My 17-year-old self, who frequently scoured Half Price Books for books on Irish folklore, would be excited about this one: a poem by 19th-century Irish poet Ethna Carbery about a loved one being lured into the Otherworld. My initial plan was to coerce my Turas bandmates into singing and playing it with me on my album of original fiddle tunes, which is still in progress. After all, AnneMarie’s favorite key to sing in is B minor. However, once plans were afoot to reprise the combined Eureka College Music+Turas concert, I decided to write a choral arrangement.
The Music:
The style draws heavily on traditional Irish music, with melody instruments doubling each other on the jig-like breaks and turnarounds. There is a simple piano part, but the chord symbols invite guitar, bouzouki, and/or others to join. I got a little “creative” as the plot thickened in the poem, with some trendy rhythms and funky chords. The last verse highlights the dreamy/mysterious feeling with a solo melody and some choir oohs. I recently created SSA, TBB, and unison/two-part versions as well as the original SATB, and in the unison/two-part version, I kept the arrangement more straightforward so it would be accessible to younger choirs or others who might learn better by ear.
I hesitate to toot my own whistle, but I will share that my singers found it pretty catchy and enjoyable to sing. It’s one of my favorite of my own pieces right now, and I hope it will get some more performances in the near future!
Learn more and purchase at Compositions page
The Poet:
Ethna Carbery (1864-1902), born Anna Bella Johnston, was an Irish nationalist writer, poet, and journalist from County Antrim. She took the pen name Ethna Carbery in order to distinguish herself from her husband Seumas MacManus, but tragically passed away only one year after their 1901 marriage. Her husband published her poetry collection The Four Winds of Eirinn after her death, followed by several other volumes of stories.
