Carolan The Life Times and Music of an Irish Harper

When looking for a biography of Carolan, this is the only book that came up. There is little definitive information on Carolan, the author does a good job of corraling what information exists and compiling it into a readable resource. It's a boon that the book also contains Carolan's tunes along with notes on each on explaining the background on each tune.

This is the definitive book on the life and music of Turlough O'Carolan. It begins with talking about historical events and the political atmosphere in Ireland in the 1600 and 1700s. Then it goes into Carolan, describing his life, where he has traveled, the patrons that he wrote for, and some anecdotes highlighting Carolan's personality. Finally there are the tunes - over 200 of them! Full of grace and beauty, many of these tunes are stilled loved and played by people today. The book is very dense, chock-full of information, and can be a little dry sometimes, but overall it is well-written and my favorite parts were the little stories from Carolan's life. Some of the stories are quite funny, as Carolan was a humorous man who enjoyed practical jokes and silly tales. This book is a fitting record of and tribute to Ireland's last great itinerant bard.

Great book about (according to my grandmother) my distant ancestor. I was hoping for more information about his descendants, but there's no genealogy of them, nothing to prove I'm related, so I'll have to just take my grandma's word for it (her ancestors were named Carolan and came from Ireland, so that'll have to be proof enough to me).

Haven't had time to go through much of it, but what I've seen is excellent. This has already become my go-to resource for Carolan tunes and history. The most interesting thing is all the background of the tunes. His tunes are interesting but having the stories behind them makes them so much more. Should have bought this years ago.

The review criteria boxes that they make you select have absolutely nothing to do with an item of non-fiction, or in this case, an archive of musical works. The book is very interesting and I particularly enjoy the stories surrounding the composing of each tune. Well researched and well done.

I purchased this book for use by our Celtic band, Foley Road. We perform some of Carolan's tunes during our shows and this book provides an authoritative reference to not only the scores, but the circumstances in Carolan's life that led to their composition. A must have if you are playing traditional Irish music.

Love the book! All you ever wanted to know about O'Carolan, his times, and his music!Front cover was creased when it arrived.

An authoritative must-have book for the Celtic player. The real music, not just arrangements, is given. I learned a lot about the historical context of the music and the interesting, challenged life of O'Carolan.

Très bon ouvrage avec la vie du compositeur irlandais, Turlough O'Carolan, l'ensemble de ses œuvres, la partition et une présentation de chacune de ses œuvres.