Gráinne Yeats (14 April 1925 – 18 April 2013) was an Irish

harpist The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual string (music), strings running at an angle to its sound board (music), soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing ...

and singer, and also a historian of the

Irish harp The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring gr ...

Biography

Yeat was born as Gráinne Ní hEigeartaigh in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and raised bilingually in Irish and English. As well as obtaining a degree in history from

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, she studied piano, voice and harp at the

Royal Irish Academy of Music Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roy ...

in Dublin and also traditional songs and music from the Irish-speaking (

Gaeltacht A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The districts were first officially recognised ...

) areas of Ireland. She wrote and researched the history and music of the

Cláirseach The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring gr ...

(wire-strung harp), and she was one of the first professional musicians to revive and record this ancient traditional instrument. She wrote entries about

Turlough O'Carolan Turlough O'Carolan ( ; 1670 – 25 March 1738) was a blind Celtic harper, composer and singer in Ireland whose great fame is due to his gift for melodic composition. Although not a composer in the classical sense, Carolan is considered by som ...

and other Irish harpers in the ''

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the History of music, ...

''. Gráinne Yeats was married to

Michael Yeats Michael Butler Yeats (22 August 1921 – 3 January 2007) was an Irish barrister and Fianna Fáil politician. He served two periods as a member of Seanad Éireann. Biography Early life His was the son of W. B. Yeats, a poet and Nobel Prize in L ...

, a Fianna Fáil politician and son of the poet

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

. They had three daughters and a son, Caitriona, Siobhán, Síle, and Pádraig.Murphy, William, ''Family Secrets'', p. xx. Syracuse University Press, 1995. She died on 18 April 2013 aged 88.

Discs

* ''The Belfast Harp Festival 1792–1992 Féile Cruitirí Bhéal Feirste'': Gael-Linn CEFCD 156 (double-CD, 1992).

Books and publications

* "Some Thoughts on Irish Harp Music", in ''Ceol'' vol. IV, no. 2 (December 1973), p. 37–50. * / ''The Belfast Harpers Festival 1792'' (Dublin: Gael-Linn, 1980). * "The Rediscovery of Carolan", in ''Integrating Tradition: The Achievement of Seán O Riada''; ed. Bernard Harris & Grattan Freyer (Ballina: Irish Humanities Center & Keohanes & Chester Springs PA: Dufour Editions, 1981), p. 78–94. * "Lost Chords", ''Ceol'' vol. VII, no. 1–2 (December 1984), p. 15–19.

References

External links

The Harp Of Ireland History

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yeats, Grainne 1925 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Irish women musicians 20th-century Irish women singers Alumni of the Royal Irish Academy of Music Irish women harpists Irish folk singers 20th-century Irish-language singers Musicians from Dublin (city) 20th-century Irish harpists 21st-century Irish harpists 20th-century Irish historians 21st-century Irish historians 1970s in Irish music 1980s in Irish music 1990s in Irish music