Turlough O’Carolan: Ireland’s Last Bard

By Jeanne McClellan

Before Ray Charles, Diana Shurr and Andrea Bocelli, there was a Celtic harper named Turlough O’Carolan. 

Born in 1670 in County Meath, Ireland, O’Carolan was the son of a blacksmith employed by the McDermot Roe family. Taking O’Carolan under her wing, Mrs. McDermot Roe became his benefactor and ensured that the boy received a good education. At an early age, he showed proficiency in poetry and verse. Nevertheless, he was destined to become a blacksmith like his father due to his low station in society.  

Fate, however, would intervene and change his life forever. At the age of 18, he contracted smallpox, which was ordinarily a death sentence. Miraculously, he survived it but was left totally blind as a result of his battle.   

In the 17th century, it was common for people who were blind to learn to play the harp to support themselves as travelling entertainers. In keeping with that societal tradition, Mrs. McDermot Roe hired a harper to teach O’Carolan how to play.  

In his early 20s he set off with a guide and began his singing and playing career. His first visit was to the estate of George Reynolds, who was not particularly impressed with O’Carolan’s performing skills. He rather cattily suggested O’Carolan start composing instead. With a somewhat defiant attitude, O’Carolan did just that. His first composition, entitled “She Beg She More” is still considered one of his best and is my personal favorite. It is the first composition of over 200.  

O’Carolan began to be respected as a formidable writer of “planxty’s,” a term he coined, that referred to songs named for the estate owner requesting it. European contemporaries such as Vivaldi influenced O’Carolan’s style as much as he influenced theirs. Some say “The Star-Spangled Banner” was influenced by O’Carolan’s tunes. 

Even though Ireland had been defeated in the English revolution by Oliver Cromwell and was now infused with transplanted English Protestants, O’Carolan had customers among both the traditional Gaelic Irish estate owners who still prevailed, as well as the Protestant incomers who were curious about Irish culture. He traversed the country from Dublin to Belfast and everything in between earning a living as a teacher, composer, and performer. His first love was Brigid Cruise who he would never marry because she was from an upper class, but he wrote several songs in her honor over the course of his lifetime. At the age of 50, he married Molly McGuire with whom he had seven children. He continued to work to support his family after Molly’s death in 1733 until his own death in 1738. He had returned to Mrs. McDermott Roe’s estate where he had grown up in County Roscommon. He had not been feeling well and thought the end could be near. He wrote his own farewell music on his deathbed with Mrs. McDermott Roe at his side. 

In the early 18th century during the penal times in which O’Carolan lived, Celtic harpers were beginning to disappear. In 1792, Edward Bunting wrote down O’Carolan’s compositions and preserved them.   

In the 1960’s a resurgence of interest in Celtic harp music gave O’Carolan renewed recognition and performers like the Cheiftans and others have recorded his beautiful songs.  

O’Carolan’s life proves once again, there is life after blindness.  

About the author:

Jeanne McClellan was born and raised in Royal Oak Michigan, got a master's degree in psychology, and worked for approximately 30 years as a counselor and social worker until she retired in 2009.