Richtung einschlug. [. . .] Seit längerer Zeit hat Schumann seine falschen Schritte erkannt, und ist eingebogen in die Bahn, welche alle ächten Kunstgeister in allen Künsten wandelten und wandeln. Er strebt nach Wahrheit und Schönheit, aber ausgeprägt in klarer, einfacher allgemein zugänglicher und verständlicher Form. Den wohlthuendsten Beweis dafür leistet [. . .] das Paradies und die Peri”. “[D]er Text, wahrscheinlich von Schumann selbst zusammengestellt, ist ein sehr guter zu nennen und unterscheidet sich an poetischem Gehalt recht vortheilhaft von vielen ähnlichen”. Italics in original. Elaborations on the “sublime” and the “genius” include Hegel, Schiller, Pierer’s Universal-Lexikon, Adorno, Lowinsky, Riethmüller, Hoffmann and Whyte (eds.), Oh, and Young. “[V]on Kennern und Laien als durchweg höchst genial und reizend schön anerkanntes Tonwerk”.

Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri  137

Bibliography Works not found here are listed in a concluding Bibliography, which contains references common to more than one chapter. Adorno, Theodor W. Ästhetische Theorie: Gesammelte Schriften. Vol. 7. Suhrkamp, 1970. “Advertisements & Notices [1].” Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 9 Feb. 1854. NewsVault. Gale. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019. “Advertisements & Notices: Dublin Musical Society.” Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 21 Feb. 1878. British Library Newspapers, http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/9XznR3. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019. “Advertisements and Notices: Royal Choral Institute. [1].” Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 19 Nov. 1851. “Advertisements and Notices: Royal Choral Institute. [2]” Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 10 Feb. 1854. NewsVault. Gale. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019. “Antient Concert Rooms – The Royal Choral Institute.” Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 29 Nov. 1851. “Art. I. Lalla Rookh. An Oriental Romance. By Thomas Moore.” Review. The Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal, Nov. 1817, pp. 1–35. “Art. II. Lalla Rookh. An Oriental Romance. By Thomas Moore.” Review. ­British Review, and London Critical Journal, Aug. 1817, pp. 30–54. “Art. III: Lalla Rookh. An Oriental Romance. By Thomas Moore.” Review. Eclectic Review: A Critical Journal of British and Foreign Literature, Oct. 1817, pp. 340–53. “Art. VII. Lalla Rookh. An Oriental Romance. By Thomas Moore.” Review. The British Critic, June 1817, pp. 604–16. Beausang, Ita. “From National Sentiment to Nationalist Movement, 1850– 1900.” Music in Nineteenth-Century Ireland, Irish Musical Studies. Eds. Michael Murphy, and Jan Smaczny, vol. 9, Four Courts, 2007, pp. 36–51. ———. “Music Societies (Dublin).” Eds. White, and Boydell, vol. 2, pp. 710–13. Boydell, Barra. “Dublin.” Eds. White, and Boydell, vol. 1, pp. 317–23. Breuilly, John, editor. Nineteenth-Century Germany: Politics, Culture and ­Society: 1780–1918. Arnold, 2001. Briefdatenbank der Schumann-Briefedition (Schumann-Portal), letter from Glover to Schumann, 1 Feb. 1854. https://sbd.schumann-portal.de/briefe.­ html?show=2780. Accessed 12 Feb. 2018. Brown, Terrence. Ireland’s Literature: Selected Essays. Lilliput P, 1988. Collins, Paul. “Glover, John William.” Eds. White, and Boydell, vol. 1, p. 435. “Das Concert im Gewandhause zum Besten des Orchester-PensionsFonds.” Announcement. Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger, 7 Dec. 1850, pp. 4118–19. “Das Paradies und die Peri.” Review. Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, 27 Dec. 1843, pp. 952–55, Archiv-Nr. 2068,32-A4/C2. Deane, Seamus. “Thomas Moore.” The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing. Ed. Seamus Deane, vol. 1, Field Day P, 1991, pp. 1053–69. “Deutschland. Leipzig.” Allgemeine Zeitung, supplement, no date, Archiv-Nr. 2068,29 A4/C2.

138  Anja Bunzel “Die Aufführung von Schumann’s Peri.” Review. Leipziger Tageblatt und ­Anzeiger, 25 Feb. 1847, p. 511. “Dresden.” Leipziger Zeitung, 12 Jan. 1850, p. 189. “Dublin Markets: Royal Choral Institute [3].” Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser. 11 Feb. 1854. NewsVault. Gale. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019. E., F. G. “Schumann’s Music in England.” Musical Times, no. 1, 1905, pp. 716–18. “Erhaben.” Pierer’s Universal-Lexikon, 4th ed., vol. 5. Altenburg, 1857, pp. 845–46, Zeno.org. Accessed 25 Mar. 2019. Ewert, Hansjörg. “Oratorien: Das Paradies und die Peri für Soli, Chor und Orchester: Op.50.” Schumann-Handbuch. Ed. Ulrich Tadday. Bärenreiter, 2006, pp. 489–94. Eyck, Frank. The Revolutions of 1848–49. Longman, 1972. “Fashionable Intelligence.” Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 9 Feb. 1854. NewsVault. Gale. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019. Ferris, Catherine. “The Management of Nineteenth-Century Dublin Music Societies in the Public and Private Spheres: The Philharmonic Society and the Dublin Musical Society.” Music and Institutions in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Ed. Paul Rodmell, Ashgate, 2012, pp. 13–32. “Feuilleton für Literatur, Kunst und Weltleben. ‘Das Paradies und die Peri’.” Review. Der Wandelstern: Blätter für Unterhaltung, Literatur, Kunst und Theater, Dec. 1843, pp. 799–800, Archiv-Nr. 2068,33-A4/C2. “Feuilleton. [Schumann’s ‘Peri’].” Review. Rosen: Eine Zeitschrift für die gebildete Welt, 14 Dec. 1843, p. 1999. The First Dublin Grand Musical Festival. Festival programme. Dublin: W. ­Underwood, 1831. “Genie.” Pierer’s Universal-Lexikon, 4th ed., vol. 7. Altenburg: Pierer, 1859, p. 153, Zeno.org. Accessed 12 Feb. 2018. Geyer, Fiod. “Das Paradies und die Peri.” Review. Berliner Musikalische ­Z eitung [no day, no month], 1847, Archiv-Nr. 2070,4-A4/C2. Gibbs, Christopher H. “Das Paradies und die Peri, Op. 50 (1843).” C ­ oncert notes for the concert Paradise, performed by the American Symphony ­Orchestra on 29 January 2006 at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, http://­ americansymphony.org/das-paradies-und-die peri-op-50-1843/. Accessed 20 June 2017. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. Vorlesungen über die Ästhetik. 2nd ed., Duncker und Humblot, 1842. Hennig, John, “Moore’s influence on continent”, Nenagh Guardian, 27 December 1946, p. 7. Hoffmann, Roald, and Iain Boyd Whyte, eds. Das Erhabene in Wissenschaft und Kunst: Über Vernunft und Einbildungskraft. Suhrkamp, 2010. “Lalla Rookh.” Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 6 Mar. 1821. NewsVault. Gale. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019. “Lalla Rookh: An Oriental Romance, by Thomas Moore.” Review. Asiatic Journal, Nov. 1817, no. 23, pp. 457–67. NewsVault. Gale. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019. “Lalla Rookh. An Oriental Romance. By Thomas Moore.” Review. Literary Pan­ igital orama, and National Register, Sept. 1817, pp. 897–914. Hathi Trust D ­Library. Accessed 25 Mar. 2019.

Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri  139 “Lalla Rookh”. Review. Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 10 July 1818. “Leipzig.” Review. Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 7 Dec. 1850, pp. 2685–86. “Leipzig.” Review. Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 8 Apr. 1854, p. 679. “Leipzig.” Review. Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 16 Dec. 1843, supplement, p. 2530. “Leipzig.” Review. Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 23 Feb. 1847, p. 470. “Leipziger Musikleben. ‘Das Paradies und die Peri’ von R. Schumann.” Review. Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 1 Mar. 1847, pp. 71–72. Locke, Ralph P. “Cutthroats and Casbah Dancers.” The Exotic in Western ­M usic. Ed. Jonathan Belllman. Northeastern UP, 1998, pp. 104–36. Lowinsky, Edward E. “Musical Genius Evolution and Origins of a Concept.” The Musical Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 4, Oct. 1964, pp. 476–95. “Moore’s New Poem.” Review. Freeman‘s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 9 June 1817. Murphy, Michael. “The Musical Press in Nineteenth-Century Ireland.” Irish Musical Studies, Eds. Murphy, and Smaczny, vol. 9, pp. 252–77. “Nachrichten.” Review. Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger, 11 Dec. 1843, no. 345, p. 3126. “Nachrichten. Dresden.” Review. Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, 10 Jan. 1844, pp. 27–29, Archiv-Nr. 2069,2-A4/C2. “Nachrichten. Leipzig.” Review. Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, 3 Mar. 1847, pp. 143–45. Nauhaus, Gerd. “Das Paradies und die Peri: Dichtung aus ‘Lalla Rookh’ von Thomas Moore für Soli, Chor und Orchester Op. 50.” Robert Schumann: Interpretationen seiner Werke. Ed. Helmut Loos, vol. 1, Laaber Verlag, 2005, pp. 320–28. ———. “Schumanns Das Paradies und die Peri: Quellen zur Entstehungs-, Aufführungs- und Rezeptionsgeschichte.” Schumanns Werke – Text und Interpretation. 16 Studien. Eds. A. Mayeda and Kl. W. Niemöller. RobertSchumann-Gesellschaft, 1987, pp. 133–48. ———. “Wilhelm Hensels ‘Peri’: Eine Spurensuche.” Schumann-Journal, vol. 3, 2014, pp. 105–19. Nolan, Emer. Catholic Emancipations: Irish Fiction from Thomas Moore to James Joyce, Chapel Hill, Syracuse UP, 2007. Nolan, J.C.M. “In Search of an Ireland in the Orient: Tom Moore’s Lalla Rookh.” New Hibernia Review, vol. 12, no. 3, 2008, pp. 80–98. “Notice.” Announcement. Dublin Evening Post, 7 Feb. 1854. Oh, Hee Sook. “‘Das abgelehnte Genie’ – Betrachtungen zur Kritik an der musikalischen Genieästhetik im20. Jahrhundert.” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, vol. 44, no. 1, 2013, pp. 79–99. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41955492. “Paradise and the Peri.” The Nation (Dublin), 9 Mar. 1878, p. 12. [Review of Lalla Rookh]. British Lady’s Magazine, Sept. 1817, pp. 180–81. “Review. II. Lalla Rookh; An Oriental Romance. By Thomas Moore.” Review. The Scots Magazine, and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany: Being a General Repository of Literature, History, and Politics, July 1817, pp. 528–31. “Review of new Publications. Lalla Rookh. An Oriental Romance. By Thomas Moore.” Review. Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, June 1817, pp. 279–85.

140  Anja Bunzel Riethmüller, Albrecht. “Aspekte des musikalisch Erhabenen im 19. Jahrhundert.” Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, vol. 40, no. 1, 1983, pp. 38–49. JSTOR. doi:10.2307/930770. Roberts, Daniel Sanjiv. “Moore’s Oriental Artifice: Mughal History, Irish ­A ntiquarianism, and Romance in Lalla Rookh.” Eds. McCleave, and C ­ araher, pp. 186–96. “Royal Choral Institute [8].” Daily Express, 7 Mar. 1854. “Royal Choral Institute [7].” Daily Express, 9 Mar. 1854. “Royal Choral Institute [4].” Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 8 Mar. 1854. NewsVault. Gale. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019. “Royal Choral Institute [5].” Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 9 Mar. 1854. NewsVault. Gale. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019. “Royal Choral Institute [6].” Saunder’s News-Letter, 11 Feb. 1854. “Royal Choral Institute. Paradise and the Peri [3a].” Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 9 Feb. 1854. “Royal Irish Institution.” Announcement. Saunder’s News-Letter, 27 May 1853. “Royal Irish Institution.” Announcement. Saunder’s News-Letter, 28 May 1853. Ryan, Joseph. “Nationalism and Irish Music.” Irish Musical Studies, vol. 3, 1995, pp. 101–15. Schiller, Friedrich. “Über das Erhabene.” Schillers Sämmtliche Werke, vol. 4. Stuttgart: Cotta, 1879. Scott, Derek B. “Orientalism and Musical Style.” Musical Style and Social Meaning. Ed. Derek B. Scott, Ashgate, 2010, pp. 137–64. SL (Rudolf Eller), Peter Krause, and Gunter Hempel. “Leipzig: ­Bürgerliche Musikpflege im Vormärz (1800–1848).” Die Musik in Geschichte und ­Gegenwart, Sachteil 5. Ed. Ludwig Finscher. Bärenreiter, 1996, pp. 1065–66. “To the Editor of THE FREEMAN.” Freeman’s Journal, 4 Mar. 1878. Todd, Larry R. “Mendelssohn(-Bartholdy), (Jacob Ludwig) Felix.” Grove Music online. oxfordmusiconline.com, doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630. article.51795. Vick, Brian E. Defining Germany: The 1848 Frankfurt Parliamentarians and National Identity. Harvard UP, 2002. Wasserloos, Yvonne. Das Leipziger Konservatorium der Musik im 19. Jahrhundert. Anziehungs- und Ausstrahlungskraft eines musikpädagogischen Modells auf das internationale Musikleben. Georg Olms Verlag, 2004. Welch, Robert. Irish Poetry from Moore to Yeats. Colin Smythe, 1980. Wendt, Matthias. “‘Peri=Gedanken’ – Die Skizzen zu Robert Schumanns Das Paradies und die Peri. Eine Bestandsaufnahme.” Schumann-Studien. Ed. Robert-Schumann Gesellschaft Zwickau, vol. 5, Studio, 1996, pp. 119–42. White, Harry. “Cultural Theory, Nostalgia and the Historical Record: Opera in Ireland and the Irishness of Opera during the Nineteenth Century.” Eds. Murphy, and Smaczny, pp. 15–35. ———. “History and Romanticism: Bunting, Moore and the Concept of Irish Music in the Nineteenth Century.” The Keeper’s Recital: Music and Cultural History in Ireland, 1770–1970, Cork UP, 1998, pp. 37–52. ———. “Is this Song about You? Some Reflections on Music and Nationalism in Germany and Ireland.” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, vol. 33, no. 22, 2002, pp. 131–47. White, Harry, and Barra Boydell, editors. The Encyclopaedia of Music in ­Ireland, 2 vols, U College Dublin P, 2013.

Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri  141 “Wissenschaft und Kunst. Leipzig.” Review. Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 7 Dec. 1843, supplement, p. 2442, Archiv-Nr. 2068,30-A4/C2. “Wissenschaft und Kunstnachrichten. Leipzig.” Review. Leipziger Zeitung, 7 Dec. 1843, p. 4793. “Wissenschaft und Kunst. Robert Schumann.” Review. Dresdner Journal und Anzeiger, 12 Jan. 1850, pp. 93–94. Young, James O. “On the Enshrinement of Musical Genius.” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, vol. 45, no. 1, 2014, pp. 47–62. “Zur Kritik der Kunst und ihrer Literatur. ‘Das Paradies und die Peri’ von ­Robert Schumann.” Review. Monatsschrift für Dramatik, Theater und Musik, Jan. 1847, p. 14.

8 “Higher universal language of the heart” The Reputations of Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States Sarah Gerk When the brothers James and William Power, one in Dublin and the other in London, released the initial volumes of the Irish Melodies in 1808, the Philadelphia-based publisher George E. Blake offered editions in the United States (Wolfe 46).1 Blake’s version was quite similar to those of the Power brothers; his fonts, musical notation, and illustrations all resemble the originals. But, as illustrated in Figure 8.1, the dedications differ. Power publications were dedicated “To the Nobility and Gentry of Ireland”, suggesting that they targeted privileged consumers who felt a sense of belonging to the exclusive, elite social worlds of the Irish and British upper class. Blake’s version, however, bears the inscription “To the Citizens of the United States of America”, appealing to American patriotism and the egalitarian ideals of republicanism (Figure 8.2). The use of the term “citizen” in Blake’s dedication, however, was more than a perfunctory enticement to American consumers. It appealed to a common American belief that Ireland and the United States were connected via immigration patterns, mutual philosophies, and their respective political connections to Britain. In the prior thirty years, political ideas about republicanism and independence from ­British colonisation had abounded in both countries. Ireland and the United States had both hosted growing numbers of intellectuals and activists who lamented ­British colonisation. Both had experienced violent conflict between the British military and revolutionaries who were inspired by Enlightenment-era values of individual liberty and equality. And as a feeling of transnational connection grew, so too did more palpable ties. The American Revolution inspired many who took part in the 1798 United Irishmen rebellion. When the Irish uprising failed, political refugees joined already-sizable Irish-American communities (Doyle, “Irish in North America” 178–79). Once in the New World, many former members of the United Irishmen enthusiastically embraced roles in US politics, working to create in the United States a community that they had originally envisioned for Ireland (Wilson 176). By the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the first volumes of the Irish Melodies found their way into George Blake’s press, a thick web of networks between Ireland and the United States had developed. Many Americans

Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States  143

Figure 8.1  Dedication, G.E. Blake edition of the Irish Melodies (Philadelphia, 1808). Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society.

felt that Irish people had supported the nascent United States at critical moments, and they watched what they perceived as the continued subjugation of Ireland with great sympathy. In 1826, George Washington Parke Custis offered one demonstration of Americans’ perceptions of a long-standing relationship by praising Ireland’s support during the American revolution: “Ireland, thou friend of my country in my country’s most friendless days, much injured, much enduring land, accept this poor tribute from one who esteems thy worth, and mourns thy desolation” (Proceedings 6). 2

144  Sarah Gerk

Figure 8.2  D  edication, James Power edition of the Irish Melodies (­London, 1808). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s ­University Belfast.

As I will show in this chapter, the Irish Melodies delivered a particular idea about Ireland and its people that resonated with American consumers. The collection became one of the most enduringly popular musical products published in the United States during the nineteenth century. Many scholars have illustrated that the music of the Irish Melodies had an immense, long-standing influence on American music, particularly in the genre of sentimental song (Crawford 247–49; Gerk 24–87; Hamm 42–61). Such work, however, is grounded in the American expertise of

Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States  145 its writers and does not fully account for the fluid, complex transatlantic relationship between Ireland and the United States. In this chapter, I re-examine the history of the Irish Melodies in the United States during the early decades of the nineteenth century, identifying how consumers perceived the collection by considering various political and social dynamics in the relationship between Ireland and the United States. In order to more fully understand US perceptions of the Irish ­Melodies, we must also account for the multiple authors who contributed to the project and the many ways in which the collection relays messages.3 All musical and textual components of the Irish Melodies are important parts of the finished product, and they all merit academic consideration. But, as the collection’s influence was most deeply felt in American song, music is an especially crucial site of inquiry for this study. Like text, music advanced an image of Ireland which resonated strongly with US perspectives and values. Stevenson’s accompaniments adopt aspects of emerging musical trends that had gained associations with revolutionary causes around Europe. By conjuring the style of composers such as John Field (1782–1837), Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760–1812), and the musical luminary of the age, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), Stevenson and Moore were able to construct a product that was understood as part of a cosmopolitan music practice popular in Europe and, increasingly, the New World.

The Irish Melodies in the United States For some time, scholars have recognised the collection’s immense commercial success in the United States. As Charles Hamm writes, “the Irish Melodies share the distinction with the songs of Stephen Foster of being the most popular, widely sung, best-loved, and most durable songs in the English language of the entire nineteenth century” (Hamm 44). Songs from the collection were among the most common in bound volumes of sheet music created by young women throughout the century (­Meyer-Frazier 73), including in the Pre-Civil War antebellum south (Bailey 29–30). Although the collection’s genre of sentimental or ­parlour song was typically the purview of young women, the Irish ­Melodies also found an audience among men. Songs from the collection were among the most frequently performed selections by the Pierian S­ odality, ­Harvard University’s music club, in the 1830s (Broyles 134). “The Last Rose of Summer” was also listed as a favourite of northern and southern soldiers encamped along the Rapidan River during the Civil War in 1864 (J. A. Davis 59). Indeed, the popularity of the Irish Melodies endured for the entire century. Hamm also found evidence that at least thirty-three of the songs, more than a quarter of the whole, were still in print individually in 1870, “some by as many as fifteen different publishers” (46). And, perhaps most significantly for American musical history,

146  Sarah Gerk evidence abounds that certain stylistic features of the collection deeply influenced an immense body of American music (Gerk, Away o’er the Ocean 24–87). If scholars have documented the long reach of the Irish Melodies in the United States, few have extensively pondered why it was so highly valued. Just what did nineteenth-century consumers of the Irish ­Melodies think of the collection? In this section, analysis of primary sources, mostly newspaper reception from the first decades of the nineteenth century, reveals that Americans recognised the Irish nationalist tone of the work and valued the collection for its political themes. This transnational relationship, however, did not exist in a vacuum, and the tangled web of transatlantic networks emerged constantly. Only by acknowledging the concomitant political upheaval elsewhere do we really understand what the Irish Melodies meant to Americans. Many US writers clearly identified the Irish Melodies as the product of an Irish nation and valued its patriotism. One 1817 article in the ­National Intelligencer about “Modern British Poets” puts it simply: the “Irish Melodies are indeed the melodies of Ireland. They are national”. Later, the anonymous author claims that Moore’s verse engenders a love of Ireland: “Moore is a patriot as well as a poet. He makes me love his country”. Such a quote suggests that, in the United States, Moore’s work not only reflects a feeling of connection to Ireland, but it also impresses on Americans a veneration for Ireland. Writers who recognised the nationalism of the collection and the transatlantic relationships that contributed to the success of the Irish Melodies in the United States often broached discussions about Irish politics. Americans expressed sympathy for the continued British domination of Ireland. In the autumn of 1815, for instance, newspapers around the United States circulated a brief article in anticipation of the collection’s fourth volume. The author of the article praised Moore’s “patriotic strains” and then credited the poet’s success to Irish nationalist sentiments, writing, “The sight of Erin, of the green fields of his ­native country, laid waste by the foot of the oppressor, seems again to have warmed and purified his heart” (“Miscellany: Thomas Moore”).4 Referring to Britain obliquely as “the oppressor” is particularly ­enlightening – no name was needed. Both the Irish and Americans knew all too well. In October 1815, the United States had recently concluded another war with “the oppressor”, having defeated the British Empire’s second war against its former colonies during the War of 1812. The 1815 article reveals how the larger backdrops of the Atlantic world and the British Empire shaped the relationship between the United States and Ireland, and consequently, US reception of the Irish Melodies. During the War of 1812, the British Empire continued to threaten the nascent United States. Americans developed sympathy for nations that also experienced violent conflict on account of the British. Furthermore,

Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States  147 Thomas Moore’s national identity was ambiguous because he married an English Protestant and resided in England for the majority of his adult life. Some journalists in the United States associated Moore with England, rather than Ireland. These reviews expressed the most damning reception of the poet. For instance, in 1826 a Rhode Island-based newspaper published a list titled “Sketches of British Characters”. Moore was criticised as lazy, dependent, ugly, and a bad poet: Thomas Moore the poet is a squat, funny looking, short sighted, monkey faced, little man. He lives entirely off the bounty of the marquis of Landswon [sic], for all the products of his works have formed a minimum to his extravagance. . . His fame was very soon at its summit, and is now rather on the decline. (“From the National Banner”) The rest of the article similarly criticised others, calling the British king a “fat drunken libertine” whose “extravagance is a particular item in his history” and reporting that Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (another Irish-born British hero), had “lost his sense of principle and shame” on account of marital transgressions and gambling debts. While such attacks are personal, the deployment of the label “British” in the article’s title and grouping of Moore with Wellington and the British monarch suggested that the author sought to discredit prominent members of the British Empire, and Moore was one of them. Personal attacks from the United States were also partly self-inflicted by Moore, who had expressed in print his disdain for a perceived lack of decorum among US society following his tour of the country in 1803–1804 (Eldridge, “The American” 202–03; R. Kelly 148–50; Martin, “Where bastard freedom waves”). Criticisms that originated in the perception that Moore and his work were more English than Irish illustrate the degree to which the category of “Irish” was fluid and contested during the tumultuous opening decades of nineteenth-century United States. The heterogeneity of Irish-Americans along religious, political, national, and class lines has always resisted singular categorisation or description, but various groups emerged as particularly influential in the New World. Protestant Scots-Irish had moved to the South and West, United Irishmen refugees had settled across north and south, and underprivileged Irish people both Protestant and Catholic had undertaken indentured servitude across the United States for two centuries (Hamilton). During the early nineteenth century, increasing numbers of single men, mostly Catholic, came to work on the extensive infrastructure projects that crisscrossed the country, especially in the north and west (Way 91–98). Also, individual Americans’ ideas about the Irish were shaped by an array of factors that included larger political events and personal experiences.

148  Sarah Gerk Some xenophobic Americans feared that Irish immigrants would damage the economic and/or cultural fabric of the United States. Others held anti-Catholic bias (Knobel). Some questioned Irish national identity on account of the 1801 Act of Union, suspecting the Irish of loyalty to the crown, while others saw the Irish as allies in a conflict with the British (Taylor). Some Americans were themselves Irish, or had Irish ancestry, which also shaped how they perceived or understood Irish people. Given the diverse, complex, and fluid ways in which Americans encountered the Irish and Irish-Americans, reception of the Irish Melodies is all the more remarkable for the consistency with which writers expressed sympathy if they sensed that Moore was Irish, and derision if Moore seemed British. In my research, every article uncovered during Moore’s lifetime that ascribes a national identity to the poet falls under one of the two categories. The finding suggests that Americans often sensed a connection with the Irish and felt sympathy for ongoing struggles with the United Kingdom – a dynamic that is understudied in current historical literature. It also indicates that in the United States the Irish Melodies touched this particular dynamic within the complicated relationship between the United States, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The transnational connections at work in US reception of the Irish Melodies, however, did not stop at the boundaries of the British Empire. Around the larger Atlantic world, networks of advocates for revolutionary change forged connections between the United States, Ireland, France, and other loci for the “Age of Revolution” (see, for instance: Hobsbawm, Klooster, also Armitage and Subrahmanyam eds.). And as violent conflict erupted across Europe and the New World, much of it felt connected. Janet Polasky describes a tightly interconnected community of revolutionaries that spread across the Atlantic world, citing “an international movement connected by ideas that traveled” via shipping networks and the printed word (Polasky 3). When American journalists wrote about the Irish Melodies, they were sometimes reminded of conflicts taking place in France. The American press noticed how well Moore’s themes of grief in the song “Weep on, Weep on” suit the French situation: “But it is not Erin alone, that these verses suit – France, unhappy, distressed, agitated France, they suit too well!” (“Miscellany: Thomas Moore”). This was printed in October 1815, mere months after Napoleon’s abdication of power and the restoration of the French monarchy. A decade and a half later, in 1830, the conservative French King Charles X was overthrown and a popular, centrist constitutional monarchy under King Louis-Philippe was instated. American newspapers reported on Irish celebrations of the event. The Richmond-based Enquirer described Moore’s delight, quoting him: A brighter era it may well be called, and glorious the people who are authors of it. Surely, if there be a spectacle upon which God

Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States  149 himself (if I may say so without irreverence) must look down with peculiar pleasure, it is that of man—social and enlightened man— asserting thus grandly the dignity of that image which the Almighty Workman has impressed upon him,—spurning away the rash hand, whether of priestcraft or tyranny, that would deface its lineaments and doing justice both to his Maker and himself, but standing free and undebased before the world. (“Celebration”) Descriptions of a connection between the Irish Melodies and French political developments suggest that American writers perceived the collection as germane to situations outside of Ireland. It may seem incongruous that an overtly nationalistic publication with such a specific image of ­I reland had relevancy beyond the island. The issue, however, reflects contemporaneous beliefs in what many deemed universally applicable rights that extended beyond national boundaries. For example, Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was an English-born pamphleteer whose writings played a role in the US revolution before he continued his work in France. He professed in his pamphlet, The Rights of Man: “the laws of every country must be analogous to some common principle” (10). With underlying beliefs in “common principle” and universally applicable rights, one cultural product of a specific colonial relationship, with a long history and many complex idiosyncrasies, could resonate with those facing conflicts in various places. Reception of the Irish Melodies shows that the collection took on such gestalt qualities, becoming a cultural product that reflected experiences of revolutionaries around the Atlantic world. As such, it came to mean a great deal to Americans, whose own national identity was inextricably linked with revolution.

Irish Melodies as Revolutionary Product in the US Marketplace In the previous section, I drew on newspaper commentary to reveal that many Americans understood the Irish Melodies as a categorically Irish contribution to a growing, international body of revolutionary cultural products. The perception emerged because the collection itself reflected a revolutionary worldview. This section examines the text and music of the collection through the lens of contemporaneous Americans, revealing just what about the collection contributed to Americans’ perceptions. I build on the work of scholars such as Harry White (Keeper’s Recital 36–52), who calls our attention to the “trope of cultural conflict” (­Keeper’s ­Recital  3) in the collection, Leith Davis (Music 140–63) who considers how the texts appealed to consumers in both Ireland and England, as well as Una Hunt, who suggests that focussing on England and Ireland is too myopic a model to fully account for the popularity of the Irish Melodies (Sources and Style 3). Taking these concepts into account, I consider the

150  Sarah Gerk meaning of the collection’s textual tropes within US contexts. As citizens of a former British colony, Americans also understood Moore’s text through the lens of colonial history. However, the US’s success with the revolution and lingering postcolonial anxieties bear consideration, adding layers of complexity to the US context. I then turn my attentions to the music, especially that written by Sir John Stevenson. The arrangements included in the original editions of the Irish Melodies have long been maligned. I call for a more nuanced, critical evaluation of the piano music that places Stevenson’s contributions in their context. Rather than evaluating the aesthetic success of the work, I seek to understand the meaning of Stevenson’s stylistic choices. Musical Romanticism was, at the time, bound up in the revolutionary ideologies of the day. In such a way, the piano parts contributed greatly to international perceptions of the work, particularly among communities committed to revolutionary values, like the United States. To begin, I will clarify meanings in the collection by examining the texts. Moore’s lyrics were at the heart of the project, and the majority of scholars have focussed on the “Bard of Erin’s” contributions. Moore’s name appears on US publications far more frequently than anyone else’s, including on individual songs sold via sheet music or broadsides. Indeed, consumers often received little beyond Moore’s contribution. The most cost-effective and widespread musical commodities of the time were broadsides and songsters, which excluded musical notation and the elaborate engravings that were included in the original Power and Blake editions. Figures 8.3 and 8.4 illustrate an American broadside and a songster, in which the text of the Irish Melodies was disseminated in the United States during the nineteenth century. Curiously, however, a small number of US broadsides list Stevenson’s name and omit Moore’s, suggesting that some Americans valued the composer immensely (see Figure 8.5). Moore’s texts project a specific image of Irish national identity. He often set his poems in an ancient, bucolic version of Ireland that appealed to long-standing interests in antiquarianism (Deane 44). For example, “St. Senanus and the Lady” depicts St. Senan, a real-life Irish saint who was born in Munster in 488. St. Senan founded a remote monastery on Scattery Island, in the estuary of the River Shannon. St. Senan also banned women from the island for the sake of chastity. The song conveys a story in which a woman approaches the island by boat, desiring to join St. Senan in prayer, but he sends her away. The purity of St. Senan, both in his status within the church and his upholding of the gender code on the island, construct an especially idealised image of Irish people, particularly Catholics. The woman’s virtuous reasons for wishing to join St. Senan also contribute to the idealisation of Irish identity. Such ancient depictions of national identity were fashionable across Europe in the nineteenth century, and Moore’s reliance on the idiom certainly aided the collection’s popularity internationally. As Leith Davis has suggested,

Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States  151

Figure 8.3  “Last Rose of Summer”, broadside (New York, n.d.). Rare Books and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress.

Moore’s texts appealed to consumers in both London and Dublin – two consumer bases with wildly varying views on the relationship between Ireland and Britain (140). Moore’s idealised characters who live in a distant past are removed from British domination and industrial revolution, avoiding the contemporaneous political quagmire.

152  Sarah Gerk

Figure 8.4  “Meeting of the Waters”, in the United States Songster (Cincinnati, c.1836). *42-1358, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Moore’s lyrics also often express an overwhelming nostalgic grief. His protagonists experience immense losses, including loved ones, wealth, homes, and youth. They look through a rose-coloured lens at a past in which they enjoyed life much more than they do in the present. Moore tied the sentiment to national experience of colonisation, writing: The loss of independence very early debased our character . . . [T]he annals of Ireland, through a long lapse of six hundred years, exhibit not one of those themes of national pride, from which poetry borrows her noblest inspiration; and that history which ought to be the richest garden of the Muse, yields nothing to her but weeds and cypress! In truth, the poet who would embellish his song with allusions to Irish names and events, must be content to seek them in those early periods when our character was yet unalloyed and original, before the impolitic craft of our conquerors had divided, weakened, and disgraced us. (Moore and Croker 2–3)

Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States  153

Figure 8.5  “  Eveleen’s Bower”, credited to John Stevenson (New York, 1817). Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture IrishAmericana Collection AIA 031.004, Box 9, Folder 15. ­A rchives of Irish America, Tamiment Library, New York University Libraries.

He later claimed that Irish national grief was most effectively expressed in music: The language of sorrow, however, is, in general, best suited to our music, and with themes of this nature the poet may be amply ­supplied. . . . [W]hile the National Muse of other countries adorns

154  Sarah Gerk her temple with trophies of the past, in Ireland, her altar . . . is to be known only by the tears that are shed upon it. (Moore and Croker 3) Examples of grief abound in the Irish Melodies. In the first number, “Remember the Glories of Brien the Brave” laments a fallen fighter (MCP 3: 224–25). “Erin! The Tear and the Smile in Thine Eyes” includes the lines: “Erin, Thy silent tear never shall cease, / Erin, thy languid smile ne’er shall increase” (MCP 3: 226). “Weep on, weep on” opens with “Weep on, weep on, your hour is past; / Your dreams of pride are o’er”. The narrator claims Ireland cannot avoid suffering, and so the nation grieves in response (MCP 3: 288–89). Leith Davis notes that lamentations in the Irish Melodies “promote multiple readings” that can satisfy consumers with a range of political beliefs in a “strategy of ambiguity” (149). The experience of loss can quite obviously suit the emotional life of those opposed to the Union and British occupation. But, for those who supported colonial ties between Ireland and Britain, the consistent theme of loss affirms the status quo and allows space for Irish characters to appear non-threatening. As explored above, Americans also held varying ideas about the Irish, and the strategic ambiguity described by Davis likely aided the wide popularity of the songs in the United States. As with British markets, the avoidance of present-day settings could have precipitated the enthusiastic US reception. It circumvented the complex questions about immigration and transatlantic politics that more obviously modern Irish cultural products could hardly avoid. But the United States also had its own collective experiences with the British Empire and loss, which must be accounted for when we consider American reception of the collection. For example, the near-constant lamentation that so obviously originated in the subjugation of Ireland carried different implications for a nation that had recently rebuffed a similar fate. The ubiquitous sense of loss was a cautionary tale that expressed postcolonial anxieties, rather than colonial resistance. Such anxieties emerge frequently in US newspaper articles on Moore and the Irish Melodies when writers connect Moore and his work with political developments in Ireland, often noting the comparison between the two nations’ political histories and expressing sympathy for the Irish. One source from 1809 expresses the sentiment directly, connecting Moore, the Irish Melodies, republicanism, the United States, and ­I reland all together. An article in the Richmond Enquirer asserts that the ­“republican” United States will “sympathise”, laying quite bare this writer’s impression that Americans’ lamentation of the Irish situation comes from a place of shared history and different fates: In the songs he has written to Irish Airs, [Moore] has touched upon the ancient freedom and value of the Sons of Erin, and upon their

Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States  155 oppression and suffering in the later periods of their history. We lately published one of those pieces, and we propose to publish more, in which the men of republican America will so warmly sympathize in the feelings of the Poet, and in the cause he advocates. (“Ireland’s Music and Song”) The writer suggests that the two countries shared values by naming “republican America” and Moore’s “cause”. The United States, however, has been more successful at implementing those values. Because the Irish have recently faced “oppression and suffering”, Americans should feel sympathy. The author also articulates the significance of antiquity to Irish identity, and consequently American understandings of Irish identity. Another source more directly links Moore’s name and his work to revolutionary politics. By calling the poet an “Irishman, distinguished patriot” the anonymous writer of an 1815 newspaper article suggests that, with his verses, the poet assumed a role in revolutionary politics. The article notes particular political circumstances on the island, revealing that some Americans maintained an awareness of events in Ireland. The author laments Ireland’s plight in the wake of the 1801 Act of Union, which was criticised by revolutionary Irish communities because it dissolved the Irish legislature in Dublin and failed to emancipate Catholics who had been systematically disenfranchised for centuries. The article claims that Ireland had been “left almost naked, and abandoned to the tempests of irregular nature . . . – without a resident legislature to direct or cheer her spirit” (“Preponderance of Irish Talent”5). The link between the two, according to the author, is that the experience of British oppression served as the impetus for Moore’s work. The thought evokes emerging, Romantic-era ideas that genius was the result of personal struggle. It also turns on the notion that Moore was a “patriot”, a moniker that was heavily associated with revolutionaries at the time. Thus, in this article, Moore himself plays an active role in a network of Irish revolutionaries. Moore’s contribution to the Irish Melodies, considered in the context of the United States in the early nineteenth century, thus affords great insight into the meaning of the collection to American consumers. For many, the collection was the product of a particularly close ally within transatlantic revolutionary networks. My analysis, however, remains incomplete. We do not fully understand Americans’ perceptions of the Irish Melodies until we also account for the music. The accompaniments, especially those by Sir John Stevenson, and the collection’s melodies, which were often borrowed from pre-existing published collections, offer us another important dimension for analysis. And in the musical style of the collection, we find more links to a growing, international revolutionary sentiment.

156  Sarah Gerk Before examining the meaning of the music, however, we must understand the collection’s context within the greater musical landscape. Stevenson was primarily a composer of classical or “art” music. A Catholic orphan, he was trained through the Church of Ireland. His musical education was grounded in the classical style that, during the eighteenth century, had gained prominence across Europe. However, the uncontested locus of classical style was Vienna, where composers including Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven all lived and worked at least some of the time. Scholars have most often compared Stevenson’s musical style to that of Haydn. He was the oldest of the three “Viennese masters” and, by the early nineteenth century, Haydn’s style was generally considered more old-fashioned than the others (Botstein, “Demise”). Scholars who compare Stevenson to Haydn are not wrong; Stevenson’s harmonic language often reflects that of Haydn. But during the first decade of the nineteenth century, Beethoven was making tidal waves in the art music world with a musical style that he openly associated with revolutionary principles at the time (Mathew; Rumph).6 Understanding dimensions of Stevenson’s work for the Irish Melodies that tracks Beethoven’s style, which would retroactively be labelled as Romantic instead of Classical, we learn more about how the collection’s music worked to foster perceptions of the collection as a product of the international revolutionary community. Along with comparisons to the work of Haydn or Beethoven, however, scholars associate the Irish Melodies with other published traditional music, like the work of Edward Bunting (White, Keeper’s Recital 41). The notion that the Irish Melodies merits comparison to such work is reinforced by Moore’s borrowing of melodies from Bunting’s collections, which has raised charges of intellectual dishonesty. While I do not refute the problematic outcomes for people like Bunting, who bemoaned Moore’s financial success with material that originated in Bunting’s collection (White, “Imagined Unities” 35–36), such categorisation of the Irish Melodies interfered with considerations of the collection as part of the art music tradition. Nevertheless, the Irish Melodies greatly resembles a growing body of publications from around Europe that combined traditional melodies, piano accompaniments by art-music composers, and newly written texts by well-known poets. Composers including Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Robert Burns all published multiple volumes of folk-song arrangements that bear striking similarities to the Irish Melodies. Indeed, the origins of the Irish ­Melodies lie directly in this art music trend; Beethoven, Haydn, and Burns all worked with the Scottish publisher George Thomson on folk song arrangements. Circa 1805, Thomson invited Moore to contribute texts to a collection with Haydn’s accompaniments. Moore seems to have weighed the matter, but he ultimately declined Thomson, later accepting the project with

Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States  157 Stevenson and the Power brothers that greatly resembled Thomson’s work (R. Kelly 133). Stevenson’s style in the Irish Melodies reflects emerging musical styles among British and continental composers, including Beethoven. Because most work on aesthetics and liberal politics of the time has centred on Beethoven, in what follows I examine how his style resonated with political movements. Stephen Rumph opens his book with the claim that Beethoven was “a political composer” (1). The German composer’s widely esteemed work was closely associated with revolutionary politics. The matter has inspired many books, and understanding the n ­ uances of ­Beethoven’s relationship with politics is far beyond the scope of this chapter, as is nuanced description of his style over the course of his career. However, to appreciate the reception history of the Irish Melodies in the United States, we need to understand how Americans of the time might have heard the musical styles that perspicuously represented revolutionary values. Below I will review Beethoven’s style from the perspective of American consumers, mindful of what they heard and how they often associated certain musical characteristics with the revolutions of the age. Once we understand the signifiers, Stevenson’s music will be examined for markers of that style. In the United States, Beethoven’s music rose to prominence a little later than it did in Europe. Michael Broyles has found the earliest recorded US performance of Beethoven’s music in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1805, three years before publication of the first volumes of the Irish Melodies (13). Beethoven’s oratorio Christ am Ölberg gained popularity in the concert hall as his printed sheet music for home use, particularly solo piano music and string quartets, also circulated early in the century (Broyles 21). Over the course of the second and third decades of the nineteenth century – when interest in the Irish Melodies was at its height – interest in Beethoven’s music also grew astronomically. The impassioned responses and emotionally charged reception that characterised Beethoven’s music in Europe did, however, eventually emerge in the New World. The writer Margaret Fuller was an early and adamant proponent. She mused to a friend: “You ask if I can conceive of orchestral music greater than his. I cannot. My whole soul is filled and borne onward with his” (Hudspeth 3: 251). As Douglas Shadle writes, Fuller’s effusions of Beethoven sometimes resembled those of German writers like ETA Hoffman. On hearing the fifth symphony, she wrote: “What majesty, what depth, what tearful sweetness of the human heart, what triumphs of the Angel Mind!” (Hudspeth 3: 15). Additional signs that the popularity of Beethoven’s music was growing in the early 1820s include the founding of at least two Beethoven societies – one in Taunton, Massachusetts, and another in Portland, Maine. And on his death in 1827, newspaper announcements designated him “the greatest musical genius of the present age” (“Beethoven”).

158  Sarah Gerk Beethoven wrote many of his most popular works between 1801 and 1814. Numbers one through five of the Irish Melodies were published between 1808 and 1813. Scott Burnham notes that music from this period employs an “overwhelmingly dramatic rhetoric” that prominently features “heart-stopping pauses, crashes, register shifts, and startling harmonies” that encourage the listener’s engagement with the music (29). Beethoven’s music of the period, as well as that of Haydn, Dussek, and Field, features dramatic, sudden shifts in dynamics, key, mood, and melodic content. The loud crashes and startling moments that Burnham described are often juxtaposed with simple musical lines and sparse textures with wide harmonies set across a range of several octaves. Such moments are startling for the contrast that they provide. Beethoven’s style often serves to express something extra-musical, for example a story or an idea. His most iconic works of the era are often grouped together under the stylistic description “heroic” because they convey a narrative arc of a hero’s journey. Such works as Symphonies Nos. 3 and 5 literally sound like a hero’s journey by imitating sounds of strength followed by conflict, and then arriving at a glorious and triumphant finale. The thrust of Beethoven’s expression, however, was not so much on the narrative itself, but on exploring a character’s perspective on events and emotional understanding. As Leon Botstein describes it, in his music Beethoven created a “space of intense private emotional experience” (“Search” 345). Often that emotional experience was tumultuous and pained, which reflects the artistic values of the Romantic generation, who often explored emotional pain in art, literature, and music. In the Irish Melodies, particularly the earlier volumes that made an immense impact on American music, Stevenson’s music adopts an ­approach to expression that is similar to Beethoven’s. Most of his ­accompaniments  – “symphonies”, in contemporaneous parlance – ­contain melodic material that is either unrelated or only loosely related to the borrowed traditional melody. Historically, piano accompaniments had presented the melodic material of the song, truncated. This allowed the listener to gain familiarity with the tune without detracting from the primacy of the vocal part. Stevenson’s avoidance of source material indicates that the accompaniments were designed to play a more significant role in the production of meaning. Indeed, the newly written piano music often features dramatic, sudden shifts and tumultuous or pained emotional landscapes in a way that is designed to communicate the meaning of the song. The song “Remember the Glories of Brien the Brave”, from the first number of the Irish Melodies, demonstrates how Stevenson’s piano parts contribute mightily to meaning. The song’s text laments a fallen Irish hero in a thinly veiled metaphor for lamenting the still-colonised Irish nation. The text, however, also directly resonates with American politics of the time. When it was first published in the United States in

Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States  159 1808, tensions between Britain and the United States were escalating, and war with the former coloniser seemed inevitable. Given that context, with memories of the American revolution fought barely more than thirty years previous, Moore’s text can be easily applied to Americans’ apprehensions: Mononia! When Nature embellish’d the tint Of thy fields and thy mountains so far, Did she ever intend that a tyrant should print The footstep of slavery there? No! Freedom, whose smile we shall never resign, Go, tell our invaders, the Danes, That ‘tis sweeter to bleed for an age at thy shrine, Than to sleep but a moment in chains. (MCP 3: 224–25) The borrowed melody of the song is a slow, dirge-like march in E minor (Figure 8.6). Stevenson’s accompaniment utilises emerging expressive techniques to convey grief. An extended, thirteen-bar introduction contains melodic material that is only loosely related to the main melody via key, mood, and the dotted rhythms and stepwise motion that is characteristic of dirges. Those thirteen bars are divided mostly into two-bar sections, many of which are remarkably unrelated to each other, creating a series of short sections all juxtaposed against something quite different. Their intense expressivity explores both the outward scene of a funeral march and the tumultuous inner emotional experiences of grieving a beloved military hero. The first two-bar section resembles a funeral march, with a dynamic marking “p” and a steadily flowing, dotted melody in the right hand. A plodding line in the left hand is set entirely in what is now the second-lowest octave on the piano, between D#2 and B2. In 1808, however, the range was much lower on five-octave pianos that ended at F1, adding to the sonic plodding of a funeral march and the generally forlorn mood of the work. It is also the only time during the introduction that the left-hand outlines chordal harmonies so pointedly. The first two-bar section ends on a dominant b-minor chord, and then two more bars of related material end on an E, forming a period that suggests the character of a funeral march and also completes the thought. Stevenson thus grounds the listener by conjuring a funeral march, presented with a fleshed-out chordal accompaniment and classical-era structure. From there, we proceed to a more personal, introspective musical exploration of grief. The next two bars involve a sudden shift to a dynamic marking “f”. For a single bar both hands have a single, descending dotted scalar line in octave unison. In the next bar, the line is repeated up a fourth and marked “ff”, heightening the emotional landscape. Stripped of musical complexity, this simple, descending passage succinctly represents two grief-stricken wails. In bars seven and eight, the dynamics return

Figure 8.6  I ntroductory symphony to the “War Song. Remember the Glories of Brien the Brave” by Sir John Stevenson, Irish Melodies . . . first number (London, 1808). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast.

Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States  161 to “p” in another sudden shift and a series of parallel, descending triads are also deeply expressive of grief, this time more restrained. In the next passage, bars 9 and 10, we gently return to the dotted rhythms and parts with greater independence between the hands. The final bars of the introduction feature another sudden shift from “p” to “f”, and a haunting figure in octaves again. Highly repetitive, it sits on E minor, suggesting stasis and a resigned grief.7 Only after this deeply expressive introduction is the borrowed, traditional melody and Moore’s text introduced. By that point, Stevenson has painted a musical picture of a funeral march followed by a series of four distinct vignettes of grief that inform the listener of the song’s meaning. He does this by adopting an approach to musical expression that reflects influence of his contemporaries, including juxtaposition of vastly different sound worlds, the exploration of tumultuous and painful emotions, and extending classical-style formal musical structures. In other songs, Stevenson’s work is so musically vivid that his introductions seem to tell a narrative. In “St. Senanus and the Lady”, in the second number, Moore’s lyrics tell the tale of the sixth century figure St. Senan, who banned women from Scattery Island in the estuary of the River Shannon. A woman approaches St. Senan by boat, hoping to join him in prayer, but he rebuffs her. In Stevenson’s accompaniment, an extended, fifteen-bar introduction sets the scene (Figure 8.7). The music is, again, unrelated to the borrowed main melody. Instead, it establishes the soundworld of an island before musically painting the woman’s arrival. In the first eight bars, undulating waves of chords strongly evoke lapping waves. Then, at an ever so gentle “pp”, repeated octaves announce the woman’s approach, before more action is suggested at the introduction’s close. In 1808, Stevenson’s decision to imbue the instrumental part of a song with so much meaning in emerging style was itself a deeply meaningful act. He was aligning his personal musical style with that of his contemporaries. Consequently, he might also have been staking a claim to political ideas that this musical style signified. Regardless of Stevenson’s intent, however, music that expressed extramusical ideas, images, and narratives registered as part of the revolutionary movements around the world, especially in the United States. Indeed, musical style was deeply enmeshed with the political tumult ­ eethoven’s that shaped the age in which Stevenson lived. For works in B “heroic” style, scholars such as Maynard Solomon and Nicholas Mathew show us that Beethoven drew from occasional works of the French ­Revolution that programmatically painted stories that supported revolutionary causes (Solomon 179–80; Mathew 46). And his music was widely recognised as the product of revolutionary or liberal thought. In the characteristic sounds of struggle and tumult in Beethoven’s symphonies, many in Europe heard political struggle (Bonds 99–103).

Figure 8.7  I ntroductory symphony to “St. Senanus and the Lady” by Sir John Stevenson, Irish Melodies . . . second number (London, 1808). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast.

Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States  163 Both Beethoven’s music and the Irish Melodies arrived in the United States just as a debate about national style in the new republic emerged. Many had thought that US musical life relied too much on England’s model. Critics of the importation of English music claimed that continuing to practice British music meant that the US’s music reflected the stratified, monarchic world of Britain. US musical luminaries including John Sullivan Dwight, Anthony Philip Heinrich, and William Henry Fry publicly called for a musical life that was more grounded in republican values (Chmaj; Shadle 81–108). Many, most notably Dwight, advocated a Germanic style that deployed Beethovenian expressive techniques because it represented a democratic or revolutionary approach to musical composition. Dwight’s Journal of Music promoted John Stevenson’s accompaniments to the Irish Melodies. In 1852, an anonymous writer praised the Boston-based publishing firm of Oliver Ditson for a forthcoming edition of the melodies that included Stevenson’s accompaniments, ignoring the later work of Henry Bishop (“Tom Moore”). With hyperbole that was characteristic of the newspaper, the author effused about Stevenson’s accompaniments using specific language that highlighted Romantic ideas about instrumental art music as universally relevant in ways that art forms more dependent on language were not. With Stevenson’s music, Moore’s verse is “wedded to that higher universal language of the heart, which Music is”. He later equates Stevenson’s efforts with religion, again reflecting a Romantic worldview, describing the music as “the truest offering with which to approach the shrine of his devotion”. By describing Stevenson’s music in this way, the writer acknowledges Stevenson’s contributions to the Irish Melodies, which itself had become vitally important to US musical life. The Irish Melodies weren’t popular in the United States merely because people liked the music. The collection appeared at a time when many Americans sought to establish their own musical style in response to the dominance of British music. In the Irish Melodies, Americans found musical examples that represented another community of people who were dominated by the British, whose identity turned on resisting that domination, and who already had a robust presence in the United States. ­I ndeed, this story extends beyond the relationship between Ireland and the United States. The collection appealed to numerous networks across the Atlantic and Western hemispheres advocating revolutionary change in the early nineteenth century, members of who were facing vastly different contexts and confronting unique, local sets of challenges. The Irish Melodies appeared to be the product of the revolutionary set because of codes in the text and the music. The immense and long-lasting popularity of the collection thus rested on a deep, fluid, complex relationship between the United States and Ireland.

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Notes 1 At the time, an absence of international copyright law meant that Blake paid no royalties to produce his editions of the Irish Melodies. See McCleave, “The Role of Community” p. 4. 2 This quote is often attributed to the first president of the United States, George Washington, but I have only found a primary record attributing it to the President’s step-grandson and adopted son with a similar name in Proceedings of a Meeting. 3 Tunes were borrowed from existing published tunebooks, which were produced by Edward Bunting and Smollett Holden, among others (Ní ­C hinnéide, Fleischmann, Hunt, Sources and Style Appendix). Moore wrote new lyrics, and Irish composer Sir John Stevenson wrote piano accompaniments for the first seven numbers. Due to the composer’s declining health and interpersonal conflict between the Power brothers, Stevenson and the English songwriter Henry Bishop each produced accompaniments for the eighth number. Stevenson contributed to the Irish edition and Bishop contributed to the English edition. After the London-based Power won the rights to remaining numbers, Bishop alone worked on the final publications (for further, see Hunt, “Moore, Stevenson, Bishop and the Powers”). 4 Also found in the Providence Patriot, the Richmond Enquirer, the Columbian Phoenix, and the Merrimac Intelligencer. 5 “Preponderance of Irish Talent” was printed in the Virginia Patriot, the ­Burlington Gazette, The Star of Raleigh, and the Norfolk Gazette and Publick Ledger. 6 Beethoven’s political stances changed over his lifetime, as did his approach to politics and music. While engaging with research on this topic is beyond the scope of this chapter, Mathew and Rumph both agree that Beethoven had previously quite openly supported liberal politics and the French Revolution. The bloodshed and chaos of the Napoleonic Wars precipitated a more nuanced approach from the composer, particularly after the invasions of Vienna in 1805 and 1809. 7 It should be noted that variants can be identified between Power editions of the Irish Melodies. Consequently, the compositional techniques highlighted and analysed here may not be evident in all published copies. For further, see McCleave, “The Genesis”.

Bibliography Works not found here are listed in a concluding Bibliography, which contains references common to more than one chapter. Armitage, David, and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, editors. The Age of Revolutions in Global Context, c. 1760–1840. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Bailey, Candace. Music and the Southern Belle: From Accomplished Lady to Confederate Composer. Southern Illinois UP, 2010. “Beethoven.” Baltimore Gazette and Daily Advertiser, vol. 67, no. 10226, 15 Mar. 1827, p. 2. America’s Historical Newspapers. Readex. Bonds, Mark Evan. Music as Thought: Listening to the Symphony in the Age of Beethoven. Princeton UP, 2006.

Moore’s Irish Melodies in the United States  165 Botstein, Leon. “The Demise of Philosophical Listening: Haydn in the ­Nineteenth Century.” Haydn and His World. Ed. Elaine R. Sisman. Princeton UP, 1997, pp. 255–85. ———. “The Search for Meaning in Beethoven: Popularity, Intimacy, and Politics in Historical Perspective.” Beethoven and His World. Eds. Scott ­Burnham, and Michael P. Steinberg. Princeton UP, 2000, pp. 332–66. Broyles, Michael. Music of the Highest Class: Elitism and Populism in Antebellum Boston. Yale UP, 1992. Burnham, Scott. Beethoven: Hero. Princeton UP, 2000. “Celebration of the French Revolution in Ireland.” Richmond Enquirer, vol. 27, no. 55, 16 Nov. 1830, p. 4. Chmaj, Betty C. “Fry Versus Dwight: American Music’s Debate over Nationality.” American Music, vol. 3, no. 1, 1985, pp. 63–84. Crawford, Richard. America’s Musical Life: A History. W. W. Norton, 2001. Davis, James A. Music along the Rapidan: Civil War Soldiers, Music, and Community during Winter Quarters, Virginia. U of Nebraska P, 2014. Deane, Seamus, editor. “Thomas Moore.” The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing. Vol. 1. W. W. Norton, 1991. Doyle, David Noel. “The Irish in North America.” Making the Irish American: History and Heritage of the Irish in the United States. Eds. J. J. Lee, and ­Marion R. Casey. New York UP, 2006, pp. 171–212. Eldridge, Herbert G. “The American Republication of Thomas Moore’s ‘Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems:’ An Early Version of the Reprinting ‘Game’”. The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, vol. 62, no. 2, 1968, pp. 199–205. Fleischmann, Aloys, ed. Sources of Irish Traditional Music c1600–1855. 2 vols. Garland, 1998. “From the National Banner: Sketches of British Characters.” Rhode-Island American, vol. 60, no. 61, 9 May 1826, p. 1. Gerk, Sarah. Away o’er the Ocean Go Journeymen, Cowboys, and Fiddlers: The Irish in Nineteenth-Century American Music. 2014. U of Michigan, PhD dissertation. Hamilton, Marsha L. “The Irish and the Formation of British Communities in Early Massachusetts.” The Irish in the Atlantic World. Ed. David T. Gleeson, U of South Carolina P, 2010, pp. 229–50. Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1962. Hudspeth, Robert N, editor. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Vol. 3. Cornell UP, 1984. “Ireland’s Music and Song.” Enquirer (Richmond, VA), 31 Oct. 1809, p. 4. Klooster, Wim. Revolutions in the Atlantic World. New York UP, 2009. Knobel, Dale T. Paddy and the Republic: Ethnicity and Nationality in ­Antebellum America. Wesleyan UP, 1986. Mathew, Nicholas. Political Beethoven. Cambridge UP, 2013. Meyer-Frazier, Petra. Bound Music, Unbound Women: The Search for an Identity in the Nineteenth Century. Ed. Michael J. Budds. College Music Society, 2015. “Miscellany: Thomas Moore.” Reporter (Lexington, Kentucky), 18 Oct. 1815. America’s Historical Newspapers. Readex.

166  Sarah Gerk “Modern British Poets.” National Intelligencer (Washington DC), 14 June 1817, p. 4. Moore, Thomas, and Sir John Stevenson. A Selection of Irish Melodies, with Symphonies and Accompaniments, First Number. W. Power, 1808. ———. A Selection of Irish Melodies, with Symphonies and Accompaniments, vol. 1. G.E. Blake’s Musical Repository and Circulating Library, 1808. Moore, Thomas, and Thomas Crofton Croker. Notes from the Letters of Thomas Moore to his Music Publisher, James Power. Redfield, 1854. Paine, Thomas. The Rights of Man, Being and Answer to Mr. Burke’s Attack on the French Revolution, Part 1. J. S. Jordan, 1791. Polasky, Janet. Revolutions without Borders: The Call to Liberty in the ­Atlantic World. Yale UP, 2015. “Preponderance of Irish Talent.” Virginia Patriot, 30 Sept. 1815, p. 3. ­A merica’s Historical Newspapers. Readex. Proceedings of a Meeting of the Friends of Civil & Religious Liberty. Peter Force at the Office of the National Journal, 1826. Rumph, Stephen. Beethoven after Napoleon: Political Romanticism in the Late Works. U of California P, 2004. Shadle, Douglas. Orchestrating the Nation: The Nineteenth-Century American Symphonic Enterprise. Oxford UP, 2015. Solomon, Maynard. Beethoven, revised edition. Schirmer Trade Books, 2001. Taylor, Alan. The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies. Vintage Books, 2010. “Thomas Moore.” Providence Patriot, Columbian Phoenix (Providence, RI) no. 41, 21 Oct. 1815, p. 21. “Tom Moore.” Dwight’s Journal of Music, vol. 1, no. 15 (17 July 1852), p. 118. United States Telegraph (Washington, DC), 15 Mar. 1827, p. 3. Way, Peter. Common Labor: Workers and the Digging of North American ­C anals 1780–1860. Cambridge UP, 2009. White, Harry. “The Imagined Unities of Thomas Moore.” Eds. McCleave, and Caraher, pp. 31–42. Wilson, David S. United Irishmen, United States: Immigrant Radicals in the Early Republic. Cornell UP, 1998. Wolfe, Richard J. Early American Music Engraving and Printing: A History of Music Publishing in America from 1787 to 1825. U of Illinois P, 1980.

Part III

Moore’s Reputations as Established through Political Networks

9 “Where bastard Freedom waves/Her fustian flag in mockery over slaves” Thomas Moore in America Jennifer Martin On 25 September 1803, Thomas Moore left Spithead, England, bound for America aboard the Phaeton frigate, to take up a new post in ­Bermuda as a Registrar to the Court of Admiralty. This was a post that he had been granted via the patronage of Francis Rawdon-Hastings, first Marquess of Hastings (1754–1826) – a powerful figure who Moore was introduced to through his old friend and Irish dramatist Joseph ­Atkinson. Moore referred to this patron in his writings (both public and private) as Lord Moira. Acknowledging Moira’s position in government and his influence,1 Moore had hoped for some time for opportunities of advancement or patronage through this connection. Despite turning down Moira’s first offer of patronage, a Poet Laureateship to Ireland, he would readily accept the offered Bermudan position. Moore would go on to publish his Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems (1806) after returning home to England and would dedicate this collection to Lord Moira. It would be a work which would be heavily influenced by his time spent in America and Canada, and which would cause much controversy in due course. This chapter will explore the comments which Moore made before, during, and after his brief sojourn in America (finally departing in October 1804, just over a year after he had set off from England), and will evaluate the reception which Moore experienced in America during and after the period he spent there, considering differing viewpoints towards him over time. This chapter will also examine how his Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems helped to pave the way for the political commentating that he participated in throughout his career.

Epistles Odes and Other Poems: 1806 and 1840 It is interesting to compare Moore’s original 1806 text with Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems as presented in his ten-volume The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore, Collected by himself, which appeared between 1840 and 1841 (MCP). Having only previously assembled his American poems and experiences within the 1806 Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems amongst a myriad of other poetical pieces, when it came

170  Jennifer Martin to collecting his poetical writings later in the century, he took a different approach. In the later collection he admits that the earlier “awkward jumble has been remedied; and all the Poems relating to my Transatlantic voyage will be found classed by themselves” (MCP 2: iii–iv).­ Accordingly, this chapter will focus primarily on the presentation of the American poems in 1840, but will also make pertinent comparisons between the two texts where appropriate, to demonstrate how Moore’s viewpoints may have changed over time. In the Preface to his 1840 collection, Moore helpfully outlines the stages of his journey from England and beyond, a route that by his own admission “[had] been left hitherto to be traced confusedly through a few detached notes” (MCP 2: iv). Therefore, we learn that Moore’s first stop in America was Norfolk, Virginia, from whence he “proceeded, in the Driver sloop of war, to Bermuda” (MCP 2: v). After spending some time in Bermuda, Moore discovered that the post was not as lucrative as he had at first hoped, and he chose to hand over leadership to a deputy. (This action would later come back to haunt him when the deputy absconded with a large sum of money for which Moore was legally responsible, requiring some years in self-imposed exile in Europe from 1819 to 1822.) However, before departing for home he spent some time travelling in America and Canada. After Bermuda, he travelled to New York, back again to Norfolk, then on to Washington, Philadelphia, New York (again), Niagara Falls, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Many of his poems and letters trace his sojourn in each of these places. Moore reflects on his feelings regarding his impending journey to America in the Preface to his 1806 publication, which it must be noted is much harsher in terms of the views expressed than his 1840 Preface (although the 1806 Preface was still included within the 1840 collection). He was looking forward to visiting America, finding himself “in the country of a new people, whose infancy had promised so much, and whose progress to maturity [had] been an object of such interesting speculation” (MCP 2: 201). It was, however, to be a disappointment to him. As Howard O. Brogan has argued, “Moore’s duty as a Whig and an Irishman was to discover the ideal republic when he visited our country [i.e. America] in 1804; but in spite of preconceptions in our favor, the contrast between expectation and reality moved him to indignant protest in a series of verse epistles written from American cities” (Brogan 255). Moore discusses the inhabitants who he met “in travelling through a few of the States”, and how meeting such “republicans” (MCP 2: 202) suggested the Epistles which are written from the city of Washington and Lake Erie [i.e. Epistles VI, VII and VIII]. How far I was right, in thus assuming the tone of a satirist against a people whom I viewed but as a stranger and a visiter [sic], is a doubt which my

Thomas Moore in America  171 feelings did not allow me time to investigate. All I presume to answer for is the fidelity of the picture which I have given; and though prudence might have dictated gentler language, truth, I think, would have justified severer. (MCP 2: 202) Moore continues in the same vein, with pointed observations and expressed disappointments regarding the people and government of America: I went to America with prepossessions by no means unfavourable, and indeed rather indulged in many of those illusive ideas, with respect to the purity of the government and the primitive happiness of the people, which I had early imbibed in my native country, where, unfortunately, discontent at home enhances every distant temptation, and the western world has long been looked to as a retreat from real or imaginary oppression; as, in short, the elysian Atlantis, where persecuted patriots might find their visions realised, and be welcomed by kindred spirits to liberty and repose. In all these flattering expectations I found myself completely disappointed . . . (MCP 2: 202–03) Such comments as these did not endear him to an American audience when the Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems were published. For instance, in September 1806 a commentator in The Literary Magazine, and American Register, reflecting on the collection as a whole, observed: Some ardent lovers of their country are extremely offended with Moore, the Anacreontic poet, for speaking contemptuously of America, in his poems, lately published. It appears to me that we cannot injure our own credit and debase our own dignity more than by allowing the smallest regard to such provocations. It is indeed imputing a hundred times more importance to the random censures of ignorant, self-conceited, and vagabond travellers than they deserve. As to Moore, in particular, I never heard of any merit he possessed beyond that of a writer of drinking songs and love ditties. (“­A nacreon Moore” 219–20) Whilst outwardly appearing to play down Moore’s comments, a decided undercurrent of bitterness can be detected throughout this review. Ultimately, Moore’s complaints regarding America were numerous and he argued, for instance, that an illiberal zeal imbitters all social intercourse; and, though I scarcely could hesitate in selecting the party, whose views appeared to me the more pure and rational, yet I was sorry to observe that, in asserting

172  Jennifer Martin their opinions, they both assume an equal share of intolerance; the Democrats, consistently with their principles, exhibiting a vulgarity of rancour, which the Federalists too often are so forgetful of their cause as to imitate. (MCP 2: 203–04) Here, neither the Democrats nor the Federalists are favourably viewed by Moore. Indeed, throughout his career, he would not avoid criticising even those political figures that he generally supported, if he felt it would help the greater good. As well as this, he comments on “[t]he rude familiarity of the lower orders, and indeed the unpolished state of society in general” (MCP 2: 204). However, this is not a simple observation regarding how “unpolished” members of that society were. Instead, it reflects a deeper resonance relating to American values in general as he viewed them. Furthermore, such comments were not limited to his preface but rather were continued on through many of the poems which feature in Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems. The first destination that Moore reached in America was Norfolk, ­Virginia. He was not impressed with its ladies or its music (ML 1: 50–51), yet one of his earliest poems from America, “Miss Moore. From ­Norfolk, in Virginia, November, 1803” (MCP 2: 216–22) – addressed to his sister Kate – expresses some optimism about American values: At length I touch the happy sphere To liberty and virtue dear, Where man looks up, and, proud to claim His rank within the social frame, Sees a grand system round him roll, Himself its centre, sun, and soul! (MCP 2: 217) It is evident, however, that some doubts are already beginning to arise from the brief period which Moore had spent in Norfolk: Such is the picture, warmly such, That Fancy long, with florid touch, Had painted to my sanguine eye Of man’s new world of liberty. Oh! ask me not, if Truth have yet Her seal on Fancy’s promise set; If ev’n a glimpse my eyes behold Of that imagin’d age of gold; Alas, not yet one gleaming trace! Never did youth, who lov’d a face As sketch’d by some fond pencil’s skill, And made by fancy lovelier still, Shrink back with more of sad surprise,

Thomas Moore in America  173 When the live model met his eyes, Than I have felt, in sorrow felt, To find a dream on which I’ve dwelt From boyhood’s hour, thus fade and flee At touch of stern reality! (MCP 2: 219–20) However, some hope remains that America will still fulfil the idealised image Moore had created in his own mind. He recognises that, at this point, he has only seen Norfolk which, he admits, “presents an unfavourable specimen of America” (MCP 2: 220n), and that he has at this point “beheld no more / Than just the porch to Freedom’s fane” (MCP 2: 220). There is still hope yet that once he gets beyond that “porch”, he may still discover the America which he has been seeking – that “ideal republic” as Brogan described, and a country of liberty. This was very much at odds with how he viewed Ireland at this time, and throughout his career, due to its perceived relationship with England. This was a relationship which Moore observed as being one of “slave” and “master”, with Ireland being represented by the former and England the latter, a view he would continue to promulgate in his writings. While in Bermuda, Moore made no political commentary, but continued to express his reservations about the people with whom he rubbed shoulders (ML 1: 66–67). In April 1804, Moore left Bermuda in the ­Boston and began his tour of key cities and sites in both America and Canada, and this is the point at which his negative comments on ­A merica and its people really develop within Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems. For instance, he criticises New York in a letter to his mother, for its “barrenness in intellect, taste, and all in which heart is concerned” (ML 1: 64). However, New York received relatively gentle treatment when compared with other cities and peoples in America, and his serious criticisms of America really began when he visited Washington. In the poem “To the Lord Viscount Forbes. From the City of Washington”2 (MCP 2: 284–94), for instance, he bitterly declares that: Already has the child of Gallia’s school The foul Philosophy that sins by rule, With all her train of reasoning, damning arts, Begot by brilliant heads on worthless hearts, Like things that quicken after Nilus’ flood, The venom’d birth of sunshine and of mud,– Already has she pour’d her poison here O’er every charm that makes existence dear; Already blighted, with her blackening trace, The opening bloom of every social grace, And all those courtesies, that love to shoot Round virtue’s stem, the flow’rets of her fruit. (MCP 2: 288)

174  Jennifer Martin Ultimately Moore challenges “the purity of American patriotism” (MCP 2: 288n) and criticises the influence of the French Revolution on that country. Similar criticisms appear in his poem “To Thomas Hume, Esq. M.D. From the City of Washington” (MCP 2: 295–302). This thinking is very different to an earlier Moore who contributed to the United Irishmen newspaper, The Press. He had two pieces published within this newspaper including “Extract from a Poem: In Imitation of Ossian” – which appeared on 19 October 1797 – and “To the Students of Trinity College”, which was published on 2 December 1797. In the latter, he made such comments as: And, oh! my fellow-students, look to that country – that sunk, that injured country! and if your hearts are yet free from the infections of a court; if they are not hardened by ministerial frost, can you see poor Ireland degraded, tortured, without burning to be revenged on her damned tormentors? All her characteristic traits, by which Nature has distinguished her in Creation, sullied and effaced by the bloody hand of Oppression? (Extracts 205–06) However, his outlook has changed by the time he visits America, as J­ effery W. Vail has noted. Regarding the three recent revolutions in Moore’s time – the American, French, and Irish revolutions – Vail claims how “Moore attacks the hypocritical cant and revolutionary sloganeering he has heard from all three nations” (Vail, “Thomas Moore” 55) and that: Moore’s years of confrontation with the deadly or (as he saw it) corrupt fruits of three separate revolutions – between his letter to the Press in 1797 and his return from overseas in 1804 – did teach him a valuable lesson: it taught him the value of moderation, restraint, and realism in the pursuit of political change. These qualities clearly separate the youth of 1797 and the maturing artist of 1808, and are clearly valued by Moore in his letters, journal entries, speeches, poetry and prose throughout his subsequent career. (Vail, “Thomas Moore” 58) Moore still continued to believe in the aims of the United Irishmen, and this would be reflected in his writings, but he did not agree with violent revolutions. Even when he met with his old college friend Edward Hudson (a former United Irishman) in America, he felt that something had changed. He had realised, as Vail described, “the value of moderation, restraint, and realism” when aiming for political change. Prior to meeting with Hudson, Moore wrote to his mother on 13 June 1804, “Surely, surely, this country must have cured him [Hudson] of republicanism” (ML 1: 67–68). After his meeting, he told his mother that “I feel

Thomas Moore in America  175 awkward with Hudson now; he has perhaps had reason to confirm him in his politics, and God knows I see every reason to change mine” (ML 1: 68). As we can see, and as Vail has argued, there is a definite shift in terms of Moore’s perceptions towards the use of violence in revolution from the days of his Press contributions and his sojourn in America. In the poem “To the Lord Viscount Forbes from the City of Washington” (MCP 2: 284–94), Moore continues to direct various criticisms towards America, including the fact that slavery was still practised there: Who can, with patience, for a moment see The medley mass of pride and misery, Of whips and charters, manacles and rights, Of slaving blacks and democratic whites, And all the piebald polity that reigns In free confusion o’er Columbia’s plains? To think that man, thou just and gentle God! Should stand before thee with a tyrant’s rod O’er creatures like himself, with souls from thee, Yet dare to boast of perfect liberty; Away, away— I’d rather hold my neck By doubtful tenure from a sultan’s beck, In climes, where liberty has scarce been nam’d, Nor any right but that of ruling claim’d, Than thus to live, where bastard Freedom waves Her fustian flag in mockery over slaves . . . (MCP 2: 291–92) This is one serious issue that Moore has with America – that it had fought for its own freedom, and “nobly rose / From England’s debtors to be England’s foes” (MCP 2: 290), yet slavery exists there. Such imagery also proliferates throughout all ten numbers of the Irish Melodies (1808–1834), as seen, for instance, in the song “Erin, O Erin!”: The nations have fallen, and thou still art young, Thy sun is but rising, when others are set; And tho’ slavery’s cloud o’er thy morning hath hung The full noon of freedom shall beam round thee yet. Erin, oh Erin, tho’ long in the shade, Thy star will shine out when the proudest shall fade. (MCP 3: 260–61) Such political themes are also a feature of Moore’s many prose works. In Memoirs of Captain Rock (1824), Moore presents us with the supposed “Memoirs” of a Captain Rock, a representation, in the form of a narrator, of the Captain Rock agrarian group that fought over rights to land and related concerns in the early 1820s in Ireland. In this work

176  Jennifer Martin the narrative provides the reader with a nationalist viewpoint of the history of Ireland from its earliest days to 1800 and beyond. It reads as a litany of the mishaps and abuses carried out by the English government towards the Irish in the period discussed. Throughout the work, Moore makes it patently obvious just how unhappy he has been with Ireland’s governing over past centuries and in his own lifetime, pursuing similar values to those focussed upon at a much earlier date in Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems. Of particular interest in the afore-mentioned poem “To the Lord ­Viscount Forbes” is Moore’s original “footnoted attack on George Washington in exemplification of widespread venality in American life”3 (Eldridge 56). However, “This note was deleted from the three American editions of 1806 – one guesses through the influence of the Dennie ­circle.4 In addition, Moore wrote John E. Hall in 1816 that he himself eliminated the note from all editions after the first” (Eldridge 56n9). Moore admitted to Hall of “the inconsiderateness and falsehood of the accusation” (ML 1: 397) he had made towards Washington in that ­removed footnote, but he chose not to expurgate other controversial aspects of Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems. In his 1840 Preface (MCP), Moore describes his meeting with P ­ resident Jefferson overall in a positive manner: “My single interview with this remarkable person was of very short duration; but to have seen and spoken with the man who drew up the Declaration of American Independence was an event not to be forgotten” (MCP 2: xi). In his poem, “To Thomas Hume, Esq. M.D. From the City of Washington”, however, Moore is much less complimentary towards the President. For instance, he refers to rumours that Jefferson kept one of his black slaves as a mistress. Linda Kelly offers an explanation for his bitterness, arguing that when Moore was presented “to the President as a literary celebrity, ­Jefferson looked down at him coolly, with only a brief word of greeting . . . [and] he was annoyed enough at the time to add a snide footnote to the poem [­ Epistle VII, To Thomas Hume, Esq., M.D., From the City of ­Washington]” (L.  Kelly 55–56). His pride dented, Moore “resolved that the upstart republic of the West should feel the weight of his displeasure” (Lossing 540). Certainly, Moore’s personal feelings could at times affect his development as a political writer, particularly in his earlier years, although this was a trait that he perhaps never lost entirely. Moore may have been persuaded to follow certain viewpoints by those he was in company with. For example, his patron Lord Moira, “who had fought against American troops in the Revolutionary War” (Vail, “Thomas Moore” 53), could well have held a natural bias against America that he passed on to Moore. As D. M. R. Bentley has observed: Herbert Eldridge is correct in suggesting that a principal reason for Moore’s hostility to most things American was the alliance of

Thomas Moore in America  177 the United States with France against Great Britain and Ireland in the Napoleonic War that recommenced in earnest in May 1803, but a secondary reason may well lie in his heavy reliance as guides to American history and society on a selection of more or less ­anti-Republican works, most notably Isaac Weld’s Travels through the States of North America, and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. During the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797, 1799. (Bentley, “Near the Rapids” 356) As Bentley notes, Moore’s reading helped to shape his views as a political writer. Weld, as would Moore in his Epistles, took issue with slavery, criticised the lower and middle classes of America, and ­preferred Canada to America, and “Britain over both” (Bentley, “Near the ­Rapids” 356). Similarly, Moore’s comments on Jefferson could also have stemmed from his friends, the Merrys (with whom he had travelled from England to America, Mr Merry having accepted an ambassadorial post in ­Washington), who felt that they had been slighted by Jefferson in the seating plans at a dinner they had attended, and who certainly told Moore of this. Herbert G. Eldridge argued that “[u]nfortunately for his later peace of mind he spent his time among anti-Jeffersonians – both British and American . . . [and that] with all their competent versification, the American epistles are little more than translations of partisan diatribe, which even the Federalists themselves finally decided were insulting from alien lips” (Eldridge 55). Moore’s personal connections, too, also helped forge his political views. Regardless of this, as Ronan Kelly points out, “the enthusiasm with which he embraced these ­prejudices was entirely his own” (R. Kelly 110). If Moore hoped to offend Jefferson through his comments, he may have been disappointed. Most likely unbeknownst to him during his lifetime, Jefferson’s reaction towards the Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems was not what he might have expected. While Jefferson’s friend, W. A. Burwell, and daughter, Mrs Randolph, were offended by the comments made, upon showing them to Jefferson, he “broke into a clear, loud laugh, which was instantly contagious” (Lossing 540). Similarly, at a later date, Terence de Vere White notes that “[w]hen Moore’s Irish ­Melodies came out, Jefferson’s granddaughter gave him a copy . . . ­Jefferson, when he saw Moore’s name said, ‘[w]hy this is the little man who satirised me so!’ But he read the poems, and loved them. In the letter he wrote to his daughter when he was dying, he quoted several lines from Moore” (T. de Vere White 47). Thus, Jefferson was able to enjoy the Irish ­Melodies at an aesthetic level, and rose above the comments that Moore had made regarding him. After leaving Washington, Moore visited Philadelphia, and here he made an exception in terms of the comments that he was expounding on regarding America and its people, commenting warmly on the literary

178  Jennifer Martin circle of Joseph Dennie (editor of Port Folio) and his cohorts. Such feelings are reflected in his “Lines written on leaving Philadelphia” (MCP 2: 303–05), and in the Preface to his 1840 Poetical Works (MCP) he also declared that “At Philadelphia [. . .] I was indebted for some of my most agreeable recollections of the United States, consisted entirely of persons of the Federalist or Anti-Democratic party” (MCP 2: xi). Moore makes some interesting comments in the poem, “To the Honourable W. R. Spencer” (MCP 2: 313–19). Noting that while “[in] the society of Mr. Dennie and his friends, at Philadelphia, I passed the few agreeable moments which my tour through the States afforded me” (MCP 2: 316n), Moore makes further barbed comments regarding the American populace at large, both in the poem itself and in a lengthy footnote: Mr. Dennie has succeeded in diffusing through this cultivated little circle that love for good literature and sound politics, which he feels so zealously himself, and which is so very rarely the characteristic of his countrymen. They will not, I trust, accuse me of illiberality for the picture which I have given of the ignorance and corruption that surround them. If I did not hate, as I ought, the rabble to which they are opposed, I could not value, as I do, the spirit with which they defy it; and in learning from them what Americans can be, I but see with the more indignation what ­A mericans are. (MCP 2: 316n) This “cultivated little circle” is further encouraged in the poem itself in terms of what it should do: Long may you loathe the Gallic dross that runs Through your fair country and corrupts its sons; Long live the arts, the glories which adorn Those fields of freedom, where your sires were born. Oh! if America can yet be great, If neither chain’d by choice, nor doom’d by fate To the mob-mania which imbrutes her now, She yet can raise the crown’d, yet civic brow Of single majesty,– can add the grace Of Rank’s rich capital to Freedom’s base, Nor fear the mighty shaft will feebler prove For the fair ornament that flowers above;– If yet releas’d from all that pedant throng, So vain of error and so pledged to wrong, Who hourly teach her, like themselves, to hide Weakness in vaunt, and barrenness in pride,

Thomas Moore in America  179 She yet can rise, can wreathe the Attic charms Of soft refinement round the pomp of arms, And see her poets flash the fires of song, To light her warriors’ thunderbolts along. . . (MCP 2: 317–18) Despite the further reference here to all that is “Gallic” and its unfortunate influence on America, Moore is arguing that there is hope if only the rest of the country can follow the example set by this Philadelphian circle. Following his sojourn in America, Moore also visited Canada, and here, in contrast, he found a country that he liked very much. He found himself impressed by such landscapes as Niagara Falls, and wrote his well-known “A Canadian Boat-Song” (MCP 2: 322–24) based on his experiences in Canada. He even celebrated his arrival there, describing in a letter of 22 July 1804 to his mother that he was now on British territory (he was writing from Chippewa, Upper Canada), and by raising a drink to the King of England, distanced from all that America represented to him (ML 1: 76). As D. M. R. Bentley suggests, “Moore entered Upper Canada with the feeling of deliverance and anticipation characteristic of unhappy tourists returning to their homeland” (“Preface: Thomas Moore’s Construction of Upper Canada” 5).5 Moore’s final “American” poem – “To the Boston Frigate, on leaving Halifax for England, October, 1804” (MCP 2: 339–43) – is his homecoming piece. However, even here he cannot resist launching a final attack: With triumph this morning, oh Boston! I hail The stir of thy deck and the spread of thy sail, For they tell me I soon shall be wafted, in thee, To the flourishing isle of the brave and the free, And that chill Nova-Scotia’s unpromising strand Is the last I shall tread of American land. Well – peace to the land! may her sons know, at length, That in high-minded honour lies liberty’s strength, That though man be as free as the fetterless wind, As the wantonest air that the north can unbind, Yet, if health do not temper and sweeten the blast, If no harvest of mind ever sprung where it pass’d, Then unblest is such freedom, and baleful its might, Free only to ruin, and strong but to blight! (MCP 2: 339–40) It was evidently a relief to be returning to that “flourishing isle of the brave and the free” and to be turning his back on America that had disappointed him in so many different ways.

180  Jennifer Martin

Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems Reviewed Before leaving for America, and up to the point when his Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems was published, Moore was considered as being “as much the darling of the American literati as of the Whig aristocracy in London” (Eldridge 54). This was soon to change, but it did not occur immediately, even after the publication of the poems. As Herbert G. ­Eldridge argues, while early responses were “neutral” (Eldridge 57), “by the beginning of September [1806], the press had about made up its mind that Columbia had indeed been egregiously insulted. Thereafter, editors and reviewers fell into line to defend the national honor, with invective honed in years of party warfare” (Eldridge, 57). Ultimately, “defend the national honor” they would: Moore had sullied their reputation, and they would do all they could to repair it. As previously discussed, one of the most scathing reviews which Moore faced was published in The Literary Magazine, and American Register. That critic continued throughout his review to be highly contemptuous of “this little cock-sparrow of a songster [who] came hopping across the Atlantic” (220), this “little ingrate [who] no sooner gets home than he begins to abuse us” (221). Perhaps it is best that this reviewer was unaware that the abuse began when Moore was in America itself, not when he was back on British soil, and had spread in letters which Moore had written to those back at home, as indicated above. Indeed, such personal correspondence formed the basis of much of his political writing within the Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems, demonstrating a close alliance between Moore’s public and private writings that continued throughout his career. There were many similar reviews published in America, which ­Herbert G. Eldridge examines at some length. They are similar in outlook, ­decrying Moore for visiting their country, where he was made most welcome, then returning home to England and offending their sensibilities by publishing his Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems. Other offerings included “A Notice, Biographical and Critical, on Thomas Moore” which Herbert G. Eldridge believed was written by Joseph Dennie, and which was “by far the most serious and extended American literary critique of the whole controversy – and perhaps of the decade” (Eldridge, 58). It was ironic that “Moore had done little more than turn Port Folio vituperation into heroic couplets, and he might have expected a sympathetic reception from the Federalist press in Philadelphia. Instead, the Federalists seemed to be leading the hue and cry” (Eldridge, 59). However, “a foreigner had brought the national character into question, and the way of duty was clear” (Eldridge, 59). Dennie had little choice in the matter, regardless of his personal feelings towards Moore. Another piece which was published in response to the Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems was an anonymous poem entitled An Attempt to Vindicate the

Thomas Moore in America  181 American Character, Being Principally a Reply to the Intemperate Animadversions of Thomas Moore, Esq. (1806). It is hardly surprising, perhaps, that several of those who had poems dedicated to them in the collection also tried to distance themselves from the work. Writing to Joseph Atkinson in June 1806, Moore stated, “I am sorry I have been so unsuccessful in the Epistle to you – I thought it would give you pleasure [. . .] Lady Charlotte Rawdon too is angry at the company I have brought her into – Forbes has not said even “thank you” and in short I have a set of rather unthankful correspondents, except dear Lady Donegall & W. Spencer [. . .] (Vail, UL 1: 10). It appeared that some of Moore’s dedicatees would rather disassociate themselves from any possible “intemperate animadversions” which their literary friend had created, with his reputation being perceived as being damaged in some quarters. The Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems were also reviewed in Great Britain, with one such review leading to the development of a friendship between Moore and Francis Jeffrey of the Edinburgh Review.6 Interestingly, there is little mention of America in the Edinburgh Review regarding the Epistles, except for a brief reference to “the author’s severe judgment” of the members of that society (“Art. XVIII” 465). The ­review took greater exception towards Moore’s so-called “licentiousness”, focussing on the perceived amatory nature of the poems, rather than on the political comments that were being made throughout the collection; this viewpoint was reiterated in The Annual Review and History of ­Literature (“Art. III”), and also in The Poetical Register ­(“Epistles”).7 This was due, in particular, to the perceived suggestive nature of the “Odes to Nea”, poems included within the collection. The Monthly ­Review, or Literary Journal briefly mentions the comments that Moore made on America, but is once again more concerned with a lack of morality in many of the poems (“Art. VII”). However, this is perhaps to be expected; after all, it was not their country under attack.

Moore’s Influences Criticisms of Moore’s Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems have continued into the modern day. To a contemporary reader familiar with Moore’s political viewpoints – most particularly how he felt that during his lifetime Ireland was metaphorically enslaved in many ways to England – it is strange to find him referring to the men of Bermuda as being “not very civilised” (MCP 2: 277n). This calls to mind the comments of such writers as Giraldus Cambrensis, who had stereotyped Ireland and its people in earlier centuries, something which Moore took great exception towards, yet here he is perpetuating the same kinds of sentiments. ­Terence de Vere White believes that by the time he came to write the Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems, Moore “had shaken off rebel influences. He writes as one of the establishment” (T. de Vere White 40). He was at this time, it must be

182  Jennifer Martin remembered, working for the British in a colonial outpost. The establishment who was his employer may have tempered Moore’s outlook. Thus, we can see the kinds of issues affecting the development of Moore’s political writings over time. This includes, for instance, the afore-mentioned change in Moore’s viewpoints between his contributions to The Press and his poems within the Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems. As we have seen, in the former, he appears to agree with violent means being applied within the context of revolution, but by the time he has come to write the Epistles, he can no longer support such advocacy.

Moore and Colonialism Similar observations apply to Moore’s views about the native Indians of America and Canada. He mentions how they have been badly treated, but does not overly emphasise their displacement from their own land. Once again, it appears strange that he glosses over this fact when he came from a much-colonised land himself. For instance, he met with the Oneida Indians, after which, in a letter to his mother dated 17 July 1804, Moore writes that he had “been amused very much by the novelty of their appearance” (ML 1: 74) and referred to them as “poor, harmless savages!” (ML 1: 74–75). However, he stated that he was “almost inclined . . . to be of the Frenchman’s opinion, that the savages are the only well-bred gentlemen in America” (ML 1: 75), providing a somewhat backhanded compliment towards these said “savages”. R ­ obbie McVeigh has also explored this viewpoint. He argues, for example, that after spending time in ­Bermuda, Moore “returned to London to write poetry in response to a growing demand in Britain for exoticised accounts of colonised peoples. But there was no mention of solidarity with the colonised, no suggestion that, because of his Irishness, Moore should stand with them rather than the coloniser” (McVeigh 37). Similarly, Margaret McPeake finds a contradiction in Moore’s treatment of slavery within his writings. Although he was “employed by a colonial administration, Moore is unable to condemn the institution of slavery in Bermuda, while he is able to condemn slavery in the United States” (McPeake 211). McPeake also notes that Moore spoke about the Irish in his Irish Melodies as being slaves to oppression, yet he has not condemned that very real slavery inherent in Bermuda (McPeake 216–17). Undoubtedly, when reading Moore’s work as a whole, and reflecting on works such as the Irish Melodies, it is very difficult to reconcile the differences in how Moore has explored slavery in America with how he has treated it elsewhere in his work. Jesper Gulddal has examined Romanticism and the concept of antiAmericanism, drawing on Moore’s writing as an example. Gulddal points to the determining factors underlying the romantic disaffection for America and Americans. Five motifs are singled out as

Thomas Moore in America  183 fundamental to romantic anti-Americanism: the lack of history and culture in the US, the crass materialism of its inhabitants, their vulgarity, their religious excesses, and the flaws of the American political system. (Gulddal 419) According to Gulddal, Moore’s “epistles can best be described as catalogues of negative stereotypes. In fact, they present us with all the main motifs of romantic anti-Americanism – thus also the idea of the United States as a country without history and culture” (Gulddal 425). This is an important viewpoint, particularly given that, as Gulddal argues, “the romantics introduced a range of the negative stereotypes that still influence European perceptions of the United States and the Americans” (Gulddal 422). Moore was one of a number of early nineteenth-century writers who were responsible for laying the groundwork for, as Guiddal terms it, “modern anti-Americanism” (422).

Moore’s Reputations in America James Chandler has noted that even in 1818, when Henry Fearon published his Narrative of a Journey of Five Thousand Miles Through the Eastern and Western States of America, feelings still ran high in A ­ merica regarding Moore. He argues that, “As Moore would have discovered when he himself began to read Fearon in late December 1818, the sting these poems [Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems] carried for Americans was still remembered when Fearon retraced some of Moore’s footsteps in Washington DC fifteen eventful years after Moore’s visit” (Chandler 85).8 Americans did soften towards Moore with the publication of his Irish Melodies (see Sarah Gerk in this present volume). They were an immense success and influence within America (Hamm 42–61). Eldridge, however, believes that it was the publication of Moore’s Lalla Rookh in 1817 which turned the tide of Moore’s fortunes in America once again (62). Regardless of how or when it occurred, it appears that Moore was ultimately forgiven in America, and would go on to be memorialised and celebrated in many different ways. For instance, in Central Park, New York, a bronze bust of Moore, produced by sculptor Dennis B. Sheahan, was erected in 1880. It was commissioned by “The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, a citizens group of Irish descent . . . [and] was unveiled . . . on the 101st anniversary of the poet’s birth. Another statue of the writer by John G. Draddy was installed the previous year in Prospect Park” (NYC Parks). Later, in 1889, Henry H. Goodrich published A Memorial Birthday Poem to the Poet Thomas Moore, Dedicated to the National League of America, and its Kindred Irish Associations, with Other ­Poems. While previously Moore had taken on the mantle of a pariah in the eyes of many Americans, by the end of the nineteenth century he had undergone something of a renaissance.

184  Jennifer Martin With the publication of his Poetical Works (MCP) Moore attempted to provide some excuses for the comments made in his Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems: Few and transient, too, as had been my opportunities, of judging for myself of the political or social state of the country, my mind was left open too much to the influence of the feelings and prejudices of those I chiefly consorted with; and, certainly, in no quarter was I so sure to find decided hostility, both to the men and the principles then dominant throughout the Union, as among officers of the British navy, and in the ranks of an angry Federalist opposition. (MCP 2: xi–xii) Above it was noted that the company Moore had kept in America might have had an influence on his viewpoints of that time. Clearly, to some degree, Moore regretted his earlier criticisms of America. In a letter to an acquaintance, Samuel Corr, on 2 October 1833, for example, Moore wrote that “I am not sure that I do not love America and her institutions all the better now for having been once so unjust to her” (Burch 336). Already in June 1816 Moore declared to John E. Hall that “[m]y sentiments both with respect to their National and individual character are much changed since then, and I should blush as a lover of Liberty, if I allowed the hasty prejudices of my youth to blind me now to the bright promise which America affords of a better and happier order of things than the World has perhaps ever yet witnessed” (ML 1: 397). This is quite a turnaround from the comments which he made earlier in the century, and here Moore is blaming the vagaries of youth for what he had written. Also, in a letter to the same correspondent on 12 July 1818, he discusses that foolish disgust I took at what I thought the consequences of democratic principles in America – but I judged by the abuse, not the use and the little information I took the trouble of seeking came to me through twisted and tainted channels – and in short I was a rash boy and made a fool of myself. But, thank Heaven, I soon righted again, and I trust it was the only deviation from the path of pure public feeling I ever shall have to reproach myself with. (ML 1: 458) He goes on to state that “I retract every syllable injurious to the great cause of Liberty, which my hasty view of America and her society provoked me into uttering” (ML 1: 459). This is perhaps his strongest refutation of the content of his Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems, and he certainly does seem genuinely regretful. His word choice of “provoked” is significant. Although he appears to be remorseful, there is still some

Thomas Moore in America  185 apportioning of blame towards “America and her society” for his views. It appears to be an apology with some reservations. Ultimately Moore’s comments in Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems affected his reputation in America for a time, with many Americans finding it difficult to forget his earlier words. There is no doubt that his relative youth and the influence of those around him did have an impact on the comments which he made regarding America, and he seemingly came to regret this in later years. Eventually Moore’s reputation made a staunch and rapid recovery, helped in large part by the publication of his Irish Melodies and Lalla Rookh. Despite the controversy caused by the Epistles, we can see that this “little cock-sparrow of a songster” did get up, dust himself off, and continue to improve on his reception in America. However, for all that he put on a front of regret for his ­earlier comments, it must be remembered that when it came to editing and producing his ten-volume collected works in 1840 and 1841, he had an opportunity to remove the material which was perceived as being most offensive, but he chose not to do this. Perhaps his perception of America as having waved “Her fustian flag in mockery over slaves” was one step too far that could never be fully forgotten or forgiven, suggesting consistency in his development as a political writer.

Notes 1 Moira served in the House of Lords; he was later Governor-General of India (he was appointed in 1812 and resigned in 1821), and was closely aligned with the Prince of Wales, later Prince Regent and King George IV. 2 Forbes, to whom this poem is addressed, was “an apparently incorruptible young Irish peer whom Moore knew in London and who had been one of the 21 Irish nobles to protest publicly at the Act of Union” (J. Moore, “Transatlantic Tom” 80). 3 This footnote reads: ‘I must decline,’ (says Washington, in his inaugural address to Congress,) ‘I must decline, as inapplicable to myself, any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department.’ – After such a declaration, it is by no means pleasant to know, that Washington not only received his salary, but was in the habit of anticipating the regular periods of payment, and had constantly, during a space of five years, several thousand dollars of the public money in his hands. He was accused of letting out those sums at interest, but this we may consider as a calumny of the party opposed to him. The fact however of his overdrawing the salary appears by an extract from the Books of the Treasury, subjoined to a justification which the Secretary found it necessary to publish at the time; and this exposure was one of the many humiliations which preceded the retirement of Washington from the Presidency. (Moore, Epistles 178) 4 Joseph Dennie (1768–1812) was a highly influential writer and editor of pro-Federalist persuasion; he would commission work from Moore during the latter’s stay in America.

186  Jennifer Martin 5 For further on Moore in Canada, and the influence which he had on Canadian literature, see Bentley: “Preface: Thomas Moore in Canada and Canadian Poetry”; “Preface: Thomas Moore’s Construction of Upper Canada in ‘Ballad Stanzas’”; Mimic Fires; “Near the Rapids”; also Bentley’s chapter in the present volume. 6 Jeffrey had reviewed the Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems and was horrified by its so-called licentious nature (see “Art. XVIII”). This review led Moore to propose a duel with Jeffrey. Happily the duel was intercepted by police, Jeffrey and Moore were placed in a cell together, and they became lifelong friends. 7 The latter review in The Poetical Register (“Epistles”) is slightly ambiguous: “It is much to be regretted that he [Moore] should have admitted into [Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems] many pieces which, in a moral point of view, are strongly exceptionable” (499). This could refer potentially to his comments on America, but it is more likely to refer to a lack of morality in some of the poems that were included in it. 8 For more on Moore and Fearon, see Chandler 85–87.

Bibliography Works not found here are listed in a concluding Bibliography, which contains references common to more than one chapter. “Anacreon Moore versus America.” The Literary Magazine, and American Register, vol. 6, no. 36, 1806, pp. 219–22. “Art. III. Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems. By Thomas Moore, Esq. 4to.” The Annual Review and History of Literature, vol. 5, 1806, pp. 498–99. “Art. VII. Epistles, Odes, and other Poems. By Thomas Moore, Esq. 4to. 1l. 11s. 6d. Boards. Carpenter. 1806.” Monthly Review, or Literary Journal, vol. 51, 1806, pp. 59–70. “Art. XVIII. Epistles, Odes, and other Poems. By Thomas Moore, Esq. 4to. p. 350. London. 1806.” Edinburgh Review, vol. 8, no. 16, 1806, pp. 456–65. Bentley, D.M.R. Mimic Fires: Accounts of Early Long Poems on Canada. ­McGill-Queen’s UP, 1994. ———. “Preface: Thomas Moore in Canada and Canadian Poetry.” Canadian Poetry, no. 24, 1989, pp. vii–xiii. ———. “Preface: Thomas Moore’s Construction of Upper Canada in ‘Ballad Stanzas’”. Canadian Poetry, no. 35, 1994, pp. 1–10. Brogan, Howard O. “Thomas Moore, Irish Satirist and Keeper of the English Conscience.” Philological Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 3, 1945, pp. 255–76. Burch, Francis F. “An Unpublished Letter of Thomas Moore.” Notes and Queries, vol. 21, no. 9, 1974, pp. 335–36. doi:10.1093/nq/21-9-335c. Chandler, James. “Concerning the Influence of America on the Mind: Western Settlements, ‘English Writers,’ and the Case of US Culture.” American Literary History, vol. 10, no. 1, 1998, pp. 84–123. doi:10.1093/alh/10.1.84. Eldridge, Herbert G. “Anacreon Moore and America.” PMLA, vol. 83, no. 1, 1968, pp. 54–62. doi:10.2307/1261233. “Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems. By Thomas Moore, Esq. 4to. pp. 341.” The Poetical Register and Repository of Fugitive Poetry, no. 6, January 1811, p. 499.

Thomas Moore in America  187 Extracts from The Press: A Newspaper Published in the Capital of Ireland, during Part of the Years 1797 and 1798. Including Numbers Sixty-eight and Sixty-nine, Which were Suppressed by Order of the Irish Government, before the Usual Time of Publication. William Duane, 1802. Goodrich, Henry H. A Memorial Birthday Poem to the Poet Thomas Moore, Dedicated to the National League of America, and Its Kindred Irish Associations, with Other Poems. Patterson & White, 1889. Gulddal, Jesper. “That Most Hateful Land: Romanticism and the Birth of Modern Anti-Americanism.” Journal of European Studies, vol. 39, no. 4, 2009, pp. 419–54. Sage Journals Online, doi:10.1177/0047244109344796. Kelly, Linda. Ireland’s Minstrel, A Life of Tom Moore: Poet, Patriot and Byron’s Friend. I.B. Tauris, 2006. Lossing, B.J. “Tom Moore in America.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, no. 60, 1877, pp. 537–41. McPeake, Margaret. “Thomas Moore in Bermuda: Irish and African Liberties.” ABEI Journal: The Brazilian Journal of Irish Studies, Special Issue, no. 7, 2005, pp. 211–18. McVeigh, Robbie. “The Specificity of Irish Racism.” Race & Class, vol. 33, no. 4, 1992, pp. 31–45. Sage Journals Online, doi:10.1177/030639689203300403. Moore, Jane. “‘Transatlantic Tom’: Thomas Moore in North America.” Ireland and Romanticism: Publics, Nations and Scenes of Cultural Production. Ed. Jim Kelly, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, pp. 77–93. Moore, Thomas. Memoirs of Captain Rock the Celebrated Irish Chieftain with Some Account of His Ancestors. Ed. Emer Nolan, Field Day, 2008. NYC Parks. “Central Park Monuments: Thomas Moore.” www.nycgovparks. org/parks/central-park/monuments/1056. Accessed 29 Sept. 2017. Vail, Jeffery. “Thomas Moore in Ireland and America: The Growth of a ­Poet’s Mind.” Romanticism, vol. 10, no. 1, 2004, pp. 41–62. doi:10.3366/ rom.2004.10.1.41.

10 The Influence of Thomas Moore in the Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World Kathleen Ann O’Donnell

Introduction This chapter will look at the reach of Thomas Moore’s “fratriotism” – a blend of combative writing against imperialism found in Irish and Scottish Romanticism (Pittock 235–58) – within the nineteenth-century Greek-speaking world. Such cultural solidarity between politically subject nations had clear attractions for the Balkans, a region long subject to manipulation by western powers. Moore’s influence was felt most strongly in the Ionian Islands, which during his lifetime fell under British rule. The vehicles of his influence were translations of his “Imitation of Ossian” and of his Irish Melodies. The genesis of those translations, and of works influenced by Moore, will be outlined, as will the cultural networks facilitating the circulation of his works and of the Ossian poems generally. Moore’s close association with George Gordon, Lord Byron – who in 1824 died of fever while joining Greek insurgents rising against the Turks – will also be considered. Twentieth-century Greek scholarship (Dimaras 495) has under-estimated the influence of the Ossian poems, and of Moore, in the wider nineteenth-century Greek-speaking world. This legacy has accordingly been neglected.

Fratriotism: The Ossianic Poems and Thomas Moore An early example of fratriotism is the work of Scottish writer and antiquarian James Macpherson (1736–96), whose travels in the ­Scottish Highlands led him to publish Ossian’s Poems – also known as ­Fragments of Ancient Poetry – in 1760. According to oral tradition, Ossian was a warrior and bard, son of Fionn or Fingal, the leader of a famous group of Celtic warriors known as the Fianna (Fenians). Fionn was a mythological character but was transformed into a literary historical hero located in the third century A.D. (De Blácam 57). In 1761 and 1762 Macpherson also published, in six parts, Fingal, an ancient epic poem . . . composed by Ossian the son of Fingal. In 1773 he published a more complete revised edition of The Poems of Ossian (F. Stafford 185). While ­Macpherson presented these works as his translations of ancient

The Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World  189 Gaelic fragments that he had collected this origin is disputed, with some arguing that he invented these works himself (Trevor-Roper, The Invention of Scotland cf Gaskill, Ossian Revisited). In the middle of the eighteenth century there was a movement in ­Europe of protest against living under the yoke of an oppressor. Revolutionaries began to demand their rights, wanting democratic systems of government. This phenomenon started in Scotland in the very north of Europe with the Battle of Culloden in 1745, spread to Ireland (1798), and to the Ionian Islands on the Western Coast of Greece (1796) then to the mainland of what is now Greece (1821) with its revolutionary centre in Odessa. One inspiration that served to implement this change was The Poems of Ossian. Macpherson was appalled at the defeat and loss of Scottish culture under the English so he wrote about the glories of Celtic warriors who fought tyranny and usurpation, portraying them as noble and just. These poems, instantly successful, were translated into Italian (sciolti) by the Abbot Melchior Cesarotti in 1763; into French by Le Tourneur in 1776; and into German and Russian by the end of the century (Gaskill, “Ossian in Europe” 642–78). Macpherson, using prose that flowed in forceful cadences, combined the style of the Bible with that of Gaelic song. The Poems concern heroes who base their deeds on their own ethical beliefs. Unlike Achilles in Homer, Ossianic warriors show respect for the dead; they lack sly connivance. There is never promotion of the authoritarian arrogance of a military regime (Dwyer 170). The poems symbolise how harmony between old enemies is accomplished when leaders follow the Ossian-­ imbued chivalry of a high moral order. And so, during the nineteenth century, the Ossianic poems appealed to individuals and networks that shared these values. While a student at Trinity College Dublin Moore studied ancient Greek and Roman writers, producing two translations: Odes of Anacreon (MCP 1) and “Translations from Catullus” (MCP 7: 372–75). He also produced “In Imitation of Ossian”, which can be read as an attack on the despotism that suppressed Ireland. Moore’s “Imitation” – in combination with The Poems of Ossian by the Scottish scholar James Macpherson – was published in Dublin’s Press on 19 October 1797. Ossian paved the way for the Romantic Movement, influencing poets including William Blake, George Gordon Lord Byron, William Coleridge, William Hazlitt, Charles Lamb, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and others (F. Stafford 177). Thomas Moore based his “Imitation of Ossian” on the epic Fingal, demonstrating his skill in combining The Poems of Ossian and the plight of Ireland: O! why, my soul, rollest thou on a cloud? O! why am I driven from thy side, Elvira – and ye, beams of love, to wander the night on the lonely heath? But why do I talk; Is not Erin sad,

190  Kathleen Ann O’Donnell and can I rejoice? She waileth in her secret caves, and can I repose? ................................................. O! Erin; and corruption is the order of the day! That freedom, O! Brethren of Woe, which once was yours, is driven from your isle, and now cheereth some nations abroad – but Britannia commands and Oppression is joined to your fate! Moore then makes a comparison with former times: Unimpartial is the throne of thy isle, smiles fall unequal around! Not so was the court of Fingal – not so were the Halls of Selma! [. . .] [T]here sang sweet Ossian, sacred Bard of Jura! – for just was the soul of Fingal, and noble were the heroes of Morven. Moore also draws on the Ossianic pleas to nature, not only to express his sorrow over Ireland and a desire for justice but also to awaken the people: O! Elvira, of love; and ‘tis therefore I wander the midnight snows and sigh forth my woes to the wind! thy beams, O, moon! fall in vain on my frame; they illumine not the breast of the wretched! Thy blasts, O, Wind! of the North, are futile to me – they disperse not the mist from my soul! O! children of Erin! you’r [sic] robb’d; why not rouse from your slumber of Death? He refers to the division of the Irish people whereby unity is thwarted through the English policy of divide and rule: “Armies are bound to oppose your peace, and their ranks are filled from the land of strangers; even your brethren of the soil are against you” (qtd. Clifford 39–41).

Influence of Ossian on Moore’s Irish Melodies Moore’s Irish Melodies brought him fame; The Poems of Ossian were an inspiration for this series. The “Imitation” was mentioned in the preface to the fourth number of Moore’s Irish Melodies (Clifford 15; see MCP 4: xvi–xix), which reveals the influence of The Poems of Ossian. For example, whenever there was disaster, the strings of Ossian’s harp sounded, thus connecting the dead to the living through the power of music (Macpherson 167). The cryptic lyrics of the Irish Melodies memorialise the valour of Irish patriots. In the “Advertisement” to the third number Moore declared his aim to produce “that brotherhood of sentiment which it is so much our interest to cherish, than could ever

The Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World  191 be effected by the arguments of wise, but uninteresting, politicians” (MCP 4: 116). There are many examples of the influence of The Poems of Ossian in Moore’s Irish Melodies. These can best be explained in Panayiotis Panas’s 1862 translation of “Dar-thula” (see below) in his note on “Her hair sighs on the ocean’s wind”. Panas remarks on the Celtic metaphor unknown in Greece where “A cave howls, the earth sighs, a tree cries, that a sob came from far away thick hair, disturbed by the light breath of the wind” (Panas, Dar-thula-Lathmon 22). That Moore makes use of the words “sighs” and “breathe” in his Irish Melodies is evident in “Oh! Breathe not his Name”, “The Song of Fionnuala”, and “Oh! Blame not the Bard”, among others (Clifford 82, 84, 86). Clearly, with its magnanimous heroes and heroines, its vivid personification of nature and dignified secular stance, Moore was greatly influenced by James MacPherson’s The Poems of Ossian, a work which promoted Celtic ­literature across Europe and beyond from 1760.

George Gordon, 6th Baron Byron of Rochdale (1788–1824) Moore and Byron met in 1811 and became close friends. No doubt influenced by Moore (Vail, The Literary Relationship 18), Byron also wrote his adaptation of The Poems of Ossian entitled “The Death of Calmar and Orla”, which was published in his Hours of Idleness (Byron, The Complete Poetical Works 1: 112–161). Written in prose, the story describes Calmar who joins his former foe Cuchullin in his fight against tyranny. Like Moore, Byron based his adaptation on Fingal. When the Greek Revolution broke out in 1821, Seven Islanders were forced to remain neutral under English pro-Ottoman policies (­Kairophylas 144). When Byron came to Greece in 1823, he spent several months on Kephalonia. Rather than reside with the English Governor, Byron stayed in the village of Metaxata ten kilometres from Argostoli, the capital. ­Kephalonia was subjected to road works similar to those imposed by ­General Wade in Scotland (F. Stafford 17). When road workers were digging a road nearby to where Byron was staying, a landslide occurred. Furious at the brutal indifference of onlookers, Byron, showed great humanity ­ ephalonians. Moore by dismounting his horse and digging out the buried K writes that Byron treated people of all echelons and nations equally and that he showed great humanity; he recognised the weaknesses of enslaved people and wished to help them. On 2 ­December 1823, Byron wrote to the Wallachian political leader ­Alexandros ­Mavrokorthatos that Greece had the choice of three alternatives. The first was to regain her freedom, the second was to become dependent upon ­Western powers, and the third was to return to the Ottoman Empire (Moore, Life, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, 607–08, 602–03).

192  Kathleen Ann O’Donnell Kephalonian scholars were inspired by the fact that Byron had lived on ­ ssian the island. They were surely influenced by Byron’s adaptation of O and his translation of Rhigas Velestinlis’s “Battle Cry” (see below) and were likely aware that Victor Hugo (1802–1885), in one of his early ­poems referred to Byron as the “new Rhigas” (Padélodimos).

The French Network Possibly as a reflection of its status as the international language of ­Europe in the nineteenth century, literature in Greek at that time was often translated from French sources; French language literature was also relatively prominent in the Balkans. As works by both Moore and Byron were translated from French into Greek it is pertinent to identify these French scholars. By 1831, Alexis Paulin Paris had translated Moore’s complete edition of Byron’s work in thirteen volumes – ­including Moore’s Mémoires of Byron (Moore, and Paulin Paris). Paulin Paris was an archivist at the Bibliothèque nationale and a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. He was also a professor of medieval French literature at the College de France (“Paulin Paris”). In 1823, Louise Swanton-Belloc translated The Loves of Angels and Irish Melodies by Thomas Moore, and seven years later she translated Moore’s Memoirs of Lord Byron into French. 2 She also wrote Bonaparte et les Grecs in 1825 (Querard, Maury, and Bourquelot 254–56). Nineteen years later, she translated Moore’s Irish Melodies into French prose. Swanton-Belloc’s Irish Melodies is prefaced by a substantial survey written by D. O’Sullivan (Director of the Anglo-French library and professor at the Royal College of Saint Louis), devoted to Irish history and literature including Ossian – with excerpts from Fingal, Temora, and Carthon. He states that English writers, always unjust towards the Irish, have entirely rejected the narrative and traditions of the latter without even condescending to examine them (­O’Sullivan cxl). ­O’Sullivan draws on Moore’s History of Ireland, where the latter states that “the cloud-capt mountain of Alt Ossian presides, and around him is the whole scenery of Ossian and Fingal, which has been so beautifully described by Mr Macpherson and the ­northward of Loch Dearg are the mountains, caverns and lakes of Finn or F ­ ingal . . . his name still lives, not only in legend and songs, but yet more ­i ndelible record of scenery connected with his memory” (Moore, History 1: 136n2) – ­suggesting the birthplace of Ossian is actually Ireland. 3 O’Sullivan continues that the simplicity of expression and dignity of thought which characterise Greek writers in the time of Pericles breathe in the words of Irish bards. They are also the best guide for the historian to follow in order to know the ancient country of this interesting land (O’Sullivan xc, c).

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Influence of Ossian in the Greek-Speaking Lands On his travels to Anatolia (1809), Byron was moved by the life and works of Rhigas Velestinlis (1757–98; also known as Rhigas Feraios), a Greek-Wallachian revolutionary whose “Battle Cry” – “Sons of the Greeks, arise!” he translated into English and published in 1811 (­Byron, Complete Poetical Works 1: 330–32I).4 This battle song was sung in the Seven Islands in 1796 (Kordatos, Rhigas Pheraios 153–54). In 1814, Velestinlis’s famous songs were published in Venice (Vranousis 118). Influenced by the French Revolution, Velestinlis set up an Anatolian ­Confederation – a secret organisation – in Bucharest in 1780, which called for all people under Ottoman rule to unite against the tyranny of the Sultan (Kordatos, Rhigas Pheraios 57). Velestinlis promoted the spoken demotic Greek language by adapting French writers, translating their works to uplift morale after years of enslavement; his School of Delicate Lovers is based on six stories included in Les Contemporaines by Restif de la Bretonne (1734–1806) – who also translated extracts from The Songs of Selma and Oithona from The Poems of Ossian.5 In his Memoirs of Byron, Moore refers to Andreas Londos of the Morea who became Byron’s friend when he was in Greece in 1809. On hearing ­R higas’s name, Londo showed patriotic fervour by singing “Sons of Greeks arise” (Moore, Life, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron 619n1). This song is similar to the reference to tyranny included in Moore’s “Imitation of Ossian” – “but now Tyranny strides o’er our land dreadful as the gloom on his brow” (qtd. Clifford 41). Velestinlis wanted people of different faiths to unite so as to combat the tyranny of the Sultan. Thomas Moore also sought unity from people of all religious persuasions. Both men were lyricists whose songs inspired others, and are still sung today. These patriots left a legacy that influenced future generations to strive for freedom, equality, and fraternity. As the Ottoman Empire was in decline, England used her influence to capture its territory by stealth, exercising diplomatic machinations throughout the nineteenth century. Byron wrote in a letter to Moore dated 2 December 1823 that he thought the axiom “divide et imperia” was only appropriate in politics (Moore, and Paulin Paris 13: 359). Greek scholars would combat this tactic through translating and distributing The Poems of Ossian through the media, to cement unity. The Ionian Islands were the first part of the eastern Mediterranean to experience self-government under Napoleon.6 Napoleon removed the aristocracy from power, burning the Libro d’oro or the Golden Book containing their names. Their positions were taken over by democrats. Napoleon replaced the official language of Italian with that of Modern Greek. A printing press was installed (Moschopoulos 2: 37). Rhigas’s “Battle Cry” was sung. The revolutionary aristocrat, scholar,

194  Kathleen Ann O’Donnell and teacher Antonis Martelaos of Zakinthos, together with his nephew Dimitris Gouzélīs, helped to burn the Golden Book (Gouzélīs 24). ­Gouzélīs, a playwright, was one of the first Greeks to refer to Ossian in his work Judgement of Paris published in Trieste in 1817: “Ossian, a great old Celtic poet. His poems . . . translated into English prose by James Macpherson and then into wonderful Italian verse by the Abbot Melchior Cesarotti . . . Long live the Poems of Ossian” (Vagenas, trans. K.A. O’Donnell 4). Martelaos’s pupils included the Zakinthian poet Dionysios Solomos (Kordatos, [History] 174). Solomos became an outstanding scholar and was influenced by The Poems of Ossian. His lyric “Ode to the Moon” circulated amongst the inhabitants of Zakinthos as they endured various atrocities, including the public display of the corpse of a boy named Giannis Klaudianos. This action resulted in Giannis’s mother becoming mad (Kairophylas 138); Solomos wrote a poem entitled “The Mad Mother” in tribute (Solomos 1: 174). The following is an extract from his “Ode to the Moon”: Sweet friend, it is you with your divine Ecstasy of Ossian, in the seashore of the night Who inspires tranquillity . . . .................................. From Mount Skopos you proceed O how you delightfully console In the night! O Goddess to you This languorous hymn I raise. [Solomos 1: 57, trans. K. A. O’Donnell] The above two verses are the second and fifth stanzas. The moon is a witness to events on Mount Skopos; Ossian symbolises justice. Influenced by Solomos,7 many Greek poets imitated this Ossianic conceit in the nineteenth century to expose injustice. Another figure inspired by Ossian was Alexander Ypsilantis (1792– 1828), a Greek-Romanian (Giannopoulos 52, 55, 57) who was head of the Philikē Hetairia (Friendly Society), a secret organisation in Odessa, Bessarabia (Vournas 72–74). A supporter of Velestinlis, he led the Sacred Band into battle at Dragatsini in Moldavia on 24 February 1821, in the Greek Revolution, which failed (Koukkou 81, 93, 187, 197). Under him were fifty Zakinthians and a hundred Kephalonians including Panayiotis Panas (Vounas 183). Captured and imprisoned in Transylvania for more than six years, Ypsilantis also wrote poetry. He asked to have a copy of The Poems of Ossian to keep him company (Enepekidis 152). A short article mentioning Ossian in Evterpe’s weekly column “Works and Days” by “Gorgias” (Constantine Pop) was published at the

The Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World  195 ­ mpire, beginning of 1850, and distributed across towns in the Ottoman E Moldovlachia, the Ukraine, the Seven Islands and Western Europe: . . . The beloved land of Apollo . . . Has Olympus that is full of light been succeeded by the snowy black-clouded sky of Ossian? . . . the blond virgin warriors of Morven lamenting Ossian Hold the sweet lyre of Homer and Sappho and in the Place of Greek heroes the gloomy shadows of the heroes Of the Bard of Arturus [Ossian], Fingal and Oscar wander . . . . (Pop 790) It was in the journal Evterpe and its subsequent successor Evdomas that the influence of Gaelic literature reached the Greek-speaking world.

Thomas Moore in the Greek-Speaking Lands After the Greek Revolution ended in 1828, academies in Bucharest and Jassy changed the language of instruction from Greek to R ­ omanian. Tertiary education until then had been only available in Italy and in the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia where instruction was in Greek. Ioannis Kapodistrias set up the Ionian Academy in 1807 on Corfu (Koukkou 62). Writing from the British Protectorate, the Austrian Professor Leopold Joss at the Ionian Academy sent Moore some lyrics translated from Greek together with original Greek music in 1827.8 Joss wrote that “As lyric monarch you have a right to all such jetsam and flotsam; and they must be worthless if you cannot ennoble them in your ‘National Melodies’”. Moore wrote words to one of Joss’s Greek airs entitled “They are gone”. Moore said it was “the prettiest thing I have done for some time” (MJR 5: 99–100).9 One of these Kephalonian scholars was Joseph Mompherratos (1816– 88), a socialist who had been educated in Paris. He made a declaration demanding the end of slavery, the upholding of the inalienable rights of man, and the ardent desire of fraternity of the people (Loukatos 113). His faithful follower was Panayiotis Panas (1832–96), another Kephalonian radical scholar. The re-publication of Macpherson’s Poems of ­Ossian and Moore’s “Imitation of Ossian” in Dublin’s The Celt 1857 may have stimulated these two Kephalonian scholars to incorporate Moore’s work from Swanton-Belloc’s French translation of Irish Melodies – in which Moore refers to his first essays as champion of the popular cause in the Press founded by the celebrated Arthur O’Connor, Thomas ­Additt ­Emmet, and other leaders of United Ireland in the preface, noting that these Republicans were mainly Protestants (O’Sullivan xxxv) – into their translations of The Poems of Ossian into Greek at the time of the 1862 Cycladic Revolution and outbreak of civil war in Athens.

196  Kathleen Ann O’Donnell In November 1850, Byron’s “The Death of Calmar and Orla” was translated by Ioannis Geogantopoulos and published in the Athenian journal Evterpe. A comparison of two possibilities reveals Geogantopoulos’s source-text: Why should her voice curse Orla, the destroyer of Calmar? (Byron 5.59–60); Pourquoi la forcer à maudire Orla, qui guida Calmar à la mort? [Why force her to curse Orla, who guided Calmar to his death?]. (Moore, and Paulin Paris 5: 4; English trans. K.A. O’Donnell) Διάτι να καταρασθή του Όρλα όστις ωδήγησε τον Καλμάρ εις του θάνατου? [Why curse Orla who guided Calmar to his death.].(Byron, trans. Geogantopoulos 128) Clearly Geogantopoulos translated from the French version, rather than from Byron’s English, as he uses “guided to his death” instead of “destroyer”. This implied access to the Paulin Paris of Moore’s edition, including the Mémoires, suggests that Moore’s work on Byron was available in Greece in the mid-nineteenth century.10 None of the translators of The Poems of Ossian has been recognised for their contribution to the Greek language (K. A. O’Donnell “How ­Twentieth-century Greek Scholars” 281–82). Byron’s adaptation of ­Ossian has been obscured by the inaccurate claim that the translator did not name his source (Vagenas 181, 187). Moore’s contribution to Greek letters has also been ignored. Moore’s portrait by Thomas Lawrence was published in Athens in 1853, with an article stating that Moore was a fervent supporter of the 1798 United Irishmen’s revolution (“Thomas Moore”). The cultural tool of the harp – featured in The Poems of Ossian, and also favoured by Thomas Moore – demonstrates how keen he was to unite all I­ rishmen, no matter what creed. He interchanges the harp with the lyre in his ­Melodies giving his works a classical appeal – the lyre of Apollo or Orpheus – thus linking Ossian and Orpheus as part of ancient culture before Christianity (Cullen 48). Ossian was used to encourage people of different religious persuasion and aspirations in the Greek-speaking world to unite – the foe Calmar shows support for Cuchullain – in order to combat the policy of divide and rule used particularly by the English. While the Seven Islands were still a British Protectorate and Greece a monarchy the Irishman, Thomas Wyse, a friend of Thomas Moore’s (MJD 5: 1781) became the British Ambassador to Greece in 1849 (­Thouvenel 24). He completed his term in 1862, the year of his death.

The Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World  197 Wyse, a politician and a diplomat, was one of the founders of the ­Catholic Association. His Irish niece Winifrede M. Wyse served as his social secretary at the Embassy in Athens. Miss Wyse could play the harp and sing. In 1859, the Swedish traveller Fredrika Bremer described a party at the British Embassy, Athens on 20 December 1859 (Bremer 193). She named the guests including Lord Dufferin Ambassador to Constantinople,11 and the Russian Ambassador Baron Ozeroff. Bremer goes on to say that there were many Greek men and women in attendance. She describes various artists and her impressions of their performance; apparently the best entertainment of the evening was Winifrede Wyse playing the harp, and singing the melodies of Thomas Moore. Moore’s melodies reached the ears of Greeks at the party and one wonders who these Greeks were.12 Among Miss Wyse’s acquaintance was the Scottish historian George Finlay (1799–1875), a supporter of Greek independence. George Finlay’s home is now part of the British School at Athens. The Finlay Room houses his possession of works by Thomas Moore, including his 1821 copy of Irish Melodies with an appendix containing the original advertisement of the prefatory letter on music, printed for J. Power and ­Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, London. There is a letter plate inserted on the inside cover with the name George Finlay with the motto “I’ll be wary”. There are also six volumes of The Works of Lord Byron: with his Letters and Journals and his Life (London, 1832). Also present is the 1829 Paris edition of The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore . . . complete in one volume. Inside this book, there are loose cuttings including one from a newspaper and two poems. The letter, dated 26 May 1853, is addressed to the editor of The Times from Vane Londonderry, brother of Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh. The letter attempts to vindicate Castlereagh (MJR 4: 291–92; MJD 2: 815). Of the poems, one is entitled “The Burial of Moore” from an un-dated clipping of the Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier. In seven verses, its fourth verse questions whether Moore should be buried in Ireland: Leave his dust to the land where his death-sigh was breathed Land worthy the dust of a freeman to keep! – With night-shade his urn would, by thee, be unwreathed, And bigotry’s venom the coronal steep. And yet the final two lines are: And Albion, subdued by thy sadness, surrender The urn of the bard to his loved Isle of Song. The second poem, entitled “In Memoriam” is written by one “L.S.C.” The second, third, and fourth stanzas are as follows:

198  Kathleen Ann O’Donnell Taught nations, hostile to her fame, That from her wild harp turn’d away, To love his cherish’d Erin’s name, And listen, weeping, to his lay. Who in his charmed circle drew The gorgeous East, with all her flowers, And told her tales so warm, so true, As tho’ a gale from Aden’s bowers – The musky gale that wakes the rose – Had brought new vigour on its wing, And, while it bade her leaves unclose, Had taught the poet how to sing. As mentioned previously there is little reference in modern studies relating to nineteenth-century Greek translations of Moore. After the article by George Savvidis there is a list of works translated into Greek between 1830 and 1980, in which Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies (­dating from 1834, the year of the tenth and final number) is listed – but the translator (as with all the works on the list) is not identified. It has not been possible to trace this translation. Interestingly, Lascaris by A. Villemain is listed for 1847 but the translator is omitted (Savvidis 307). As the archives of the Voutsina Poetry Competition (1864–1877) have disappeared ­(Moullas 26, 47, 118) the extent to which the works of Celtic literature penetrated and influenced Modern Greek poetry during this period cannot be fully realised, though the influence must have been quite considerable considering the translations of Ossian that were completed.

Dar-thula The painting of Dar-thula – a heroine from Macpherson’s The Poems of Ossian – by the English watercolour artist Henry Tidey (1814–1872) – was first exhibited, together with other paintings including The Feast of the Roses inspired by Moore’s Lalla Rookh, at London’s Royal Academy in 1856 (Baker). Dar-thula is mentioned in Moore’s footnote to his Irish Melody “Avenging and Bright”, which is based on the “very ancient Irish story of Deirdre . . . upon which is appears that the ‘Darthula of Macpherson’ is founded” (MCP 3: 300). Moore continues, “The treachery of Conor, King of Ulster, on putting to death the three sons of Usna, was the cause of a desolating war against Ulster . . . [and is] held in high repute as one of the three tragic stories of the Irish” (MCP 3: 300). In 1861, Tidey’s painting was reproduced in the Illustrated London News magazine (Figure 10.1), which enjoyed worldwide distribution.

The Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World  199

Figure 10.1  Ossian’s Dar-thula as drawn by Henry Tidey, reproduced in the Illustrated London News (13 June 1846).

A substantial accompanying article states that Tidey ambitiously draws on the romantic poetry of Ossian and although this poetry is neglected, it is deserving of greater readership. Quoting from Macpherson’s poem, the article reports on how well Tidey has kept to the text in his rendition: “No tear is in her eye: but her look is wildly sad. Pale was her cheek . . .

200  Kathleen Ann O’Donnell Her shield fell from “Dar-Thula’s” arm. Her breast of snow appeared . . . but it was stained with blood. An arrow was fixed in her side”. The artist is described as being sincere in his interpretation of this “cruel epic”. His depiction of the “slaughtered victims of the battlefield” is compared with the “wild, gigantesque fancy of a [Henry] Fuseli”. Standing behind Darthula is Cairbar, the “victorious foe”. It is pointed out that the colour used by Tidey – granite grey – is in harmony with the poetry of Ossian (“Calendar”). It is also important to include what was written in 1864 because scholars tend to emphasise the constant battle between the interpretation of Irish and Scottish myths, which created dissension between Scotland and Ireland. In June 1864, Tidey’s painting “Ossian and the Death Wound of Dar-Thula” was exhibited in Dublin as part of the annual exhibition of the Royal Hibernian Academy. The Irish Times described it as “magnificent”. The heroine looks pale in her mute distress, with furrowed brows. Her shield has dropped from her arm revealing her snow-white bosom while her clothes are bloodstained where the deadly enemy arrow entered her side (“Royal Hibernian Academy”). The presence of T ­ idey’s work in this particular exhibition demonstrated a continued interest in Ossian some seven years after The Celt’s reprint of In Imitation of ­Ossian. A Greek translator of “Dar-thula” was Panayiotis Panas.

Panayiotis Panas, Gerassimus Mavroyiannis, and Panayiotis Mataragkas As the successor to Velestinlis, Panas was a Kephalonian radical scholar, an itinerant journalist, a principal translator of The Poems of ­Ossian and founder of the Democratic Eastern Federation (DEF) in 1868 (­Stavropoúlou 129). By 1861, Panas was editor of a leading Athenian newspaper, but he was jailed, tortured, and deported for his anti-­ monarchical stance. From the late 1850s, Greek intellectuals in Athens who opposed King Othon had been exiled to the Cyclades by the German Catholic king. Similar to Irish radicals, Nikolas Leotsakos also sought to replace monarchy with a republic. On the island of Kythnos he and two others met with resistance from Greek Royalist Catholic soldiers. In March 1862, the three republicans were mown down in cold blood, their bodies stripped, dumped in a boat, and left unburied (K. A. O’Donnell, ­“Nineteenth-Century Cycladic Warriors” 168). Six months later Panas published Dar-thula and Lathmon from the Italian version by Cesarotti, translating from sciolti into fifteen syllabic lines similar to that of demotic song, together with copious notes in book form, published in the British Protectorate. After the preface there is a dedication in memory of the three heroes, who are named. This is followed by a poem of twenty-three lines about the three martyrs who

The Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World  201 died in the Cycladic Revolution, recorded as a bloodless coup, comparing them to the sons of Usthnos (Panas, Dar-thula-Lathmon v–vi). The hypothesis connects the story to Temora, extracts of which Panas would later translate (Panas, “The Death of Oscar”). This translation is omitted from “Ossian in Greece” (Vagenas). Out of more than forty prose poems in The Poems of Ossian why did Panas choose “Dar-thula”? In 1823, the Irish Melodies by Moore was translated into French prose by Swanton-Belloc.13 “Avenging and Bright” becomes “la Vengeance des fils d’Usna” (Swanton-Belloc 179). Panas’s dedicatory poem to three dead Greek heroes bears similarity to certain lines of Moore’s poem: Avenging and Bright falls the swift sword of Erin On him who the brave sons of Usna betray’d. ..................................... Revenge on a tyrant is sweetest of all! (MCP 3: 300; 301) In Panas’s poem: Here the HELLENE unsheathes his sword Fiercely. The tyrant trembles. (Panas, Dar-thula-Lathmon vi) The harp calls for liberty in both poems, though Moore’s harp “shall be silent”, while Panas writes that songs will be sung once Liberty erects her throne after vengeance has been wrought.14 These examples show a connection between Panas’s dedicatory poem (three contemporary Greek heroes), compared with Moore’s Irish ­Melodies (the three sons of Usnoth). “Dar-thula” was also chosen for its powerful depiction of the cruelty of a cowardly tyrant; Macpherson changes the original Irish myth so when Dar-thula fights the tyrant, she dies like a warrior with the three sons of Usnoth when an enemy arrow enters her side. The tyrant appears more brutal by killing a woman. As Panas was a journalist there can be little doubt that he would have read about “Dar-thula” in the Illustrated London News. He wanted to convey the horror with which Greeks fighting against the usurpation of their land for a republic were slaughtered, in March 1862 during the Cycladic Revolution. Prevented from beheading Leotsakos, the leader of the Greek Catholic King’s soldiers continued firing bullets into his dead body (K.A. O’Donnell, “Nineteenth-Century Cycladic Warriors” 168). Although Moore is cryptic in his praise of Irish heroes, Panas compares the names of dead Greek patriots to Ossianic warriors in “The Poems of Ossian”. He uses translations of The Poems of Ossian “to secretly portray the republican movement at that time”. He places a note in his translation next to Cairbar: “How many Cairbars are alive today?” In fact,

202  Kathleen Ann O’Donnell he uses the modern word “κόμμα” (political party) to describe Cairbar’s band of warriors (Panas, Dar-thula-Lathmon iii). ­L athmon, dedicated to the youth of Athens (Panas, Dar-thula-Lathmon 5), demonstrates how an enemy becomes a friend, thus sending a message to the Greek people to unite against the threat of Western monarchy. After refusing to fight with Ossian and Gaul, the enemy Lathmon is freed by Fingal. Later, Lathmon’s sister Oithona will become engaged to Gaul. This parallels radical Greek opposition to the divide and rule of the British Empire. In 1868, Panas founded the DEF in Athens and Bucharest (Hassiotis 25). Panas chose certain poems and extracts from The Poems of Ossian to serve as ethical precepts for this organisation. Like his predecessor, Rhigas Velestinlis, he set up the DEF in secret under the guise of the ­R higas Association in Athens. It consisted of about 500 members who were intellectuals (Stavropoúlou 100). While Panas saw the Great Idea as a resurrection of Byzantine Imperialism, he envisaged the DEF as a sturdy contrast to the kingdoms of Europe, which could save Europe from the destruction of war. Panas’s aim was to unite all people, no matter what faith, based on the first article in Velestinlis’s constitution, in order to create federal states based on mutualism rather than competition. The DEF sought peaceful unification of former foes using the secular The Poems of Ossian to unite people of different faiths. This may be similar to Moore’s aspiration when he published his “Imitation of Ossian” in 1797. Panas dedicated his first book of poetry (1855)15 – which reveals Ossianic influence (Stavropoúlou 180) – to Gerassimus Mavroyiannis (1823– 1906). Mavroyiannis was a fellow Kephalonian, scholar, bard, and journalist who had chosen self-exile in Athens. Mavroyiannis’ disgust with the despotic rule of the British is expressed in his poem “ ­ Apatris” (”Stateless” 3). Like other radical scholars, he wrote an invocation to the moon in which he confides his plight under tyranny – a conceit used in Solomos’s “Ode to the Moon”: The pale star sheds her last glance on the mountain and She pauses! Will you listen to her lament in secret, in the woody forest with inarticulate lamentation? . . . I myself want a country. . . (Mavroyiannis, “Apatris”, trans. K.A. O’Donnell) We find a similarity to the lines in Moore’s Irish Melody “Erin! Oh Erin”: “And though slavery’s cloud o’er thy morning hath hung / The full moon of freedom shall beam round thee yet” (MCP 3: 260). In June 1863 there was a civil war as a result of the abdication of Othon and the desire for a republic. (Instead, a second foreign monarch would be enthroned after the Cycladic Revolution.) In July, ­Mavroyiannis published a dissertation on Ossian and several translations from The Poems of Ossian (from Cesarotti’s Italian), serialised in the periodical Chrysalis

The Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World  203 of Athens (“Ossian and the Poems Attributed to Him”). He draws on different sources including the essay by D. O’Sullivan that precedes Swanton-Belloc’s French version of Moore’s Irish Melodies. The long translation of the Ossianic Fingal by Mavroyiannis ends with an appeal when Conal influences battle-hungry Cuchullin to remain at peace until Fingal arrives – that is, to retain unity in Athens during the civil war (Mavroyiannis, “Ossian and the Poems Attributed to Him” 530). Like Moore, Mavroyiannis translated ancient Greek poetry. While Moore translated Anacreon into English (MCP 1: 1–250), Mavroyiannis translated Theocritus into Modern Greek demotic poetry in 1862 (­Markakis 18–32). Similar to Moore, he wrote lyrics – in this case to the “Radical Hymn”, published in 1849 (Raftopoulos 70–71) based on Velestinlis’s “Battle Cry”, which is still sung in Kephalonia to celebrate the day when the Seven ­Islands were united to mainland Greece in May 1864.16 (This hymn became popular throughout Greece. Printed in the media in the first decade of the ­twentieth century, using the same melody, “The Radical Hymn” became known as “Hymn to the Macedonian War”. Certain words were changed. For example, “radical” became “rebel” (Livadas 247–52). Furthermore, while Moore wrote The History of Ireland, Mavroyiannis penned History of the Ionian Islands from 1797 to 1815. Also, in 1864 “Come o’er the Sea” (MCP 3: 332–33) from the sixth number of Moore’s Irish Melodies was translated into Purist ­(Katharevousa) and published in Athens (Moore, and Mataragkas). Few people today would find this poem easy reading. The translation broadly keeps to the original, although it is much longer with several additions, probably done to retain the rhythm. One example of additional text is the translation of the line “No eye to watch and no tongue to wound us”, translated as “Jealousy’s spleen cannot poison all the noise of the people” [Εκεί του φθόνου ή χολή δεν δηλητηριάζει ουδ΄ή οδύνη ν’αγρυπνή το όμμα μας βιάζει.]17 The Greek translator’s name, Mataragkas, is of Albanian origin. Many Albanians moved to Kephalonia in the nineteenth century. The branch of his family, however, moved to Zakinthos. Panayotis Mataragkas (1843–95) was born in Navplion. Employed in the Consular service, he was a lawyer, writer, and poet. His published work includes anacreontic and patriotic poems as well as political articles (Drandakis 767; the name of Thomas Moore is not included in this encyclopaedia.) In his anthology A Bouquet Mataragkas included poems written by figures in the political-cultural network also mentioned in this chapter: Mavroyianis (“Stateless”), Velestinlis (“Battle Hymn”), Calvo (“Ode to the Sacred Band”), and Solomos (“The National Hymn”). A brief analysis of the vocabulary used in Mataragkas’s Greek translation of Moore’s “Come o’er the sea” reveals several words in use prior to their believed origins (Tegopoulos and Phytrakis). For example, “κρατηρ” (an ancient Greek word meaning “ancient vessel”) is credited to Constantine Cavafy (1863–1933). Several other words are credited to the poet Kostas

204  Kathleen Ann O’Donnell Karyotakis (1896–1928) including “φθόνον” (ancient Greek word: jealous); “δουλειά” (a demotic word meaning “work, occupation, profession” (K.A. O’Donnell, “How Twentieth-century Greek Scholars Influenced” 281–82). Mataragkas is omitted from Dimaras’s Greek Romanticism. Mataragkas’s 1864 translation of Moore’s “Come o’er the sea” was published six months after the Seven Islands became united to Greece – then under the rule of the Danish-born George I, King of the Hellenes.18 The choice of poem is apt for the Seven Islands, whose many inhabitants worked on the sea. In fact, their merchant navy was a great commercial threat to the English (Markopoulos 25). For the Seven Islanders, especially the radicals, living in Greece – which they regarded as an English Protectorate – did not represent the freedom they were seeking under a republic. Moore’s lines – “Was not the sea / Made for the Free, / Land for courts and chains alone?” – are a reference to monarchy and the fetters it imposes. He continues, “Here we are slaves, / But, on the waves, / Love and Liberty’s all our own” (MCP 3: 333). [Αλλά επί του κύματος γνουρίζομεν ιδίαν Τού ερωτος την άλυσσον και την Ελεθερίαν.] Mataragkas transforms the word “love” to “love chains”. Land could be usurped but the sea cannot; Greeks could not feel free while still under monarchy.

Ossian and Moore in Romania and Transylvania The uniting of the Seven Islands to Greece in 1864 followed the union of Moldavia and Wallachia under the name of Romania in 1859. Ion Heliade-Rădulescu (1802–1872) was a revolutionary, scholar, ­Hellenist, and journalist.19 Through translation he sought to enrich the ­Romanian culture and language, still written in Cyrillic (Melas 145). In 1866 there was an uprising in Crete. Heliade-Rădulescu translated a dissertation on The Poems of Ossian and Fingal Book III into poetry from ­Letourneur’s version of Ossian. It was serialised in the newspaper ­Trompetta ­Carpatiloru in Bucharest in 1867, which reported on Cretan events (­Heliade-Rădulescu, “Introduction”, 2211–2212).20 This translation not only symbolised brotherhood under threat of tyranny by encouraging volunteers to support Cretans but also gave hope to ­Romanians and ­Transylvanians. In 1866, Carol I – a cousin of the ­Bavarian king – ­replaced the local R ­ omanian prince, Domnitor. When Franz-Josef was made King of ­Hungary in 1867, he imposed a law that made Transylvania part of that country with H ­ ungarian as the official language. Thus Fingal, translated into R ­ omanian and distributed through the media, offered Transylvanians enrichment in their native language and also encouragement to unite in peaceful and democratic fraternity. Instead, they faced further foreign monarchical rule. R ­ eference to Moore’s “Imitation” as translated by colleagues of Heliade-­Rădulescu reached Dacia by the 1860s. Romanian radicals referred to their country as Dacia, aspiring for unity that must include Transylvania as well (Otetea). Notably, Thomas

The Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World  205 Moore’s Irish Melody “Forget not the field” inspired Hungarian patriots in the 1848 revolution led by Lajos Kossuth: Forget not the field where they perish’d, The truest, the last of the brave, All gone— and the bright hope we cherish’d Gone with them, and quench’d in their grave! Oh! could we from death but recover Those hearts, as they bounded before, In the face of high heav’n to fight over That combat for freedom once more; – Could the chain for an instant be riven Which Tyranny flung round us then, Oh! ‘tis not in Man, nor in Heaven, To let Tyranny bind it again! (MCP 4: 20) Three well-known Hungarian poets vied with one another to produce the best translation including Sándor Petőfi (Morse, Bertha & Pálffy). Gregore Lazu translated Petőfi into Romanian, while also translating Thomas Moore and Ossian. Another Romanian, Bonifaciu Florescu (1848–99) translated “Maria” by Thomas Moore. 21 The Socialist poet and dramatist Stefan Petica (1877–1904) also translated “Maria” by Thomas Moore. Born near Iassy in northeastern Romania, Constantine Stamati (1786–1869) knew French, Russian, and Greek. He met Decembrists Alexander Pushkin in exile in 1821 as well as Vasiliĭ ­A ndreevich Zhukovskiĭ (Creţu 359–61, 491, 673–75, 804–05). These Russian ­Decembrists were exiled to Bessarabia by the Tsar for their anti-­monarchist views (Koukkou 284, 386). Zhukovskiĭ (1783–1852) had translated Moore’s “Paradise and the Peri” from Lalla Rookh into Russian (Imposti 136). Stamati apparently translated the Irish ­Melodies from Swanton-Belloc’s French into Romanian. Constantin Negruzzi (1808–68), who knew Greek and French, translated Byron’s Oscar d’Alva in 1841 from Pichot’s French version; it was published in Spicuitorul Moldo-Roman. His translation of Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies from Swanton-Belloc was published in the Iassy-based Romanian literary magazine Convorbiri literare in 1868 and republished again in the same journal in 1905 (Creţu 618–23, 211–14, 804–05).

Dar-thula Revisited Panas serialised a re-publication of “Dar-thula” in translation in Evdomas of September 1885 (Panas, “‘Dar-thula’ from Ossian” 438–40; 451–53). Evdomas replaced Evterpe when Dimitris Kambouroglou assumed the

206  Kathleen Ann O’Donnell editorship; he was son of the editor of the former periodical that had published the three works previously mentioned: Byron’s “The Death of Calmar and Orla” (in 1850); Pop’s “Work and Days” with Evterpe’s first reference to Ossian (also 1850); also the article about Thomas Moore, with portrait (in 1853). Notably, Panas’s re-publication of “Dar-thula” appeared at a time when discord recurred in the Balkans. After the San Stefano Treaty of 1878 marking the end of the Russo-Ottoman war, the Russians under the Tsar chose Prince Alexander of Battenberg to rule a part of what is now Bulgaria. This Prince, breaking the Treaty of Berlin, attempted to enlarge his territory in 1885. This offended the Serbs who fought the ­Bulgarians (Stavrianos 427–33); Western monarchy brought division (K. A. ­O’Donnell, “The Disintegration” 149–50). Preceding the last instalment of “Dar-thula”, on the same page is an extract from Lascaris by Abel-François Villemain (1790–1870), a French scholar and secrétaire perpetual de l’Academie français in 1834. Christos A. Parmenides was its translator, who had previously translated Villemain’s poem “Carthon Ode to the Sun” in 1847 (Parmenides, Lascaris or the Greeks 136–37). Constantine Lascaris, born circa 1434, was a famous Greek man of letters who promoted Hellenic literature in Rome and Naples. The extract from Lascaris describes how Orthodox Christians were enemies of both Muslims and Catholics in the fifteenth century, resulting in the war whose underlying tensions continued to resonate. For example, in the 1862 Cycladic Revolution, the Greek Catholic community fought Greeks of the Orthodox religion in support of the Catholic monarch Othon. In his Epicurean, Moore refers to the Schism that spread hatred between Orthodox and Catholic Christians (MCP 10: 30). These two authors were further connected by their appearance in an American publication of 1894, Beacon Lights of Patriotism.22 Like Thomas Moore whose “Imitation of Ossian” was published in support of unity of people of different faiths in Ireland, the importance of this translation of Dar-thula – which directly follows Lascaris in Evdoma – was to remind Modern Greeks of the importance of valour and sacrifice, made by Greek patriots in the Cycladic Revolution of 1862, in the quest for such unity under the umbrella of the Panas’s DEF. Panas took his own life in September 1896 (K. A. O’Donnell, “The Democratic Eastern Federation”).

Conclusion So, we have seen that the Celtic legend of Ossian – known previously only through ancient songs – passed through a Scotsman’s English into French and Italian translations and thence into Greek, largely thanks to the prestige of Moore and his friend Byron. The Greek translations, published between 1847 and 1890, shadow political developments. One translator was Panayiotis Panas, founder of the DEF. His translations,

The Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World  207 like his movement, were weapons in a war against monarchical and ecclesiastic autocracy in the region. Other translators joined in. The publication of Ossian translations often coincided with key moments in the region’s struggles for autonomy, like blockades, the Cycladic revolution, the imposition of Hungarian in Transylvania, the Cretan uprising, etc. But this story remains largely untold. Detailed information on translations into Greek of Moore and Ossian is scant (unlike, e.g., for ­Romanian). Moore does not feature in twentieth-century studies on Greek Romantic literature. Byron’s posthumous influence is similarly neglected. The Ossian poems introduced Celtic literature to the world, an impact greatly empowered and enriched by Moore. Translations of both Moore and Ossian in the Greek-speaking world served as a code for fraternity between subject nations.

Notes 1 Originally sourced from a 1919 edition of Byron’s Works published by Gaulon of Paris. 2 Louise was the daughter of James Swanton, a member of the “Wild Geese”, who fought under Napoleon and Mme. Chasseriau La Rochelle, a Frenchwoman. Louise married Jean Hilaire Belloc in 1820. Belloc was an artist who painted “La Morte de Gaul, friend of Ossian” which was exhibited in Paris in 1810 and re-exhibited in 1850. The painting is now in the L ­ ouvre. According to Saskia Hanselaar, Belloc drew inspiration from Thomas ­Lawrence (1769–1830), who painted Thomas Moore’s portrait. 3 In his journal on 29 November 1843, Moore first mentions a letter he received from a “Well-wisher to Ireland”; the anonymous correspondent suggests that Moore should re-publish “Ossian’s poems, and to establish his real birth-place, which surely is not Scotland”. Moore repeats the anecdote in February 1844 (MJD 6: 2362–363; 2379). 4 The national anthem of Velestinlis’s “Battle Cry” was replaced with “God Save the King” sung in German and Greek after Othon (Otto von ­Wittelsbach, r.1832-62) became King of Greece (Koukkou 644). 5 These are based on Le Tourneur’s translation in his Veillées du Marais (Van Tieghem 1: 348–50). 6 In the fourteenth century the Ionian Islands (known as the Seven or the Heptanesian Islands) together with coastal cities on the mainland were conquered by the Venetian Republic until 1796 when Napoleon freed them under the Treaty of Campo Formio, uniting them horizontally to the coastal towns into cantons known as “Corfu”, “Ithaca”, and “Aegean Peninsula” to remind the French of Homer. By 1800 the Ionian Islands were taken over by a Russo-Ottoman alliance transforming them into the Septinsular Republic with four diplomatic missions in four capitals. The official language returned to Italian and aristocrats replaced democrats in position of importance. By 1807 this Republic became part of the French Empire whereby all citizens of the Ionian Islands had the same rights as the French (­Mavroyiannis, History 1: 118, 210–23). In 1815 these islands came under English protection. Once again Italian became the official language and aristocrats were returned to power. These islands became known as “The United State of the Ionian Islands” to which the guardianship and protection of the Great Powers was entrusted to England (Moschopoulos 2: 37). For the

208  Kathleen Ann O’Donnell Ionian Islands’ status as a British territory, and also for a depiction of the Empires of Europe circa 1830, see Rick Westera’s map at https://omniatlas. com/maps/europe/18300614/. 7 Without ever having set foot in Greece, Dionysios Solomos (1798–1857) became the posthumous national poet of Greece when these islands were united with Greece under a second foreign monarch, George Glucksberg of ­Denmark (r 1863–1913) under the proviso to stop the Greek State from expanding into Epirus, Thessaly, and Crete (Kordatos, [The Intervention] 57). 8 I am very grateful to Professor Constantine Kardamis of the Ionian University, Corfu for this information. There might have been a copy of Irish Melodies on the shelves of the Ionian University on Corfu that would verify that Moore’s musical influence had penetrated the Greek-speaking world. The English closed this university, however, when the Seven Islands were united with Greece in 1864. 9 No song with the title “They are gone” is found in Moore’s National Airs (1818–1827; MCP 4: 151–248), in his Evenings in Greece (1825–32; MCP 5: 5–83), or in Songs from the Greek Anthology (MCP 5: 271–89). 10 Interestingly, the word “ευφραίνονται” (they rejoice) is recorded as being introduced into Modern Greek by a much later poet Alexander Papadiamantis (1851–1911) (Tegopoulos, and Phytrakis 286). 11 This would have been Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, first marquess of Dufferin and Ava (1826–1902), diplomatist. 12 On enquiries at the British Embassy, Athens, the social secretary informed me that guest lists of social events in the nineteenth century were not kept in the archives. Hence I was unable to follow the thread of my findings. 13 A copy of this work (1841 edition) is available at the National Library, Athens. 14 This can also be compared to the description of Moore in J. W. Lake’s poem of 1822: “When, like a meteor’s noxious ray, / The reign of tyranny is o’er: . . . / And still is beaming round thy shore / The spirit bright of Liberty, / For thou canst boast a patriot Moore” (Lake x). 15 This book is not available in the public libraries of Greece. 16 Considering the length of time that had elapsed since “The Radical Hymn” was written, I was taken by surprise when this song was sung to me when doing research in the library at Lixuri, Kephalonia. 17 I am grateful to my colleague Constantine Gkolemis for translating this poem. 18 Formerly the Danish Prince George Christian Willem of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. 19 When the 1848 Paris Revolution broke out there were also rebellions in both Bucharest and Kephalonia in support of the Paris uprising. Radicals in ­Bucharest – including Heliade-Rădulescu – and radicals of Kephalonia had set up a democratic centre in the same year and were in contact with each other (Moschopoulos 2, 179). 20 A copy of the whole of Fingal in Romanian by Heliade-Rădulescu is indexed but not available at the Benakio Library in Athens. 21 ‘Maria’ is a re-titling of “I saw thy form in youthful prime”; this suggests the Romanians were working from Swanton-Belloc’s French translation of Moore’s Irish Melodies, where the poem becomes ‘à Marie’ (Swanton-Belloc 222–223) 22 The compiler was veteran of the American Civil War Henry Beebee ­Carrington, who included Moore’s “The Torch of Liberty” (Fables of the Holy Alliance, MCP 7: 229–32) and Villemain’s “The Christian Orator” (Carrington 157; 341–42).

The Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World  209

Bibliography Works not found here are listed in a concluding Bibliography, which contains references common to more than one chapter. Baker, Anne Pimlott. “Tidey, Henry (1814–1872), portrait painter.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. www.oxforddnb.com, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27436. Benatti, Francesca, Seán Ryder, and Justin Tonra, editors. Thomas Moore: Texts, Contexts, Hypertext. Lang, 2013. Bremer, Frederika. [Greece and the Greeks in the Time of Othon, part 1.] Translated by Maria Kyriakidiou, H Ellada kai oi Ellines tin epoxy tou Othona, Neoelliniki Istoriki Vivliothiki. Katoptro, 2002. “Burial of Moore.” Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier. Byron, Lord (George Gordon). “The Death of Calmar and Orla by Ossian.” Translated by Ioannis Georgantopoulos, Evterpe (Athens), vol. 4, 15 Nov. 1850, pp. 127–29. ———. Lord Byron the Complete Poetical Works. Ed. Jerome McGann. Vol. 1, Clarendon P, 1980. C., L. S. “In Memoriam.” “Calendar.” Illustrated London News, vol. 39, no. 1100, 27 July 1861, p. 91. Carrington, Henry Beebee. Beacon Lights of Patriotism; or Historical Incentives to Virtue and Good Citizenship. Silver, Burdette and Company, 1894. Clifford, Brendan. The Life and Poems of Thomas Moore Ireland’s National Poet. Athol Books, 1984. Creţu, Stănuta. Dicţionarul Literaturii Române de la Orignini pîna la 1900. Bucharest, 1979. Cullen, Emily. “‘My Gentle Harp’: From the Minstrel Boy to the Blameless Bard: ­ elodies.” The Play of the Harp as a Passive Trope and Icon in Moore’s Irish M Eds. Benatti, Ryder, and Tonra, pp. 45–58. De Blácam, Aodh Sandrach. Gaelic Literature Surveyed . . . with Additional Chapter by Eoghan Ó hAnluain. 1920. Talbot P, 1973. Dimaras, Konstantinos. [Greek Romanticism.] Ellenikos Romantismos. 2nd ed., Hermes, 1994. Drandakis, Pavlos. [The Great Greek Encyclopaedia] Megali Elliniki Enkiklopaedeia. 2nd ed., Athens, 1956. Dwyer, John. “The Melancholy Savage: Text and Context in the Poems of ­Ossian.” Ossian Revisited. Ed. Gaskill, pp. 164–98. Enepekidis, Polychrones K. Rigas-Ipsilantis-Kapodistrias: Ereunai eis ta arheia tes Austrias, Germanias, Italia, Gallias kai Ellados. Hestia, 1965. Gaskill, Howard, editor. “Ossian in Europe.” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature, vol. 20, no. 4, 1994, pp. 643–78. ———. Ossian Revisited, Edinburgh UP, 1991. Giannopoulos, Pyrrou. [Phanariots.] Oi Phanariotai. Helleniki Takydromou, 1929. Gouzélīs, Dīmītrios. [The Chasis.] Ho Chásīs: to tzaoma kai to phtiasimon. Ed. Zissimos Ch. Synodinos, Okeanida, 1997. Hanselaar, Saskia. “Jean Hilaire Belloc, La Mort de Gaul, ami d’Ossian du Musée du Louvre: Une Transformation romantique.” Revue des Musées de France – Revue du Louvre, 2015, no. 3, pp. 64–74.

210  Kathleen Ann O’Donnell Hassiotis, Loukianos. [The Eastern Federation: Two Greek Federalist Movements in the Nineteenth Century.] H Anatoliki Omospondia: duo ellinikes federalistikes kiniseis tou 19ou aiona. Vanias, 2001. Heliade-Rădulescu, Ion. “Introductio la Poesiele Ossianice partea i Folliola ­Fingal de I. Heliade R.” Trompetta Carpatiloru (Bucharest), vol. 5, 1867, no. 579, p. 2211; no. 581, p. 2221; no. 584, pp. 2234–235. Imposti, Gabriella. “The Reception of Thomas Moore in Russia during the ­Romantic Age.” Eds. Benatti, Ryder, and Tonra, pp. 135–49. Kairophylas, Kostas. [“England: Perpetual Hostility of Greece.”] “H Anglia Aionia Exthra tis Ellathos, Philologiki Protochronia.” Philological New Year’s Day (Athens), vol. 14, 1957, pp. 133–54. Kordatos, Giannis Konstantinos. [History of Modern Greek Literature.] ­Eisagogi eis tin historian tis hellenikes kephlaiokratias. 2nd ed., 2 vols., ­Epikairotēta, 1983. ———. [The Intervention of the English in Greece.] Oi Epemvraseis tou ­Anglon stin Ellada. Epikairotēta, 1973. ———. [Rhigas Pheraios and the Balkan Federation.] Ho Rhigas Pheraois kai hē Valkaniki Omospondia. Epikairotēta, 1983. Koukkou, Helene E. Ioannis A. Kapodistrias the European Diplomat and Statesman of the 19th Century [and] Roxandra S. Stourdza a Famous Woman of her Time: A Historical Biography. Translated by Ekaterini ­Ghikas, The ­Society for the Study of Greek History, 2001. Lake, John W. A Biographical and Critical Sketch of Thomas Moore, Esq. comprising Anecdotes of Ancient Minstrelsy Illustrated of ‘Irish Melodies’. In The Works of Thomas Moore . . . Complete in One Volume. Ernest Fleischer, 1822. Livadas, N. [“The Radical Hymn.” Seven Islands Dedication of 100 Years to Unity.] “O Ymnos ton Rizospaston.” Eptanision Afiero tou 100 etion tis enosios. Milona, 1964, pp. 247–52. Loukatos, Spyros Istroikos. [“The Ideological Assessment of the Radical Movement in the Years under the English Protectorate of the Seven Islands; The United States of the Ionian Islands (1815–1864).” Studies in the History and Country of the Islands of Kephalonia and Ithaki.] “H ideologiki apotimisi tou rizospastikou kinimatos sta xronia tou anglikou protektoratou ton Eptanison; Enomenon Politeion ton Ionion Nision.” Meletes yia tin istoria kai to xoro ton nision Kephalonias & Ithakis. Eds. Ilias Beriatos. Kephalonia & Ithaki Association, 1997, pp. 103–25. Macpherson, James. The Poems of Ossian and Related Works. Ed. Howard Gaskill, Edinburgh UP, 1996. Markakis Petros. [“Gerassimus Mavroyiannis and the first translations of Theocritos into Demotic.”] “Gerassimos Mavroyiannis ki oi protes metaphraseis tou Theokritou stin demotiki.” Heptanesian Letters, Jan.–June 1951, pp. 154–55, 417–24. Markopoulos George J. “King George I and the Expansion of Greece 1875– 1881.” Balkan Studies, vol. 9, no.1, 1968, pp. 21–39. Mataragkas, Panayiotis. [A Bouquet namely of a Poetic Collection Suitable for Children.] Αnthodesmi itoi poihtiki syllogi pros xrysin ton paidon upo P. Mataragka en Athinais. Mavromati, 1880. Mavroyiannis, Gerassimus E. ‘Apatris’ [“To the Advocacy of the Secret Ballot: ’Stateless’.”] “Pros Tous Imperaspistas tis mystikis Psiphophorias O APATRIS.” Horikos (Kephalonia), vol. 1, no. 5, 9 Feb. 1850, p. 3.

The Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World  211 ———. History of the Ionian Islands from 1797 to 1815. 1889. Ed. Dionysios N. Paliggenesia. 2nd ed., 2 vols., Library of Historical Studies, 1984. ——— [“Ossian and the Poems Attributed to Him.”] “Peri ossianou kai ton eis avton apodidomenvon poieiseon.” Chrysalis, vol. 1 (A), no. 14, 1863, pp. 417–20, 525–31. Melas, Spyros “Heliade Rădulescu.” [Greek Dimourgia.] Σπυρος Μελαs, vol. 5, pp. 145–46. Moore, Thomas. The History of Ireland. Vol. 1, Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1835. ———. “In Imitation of Ossian.” 1797. The Celt, vol. 1, no. 7, 1857, pp. 109–11. ———. Intercepted Letters: or the Two-Penny Post-Bag by Thomas Brown the Younger to which are Added Trifles reprinted. J. Carr, 1813. ———. Life, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron complete in one Volume with Notes. John Murray, 1838. ———. The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore including his Ballads, etc. Complete in one Volume. Galignani, 1829. ———. The Works of Lord Byron with his Letters and Journals, and his Life. 17 vols. John Murray, 1832–33. Moore, Thomas, and Panayiotis Mataragkas, translator. [“‘Come o’er the sea.’”] “Elthe Parthenos met’emou, poeisis ek ton Irlanthikon melodeon tou poieitou Moore.” Chrysalis (Athens), vol. 2 (B), no. 46, 1864, pp. 688–89. Moore, Thomas, and Alexis Paulin Paris, translator. Œuvres complètes de Lord Byron, avec Notes et Commentaires, Comprenant ses Mémoires Publiés par Thomas Moore, Traduction nouvelle par M. Paulin Paris. 13 vols. ­Dondey-Dupré, 1830–1831. Morse, Donald E., Csilla Bertha, and István Pálffy, editors. A Small Nation’s Contribution to the World: Essays on Anglo-Irish Literature and Language. Lajos Kossuth U, 1993. Moschopoulos, Georgios N. [History of Kephalonia.] Istoria tis Kephalonias Tomos devteros. Vol. 2. Kepahlos, 1988. Moullas, Panayiotis. Les Concours Poétiques de l’Université d’Athène 1851– 1877. Historiques de la Jeunesse, 1989. O’Donnell, Kathleen Ann. “The Democratic Eastern Federation and the Poems of Ossian: Egypt.” Athens Journal of Mediterranean Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, 2017, pp. 37–54. doi:10.30958/ajms. ———. “The Disintegration of the Democratic Eastern Federation and the Demise of its Supporters 1885–1896 and the Poems of Ossian.” Athens Journal of Mediterranean Studies, vol. 2 no. 2, 2016, pp. 145–60. doi:10.30958/ajms. ———. “How Twentieth Century Greek Scholars influenced the Works of Nineteenth Century Greek Translators of The Poems of Ossian by James Macpherson.” Athens Journal of Philology, vol. 1, no. 4, 2014, pp. 273–84. doi:10.30958/ajp. ———. “Nineteenth Century Cycladic Warriors: Celtic Heroes.” Studies on Mediterranean Culture and History from the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period. Ed. Steven M. Oberhelman. Athens Institute for Education & Research (ATINER), 2014, pp. 165–72. O’Sullivan, D. “Aperçu.” Swanton-Belloc, pp. i–cxl. Otetea, Andrei, editor. The History of the Romanian People. Translated by Eugenia Farca, Ştiinţificǎ, 1970.

212  Kathleen Ann O’Donnell Padélodimos, Dimitris N. Victor Hugo et la Grèce. Librarie Kauffman, Institut français d’Athènes, 2002. Panas, Panayiotis. [“Dar-thula.”] “Dartoula ek ton tou Ossianou. Metaphrasis Panayiotou Pana.” Evdomas (Athens), 15 and 22 Sept. 1885, pp. 438–40; 451–53. ———. [Dar-thula-Lathmon Poems of Ossian.] Dartoula, Latmos Poeimata tou Ossianou Metaphrastheda apo Panayiotou Pana. Ossian e il genio della natura selvaggia: i suoi Poemi somigliano si boschi sacri degli antichi suoi Celti: spirano orrore, ma vi si sente ad ogni passo la Divinita che vi abita. M. Cesarotti. P. Kephallina, 1862. ———. [“The Death of Oscar from ‘Temora’ by Ossian (Extract from Book 1).”] “O Thanatos tou Oskarou. Ek tis ‘Temoras’ tou Ossianou. (Apospasma ek tou A. Asmatos).” Exegersis, no. 24, 22 Mar. 1875. Parmenides, Christos A. “Lascaris.” Evdomas, no. 82, 22 Sept. 1885, pp. 450–51. ———. Lascaris or the Greeks in the Fifteenth Century by Villemain and Various Poems. Antoniados, 1847. “Paulin Paris.” Data.bnf.fr. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 2011. Pop, Constantine. [“Gorgias”.] “Works and Days.” Evterpe (Athens), no. 57, Jan. 1850, p. 790. Querard, Joseph-Marie, Charles Locandre Felix, and Alfred Maury Bourquelot. La Littérature française contemporaine XIXe siècle. Vol. 1. Daguin, 1842. Raftopoulos, Georgos. [“Radicalism in Music and Poetry.”] “O rizospastismos sti mousikh kai thn poeisi.” Fifth International PanIonian Congress. Vol. 4. Koriphis, 1991, pp. 123–34. “Royal Hibernian Academy.” Irish Times, 14 June 1864, Irish Times Newspaper Archive. www.irishtimes.com/archive. Saviddis, George. “One hundred and fifty Years of Romanticism: Publications and Prizes, 1830–1880.” Nea Estia (Athens), vol. 110, no. 1307, 1981, pp. 125–37; 272–329. Solomos, Dionysios. [The Complete Works: Poems.] Apanda Tomos protos Poieimata epimeleia. Ed. Lino Politis. 4th ed., Vol. 1., Ikaros, 1991. Stafford, Fiona. The Sublime Savage: James Macpherson and the Poems of ­Ossian. Edinburgh UP, 1988. Stavropoúlou, Erasmía-Louïza. [Panayiotis Panas (1832–1896): A Romantic Radical.] Panayiotis Panas (1832–1896) Enas rizospastis romantikos. Epikairoteita, 1987. Stavrianos, Leftens S. The Balkans since 1453. 1963. Hurst and Company, 2000. Swanton-Belloc, Louise. Chefs-d’oeuvre poètique de Thomas Moore avec une Traduction des Poèsies satyriques et burlesques de Moore, une Notice sur la Vie et les Œuvres du même Auteur precédés d’un Aperçu sur les Antiquités et la Littérature irlandaises, par D. O’Sullivan. C. Gosselin, 1841. Tegopoulos, Christos, and Christodoulos Phytrakis. [Greek Dictionary of Spelling, Interpretation, Etymology, Synonyms, Antonyms and Proper Nouns.] Elliniko Lexiko: Orthographiko, Erminevtiko, Etymologiko, Synonymon, Antitheton, Kyrion Onomaton. 5th ed. Armonia, 1992. “Thomas Moore”. Evterpe (Athens), no. 15, 1853, p. 358. Thouvenel, Edouard A., and L. Thouvenel. La Grèce Du Roi Othon: Correspondance De M. Thouvenel avec sa Famille et ses Amis, recueillie et publée avec Notes et Index biographique. Calmann Lévy, 1890.

The Nineteenth-Century Greek-Speaking World  213 Trevor-Roper, Hugh. The Invention of Scotland: Myth and History. Yale UP, 2008. Vagenas, Nassos. [“Ossian in Greece.”] “O Ossian stin Ellada.” Parnassos, vol. 9, 1967, pp. 172–90. Translated by Kathleen Ann O’Donnell, “Ossian in Greece.” www.academia.edu/7386501/. Vail, Jeffery W. The Literary Relationship of Lord Byron & Thomas Moore. John Hopkins UP, 2001. Van Tieghem, Paul. Ossian en France. 2 vols. F Rieder & Cie., 1917. Velestinlis, Rhigas. [School of the Delicate Lovers.] Scholeion ton delikaton Eraston. Ed. Panayiotis S. Pistas. I. D. Kollarou, 1994. Villemain, Abel-François. Lascaris ou les Grecs du quinzième Siècle, suivi d’un Essai historique sur l’État des Grecs depius la Conquête Musulmane jusqu’à nos Jours, par M. Villemain. 1825. Translated by Christos Parmenides, ­A ntoniados, 1847. Vounas, Christos. [“Seven Islanders in the Greek Revolution: Kephalonian ­Volunteers in the Sacred Band of Ipsilantis.”] “Oi Eptanisioi stin Elliniki Epanastas: Kephallonites Ethelondes ston Iero Loxo toy Ipsilanti.” [Heptanesian Calendar] Heptanisiako Imerologio (Athens), vol. 2, 1962, p. 183. Vournas, Tasos. [The Friendly Society.] Philiki Hetairia. Aphon Tolidi, 1982. Vranousis, Leandros I. Rhigas Velestinlis 1757–1798. 2nd ed., Anatyposis, 1996.

11 Young Ireland and the Superannuated Bard Rewriting Thomas Moore in The Nation Francesca Benatti The journalists of the Young Ireland movement acknowledged Thomas Moore as the leading Irish poet. Yet, in The Nation and in the influential poetry collections published in the Library of Ireland series, authors Thomas Davis and Charles Gavan Duffy constantly identified a deficit of nationality and passion in Moore’s oeuvre. The Young ­I reland movement thus engaged in a complex redefinition of the influence of Moore’s works upon Irish literature, which ranged from ­critical detraction to tacit emulation and to the explicit creation of a new national poetry. This chapter examines the three main vehicles the Nation authors employed for their criticism: articles in the newspaper; literary anthologies in the Library of Ireland book series; and two editions of Spirit of the Nation (1843 and 1845), collecting the Nation’s own poetical productions. It compares the poetry of the Nation and of Thomas ­Davis with Moore’s Irish Melodies, to assess their claims about the adoption of a more national language, of a more vehement diction, as well as their attempts to reach a more popular audience. In particular, it assesses how the responses from Davis and other Nation authors such as Michael Joseph Barry and Denis Florence MacCarthy varied between attempts to rewrite the vocabulary of Moore’s patriotic ­poetry to acknowledgements of a shared continuum of cultural nationalism, leading from the United Irishmen to Thomas Moore, the Nation and beyond. This subject has received critical attention by detractors and defenders of Moore (Thuente; Leerssen, Remembrance and I­ magination; H. White, The Keeper’s Recital and Music and the Irish Literary Imag­ acCarthy). ination; L. Davis; Connolly; Campbell, Irish Poetry; A. M This chapter re-examines the primary sources, now easily available in digital form, and reassesses the full articulation of the Nation’s reception of Moore, from the enduring questioning of its lead authors Thomas ­Davis (1814–1845) and Charles Gavan Duffy (1816–1903), to the warmer praise of other members of the Young Ireland movement.

Rewriting Thomas Moore in The Nation  215

Moore in the Nation From its inception in October 1842, the Nation acknowledged Moore’s pre-eminence within Irish literature. Within a fortnight Davis (not Duffy as mistakenly stated in the Field Guide to Irish Literature)1 devoted the first of his “National Gallery” articles to Moore (T. Davis, “National Gallery”). This prominent position suggests that the young newspaper harboured some admiration for the poet. Yet, despite Duffy’s claims that the article “proved very agreeable to the poet” (Duffy, Thomas Davis 96), Davis’s piece strongly qualified its praise of Moore. The article deserves closer analysis as it became the foundation for a three-year sustained interrogation of Moore. Moore’s inclusion in a gallery of illustrious Irishmen was no surprise. Six months previous (April 1842), the Dublin University Magazine had published a biography and critique of the poet in its Portrait Gallery series (White, The Keeper’s Recital 55–56). The DUM reviewer (identified in the Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals as J.T. Ball) admitted that Moore had flaws but stated that “we are proud, and we feel his country should be proud, of Moore. We are opposed to him in politics, in religion. . . but we . . . recognize and acknowledge the genius of the author” (476). The article then compared Moore and Byron, “[t]he most popular poets of the last generation”, sharply contrasting Byron’s portrayal of the “intensest and loftiest emotions of man’s nature” with Moore’s “smiles and sunshine” (476). Of Moore’s poetry Ball observed, “[t]here is too much light: too much anxiety to be always brilliant” and wished “that his verse were sometimes unpolished. . . ; the perpetual glitter relieved by a little plainness” (Ball 476–77). Despite his opposing political views, much of nationalist Thomas ­Davis’s criticism paralleled that of the unionist Dublin University Magazine. Davis’s article deplored Moore’s excesses of polish and elegance but crucially added some further specific accusations. Moore was censured for his use of an over-refined and un-Irish language; for his melancholy, defeatist tone; and for his apparent choice of an upper-class, mostly ­British audience. Davis began by attributing Moore’s residence in England (“the land of the oppressor”) as “weaken[ing] the fire of his passions and corrupt[ing] his taste”; most of the Nation writers, by contrast, lived in Dublin or its environs. He echoed the Dublin University Magazine, bemoaning the “too much chiselling and polish, and too little rough vigour and plain words” in Moore’s poetry. This critique, in both its national and nationalist credentials, dominated the Nation’s reception and interpretation of Moore’s work and would be expanded in the Library of Ireland book series (J. Kelly 260). Davis still acknowledged the “truthful and inspiring patriotism” of certain of the Irish Melodies but weighed them against his

216  Francesca Benatti scorn for the “so-called ‘History of Ireland’”, 2 which he labelled “cold, feeble, and English”. He spared some of Moore’s prose works, including the biographies of Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1821) and Lord Edward Fitzgerald (1831), Memoirs of Captain Rock (1824) and the Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion (1833) since they “belong to the Irish people”. He especially praised Captain Rock, calling it “the wisest, wittiest, and most successful attempt ever made to interest the honor [sic], humanity, the imagination, and good humour of the oppressor, in the cause of the wronged”. This passage remains the only sustained analysis of Moore’s prose in the Nation. Davis’s article then challenged Moore over his audience and the formats chosen for publication, claiming, “Moore’s purse may have been served, but his fame has suffered from the law of copyright. There is no edition accessible to the people of any part of Moore’s works except for a few of the ‘Melodies’. Again – the ‘Melodies’ were meant to be sung, and yet, the music is out of print and enormously dear”. Moore was therefore reproached for choosing forms of dissemination aimed at an elite, wealthy audience. Yet the Nation were ascribing Moore greater control on copyright than was the case. Moore had sold the copyright of the first number of the Melodies to the Power brothers, James and William, for £50 and subsequently accepted from them an annual stipend of £500 in exchange for his continued supply of music. He eventually sold his copyright to the Powers in its entirety for £350 (R. Kelly 494). The two brothers later fell into a protracted dispute over control of the Melodies (Hunt, “Moore, Stevenson, Bishop, and the ­Powers” 86–87). By the early 1840s, Dublin had been marginalised as a centre for publication of Moore’s Melodies, which explains Thomas Davis’s observations on their scarcity (L. Davis 141–44). Previously, copyright in the texts of the Irish Melodies (without music) had been purchased by Longmans, who together with James Power published frequent editions in London depending on demand and included them in the Poetical Works of Thomas Moore, released in ten expensive volumes at five shillings each between 1840 and 1841. In these transactions, Moore’s role was as little more than an interested party, certainly not as a decision-maker. Thomas Davis conceded there could be hope for the future, observing that “these songs are no longer as they were, popular only in the drawing-rooms of Europe and America; they are gradually becoming known to the middle classes in Ireland, and the Irish translation [by John MacHale, published in 1842 by John Cumming] bids fair to reach the mind of our peasantry” (T. Davis, “National Gallery”). However, Moore’s failure to reach the middle and especially lower classes of Irish society was to remain a sticking point in the Nation’s appraisal. Davis’s article was the first in a series of sustained critiques regarding Moore, where some grudging admission of his significance as an author was always qualified with an assessment of his unsuitability as bard

Rewriting Thomas Moore in The Nation  217 of contemporary 1840s Ireland. A few months later, Duffy as editor of the Nation refuted rumours – started by the Belfast News-Letter – ­identifying Moore as the author of the extremely successful Spirit of the Nation poetry anthology. The journal perceived “clearest evidence of his style” in a publication expressing a seditious stance irreconcilable with Moore’s status as a government pensioner (“Tom Moore’s Treason”). Duffy conceded that Moore had written “many things which we might adopt without anybody discovering the smallest incongruity in time or place”. However, he observed that the “note of woe or tone of defiance” needed to grow stronger, implying that Moore’s poetry was not sufficiently bold to truthfully represent the new “spirit of the nation” (“Tom Moore’s Treason”). In subsequent articles, Thomas Davis and Duffy bestowed some further grudging recognition of Moore’s significance to national literature. They acknowledged his decisive influence over the poetical tastes of the middle classes, but when numerous imitators submitted Moore-like verse to the Nation, the editors decided not to publish (The Voice of the Nation 105–06). They suggested that the Melodies should be purchased by the popular reading rooms they (together with Daniel O’ Connell’s Repeal Association) were promoting, in a list that also featured C ­ aptain Rock (The Voice of the Nation 128). They identified the Melodies as prime sources of inspiration for Irish historical paintings (T. Davis, ­Literary and Historical Essays 169–70). Davis even reluctantly acknowledged, in his “Irish Music and Poetry” essay (29 June 1844) that, if reprinted at lower prices, Moore’s Melodies “would probably restore the sentimental music of Ireland to its natural supremacy” (“sentimental”, a significant qualifier, will be examined later). But Davis once again tempered his praise, lamenting the lack of new music in Ireland since the death of harpist Turlogh O’Carolan (1670–1738), and the dependence of current Irish composers upon a foreign public. The identification by Leith Davis (L. Davis 174) of Moore as the “one among us . . . who can smite upon our harp like a master”, whom Thomas Davis praised for his “patriotism”, “genius”, and “friendship” (T. Davis Literary and Historical Essays 218–19) is not fully supported by the evidence. The final descriptor especially eliminates Moore, for he was not known personally to any of the Nation authors. Thomas Davis wrote this article for a new edition of Spirit of the Nation, and so probably referred to William ­Elliot Hudson ­ avis, Literary and (1796–1853), who wrote music for this collection (T. D Historical Essays 218–19).

The Library of Ireland and Moore The Library of Ireland book series escalated this slow but constant erosion of Moore’s standing as national bard. Its twenty-two volumes were written by the Nation authors and published by Dublin bookseller

218  Francesca Benatti James Duffy (no relation to Charles Gavan Duffy) between 1844 and 1847. Competitively priced at one shilling each, the most successful titles achieved sales in the tens of thousands. Anne MacCarthy has analysed its several anthologies of Irish literature, which expanded the critique of Moore along the three lines already highlighted (diction, national language, and audience). The Ballad Poetry of Ireland (1845), edited by Charles Gavan Duffy, comprised over eighty poems. In a lengthy preface he delineated a new national school of poetry that ascribed only a secondary role to Moore. Central to Duffy’s poetics was a call to adopt an Anglo-Irish language capable of combining English with “the strong graphic language of the people” (Duffy, Introduction xxvii–xxviii). On this basis, Moore was put into contention with other claimants for the title of Irish national poet. First was John Banim (1798–1842), whose ballad “Soggarth Aroon” – anthologised together with three of his other poems – Duffy praised as “perhaps the most Irish ballad in existence” (Ballad Poetry xxix). James Clarence Mangan (1803–1849) was lauded as master of metre and rhythm; Samuel Ferguson (1810–1886) was praised for his “romantic or historical” ballads (Ballad Poetry xxx–xxxii). Duffy chose to include only two poems by Moore, against ten by Ferguson and four by Mangan. The issue of language in Irish literature was for Duffy and Davis broader than simply an opposition to Moore’s diction. Although their essays were produced before the Famine (1845–1849) had dealt a severe blow to Irish-speaking communities, these Nation authors were living through a time of profound linguistic change. Duffy argued that, because of it, the old bardic songs were “locked up from the mass of the readers” (Introduction xi). In order to supply this deficit, Duffy called for the growth of “Anglo-Irish ballads; the production of educated men, with English tongues but Irish hearts” (Introduction xv). While regretting the decline in the use of Irish (“one of the proudest and tenderest ties that bound our people to their country”), Duffy asserted the existence of a distinctive Anglo-Irish language and advocated its poetical use, following the example of Robert Burns, who had made “the literature of Scotland . . . the most national in the world” (Introduction xxxvi–vii). Duffy praised several Irish poets for this ability to teach “the native Muse to become English in language without growing un-Irish in character” (Introduction xxiii). His list included Gerald Griffin, John Banim, Jeremiah Joseph Callanan, Samuel Ferguson, Samuel Lover, Thomas Davis, James Clarence Mangan, Edward Walsh, and others, but significantly, it omitted Moore. Issues of heteroglossia and diglossia have been identified as central to the self-definition of separate Scottish and Irish cultural identities (­Pittock 26–27) during the Romantic period. Each literary tradition used native language as part of its claim to a distinctive national identity.

Rewriting Thomas Moore in The Nation  219 In Scotland, Burns, Alan Ramsey, James Macpherson, and others each adopted at least one of the following strategies: writing in the Scots language (Pittock 147), adapting Scots and Gaelic metrical forms (Pittock 39 and 77), and incorporating Gaelic motifs (Pittock 73) in their poetry. Duffy granted Moore the title of “our greatest living poet”, but immediately distanced him from the new literary school he was delineating by stating that he “sang our wrongs in the language of the wronger”. Duffy even suggested that Moore “ha[d] not the gift of tongues”, an accusation that certainly jars with Moore’s fluency in multiple languages and his mastery of registers and voices as shown in Captain Rock and Lalla Rookh. Duffy grudgingly conceded that Moore’s style was dictated by his addressing a primarily British audience and was “possibly . . . better for the fame and even for the utility of Moore” because it allowed his songs to sink “into the heart of England”. This deficit of national character in Moore’s language, he argued, had seriously hampered Moore’s reception “in his native country”. His disapprobation reprised Thomas Davis’s claims about the class and location of Moore’s intended audience, contrasting Moore’s chosen “saloons of fashion” with “the circle gathered round the farmer’s hearth”, who would fail to understand him (Introduction xxx). Duffy used his power as anthology editor to frame the ballad genre so as to marginalise Moore from the new national canon, opposing the “narrative” elements of the ballad with the “sentiment or passion” of song (Introduction xvii–xviii note). In addition, Duffy controversially claimed that “the best modern ballads. . . were certainly written to be recited, not sung” (Introduction xliv). While demoting Moore to the role of mere sentimental songwriter, this assertion fundamentally misrepresents the role of music in Moore’s poetry. This dismissal of music, also continued by Davis, contrasted sharply with Moore’s known assertions about the primacy of music in the Melodies. Harry White among others has shown how much of Moore’s diglossia, his mastery of multiple languages, lay in his use and reinterpretation of Irish music, whose meaning he translated into language (White, Music and the Irish Literary Imagination 48). Duffy failed to appreciate this aspect of Moore’s oeuvre, proposing a narrow interpretation of the ballad genre that decoupled it completely from music and demoted Moore within the canon of Irish national literature. Duffy’s Ballad Poetry of Ireland proved an immense success, reaching five editions within a few weeks of publication and a thirty-ninth edition by 1866 after selling 76,000 copies over the previous twenty years (A. MacCarthy 149). It was followed in the Library of Ireland series by another anthology, The Songs of Ireland. Despite Davis’s sudden death in September 1845, his voice continued to resonate. As Preface to the collection, editor Michael Joseph Barry included Davis’s “Essay on Irish Song”, which contained further accusations against Moore.

220  Francesca Benatti In this “Essay” Davis acknowledged certain merits to Moore, characterising him as “immeasurably our greatest poet, and the greatest lyrist, except Burns and Beranger, that ever lived”. But he reiterated earlier censure regarding Moore’s lack of “vehemence”, for his avoidance of the “sterner passions”, for his use of “pretty images” that spoiled “some of his finest songs”, for dialect “too refined and subtle”, and – as had Duffy – for being “negligent of narrative” (Davis, “Essay on Irish Songs” 31–32). Davis also returned to the fundamental problem of audience, accusing Moore of not writing for “the middle and poor classes of Irish” (31–32). His songs, stated Davis, “have reached the drawing-rooms; but what do the People know even of this?” (35–36). While admitting Moore as “a musician of great attainments”, Thomas Davis (as Edward Bunting in 1840) accused him of using “very corrupt” airs for the Melodies, which “should never be used for the study of Irish music” (“Essay on Irish Songs” 39; Bunting 5). Una Hunt observes instead that Moore composed his songs to match the original airs as closely as possible (Hunt, Sources 108) while making “unavoidable” alterations to those that were unsuited to vocal performance (Sources 111). Even Moore’s vituperated co-author Sir John ­Stevenson adopted Bunting’s harmonies in numerous arrangements (Sources 67). However, Davis’s essay propagated Bunting’s musical criticism to a wider audience and ensured its prominence in subsequent nationalist evaluations of Moore. Harry White has therefore accused Thomas ­Davis of displaying a “puzzled contempt for art music” that later became a dominant trait of Irish cultural discourse (White, Music and the Irish Literary Imagination 76).

The Spirit of the Nation Collections Throughout three years of articles mixing limited praise with pointed censure, Davis and Duffy constructed Moore’s oeuvre as an outdated achievement in need of transcendence, re-imagination, and re-­adaptation for the new, changed national circumstances. Critical essays and anthologies were not the only weapons in the Nation’s arsenal. They also put their words into practice through the original poetry included in their newspaper. The Nation published over 500 original poems in the years prior to Davis’s death (1842–1845), averaging three or four poems per issue. The practice originated from Duffy’s tenure as editor of the Belfast ­Vindicator, where original poetry had proven popular with the public. In the Nation, Duffy went beyond a mere sale-boosting exercise and used this section of the newspaper to embody the new national school of poetry he later defined in Ballad Poetry. Duffy’s own “Fág a Bealach”, published in the third number “was the first national poem in the new journal” (Duffy, My Life 1: 64n1;). Over time, the best of these

Rewriting Thomas Moore in The Nation  221 contributions was reprinted in three anthologies, all entitled The Spirit of the Nation. The extensive, sustained success of this permanent format ensured a prolonged and most profound influence of the poems from this impermanent and topical newspaper (Beetham 25). When the Nation was suppressed in 1848 after the unsuccessful Young Ireland uprising, and the Young Irelanders were driven into either exile or incarceration, the Spirit of the Nation and the Library of Ireland continued to circulate “wherever the English tongue is spoken” (C. Duffy, Young Ireland 2: 156–57). The first Spirit of the Nation was published in March 1843, less than six months after the newspaper’s inception. It was quickly followed by another volume in November 1843. These collections were cheaply bound in paper covers and retailed for six pence, therefore aiming at a ­working-class or lower-middle-class audience. Duffy called them “brochures” rather than books (Duffy, Young Ireland 1: 129n1). During 1844, they were joined by a “Library Edition” in eight monthly parts, edited by Thomas Davis. Collected in a single volume in 1845, it included musical scores and an illustrated frontispiece by Frederic ­Burton. The ­ Library price (half a guinea), format, and multi-media features of the “ Edition” reveal that it was aimed at the “pianofortes of the rich and educated” also favoured by Moore (“Letter to the Marchioness of Donegal” MCP 4: 130). The Nation were effectively “tranching up” their publication, reversing the characteristic process of gradually ­cheapening reprints in nineteenth-century publishing (St Clair, Ch 11 “Selling, prices, and access” 186–209). In so doing, they were effectively challenging Moore’s position in the discourse of cultural nationalism and within a consolidated middle- and upper-class market. Perhaps enacting a symbolic handover, Thomas Davis sent Moore a presentation copy of the 1845 Library Edition of Spirit, which is now part of the Moore collection at the Royal Irish Academy (ML/3/F (740)). Its existence, combined with other factors that will be discussed below, suggests that Davis may have tempered his judgements of Moore to a certain extent. In his “Essay on Irish Songs”, Davis exhorted aspiring Irish poets to “carefully avoid the airs to which Moore, Griffin, or any other Irishman has written even moderately good words” and to employ instead “one set of words always joined with one tune” (39). The opportunities to reuse such airs had already been playfully exploited by Francis Sylvester Mahony’s “The Rogueries of Tom Moore” (Mahony 1: 211–64), where “Father Prout” presented mock-original versions of the Melodies in order to question Moore’s status as national poet (Dunne 472). Despite Davis’s pleas, the two-volumed 1843 edition of Spirit showed extensive dependence on Moore and his repertoire of airs. Seventeen poems explicitly mentioned a Moore song (from the Irish Melodies or the National Airs) as the source of their music; a further sixteen cited traditional airs that Moore had also employed, as shown in Table 11.1.

222  Francesca Benatti Table 11.1  S pirit of the Nation Poems set to Tunes used for Moore’s Irish Melodies and a National Air in 1843 and 1845 Collection

Total poems with airs

With Moore With With newly songs used traditional airs composed as airs also used by airs Moore

Spirit 1843 v.1 Spirit 1843 v.2 Spirit 1845

28 32 65

3 14 2

10 6 10

0 0 16

Table 11.2  Irish Melody Tunes with new Lyrics in Spirit of the Nation (Dublin, 1843 & 1845) Changes to poems set to Moore songs in 1845 edition

Number of poems

Reprinted with newly composed air Reprinted with traditional air Reprinted with no air Not reprinted Total

1 3 8 5 17

In the 1845 Library Edition, however, Thomas Davis worked to reduce this dependence on Moore. Several poems published in the Nation in 1844 were added, but only two were set to Moore songs. None of the seventeen poems set to Moore songs in the 1843 edition survived unchanged, as illustrated in Table 11.2. Jean de Jean Frazer’s “Song for July 12th”, for example, had mentioned “As Vanquished Erin” in 1843 (Spirit of the Nation 2: vi) but was reprinted as set to “The Boyne Water” in 1845 (Spirit 1845 346), thus bypassing Moore’s intermediation. In 1843, Davis’s “The Men of ­Tipperary” and “The Vow of Tipperary” had both been set to “Nora Creina”, which Moore had popularised in “Lesbia Hath a Beaming Eye”. Davis appeared painfully conscious of his dependence on this tune and asked his friend and music collector John Edward Pigot in 1844 to find an alternative (Duffy, Thomas Davis 231). Eventually, William ­Elliot Hudson composed a new air for these poems and for several others in the 1845 edition (Duffy, Thomas Davis 232–33), such as John ­O’Hagan’s “Young Ireland”, which shed any mention of Moore’s “Fare thee well, my own dear love”. The best example of Davis’s conflicted relationship with Moore is perhaps his most famous poetical composition, the “Lament for the Death of Owen Roe O’Neill”. The poem first appeared in the Nation on 19 ­November 1842 and such was its success that it prompted Davis

Rewriting Thomas Moore in The Nation  223 to dedicate himself to poetry for the rest of his brief life (Duffy, Young I­ reland 1: 69). The newspaper publication of “Owen Roe” did not include a tune, but in the March 1843 Spirit, it was clearly marked as set to “The Last Rose of Summer” (Davis and Duffy vi). Davis was evidently unhappy with this debt to Moore, and asked Pigot to “discover some woeful old air” for the poem (Duffy, Thomas Davis 231). It was republished in the 1845 Library Edition without any mention of a tune, in the prominent position of opener of the first monthly part with Duffy’s “Fág a Bealach”. “The Last Rose of Summer” – a prime example of the excesses of polish and sentimentality that Davis disparaged – may seem an unlikely model for Davis’s historical ballad. Yet it was extremely popular, with sales of no fewer than one and a half million copies in the United States alone (Hunt Sources 3). Davis’s borrowing of the tune can be seen as an indirect homage to its popularity and a direct challenge to Moore’s interpretation of the traditional “The Groves of Blarney”. There is, however, a more intriguing hypothesis. Una Hunt has recently observed that “’Tis the Last Rose of Summer” can be read as an oblique homage to the United Irish fallen in 1798 (Hunt, Sources 25). As Leerssen notes, the dense vocabulary of roses and petals has, however, long baffled certain readers, who seem to consider it as evidence of Moore’s sentimental “trifles” (­L eerssen, Remembrance and Imagination 82). Could Davis have been more perceptive than many a critic before and after him? Whatever his precise motivations, Davis’s fundamental operation was a re-­gendering of Moore’s song (L. Davis 174–75), substituting a male Owen Roe O’Neill for a female rose. Once we observe the two poems more closely, Thomas Davis’s graft however appears strangely close to Moore’s original plant (Figures 11.1 and 11.2). Davis’s setting for his “Owen Roe” seems to answer Moore’s “unanswerable” question in “Last Rose”: “Oh! who would inhabit / This bleak world alone?” (M. Campbell, Irish Poetry 68). The poem is narrated by the bereft followers of Owen Roe O’Neill, an Irish nobleman who died in 1649, allegedly by poisoning. Yet while the perspective is reversed, the language Thomas Davis uses closely resembles that of the Melodies. The speakers repeatedly “wail” and “weep” their loss; their hearts are “broken” when they recall “how tenderly” they “loved” Owen Roe. These words are frequent in Moore, but Davis shows most clearly his debt when he describes Owen Roe as “kindest”, “beautiful”, “soft”, and “bright”. The last term is especially frequent in the Melodies, where it occurs a total of sixty-nine times. Unlike Davis’s subsequent compositions, here there is no note of defiance, but instead a pervading sense of despair and defeat. While Owen Roe “rests” in death (another common word in the Melodies with 24 occurrences), his companions are forever condemned to be “slaves” (17 occurrences, Melodies). Leerssen calls “oh!” “one of the important words in the Melodies” (Remembrance and Imagination 82). Yet in “Last Rose” Moore employs

224  Francesca Benatti

Figure 11.1  “’Tis the Last Rose of Summer”, Lyrics by Thomas Moore (­London, 1813). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s ­University Belfast.

it only once, in the last stanza, while Davis uses it twice in “Owen Roe”. Indeed, when we assess the two collections as a whole and eliminate the most common words from analysis, “Oh” is indeed the most frequent word in the Melodies, with 146 occurrences, but it is also the fourth most frequent in Spirit of the Nation with a total frequency of ninety-five

Figure 11.2  “  Lament for the Death of Eoghan Ruadh O’Neill”. Lyrics by Thomas Davis, Spirit of the Nation (Dublin, 1845). Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast.

226  Francesca Benatti (as measured in the 1843 Spirit). In Davis’s posthumous Collected Poems (T. Davis, The Poems of Thomas Davis), it is similarly the most frequent word with 106 occurrences. “Love” is the second most common term in Moore’s Melodies (133 occurrences), the sixth in Davis’s Poems (sixty-two) and still the tenth in Spirit (fifty-nine). “Sweet” and “dear”, while more frequent in Moore (sixty-one and fifty-two times, respectively), are still clearly represented in Spirit (thirty-four and thirty-seven times) and in Davis’s Poems (thirty-five and forty-two times). Besides making free use of his tunes, the Nation also borrowed without acknowledgement much of the same vocabulary of nationhood that Moore had deployed in the Melodies, and which Moore himself had derived from the United Irish literary tradition. Una Hunt lists a number of Moore’s “trigger or code words” (Hunt, Sources 17), many of which, as Table 11.3 shows, were also used by the Nation. Moore’s preference for “Erin” over “Ireland”, which he employed only in footnotes, can be explained by Erin being a “much more beautiful word to sing” (Hunt, Sources 23); most of the Nation poems, however, were supposed to be read, not performed. “Owen Roe” is seasoned throughout with words referring to the martial occupations of warfare, such as “swords”, “weapon”, “Saxon”, and “battle”. All of those terms occur in the Melodies as well, “sword/s”, for example, appearing twenty-three, against thirty, times in Spirit. But while the presence of a shared vocabulary pulls “Owen Roe” closer to certain of Moore’s Melodies, there are significant differences in word frequencies which push the Melodies and Spirit apart. Perhaps the most glaring discrepancy between the vocabulary of the Melodies and that of Spirit is in their references to persons. “Man”/“men” occurs only twenty-five times in the Melodies, against a staggering Table 11.3  F  requencies of notable Words in Moore’s Irish Melodies and in Spirit of the Nation Poems Word

Frequency in Irish Melodies

Frequency in Spirit of the Nation (1843 edition)

Erin Ireland Irish Sword/s Battle/s Saxon/s War Blood Man/men Woman/women

60 23 24 23 11 3 6 5 25 22

69 46 46 30 29 62 25 44 134 12

Rewriting Thomas Moore in The Nation  227 134 occurrences in Spirit. By contrast, “woman”/“women” make twenty-­ two appearances in Melodies (almost equal to those of men), but only twelve in Spirit (less than one-tenth of the frequency of “men”). Indeed, if we move from examining single words to the study of n-grams, “the men of” is the most common three-word sequence in Spirit with eighteen occurrences. In the Melodies, that position is occupied instead by “the light of” (seven times). Repeated word patterns or clusters can be interpreted as “textual building blocks for fictional worlds” (Mahlberg 26). The refrain of “the men of” helped the Nation authors in conceptualising a shared world vision with their readers built upon a common sense of masculinity and action (L. Davis 175). Moore’s use of “the light of” points instead most often to a sense of distant hope and redemption. By intensifying the language of nationhood and resistance already present in Moore, the authors of the Nation intimated that the time of change dimly foretold in Moore’s vague prophecies had finally arrived. Duffy called for a new Irish poetry imbued “with the language and sentiments of the people” (Ballad Poetry xxxiv) rather than Moore’s use of “the language of the wronger” (Ballad Poetry xxx). The poems in the two 1843 volumes of Spirit showed little if any conformity with these exhortations. For the Library edition of 1845, Duffy and Davis resorted to a different and contradictory method. Instead of adopting an “Anglo-Irish” diction or Irish metrical forms, the Nation authors decided to include brief passages in the Irish language. With some exceptions (Davis’s “Lament for the Milesians”) these Irish snippets were confined to personal or place names, with translations provided by John O’Donovan and Eugene O’Curry. The two scholars had been employed by the Irish Ordnance Survey (1833–1842) to collect and translate original Irish place names (G.M. Doherty 55–57); their credentials on poetical matters were less impressive. The choice was apparently Davis’s and was resented by Duffy, who complained that the ballads were “to be larded with a Celtic nomenclature” (Young Ireland 2: 99) that contrasted starkly with the surrounding poetry and gave a pretentious and artificial appearance to the Library Edition of Spirit. Thus, “Owen Roe” was transmogrified into “Eoghan Ruadh”, John O’Hagan’s pen-name went from Slievegullion to Sliabh Cuillin and D. F. MacCarthy’s “Kate of Kenmare” hailed instead from Ceann-mara. Other Young Ireland members, such as Thomas MacNevin, also lamented the pernicious effect these antiquarian affectations could have on sales of the volume: “We shall have a better chance of success by being less Irish” (Duffy, Young Ireland 2: 100). Moore had instead preferred to separate antiquarian lore from poetry, confining erudite quotations to less intrusive footnotes, a strategy that Duffy would also have preferred. This linguistic zeal was part of the antiquarian fervour gripping the intellectual elites of Ireland, represented chiefly by the endeavours of the Royal Irish Academy, of

228  Francesca Benatti which both Davis and Moore were members. The use of Irish typeface and Irish-language spellings for the titles of the traditional musical airs included in the edition further increased their appearance of authenticity and antiquity and helped to disguise the Nation’s appropriation of several of Moore’s airs.

Later Young Ireland Publications The combined analysis of the Nation and of the Library of Ireland anthologies up to the death of Thomas Davis in 1845 sees censure prevail over praise, but in addition to the verbal and musical borrowings listed above, there are numerous signs that point to contradictions and doubts in the ranks of Young Ireland. Davis and Duffy’s marginalisation of Moore did not in fact represent the views of all the Nation’s authors. Chief among the dissenting voices was Cork barrister Michael Joseph Barry, who at a meeting of the “‘82 Club3 proposed a toast to ‘the Bard of Ireland, Thomas Moore’”. Barry praised him for having combined “the poet and the patriot” and for daring “to foretell the redress of ­I reland”. Barry alone among the Nation authors located Moore’s production within a temporal framework, allowing that, while much of “what he has written is behind the spirit of today”, it was nonetheless “far . . . in advance of the spirit of the day in which he wrote”. He even justified Moore’s occasional sorrow and despair, asserting that “Through life he has been true to liberty and true to Ireland”. Barry’s opinion was seemingly not an isolated one, as “the toast was drunk with the most unbounded enthusiasm” (“First Banquet” 455). A few months later, Barry became the editor of the collection The Songs of Ireland, which he dedicated to Moore: “To the national bard of Ireland, Thomas Moore, with feelings of the deepest respect and admiration, this volume the Songs of Ireland, is inscribed by Michael ­Joseph Barry”. Despite their brevity, Barry’s words were far warmer than Thomas Davis’s perfunctory lines on the presentation copy of Spirit of the Nation. Barry selected ten Moore songs, mostly those that referred to the United Irish rather than to a remoter past (A. MacCarthy 128). The positive dedication and song selection counterbalanced Davis’s censure in his prefatory essay. Denis Florence MacCarthy (1817–1882), editor of The Book of Irish Ballads (Library of Ireland, 1846), was another dissenting voice within the Nation. The book contains only two poems by Moore, but in his preface MacCarthy strongly qualified several of Davis and Duffy’s assertions regarding Moore, rejecting Duffy’s clear-cut oppositions between song (Moore) and ballad (Duffy) while refuting Davis’s accusations of excessive prettiness and scarcity of narrative. By stating that most readers would already be familiar with Moore’s ballads (a generous form of praise), MacCarthy directly contradicted Davis and Duffy’s

Rewriting Thomas Moore in The Nation  229 assertions that the Melodies had enjoyed no circulation among the people of ­I reland. MacCarthy articulated most explicitly – in regards to the poetics of the new “Anglo-Irish” literature advocated by Duffy and Davis  – that it was possible to “be thoroughly Irish in our writings” without being “ungrateful” to English literature (D. F. MacCarthy, Introduction 23). ­MacCarthy seemed to advocate a linguistic and literary Act of Union at a time when Irish political developments and the spectre of the Great Irish Famine had radically altered the landscape of cultural production and reception. This harkening to an earlier rhetoric of alliance may explain why MacCarthy was the most lenient of the Nation’s Moore reviewers. MacCarthy did not advocate diglossia as the defining mark of a separate Irish identity and seemed to confine his aspirations to the literary sphere, not the political one, in a stance that parallels his lack of involvement in the Young Ireland rising of 1848. Thomas D’Arcy McGee (1825–1868), editor of the Boston Pilot and later Nation journalist, expressed his opinions of Moore in Historical Sketches of O’Connell and his Friends. The book, published in Boston in 1845, was composed for the Irish-American diaspora – a significantly different audience from the Library of Ireland series. Moore, the subject of a highly laudatory biography, is listed among O’Connell’s “friends” despite his known doubts over O’Connell’s politics. His distance from the actual conflicts of Ireland can explain why McGee was quick to depict Moore as having lived “but one prolonged effort of patriotism—one endless succession of thoughts on Ireland” (McGee, Historical Sketches 55). McGee was also the only Nation author to praise Moore’s appeal to sentiment, which “melts us into tears, or rouses us to indignation” in the Melodies (McGee, Historical Sketches 55). McGee’s work – together with Barry’s toast and MacCarthy’s preface – reflects the entrenched popularity of Moore within Ireland and also with the Irish emigrant community (see Caraher, “When Thomas Moore” in this volume). This can explain the severity of Davis and Duffy’s reviews, which in carving out a space for their new vision of Irish cultural nationalism, did so at Moore’s expense. After the failure of the Nation’s political project and of O’Connell’s Repeal Association, certain members of Young Ireland revised their beliefs. From 1880 Duffy, now knighted for his role as Prime Minister of the Australian state of Victoria, undertook a posthumous memorialisation of the Young Ireland movement that contained partial retractions of his stance on Moore. In a discussion of the editorial policy of the Nation, Duffy acknowledged that “Moore had mastered both moods of the national harp”: the medieval “roar of battle choked with sobs” and, under the Penal Laws that limited the rights of Catholics from 1695 to 1829, “the subdued sorrow of hope long baffled and postponed” (Young Ireland 1: 58–59). These brief phrases constitute a more positive assessment of Moore than the Ballad Poetry preface. Duffy then qualified

230  Francesca Benatti Davis’s observations on the circulation Moore’s songs, admitting that they “were sung in the drawing-rooms of Dublin and Cork, and in mansions and presbyteries; but . . . where the peasants recreated themselves, they were nearly unknown” (Duffy, Young Ireland 1: 58–59). This is a tacit acknowledgement that the Nation was guilty of exaggeration when they had stated that Moore’s works had not yet reached the Irish middle classes. To crown his retractions, when recounting the Belfast Vindicator’s mistaken identification of Moore as the author of the Spirit of the Nation, Duffy admitted in a footnote that “Some of the young men were of opinion . . . that Moore got scant justice at our hands” (Duffy, Young Ireland 1: 69n). Taken together, Duffy’s retractions and the works of MacCarthy, Barry, and McGee suggest that Moore’s popularity with the middle classes was far more widespread than Davis and Duffy had implied. The Melodies were a product of the same cultural milieu as the national tales of Mariah Edgeworth (1768–1849) and Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan (1781?–1859) – sharing a public of British and Irish readers interested in defining “a cultural conception of identity” for post-Union Ireland (C. Connolly 46). Moore’s appeal to the “rich and educated” partook far less of snobbery and much more of a calculated attempt at influencing the key decision-makers of his time. Davis and The Nation overlooked that the Melodies were published before Catholic Emancipation (with only the tenth number of 1834 postdating this milestone). Joep Leerssen argues convincingly that the public sphere The Nation addressed was a result of Catholic empowerment derived from O’Connell’s campaign for Emancipation and did not exist previously (National Thought in ­Europe 161–62). When Moore published the Melodies, even in prosperous ­Britain the potential “reading nation” for such expensive publications was perhaps as small as 200,000. The Irish book market was far more limited, even in relation to Ireland’s smaller population (St Clair 191). The undisciplined, agitated masses of 1798 still loomed large behind Moore’s “Letter to the Marchioness of Donegal”, which aimed to distinguish his refined Melodies from the rabble-rousing outputs of the United Irish (while tacitly acknowledging a commonality of aims). But in the aftermath of Catholic Emancipation, the balance of power on the Irish question shifted from the British upper classes to the Irish masses, now arranged and disciplined by O’Connell in the Catholic Association in the 1820s and the Repeal Association in the 1840s. This change was reflected on the literary scene in the rise of the new breed of Catholic authors, whose novels supplanted the national tale. Ironically, these authors, the Nation included, addressed the “new Irish Catholic public sphere” that Moore’s Melodies and Captain Rock had decisively shaped (Nolan 54). However, by the 1840s, the Melodies had not yet been completely “tranched down” (St Clair 32) to smaller and cheaper formats that would fall within the reach of this emergent audience. While

Rewriting Thomas Moore in The Nation  231 single songs and editions without music were published in the 1840s in I­ reland, the Nation more fully exploited the opportunities of mass circulation through the six pence Spirit of the Nation and the one shilling Library of Ireland volumes. The Nation too, however, may have failed to reach a truly popular audience, by the “firesides” and in “shebeens” mentioned by Davis and Duffy. John Moulden’s pioneering survey of the Irish printed ballad has revealed extremely limited circulation for the productions of the Nation, which were coated in a language that was too distant from “the people’s oral linguistic mode” and were too “politically oriented” (Moulden 1: 284–85).

Conclusion The fact that, over thirty years after their first publication, Davis and Duffy were engaging critically with Moore’s oeuvre and especially the Melodies shows how vital and significant his works still were, even in social and cultural circumstances that had changed beyond recognition (thanks in no small part to the Melodies themselves). Their negative evaluations of Moore’s language hid the numerous debts that the Nation owed to him, as well as to their openly acknowledged literary antecedents among the United Irish (Thuente 195). The Nation emphasised the role of Irish language in their claims of a separate identity, based on “cultural rather than economic or legal arguments” (Leerssen, National Thought in Europe 160–61). This disguised their debt to Moore and their adoption of a shared poetic language of Irishness. Simultaneously, the Nation acknowledged English as the language of modernity and of their readers, the product of the first National Schools. The Nation criticised Moore for not having created a hybrid, heteroglossic form of English language that bore traces of the nationally defining Irish Gaelic. In so doing, it ignored Moore’s use of the “musical dimension” of his poetry and of his “dialogue with silence” to both convey Irish nationality and disguise it in forms acceptable to his Anglophone audience (­Pittock 115). When the Nation acknowledged Moore’s musical diglossia, it was to critique it as inauthentic and “corrupt”, thus espousing Bunting and O’Donovan’s paradigm of antiquarian preservation of the past rather than Moore’s dynamic reinterpretation in the social and cultural milieu of his present (H. White, Music and the Irish Literary Imagination 43). Throughout their collections of original poetry, the Nation struggled to erase all traces of their dependence on Moore in terms of vocabulary and music. Poetically, their attempts to surpass Moore through cultivation of a more national language adopted the idiosyncratic and diverging methods of both simplification of his diction and the addition of an antiquarian gilding. Commercially, their publishing strategies and market diversification were much more successful and, with both popular and library editions, ensured the transmission of their interpretation

232  Francesca Benatti of national literature into the future. In time, cheap editions of Moore’s Melodies were also released, but found themselves jostling for position in a marketplace inundated with texts and collections of the Nation. The Nation’s implicit aim was to write poetry that would stand to the Repeal campaign as Moore’s stood to the struggle for Catholic Emancipation. His role in changing the mentality of his audience on the question of Ireland was acknowledged even by detractors, such as “Father Prout”, who admitted that the Melodies “made emancipation palatable”, winning the cause “silently, imperceptibly, but effectually; and if there be a national tribute due to any man, it is to the child of song” (Mahony 1: 246). In the stadial model of nationalism described by Hroch (22–24), Moore and national tale authors such as Edgeworth and Owenson can be seen as embodying phase A, when scholars and men of letters raise awareness of cultural heritage and become, as Leerssen terms it “the cultural carriers of national thought” (National Thought in Europe 164). Davis, Duffy, and the Nation represent instead phase B, when the cultural self-awareness of Phase A forms the basis of “demands for social reform” (Leerssen, National Thought in Europe 164). Yet in challenging Moore’s position as national bard, they also attempted to rewrite phase A to suit the changed circumstances of Ireland. The work of Moore and the national tale authors had indeed led to a phase B with social and economic demands, Catholic Emancipation. O’Connell later sought more sweeping changes through his campaign for Repeal, of which the Nation authors were active participants. Moore’s ambitions, however, did not extend beyond Emancipation, which he defined as “the end of my politics” (Thomas Moore to John Murray, 17 April 1829, ML 633–34). Davis, Duffy, and Young Ireland therefore stepped in and created a new cultural phase A that redefined Irish identity in terms more congruent with the political goals of the Repeal Association. To do so, they subjected Moore’s oeuvre to a critical reduction through the Nation, the Spirit of the Nation, and the Library of Ireland. The dissenting voices in the Nation – such as Barry and MacCarthy – remained marginal, as testified by their sales. Between 1845 and 1881, Barry’s Songs of Ireland went through only four editions and MacCarthy’s Book of Irish Ballads through just three (A. MacCarthy 188). This is not to say that Moore was ignored by the Irish public or that he did not enjoy popular success during the Repeal campaign and beyond, but that the continued reprints of Ballad Poetry of Ireland and Spirit of the Nation contributed to the decline of Moore’s star among cultural nationalist circles. The final nails in the coffin were hammered in by William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), who described himself as a “True brother of that company,/ Who sang to sweeten Ireland’s wrong” together with Davis, Mangan, and Ferguson but not Moore, despite their relative poetic merits (“To Ireland in the Coming Times”, Poems 234–35). Thus, Yeats and the Celtic Revivalists repeated a similar approach, writing a new phase

Rewriting Thomas Moore in The Nation  233 A that chimed better with their phase C goals of complete independence for Ireland based on total de-anglicisation. Like the Young Irelanders before them, the Celtic Revivalists needed to dethrone Moore in order to stake their cultural claim to Ireland.

Notes 1 In Davis’s own copy of The Nation, now in the Royal Irish Academy, this article is clearly marked “T. Davis”. See Royal Irish Academy RRG/4 nos. 9–10. Also, see (Duffy, Thomas Davis 96). 2 This would be Thomas Moore’s History of Ireland, which was issued in four volumes by the London-based publisher Longmans between 1835 and 1846. 3 The ’82 Club was founded in 1844 to commemorate the 1782 Volunteers, who had campaigned for an Irish parliament. Its membership was restricted to gentlemen, who held banquets attired in a military-style costume.

Bibliography Works not found here are listed in a concluding Bibliography, which contains references common to more than one chapter. [Ball, J.T.] “Our Portrait Gallery (No. XXIX): Thomas Moore.” The Dublin University Magazine, vol. 19, no. 112, Apr. 1842, pp. 476–79. Barry, Michael Joseph. “First Banquet of the ‘82 Club.” The Nation, vol. 3, no. 132, 19 Apr. 1845, pp. 452–55. ———, editor. The Songs of Ireland. 1845. James Duffy, 1857. Beetham, Margaret. “Towards a Theory of the Periodical as a Publishing Genre.” Investigating Victorian Journalism. Eds. Laurel Brake, Aled Jones, and Lionel Madden, Macmillan, 1990, pp. 19–32. Campbell, Matthew. Irish Poetry under the Union, 1801–1924. Cambridge UP, 2013. Connolly, Claire. A Cultural History of the Irish Novel, 1790–1829. ­Cambridge UP, 2012. Davis, Thomas. “Essay on Irish Songs.” 1845. The Songs of Ireland. Ed. ­M ichael Joseph Barry. James Duffy, 1857, pp. 25–43. ———. “Irish Music and Poetry.” The Nation, vol. 2, no. 90, 29 June 1844, p. 601. ———. Literary and Historical Essays. James Duffy, 1846. ———. “National Gallery No. 1- Thomas Moore.”. The Nation, vol. 1, no. 3, 29 Oct. 1842, p. 44. ———. The Poems of Thomas Davis Now First Collected with Notes and Historical Illustrations. James Duffy, Simpkin, Marshall and Co., 1846. ———, editor. The Spirit of the Nation. 2nd ed. James Duffy, 1845. Davis, Thomas, and Charles Gavan Duffy, editors. The Spirit of the Nation. 2nd ed. James Duffy, 1844. Doherty, Gillian M. The Irish Ordnance Survey: History, Culture and ­Memory. Four Courts P, 2004. Duffy, Charles Gavan, editor. Introduction. The Ballad Poetry of Ireland. 4th ed. James Duffy, 1845, pp. xi–xlviii.

234  Francesca Benatti ———. My Life in Two Hemispheres, 2 vols., 1898.T. Fisher Unwin, 1903. ———. Thomas Davis; the Memoirs of an Irish Patriot, 1840–1846. Kegan. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1890. ———. “Tom Moore’s Treason.” The Nation, vol. 1, no. 37, 24 June 1843, p. 585. ———. Young Ireland: A Fragment of Irish History, 1840–45, final revision, 2 vols., T. Fisher Unwin, 1896. Dunne, Fergus. “The Politics of Translation in Francis Sylvester Mahony’s ‘The Rogueries of Thomas Moore’”. European Romantic Review, vol. 23, no. 4, 2012, pp. 453–74, doi:10.1080/10509585.2012.694649. Houghton, Walter Edwards. The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824–1900. Routledge, 2013. Hroch, Miroslav. Social Preconditions of National Revival in Europe: A Comparative Analysis of the Social Composition of Patriotic Groups among the Smaller European Nations. Translated by Ben Fowkes, Cambridge UP, 1985. Kelly, James. “‘No Dumb Ireland’: Robert Burns and Irish Cultural Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century.” Éire-Ireland, vol. 47, no. 3, 2012, pp. 251–68. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/eir.2012.0114. MacCarthy, Anne. Definitions of Irishness in the “Library of Ireland” Literary Anthologies. Peter Lang, 2012. MacCarthy, Denis Florence. Introduction. The Book of Irish Ballads.1846. James Duffy, 1853, pp. 11–24. Mahlberg, Michaela. Corpus Stylistics and Dickens’s Fiction. Routledge, 2012. Mahony, Francis Sylvester. The Reliques of Father Prout, Collected and ­Arranged by Oliver Yorke, 2 vols., James Fraser, 1836. McGee, Thomas D’Arcy. Historical Sketches of O’Connell and his Friends … with a Glance at the Future Destiny of Ireland, 3rd ed. Donahoe and Rohan, 1845. Google Books. Nolan, Emer. Catholic Emancipations: Irish Fiction from Thomas Moore to James Joyce. Syracuse UP, 2007. St Clair, William. The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period. Cambridge UP, 2004. The Voice of the Nation: A Manual of Nationality by the Writers of the Nation Newspaper. James Duffy, 1844. Yeats, William Butler. Poems. T. Fisher Unwin, 1895.

Bibliography

This is a bibliography of references that occur in more than one chapter. Bentley, D.M.R. “Near the Rapids: Thomas Moore in Canada.” Romantic Poetry. Ed. Angela Easterhammer. John Benjamins Publishing, 2002, pp. 355–72. Bunting, Edward. The Ancient Music of Ireland, Arranged for the Piano Forte to which is Prefixed a Dissertation on the Irish Harp and Harpers, Including an Account of the Old Melodies of Ireland by E. Bunting. Hodges and Smith, 1840. Burns, Joanne. “Give them life by singing them about: Moore’s Musical ­Performances in the English Drawing Room.” Eds. McCleave, and Caraher, pp. 95–107. From 31 July 2019, COPAC. Consortium of Online Public Access Catalogues. JISC, “Library Hub Discover.” http://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk. Davis, Leith. Music, Postcolonialism, and Gender: The Construction of Irish National Identity, 1724–1874. U of Notre Dame P, 2006. Hamm, Charles. Yesterdays: Popular Song in America. 1979. W. W. Norton, 1983. Hathi Trust. Hathi Trust Digital Library, www.hathitrust.org/digital_library. Hunt, Una. Sources and Style in Moore’s Irish Melodies. Taylor & Francis, 2017. Kelly, Ronan. Bard of Erin: The Life of Thomas Moore. Penguin Ireland, 2008. Klein, Axel. “‘All her lovely companions are faded and gone’ – How ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ Became Europe’s Favourite Irish Melody.” Eds. McCleave, and Caraher, pp. 128–45. Leerssen, Joep. National Thought in Europe: A Cultural History. 2006. ­A msterdam U P, 2010. ———. Remembrance and Imagination: Patterns in the Historical and Literary Representation of Ireland in the Nineteenth Century. Cork UP in association with Field Day, 1996. McCleave, Sarah. “The Genesis of Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies.” Cheap Print and Popular Song in the Nineteenth Century. Eds. Paul Watt, and Derek Scott, Cambridge UP, 2017, pp. 47–69. McCleave, Sarah, and Brian G. Caraher, editors. Thomas Moore and Romantic Inspiration: Poetry, Music, and Politics. Routledge, 2018.

236 Bibliography McCleave, Sarah, and Tríona O’Hanlon. ERIN Catalogue. www.erin.qub. ac.uk. 2019. ———. ERIN: Europe’s Reception of the Irish Melodies and National Airs: Thomas Moore in Europe. Queen’s University Belfast, 2017. www.erin.qub. ac.uk. (MCP). The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore, Collected by Himself. 10 vols., Longmans, 1840–41. (MJD). The Journal of Thomas Moore. Ed. Wilfred S. Dowden. 6 vols., U of Delaware P, 1983–1991. (MJR). Memoirs, Journal and Correspondence of Thomas Moore. Ed. Lord John Russell. 8 vols., Longmans, 1853–56. (ML). The Letters of Thomas Moore. Ed. Wilfred S. Dowden. 2 vols., ­Clarendon P, 1964. Moore, Thomas. Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems. Carpenter, 1806. Moulden, John Pointon. The Printed Ballad in Ireland: A Guide to the Popular Printing of Songs in Ireland 1760–1920, 4 vols., 2006. NUI Galway, PhD dissertation. O’Donnell, Mary Louise. “‘Those half creatures of Plato’: The Musical Inspiration behind Moore’s Sacred Songs and National Airs.” Eds. McCleave, and Caraher, pp. 146–66. Pittock, Murray. Scottish and Irish Romanticism. Oxford UP, 2008. Tessier, Thérèse. The Bard of Erin: A Study of Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies (1808–1834). Translated by George P. Mutch, Institüt für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, U Salzburg, 1981. Thuente, Mary Helen. The Harp Re-Strung: The United Irishmen and the Rise of Irish Literary Nationalism. Syracuse UP, 1994. (UL). The Unpublished Letters of Thomas Moore. Ed. Jeffery W. Vail, 2 vols., Pickering & Chatto, 2013. White, Harry. The Keeper’s Recital: Music and Cultural History in Ireland, 1770–1970. Cork UP, 1998. ———. Music and the Irish Literary Imagination. Oxford UP, 2009. White, Terence de Vere. Tom Moore: The Irish Poet. Hamish Hamilton, 1977.

Index

Note: Page numbers followed by “n” denote endnotes. Act of Union 118, 148, 154, 155, 229–30 aesthetics 19, 33, 48, 63, 71, 118–19, 131–3, 157, 177 American Revolution 142–3, 148–50, 159, 176 anthology see anthologies anthologies 6–7, 19, 20, 71, 73, 77, 80–1, 83, 85–7, 89, 90–2, 99, 105, 203, 217–19, 221 antiquarian see antiquarianism antiquarianism 90, 98, 155, 227–8, 231 arrangements 8, 10, 97–8, 101, 105–6, 108–11, 150, 156, 220 Attwood, Thomas 8, 97 audience 10, 46, 50–1, 53, 74, 88, 97, 103, 122, 124, 145, 171, 214–16, 218–21, 229–32 authentic see authenticity authenticity 31, 39, 46–7, 91, 98, 107, 228 Balfe, Michael William 8 Balkans 19, 188, 192, 206 ballad 35, 70, 88, 91, 219, 223, 227, 231 Banim, John 87, 218 Barnett, John Francis 10 Barry, Michael Joseph 214, 219, 228–9, 230, 232 Beethoven, Ludwig van 97, 108, 145, 156–8, 161, 163 Bermuda 102, 169–70, 173, 181–2 Bishop, Henry Rowley 7–8, 97, 101, 163 Britain 38, 60–1, 67, 73, 86, 98, 102, 104, 105, 117, 120, 130, 142, 146, 154, 159, 163, 177, 181–2, 230

British Empire 62, 146–8, 154, 202 Bunting, Edward 156, 220, 231 Burns, Robert 156, 218–9 Butt, Isaac 86, 88, 93n8 Byron, George Gordon, Lord 45–6, 60–4, 67, 73–5, 87, 91, 118–21, 123, 188–9, 191–3, 205–7, 215; Manfred 65, 74; Memoirs of 47, 67, 121, 192–3, 196; Hebrew Melodies 74; The Corsair 119, 123 Calcutta 46–7 Campbell, Thomas 38 Canada 27–40, 86–7, 169–70, 173, 177, 179, 182 A Canadian Boat Song 27–40; structure and rhythm 33 Carpenter, James 5, 7 Catholicism 61–2, 67, 75 Catholic Emancipation 102, 123, 230, 232 Catholic themes 69 Celtic Revivalists 232–3 choral societies 9, 10, 122, 126 Clay, Frederic 10 colonisation 49, 142, 152, 154, 158, 182 colonialism see colonisation colonised see colonisation community 3, 6, 10–12, 14, 18–20, 104, 123, 142, 148, 156, 163, 206, 229 Croker, John Wilson 100 Cuba 62, 68–9, 71–3, 75 cultural pluralism 19 cultural products 3–4, 21, 149, 154 Davis, Thomas 77, 87, 91, 214–32 Dar-Thula 191, 198–201, 205–6

238 Index Dublin 7, 117–18, 122–4 Duffy, Charles Gavin 36, 79, 87, 91, 214–5, 217–21, 223, 227–32 Duffy, James 8, 218 Dulcken, H.W. 10 East India Company 44–5, 48, 54 elegiac 50, 55 elegy see elegiac Edinburgh Review 9, 31, 112n9, 181 England 17, 21, 47, 61, 63, 68, 82, 86, 91, 101, 104, 118–19, 147, 149, 163, 169–70, 173, 175, 177, 179–81, 193, 215, 219 The Epicurean 62, 67, 75, 76n1, 206 Epistles, Odes and Other Poems 19, 27, 31, 89, 169, 170–3, 176–7, 180–5 Europe 9, 98, 102, 120, 145, 148, 150, 156–7, 161, 170, 189, 191–2, 195, 202, 216 European 4, 7–8, 19, 46, 60, 62, 67, 97, 101–3, 121, 183 Evans, Edmund 5 exoticism 118–21 Fables for the Holy Alliance Rhymes on the Road &c. &c. 102 Fane, John Lord Burghersh 9 Fenianism 86–8 Ferguson, Samuel 218, 232 Flechsig, Emil 121 von Flotow, Friedrich 74 Flint, Lady 9 France 3, 29, 47, 61, 102, 148–9, 177 fratriotism 20, 188 French language literature 192 Fudge Family 45 Germany 107, 117, 120–1, 123–4, 126–7, 130, 133–4 Gibson-Massie Moore Collection, Queen’s University Belfast 80 Glover, Charles William 98, 104–7 Glover, John William 117–18, 122–3, 133–4 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von 120–1 Greece 19, 119, 189, 191, 193, 196, 201, 203–4 Greek speaking world 19 Grove’s Dictionary 110 Hastings, Francis Rawdon Lord Moira 169, 176, 185n1 Haverhill Henry 109–10

Haydn Joseph 127–9, 156, 158 Heath Charles 5 Hensel William 120 Hispanic World 19, 60–76 Historicism 64 History of Ireland 21n11, 192, 203, 216 Holy Alliance 102 Home Rule 86, 88, 90 Hume, Thomas 5, 174, 176 ideal 19, 48, 99, 104, 119, 142, 150–1, 170, 173 idealist see ideal identity: American identity 163; Irish identity 90, 118 155, 163, 229, 230–2; German identity 133; musical identity 107, 124; national identity 68, 98–9, 118, 147–50, 218; Scottish and Irish cultural identities 218; social and cultural identity 99; Spanish identity 60; Spanish-American identity 60 Imperialism: British Imperialism 38–9, 44–5, 188; Byzantine Imperialism 202 In Imitation of Ossian 19, 174, 188, 189, 193, 195, 202, 204, 206 India: British India 18, 44–50, 52–4 influence 4, 19, 21, 27, 44–5, 54, 135, 144–6, 161, 169, 174, 176, 179, 181, 183, 184–6, 188, 190, 191–5, 198, 202–5, 207, 217, 221 Ireland 6, 15–19, 37, 49, 54, 68, 80–1, 86, 91–2, 99, 102–3, 107, 118–20, 123–4, 133–4, 142–55, 163, 170, 173–7, 181, 189, 190, 197, 200, 206, 216–17, 226, 228–33 Irish Melodies 3, 5–8, 10, 11, 15–20, 44, 49–51, 61, 68–75, 80, 82, 89, 97–8, 101, 104–6, 111, 117–18, 120, 132, 142, 144–6, 148–50, 154–8, 163, 175, 177, 182–3, 185, 188, 190–2, 195–8, 201–3, 205, 214–17, 219–24, 226–7, 229–32; As Vanquished Erin 16, 222; Avenging and Bright 21n12, 198, 201; Come o’er the Sea 203, 204; Dear harp of my country 17, 45; Erin, Oh Erin! 71, 175, 202; Erin! the Tear and the Smile in Thine Eyes 16, 154; Fare thee well, my own dear love 222; Forget not the field 205; The harp that once 49–50, 17, 71–2, 110; The last rose

Index  239 of summer 74–5, 110, 145, 223–4; Lesbia Hath a Beaming Eye 222; Let Erin remember the days of old 16; The Minstrel Boy 17, 72, 84, 110; My gentle harp 17; Oh! Blame not the bard 16, 191; Oh! Breathe not his name 191; Remember the glories of Brien the Brave 16–17, 154, 158–9, 161; Rich and rare were the gems she wore 16; Shall the harp then be silent 17; Sing sweet harp 17; St. Senanus and the Lady 150, 161; The Song of Fionnuala 191; Song of O’ Ruark 17; Sweet Innisfallen 16, 18; The valley lay smiling before me 17; ‘Tis believed the harp 17, 51; What the Bee is to the Floweret 62, 70, 71, 74; When first I met thee 54; Weep on, weep on 148, 154 Irish Republican Brotherhood 86 Italy 68, 102, 117, 123, 133, 195 Kiallmark, George 8–9 Kinsella, Thomas 92 Lalla Rookh 3, 5–9, 10–15, 19, 44–5, 49, 54, 60, 62–3, 67–9, 74–5, 80–1, 89, 91, 97, 117–21, 123, 125, 131–2, 134, 183, 185, 198, 205, 219; Bendemeer’s Stream 9, 11, 45; Come hither, come hither 9, 14; Farewell — farewell to thee Araby’s daughter 14; The Fireworshippers 12–14, 20, 69; I’ll sing thee songs of Araby 10; The Light of the Harem 14–15; Nourmahal 14–15; Oh! fair as the sea-flower 14; Paradise and the Peri 6, 9–10, 12, 19, 45, 64–7, 74, 117–19, 121, 123; 126–7, 205; Das Paradies und die Peri see Paradise and the Peri; The Spirit’s Song 11; ‘Twas his own voice 13; The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan 11–12, 63–4, 66–8 Land, Edward 110 language: English language 120, 231; harmonic language 126; Irish, English and Anglo-Irish language 218; Irish language 227, 231; Moore’s language 18, 44, 231; sentimental 10; taste 3 Legendary Ballads 71 Leipzig 9–10, 19, 117–18, 122–34 liberalism 61

Library of Ireland [series] 214, 217, 219, 221, 228, 229, 231 The Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald 121, 216 London 5–8, 10, 19, 27, 62–3, 70, 75, 81, 88, 91, 97–101,104–6, 108–11, 117–18, 142, 151, 180, 182, 197–8, 216 Loves of the Angels 5, 57n4, 120, 192 MacCarthy, Denis Florence 215, 227–30, 232 MacFarren, George Alexander 8 MacPherson, James 188–9, 191–2, 194–5, 198–9, 201, 219 Maclise, Daniel 6 Maid of Marlivale 7 Magee, Thomas D’Arcy 87, 91, 229–30 Mangan, James Clarence 79, 87, 218, 232 Memoirs of Captain Rock 175–6, 216–17, 219, 230 Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan 5, 67, 216 Mendelssohn, Felix 97, 117, 130 Moira, Lord see Hastings, Francis Rawdon Mount, George 109–11 musical criticism 104, 126–7, 129, 132, 220 mythology 55, 128, 200 Napoleon 31, 63, 102, 112n6, 148, 177, 193 Napoleonic, Napoleonic Wars see Napoleon The Nation 214–18, 220–2, 226–32 National Airs 8, 19, 50, 62, 69, 70, 72–3, 75, 97–111, 221–2; The Dream of home 73; Flow on thy Shining River 106; Hark the Vesper Hymn is Stealing 106; Oft in the Stilly Night 45, 72, 98, 106–9, 111; Oh, come to me when daylight sets 73, 106; published arrangements 9; Should those fond hopes 50–1; ‘Tis believed that this harp 17, 41, 51; Those Evening Bells 51, 55, 73 nationalism 3, 18, 28, 35–6, 39, 44–6, 49–51, 61–2, 68–9, 71–2, 75, 117, 124, 145–6, 176, 214, 226–7, 232 nationalist 46, 49, 50–1, 133, 146, 149, 176, 215, 220, 232

240 Index nationhood 226–7 national identity see identity networks 3–6, 10, 18, 20, 54, 97–9, 101, 105, 108–11, 142, 146, 155, 163, 189, 203 North America 4, 27, 32, 86, 142–9, 177, 169–85; America 7, 9, 170–2; American Republic 89; Norfolk 172–3; Philadelphia 5, 9, 89, 142, 170, 177–80; President Jefferson 176–7; slavery 175; United States 9, 19, 35, 38, 86–7, 91, 142–50, 154–5, 157–9, 161, 163, 177–8, 182–3, 223; Washington DC 89, 170, 173–7, 183; The New Era 35–6; United States 19 Neoclassical see Neoclassicism Neoclassicism 61–2, 70–1 Nihilism 54 Odes of Anacreon 5, 189 Odes to Nea 80, 93n7, 181 O’Connell, Daniel 217, 229–30, 232 O’Reilly, John Boyle 19, 79–83, 85–90, 92 Oriental see Orientalism Orientalism 44, 46–7, 60, 62, 64, 67, 69, 75 Oriental tropes 44, 54 Ottoman Empire 191, 193, 195, 206, 207n6 Paris 8, 10, 102, 197 parody 45, 49–55, 57n5 The Pilot 81, 86–8, 90 The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore 6, 29, 33, 169, 178, 184, 197, 216 The Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Little, Esq. 120 poetry 5, 8, 11, 18, 20, 27, 31, 35–6, 44–7, 50, 60–6, 68, 70–1, 74–5, 79–81, 85, 88, 89–92, 105–11, 119 policy 190, 196, 229 politics 19, 54, 86–8, 90, 102, 123–4, 142, 154–5, 157–9, 161, 175, 181, 189, 193, 229, 232 Power, James 5, 7–9, 97, 100–102, 105, 108–10, 142, 150, 157, 197, 216 Power, William 5, 7–8, 101, 142, 216 Prince of Wales George IV 5, 54, 185n1 printing 91, 105–6

publishing 3–6, 8, 62, 79–80, 109–11, 221, 231 publishers: Addison and Hodson 8, 105; Addison, Hollier and Lucas 8, 110; Allen, J. 8; Ashdown and Parry 110; Blake, George E. 142; Campbell and Ransford and Co. 110; Carey and Hart 5; Chappell and Co. 105, 109–10; Cramer, Addison and Beale 8; Cramer, Beale and Chappelle 8; Day and Son 6; Duffy, James 8, 218; Ewer and Co. 117; Francis and Co. 5; Galignani 8; Gay Brothers and Co. 80, 84, 92n1; Jeffreys, Charles 105; Longman 112n12; Longman, Brown, Green Longmans and Roberts 105–6; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown 197; Longman, Thomas 5–6, 216; Novello J.A. 8; Warren and Warren 6 The Quarterly Musical Magazine & Review 103, 112n9 Quebec Mercury 31 Republicanism 19, 142, 154, 196 Revolution: American Revolution 142–3, 148–50, 159, 161, 174; Cycladic Revolution 201–2, 206, 207; European Revolution 145; French Revolution 31, 161, 174; Greek Revolution 19, 189, 191, 194–5 Irish Revolution 174, 196; revolutionary politics 155, 157; revolutionary networks 155; revolutionary sentiment 155; revolutionary principles 156 Richards, Brinley 108–10 Ries, Ferdinand 108–10 Robinson, Francis 8 Rockstro, William Smith 108–10 Romania 204–5 Romanticism 27, 31, 55, 61–2, 67, 69–71, 73, 75, 131, 150, 182–3, 188 Royal Irish Academy 122, 221, 229, 233n1 Royal Choral Institute 117, 123 Sacred Songs 71, 80, 82 satire 45, 54–5, 57n9 Schumann Robert, 9–10, 19, 97, 108, 117–18, 120–3, 125–7, 129–34

Index  241 Scotland 47, 99, 107, 118, 189, 191, 200, 219 sentimental see sentimentality sentimentality 3, 10–12, 15, 18, 20, 44–5, 55, 81, 97, 102, 144–5, 217, 219, 223 Sloperton Cottage 100 Spanish Empire 60 Spiker, Samuel Heinrich 120 The Spirit of the Nation 217, 220–4, 226–8, 230–2 Spontini, Gaspare 97, 120 Stevenson, John Sir 7–9, 13, 19, 90, 97, 101, 106, 108, 150, 155–9, 161, 163, 220 Stockdale, John 5 style 18, 51, 61, 64, 66–7, 69–71, 73, 90, 100, 102, 108, 119, 121, 129, 131, 145, 155–8, 161, 163, 189, 217, 219 Tenniel, John 6 theatres 3, 74, 120, 122 Thomson, George 156–7 transcriptions 28–9, 109–10 translations 6, 8, 10, 20, 27, 29, 60, 62–71, 73–5, 76n2, 117, 120–3,

126, 177, 188–9, 191, 192, 195, 198, 201–7, 227 Travels of and Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion 61–2, 67, 216 Trinity College Dublin 93n8, 113n19, 134n1, 189 To the Students of Trinity College 174 United Irishmen 142, 147, 174, 196, 214 Unites States see North America Washington, George 63, 88, 143, 164n2, 176 Welsh, Thomas 9 Westall, Richard 5 Wilder, Victor 10 Wildman, Thomas 100 Whitfield, John Clarke 9, 12, 13 Yeats, William Butler 90–2, 232–3 Young Bengal 45 Young Ireland 6, 20, 35–6, 87, 93n7, 214, 221–2, 227–9, 232–3