Musical Culture and the Spirit of Irish Nationalism, 1848-1972

This is the first comprehensive history of music's relationship with Irish nationalist history. Addressing rebel songs, traditional music and dance, national anthems and protest song, it draws upon an unprecedented volume of material to explore music's importance across a variety of movements.

Richard Parfitt, based at the University of Oxford, is a historian of political music and culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Introduction: "Ballads Have Long Lost Their Revolutionary Powers" Part I: Nationalism, 1848-1913 1. "Oh, What Matter, When for Erin Dear We Fall?": Fenianism, Radical Nationalism and the Irish Soundscape 2. Appropriating Radicalism: Nationalist Music and Home Rule 3. Gaelicising "The Seonín Maids of Eirinn": The Politics of Ireland's Musical Revivals Part II: Revolution, 1913-1923 4. "Great Men and Straight Men"?: Music, Radicalisation and Revolution, 1913-1921 5. "Oh, How We Worship Our Dora": Seditious Singing and British Laws 6. "We Thought We Fought for Ireland": Music and the Civil War Part III: Independence, 1923-1972 7. "Three-Quarters of a Nation Once Again": Music and Party Politics 8. "Folk Music Alone Will Not Supply Our Needs": Music and Cultural Nationalism Part IV: Partition, 1923-1972 9. "This Morning a Man Was Hanged. This Evening We Had a Concert": Music, Nationalism and Northern Ireland, 1923-1967 10. "For the Most Part We Played Rebel Songs": Music and Civil Rights 11. "Ireland for the Irish, We Shall Not Be Moved": Music and the Troubles Part V: Dance 12. Inventing the Irish Dancer, 1848-1923 13. "Jazzing the Soul of the Nation Away": Dance and Dissent, 1923-1935 14. Modernising Irish Dance, 1935-1972. Conclusion: Nationalist Communities, Revolution and Musical Mischief