Annotation:Clergy's Lamentation

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CLERGY'S LAMENTATION, THE. Irish, Air. The tune is attributed to blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738), although Donal O'Sullivan, in his definitive 1957 work on the bard could find no incontrovertible evidence of its origin. He included it in his volume because he believed it had stylistic similarities to some of Carolan's slow tunes. It was first printed in John and William Neal's Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes proper for the Violin, German Flute or Hautboy (Dublin, c. 1724), without attribution.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: John & William Neal (A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes), 1724; p. 2. O'Sullivan (Carolan: The Life, Times, and Music of an Irish Harper), 1957; No. 207, p. 221.

Recorded sources: Maggie's Music MM107, "Music in the Great Hall" (1992).

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