_
'the piece is notable for evoking
the ancient via relatively modern string techniques that remain new sounding.
Flynn has successfully appropriated something from Irish traditional music
without any hint of "Celtic twilight" crossover style.' -Michael Dungan (The Irish Times)
String Quartet No.3 - The Keening (2007) - 20'
_Commissioned by the Galway Music Residency and premiered by ConTempo Quartet. December 2007. Hugh
Lane Gallery, Dublin.
Movement I - Murmuring. Performed live by Con Tempo Quartet, Hugh Lane Gallery Dublin, December 2007.
Programme Note
_This piece was partly inspired by Breandán Ó Madagain's book 'Caointe
agus Seancheolta Eile - Keening and other Old Irish Musics'
In this book he describes the ancient Irish singing style called 'Caoineadh' or in English 'Keening'. The English term is derived from the Irish and has been used to describe mournful cries of people all over the world. Recently keening has most particularly been attributed to Iraqi women lamenting the deaths occurring from the war there.
However according to Ó Madagain's description there is a lot more to keening than the piercing cries it is often associated with. In his book he describes three main stages to the Keen and I have taken these descriptions as inspiration for the three movements of the string quartet.
I. Ag Monabhar/Murmuring
"The mourner commences by some deep murmuring, repeating over and over the name of the deceased, such as 'Thomas, Thomas, my sorrow and my loss"
II. Reacaireacht/Dirge
"The lone keener (more usually a woman) sang her verse to old reacaireacht music, chant like, many syllables on the same note, with little ornamentation and ending on a falling cadence"
III. Gol/Cry
"The gol...was the third stage of the round of keening - probably the culmination.....The music of the gol, in contrast to that of the preceding verse, was explosive and highly ornamented".
In writing the piece I was also inspired by the following quotation found in the book Irish Wake Amusements by Sean O'Suilleabháin -
"One stood near the head of the bed or table on which the corpse was laid, one at the feet, who was charged with the care of the candles, and one or more at each side; the family and immediate friends of the deceased sat around near the table. The mourner at the head opened the dirge with the first note or part of the cry; she was followed by the one at the foot with a note or part of equal length, then the long or double part was sung by the two side mourners, after which the members of the family and friends of the deceased joined in the common chorus at the end of each stanza of the funeral ode or dirge, following as closely as they could the air or tune adopted by the professional mourners. Sometimes one or more, or even all the principal singers, were men.-- O Súilleabháin, Irish Wake Amusements., p.136.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this account is that it involves a quartet of keeners and as such makes the String Quartet an interesting way of expressing the sentiments of the keen.
Whilst these passages have proved very influential on the piece it should be noted that I have deliberately not listened to any recorded keening, I have heard snippets of keening in the past but chose not to listen to any in detail because I didn't want to simply create a direct imitation of keening. Instead I have used the texts mentioned as an inspiration to create the music, so any similarity to actual keening is merely the result of the accuracy of the descriptions and my interpretations of them.
In writing the music I have been particularly inspired by the slow air playing of a number of Irish fiddlers and certain Irish fiddle techniques are used in the piece but at no time is an existing traditional melody used. The first movement contains an air I composed called 'The Murmuring Lament', the second movement is based around an improvisatory 'melody' on the Viola which is mostly based on the note A, thus echoing the description given in the book of 'many syllables on the same note'.
In this book he describes the ancient Irish singing style called 'Caoineadh' or in English 'Keening'. The English term is derived from the Irish and has been used to describe mournful cries of people all over the world. Recently keening has most particularly been attributed to Iraqi women lamenting the deaths occurring from the war there.
However according to Ó Madagain's description there is a lot more to keening than the piercing cries it is often associated with. In his book he describes three main stages to the Keen and I have taken these descriptions as inspiration for the three movements of the string quartet.
I. Ag Monabhar/Murmuring
"The mourner commences by some deep murmuring, repeating over and over the name of the deceased, such as 'Thomas, Thomas, my sorrow and my loss"
II. Reacaireacht/Dirge
"The lone keener (more usually a woman) sang her verse to old reacaireacht music, chant like, many syllables on the same note, with little ornamentation and ending on a falling cadence"
III. Gol/Cry
"The gol...was the third stage of the round of keening - probably the culmination.....The music of the gol, in contrast to that of the preceding verse, was explosive and highly ornamented".
In writing the piece I was also inspired by the following quotation found in the book Irish Wake Amusements by Sean O'Suilleabháin -
"One stood near the head of the bed or table on which the corpse was laid, one at the feet, who was charged with the care of the candles, and one or more at each side; the family and immediate friends of the deceased sat around near the table. The mourner at the head opened the dirge with the first note or part of the cry; she was followed by the one at the foot with a note or part of equal length, then the long or double part was sung by the two side mourners, after which the members of the family and friends of the deceased joined in the common chorus at the end of each stanza of the funeral ode or dirge, following as closely as they could the air or tune adopted by the professional mourners. Sometimes one or more, or even all the principal singers, were men.-- O Súilleabháin, Irish Wake Amusements., p.136.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this account is that it involves a quartet of keeners and as such makes the String Quartet an interesting way of expressing the sentiments of the keen.
Whilst these passages have proved very influential on the piece it should be noted that I have deliberately not listened to any recorded keening, I have heard snippets of keening in the past but chose not to listen to any in detail because I didn't want to simply create a direct imitation of keening. Instead I have used the texts mentioned as an inspiration to create the music, so any similarity to actual keening is merely the result of the accuracy of the descriptions and my interpretations of them.
In writing the music I have been particularly inspired by the slow air playing of a number of Irish fiddlers and certain Irish fiddle techniques are used in the piece but at no time is an existing traditional melody used. The first movement contains an air I composed called 'The Murmuring Lament', the second movement is based around an improvisatory 'melody' on the Viola which is mostly based on the note A, thus echoing the description given in the book of 'many syllables on the same note'.
