Arthur O'Neill (1726 or 1734 – October 1816) was an Irish harper, a virtuoso player of the Irish harp or ''
cláirseach'': he was active during the final decades of its unbroken instrumental tradition in the later 18th and very early 19th century. He was closely associated with
Edward Bunting
Edward Bunting (1773– 17 March 1843) was an Irish musician and Folk music of Ireland, folk music collector active in Belfast.
Life
Bunting was born in County Armagh, Ireland. At the age of seven he was sent to study music at Drogheda and ...
, and the
Belfast Harp Society's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to preserve the instrument, attending the
Belfast Harper's Assembly and serving as the Society's harp tutor until 1813. He is best known for his lively and humorous memoir, collected by Bunting, which contained many reminiscences of famous harpers (such as
Carolan) and of the environment in which they played.
Life and memoirs
O'Neill said he was born in Drumnastrade
townland
A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...
in the parish of Clonfeacle,
County Tyrone
County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh.
Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...
, around 1737. He was blinded as the result of an accident early in life: "At the age of two years I was diverting myself with a pen-knife which pierced my right eye, but was not deprived of the sight of it immediately. I had a Grandmother who loved me to excess, and she, perceiving my eye in danger, sent everywhere for Oculists and Doctors to cure me. I had to submit to all their prescriptions, and the result was, that in their efforts to cure one eye, I unfortunately lost the sight of both".
["Memoirs of Arthur O'Neill" in Charlotte Milligan Fox: ''Annals of the Irish Harpers'' (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1911), p. 142.]
He began instruction on the harp at the age of ten with Owen Keenan of
Augher
Augher (from meaning "edge/border") is a small village in south County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies just 6 miles to the border with County Monaghan and is 16 miles south of Dungannon. It is situated in the historic barony of Clogher and ...
, and by the time he was fifteen became an itinerant musician. His memoir consists largely of descriptions of journeys he undertook around the country, including several accounts of competitions at which he played, interspersed with broadly humorous anecdotes. He was aware that some of these anecdotes, or his estimation of other harpers' characters, might cause offence (he described Arthur Short of Tyrone, for example, as "but an indifferent performer
..very peevish
..I was informed he was about a hundred times married") but admitted he cared "not a pin" who might read the memoir.
[Arthur O'Neill]
, Eglish Historical Society. His chief musical rival was his friend
Charles Fanning, who beat him at each of the Granard Harp Festivals in 1781–3 (O'Neill jokingly claimed that the first loss was due to him having worn his best clothes, leading the judges to think the shabbily-dressed Fanning more deserving of the prize).
O'Neill claimed to have, in his youth, restrung and played the
Trinity College Harp, then known as "
Brian Boru
Brian Boru (; modern ; 23 April 1014) was the High King of Ireland from 1002 to 1014. He ended the domination of the High King of Ireland, High Kingship of Ireland by the Uí Néill, and is likely responsible for ending Vikings, Viking invasio ...
Harp", and which was then owned by a Counsellor McNamara, the Recorder of Limerick. At the latter's request O'Neill said that he played it through Limerick city:
In July 1792, the musician and collector
Edward (Atty) Bunting. Bunting brought O'Neill to
Belfast's first Harp Festival. This had been staged for the benefit of the
Belfast Charitable Society but coincided with the town's
Bastille Day
Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It is referred to, both legally and commonly, as () in French, though ''la fête nationale'' is also u ...
celebrations, complete with parades by local Volunteer corps, and resolutions in favour of
Catholic Emancipation and
Parliamentary Reform
The Reform Acts (or Reform Bills, before they were passed) are legislation enacted in the United Kingdom in the 19th and 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the U ...
. The festival was widely interpreted as an expression of a new republican-tinged patriotism. In 1808, with the support of
Dr James MacDonnell and his brother Alexander (the Presbyterian sons of Michael Roe, a Catholic relation of the
earls of Antrim) whom O'Neill had tutored, Bunting again brought O'Neill to Belfast as tutor for the
Belfast Harp Society. The society's subscribers included many who attended the 1792 and had been associated with the Society of United Irishmen, among them Dr.
William Drennan
William Drennan (23 May 1754 – 5 February 1820) was an Irish physician and writer who moved the formation in Belfast and Dublin of the Society of United Irishmen. He was the author of the Society's original "test" which, in the cause of ...
; Francis, John, and
Mary Ann, McCracken, brothers and sister to
Henry Joy McCracken who had been hanged as a rebel in "'98";
Thomas McCabe; and brothers
William
William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
and Robert Tennent.
Although some controversy attended his treatment by the society, which struggled financially,
in 1813 O'Neill retired on a pension provided by the James MacDonnell to County Tyrone. He died in late October 1816
in Maydown,
County Armagh
County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...
, and was buried near his birthplace, in the churchyard at
Eglish.
Harp
The historic, probably 18th-century harp known as the
Belfast Museum Harp, or "O'Neill Harp", was said to have been one of O'Neill's instruments, although its provenance has also been questioned; another of O'Neill's harps was said by
Patrick Byrne to have been burnt by one Samuel Patrick, "a bad harper", at the Harp Society's premises sometime after O'Neill's death.
[The Belfast Harp]
wirestrungharp.com
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill, Arthur
1730s births
1816 deaths
18th-century Irish harpists
Irish blind musicians
Irish harpists
Irish male harpists
Musicians from County Tyrone
18th-century Irish uilleann pipers
19th-century Irish uilleann pipers
18th-century Irish male musicians
19th-century Irish male musicians