>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. ^M00:00:06 [ Silence ] ^M00:00:19 >> Janet McKinney: Off the top of your heads, just shout it out loud, what are some stereotypes of Irish Americans that you think might show up today? Gnomes, all right. Violence, yes. Leprechauns, uh-huh. Drinking, okay. Wonderful. Great, so you already know, so what are we going to talk about for the next 45 minutes? We're going to explore in more depth some of the examples that you have already named, along with some others. And take a closer look at how they evolved over time through popular song about or depicting Irish people from the Antebellum time period in America through about 1920. And one might think, who cares about how the Irish were betrayed 100 or 150 years ago? That was then, this now. But this is now. We have some Irish yoga. There's a video game called Red Dead Redemption, and it caused controversy a few years ago, because there is a character named Irish, and he does certain things. At the end, there is a character from the Wire. And we have the Simpsons, and, of course, the Boondocks Saints. So this is now. And so these stereotypes are still very much a part of popular culture today. I'm going to give you a quick statistical overview about Irish immigration so we have some context. In colonial times, between 50 and 100,000 Irish emigrated to America, 250 to 400,000 from 1700 to 1776. And these were mostly Scotch, Irish from Ulster, Northern Ireland, Protestant. And many of them were actually educated. There were some skilled workers. But starting in 1800, it switches, and most of the Irish immigrants come from further south. They're Catholic. And most of them are not coming because they want to. They're coming because they have to or they at least feel that they have to. From 1820 to 1860 in America, Irish constituted over a third of all immigrants, and in the 1840s alone, nearly half. The Irish census recorded a population of 8.2 million in 1841, 6.6 million just a decade later, and 4.7 million in 1891. 5 million Irish made their way here between 1820 and 1930. So let's see how the Irish identity in America developed into an Irish American identity. In an extremely gross generalization, I've divided these songs into three different categories. And to give you a visualization of what we're talking about, I'm going to use the symbol of the Shamrock. Because if it was good enough for Saint Patrick, it's good enough for me. We're going to be talking about the romantic image of the Irish in song, the comedic image of the Irish in song. And we're going to take a look at how some Irish pride was conveyed in song. And at the way in which some progress was made into more general positive image in the early 20th century. So in order to understand how Irish Americans are perceived today or even 150 years ago, we actually have to go back beyond our own country and back across the sea to this guy, Thomas Moore. He was born in Ireland and he grew up there before moving over to England. And he actually traveled extensively throughout the world. But he was approached by the Powers Publishing Company of England to write poetry to traditional Irish heirs. And he did so. He took great liberty in changing the traditional melodies if he needed to, if he wanted poetic license. And then these songs were arranged by Irish composer John Andrew Stevenson, who decorated them as he saw fit in the popular Italianate style of the day. So they don't sound as Irish as they once originally were. These songs are very romantic, nostalgic. They're sad and wistful. Because Thomas Moore, he had friends who died in the '98 rebellion. And he was a proponent for Irish freedom. And he highlighted the symbols of green, the shamrock, the harp, how beautiful the Irish countryside is. He refers to Ireland as a woman. And some of the popular titles that have endured, Erin! the tear and the smile in thine eyes, the harp that once through tara's halls, 'tis the last rose of summer, and the minstrel boy to the war is gone. And what Moore does so skillfully is he binds the qualities of Irish people to the qualities of their land. And he certainly didn't invent much of this language, but after Moore's melodies, they were so insanely popular, that this language stuck. So when British and American songwriters wrote songs about Ireland or its people, whether very consciously or completely subconsciously, it was Moore's vision of Ireland that permeated most of the literature. And that vision made its way over here. And very quickly, you don't need to be Irish to write an Irish song, because there was already this stock set of ideas to draw from. And thanks to Moore, in the 19th century, particularly in the Antebellum period, we have countless songs that depict this romantically exotic exile. And we have countless songs because this stereotype of the Irish made so prominent by Moore fit in perfectly with the popular aesthetic of the parlour ballads of the time. Parlour songs in general were full of parted loved ones and the death of a beloved. And these types of songs were particularly important and prominent in Irish songs. A significant and fairly unique attribute of the Irish immigrant parting song is the cohesive idea between the parting of the beloved and the parting of the native land. And they're both to be mourned equally. To quote Williams, "the sentimental parlour songs helped establish the essential element of the romantic image of Ireland and the Irish. To be Irish was to have experienced a great sense of loss, the loss of loved ones, home, and family, were tied up with the even greater loss of the homeland. Ireland, a land of great beauty, was assumed to have had a hold on the Irish heart that had little to do with the politics of nationalism. While such images were part of the romantic conceits of Anglo-American popular song, they also connected, however inadequately, to aspects of the reality of the Irish experience and had, therefore, continuing meaning for later generations of Irish Americans." An ideal example of the case of parted lovers and one of the most famous examples that has endured over time is Kathleen Mavourneen, written by Frederick N Crouch in 1838, and was first published here in America in 1840. Mr. Crouch moved to America in 1849. And he wrote several other Irish songs, such as [inaudible], the reply song to Kathleen Mavourneen. But none achieved its same rate of success. Mavourneen, Mavourneen, my sad tears are falling. To think that from Erin and thee I must part. And there is that link, Erin and the beloved. It may be for years and it may be forever, then why art thou silent thou voice of my heart, it may be for years and it may be forever, then why art thou silent Kathleen Mavourneen. The Library actually has seven different jukebox recordings of this song. We are going to listen to a 1902 recording by Dudley and McDonough. >> Kathleen, Mavourneen, the grey dawn is breaking, the horn of the hunter is heard on the hill. The lark from her light wing the bright dew is shaking, Kathleen, Mavourneen, what. Slumbering still? ^M00:10:13 >> Janet McKinney: There was -- we actually have a few different holograph manuscripts, autographed manuscripts, of Crouch's, but not Kathleen Mavourneen. And we also have an account in his own hand of the genesis of the writing of this song. Because I guess there was some controversy. There was an American organist who wrote a hymn that sounded exactly the same. And so he had to write his own account and said, yes, I did write this song. And we have that handwritten account of Mr. Crouch's right over here on the table. Mick Moloney points out in his book "Far From the Shamrock Shore," that, and I will quote him, "the old Irish or Gaelic language had no word for willingly departing the homeland. And up until the early 20th century, the only term for leaving was [inaudible], exile. Perhaps this accounts for the deep sense of loss that many of the oldest Irish songs convey. They carry not only the desire for a country left behind but also for a lost culture and way of life. And many songs from this period, not surprisingly, deal with this feeling of exile. A brief list of titles, The Exiles Farewell, Lament of the Irish Exile, The Irish Emigrant, Lament for the Irish Emigrant. And these were songs that just blatantly identify that theme in their title. Of course, there are many more that are slightly more subtle. After the Civil War, we sees some covers that are just gorgeously illustrated. From 1871, we have Goodbye to Nora. 1882, we have The Aisle that's Crowned with Shamrock, Barney McCoy from 1882. And he's wearing the most stereotypical Irish outfit there. And you can there's the image of the boat leaving. A trio of songs from 1885, all gorgeously illustrated. And here's another trio from 1885. And Patsy Dear, and you can see the ship also leaving on the sea in the upper corner there. So as you can see, this romantic image is consistent throughout the century. It still exists today, but it is most popular prior to the Civil War. And then it comes back in popularity at the turn of the 20th century, when the more romanticized view of Patrick was revived. There's kind of a rejection of city life, a return back to the roots, back to the [inaudible], back to wholesome values. And there are certainly new Irish immigrants at this time, but the majority of Irish Americans at the turn of the 20th century are now second and third generation. They've never been to Ireland, you know. They don't know what it's really like. But they know that as long as they can remember, their people have been sad that they had to leave Ireland. So Ireland becomes this mythical perfect utopia. And starting in the 20th century, we have a lot of songs that are dreaming of actually going to Ireland. Whereas before, many of the older titles were about leaving and the knowledge that you would never be going back. So we have, now don't you love to dream of dear old Ireland, Ireland my land of dreams. A little bit of heaven, sure they call it Ireland. And there are many songs full of eligible young Irish ladies who are romantically picturesque, and they're directly descended from the Colleen of the Victorian era. She is shy and pure but roguish. She is loyal and faithful. She still has that Irish sense of humor. And she has blue eyes. They always compare her to the beauty of the Irish countryside, and she always has blue eyes. It's ironic that the most famous song about Irish eyes, When Irish eyes are smiling, never mentions the color. 99.9% of the time, she has blue eyes. So here's just a few, Molly Malone, Sweet Katie Casey. I like Miss Mahoney. She looks like she's wearing an American flag. Mary Kelly, from 1907, My dear little Irish girl. Tip-Top Tipperary Mary. We're getting into later years, 1914. Michael Kenny Rose from 1915. The subject of mothers was also used quite often in popular song in general. Which is interesting because it's something that's quite absent from our culture now. But they were particularly prominent in Irish songs because, as William points out in his book, by all cots time, the Mother Machree had become the common link in three sets of interlocking dyads that were at the core of 20th century Irish-American song. Mother and son, mother and sweetheart, mother and Ireland. So now we have Ireland must be heaven, for my mother came from there. That old Irish mother of mine. The letter and the Shamrock from my mother. And even when the song isn't specifically about the mother, as those are, time and again, mother is mentioned as part of the lyrics in these Irish songs. One of the most famous songs John McCormack recorded was Chauncey Olcott's Mother Machree. Mother Machree is also interesting because it was so popular that it sponned a whole bunch of other songs trying to cash in on its popularity. So then we have, She's the daughter of Mother Machree. And When the sunsets in Galway, Mother Machree wait for me. And goodbye Mother Machree. John McCormack, he was an Irishman. He studied voice in Italy. And he went on to become an extremely successful operatic tenor. But after some years, he decided to devote himself mainly to concert appearances. And it is in his rigorous schedule of these concert appearances that he became known for singing Irish music, including Moore's melodies. And he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. And he became a prodigious recording artist for the Victor Talking Machine Company. So this is a recording he made for them, of mother Machree, from 1911. ^M00:17:46 [ Music ] ^M00:18:00 >> There's a spot in my heart which no colleen may own. There's a depth in my soul, never sounded or known. There's a place in my memory, my life, that you fill, no other can take it, no one ever will. Sure, I love the dear silver that shines in your hair, and the brow that's all furrowed, and wrinkled with care. I kiss the dear fingers, so toil-worn for me, oh, God bless you and keep you, Mother Machree. ^M00:19:17 >> Janet McKinney: We've already come a long way in the quality of sound in these recordings from the last one that we heard. And I brought out a couple of items from our McCormack McSweeney collection. It's just one box. The majority is correspondence, mostly between his managers, Dennis McSweeney and Charles Wagner, and some third parties. There are also some contracts. And what I find most interesting are some box office receipts. So you can see the how often he was performing, and the amount his ticket sales brought in. So I put out some from Symphony Hall in Boston. So the romantic image makes up one leaf of my shamrock. Now onto the opposite leaf. ^M00:20:16 Since England began its conquest of Ireland, it looked down upon the Irish people as very uncivilized and wild. So by the time settlers started to make their way over here to start a new nation, that prejudice had already been ingrained for generations. It developed over time from an image thinking of the Irish people as very barbaric and feared and a wild enemy, to just looking at them as ignorant, incompetent, and lazy, poor people. To quote Williams, "In everyday speech, the term Irish usually made nonsense of the word modified. Thus, to weep Irish was to feign sorrow. To go to an Irish wedding meant emptying a cesspool. This became a linguistic habit that continued in England through the Victorian era when Irish evidence was false testimony. You're Irish meant that one was speaking nonsense. And to dance at an Irish wedding was to sport two black eyes. In American, Irish promotion was a demotion. An Irish nightingale was a bullfrog. An Irish spoon with a shovel. An Irish buggy was a wheelbarrow. And Irish confetti referred to bricks. So in the 1840s and '50s, you have the largest influx due to the famine, essentially creating the first noticeable large immigrant group in America. And they are different. They are more wild. They are from the country. They're Catholic, but they don't really attend services like they do today. They still held onto many of the traditions from their pagan ancestors. And some of them didn't even speaking English. And if they did, they had that brogue. So to many Americans the Irish were very peculiar. And as we went over the immigration statistics earlier, there were a lot of them. Therefore, with this influx, we see a higher rate of racism against the Irish. And starting during this time and then especially prominent is the image of poor Patty. Patty was a boisterous comic clown. He was fiercely loyal, but he had a temper. He was prone to drinking. And of course, he was very poor. He was a bumbling clown. He was incompetent. He had that brogue. But he could sing and dance and tell jokes, so he was perfect for the stage. And he became this stock character, and was popular from the beginning days of minstrels. He quickly overtook Native American characters and Yankee characters in popularity. And someday, I hope to participate in another talk, if I can get my musicology colleague from NYU to come down here and present with me, and go into further detail about the parallel relationship between the Irish-American experience and the African-American experience on the early stage. Because the characters of Patty and Sambo were nearly twins, and they were treated much the same. But we are going to look at several illustrated examples of Patty today. In the early years, Patty's poverty was usually a focus. And a mentioning of his squalor, if not a complete comparison to animals, is prominent. For example, in Teddy O'Neill, a tune written in 1843, Patty's girl is visiting the abode he lived in before he had left Ireland. I've come to the cabin he danced his wild jigs in, as neat a mud palace as ever was seen. And considering it served to keep poultry and pigs in, I'm sure it was almost always most elegant clean. In the Irishman's shanty, this is 1859, and we have these tattered Pattys outside the shanty. And each verse of this song points out a different aspect of the shanty that highlights how poor Patty is. And of course, he drinks to each one. So one verse points out that the pig roams into the shanty whenever he pleases. And down at the bottom, it's hard to see, but those words say "now then boys, one for the pig, and then they drink." So whereas the Irishman shanty shows the rural poverty of the Irish, McFadden's row of flats shows how the Irish lived in urban poverty. And so you see, we have drinking, we have fighting. The sheer amount of people that were living in these slums. And then Sharon was looking at this piece of sheet music right before we started, and she pointed out the yellow comic book character. So maybe we'll do a blog post about that later. ^M00:25:42 Sometimes the Irish are illustrated as normal people, but not always. Sometimes they are greatly caricatured, like baby Malloy here. And you can see this comparison once again. This one clearly is supposed to look like a little pig. And then sometimes the Irish are depicted more ape-like, and we'll that in some examples further on. As the Irish Americans were starting to move up the ladder, when they started getting respectable jobs, they usually found work as police officers and politicians. So therefore, there are many songs depicting the Irish in these positions, especially in the 1880s. Tammany and the position of alderman are mentioned over and over again. There is major Casey of Tammany Hall, in Tammany Hall, old boss Barry. And sometimes there are songs about the relationship between the police officers and politicians. Here we have, did you ever see McGinnis down the street. The first day McGinnis put his uniform on, he pulled in a pair of boots for being tight, being tight being a slang term for drunk. So he's that incompetent, that he pulled in a pair of boots for being tight. He nearly clubbed the widow Dole billy goat to death and arrested his old mother-in-law for spite. In Whisper it to Noonan, Pat Noonan is a constable that the Irishman want to vote to be sheriff. Whisper it to Noonan boys, you'll find that it will pay. He'll put us all upon the force on next election day. Election day soon came around. The booze flowed pretty free. And Noonan was elected by a vast majority. Then all the lazy mixed in town, 800 men or more, together marched with lusty cheers to Sheriff Noonan's door. Said Noonan, boys, I'm very glad to see these gathered here. Tomorrow each will be a cop. The men they gave a cheer. They drank Pat's health and good old rye and shouted hip hooray, and then gathered round and loudly sang until the break of day. So of course, there are many songs about drinking, and even more songs mention drinking as part of the multitude of other stereotypes within a song. Hadrian and Heart first made it big with their sketch The Mulligan Guard, which spurned a whole series of Mulligan's shows. There is the Mulligan picnic, Mulligan ball, and the Mulligan's silver wedding. And from Mulligan's silver wedding we have the song John Riley's always dry. And they accentuate how much Irish people drank by saying that Riley died because he couldn't get enough. His father often told him when John was buddy youth, that every mortal Riley all died from whiskey truth. Of course, it is a failing, the poor man can't deny. Tis but a freak of nature boys, John Riley's always dry. In many songs, after achieving a goal, the Irish often ruined it for themselves. They were finally able to afford to get a pair of pants tailored, but the pair of pants ripped. And so they went and beat the tailor up. Or they held a party to celebrate their accomplishments, and, of course, there is a brawl. Anything in an Irish song can start a fight. And the fight occurs after beverages have been consumed. And it's usually over a simple misunderstanding that could have been avoided, but they can't because they're Irish. And they happen at wakes. They happen at birthdays. They happen at christenings and at weddings, any party. Tim Finnegan's Wake is probably the most famous of these songs. It's still performed all over the place today. So if you're not familiar, Tim falls off a ladder because he is drunk. And he breaks his skull. And so they have a wake for him. But at the wake, they're all drinking, and of course, a brawl breaks out. And during the brawl, a bottle of whiskey is spilled, and some of the whiskey splashes over Tim. Which, of course, revives him because he wasn't really dead. And so he jumps up and he joins in on the ructions and the consuming of beverages and the party. The other song still performed often today is The Night that Pat Murphy Died, which is also a similar situation. But there was even just the wakes, there is Granny O'Riley's Wake, After Hooligan's Wake, Mike McCarty's Wake. This scenario played itself out over and over again. Some songs were specifically about fighting. Here we have Tim Flaherty and Me Self. And the lyrics to this song are kind of graphic, so I'm not going to even read them. We also have Put up your Hands, O'Riley. It has three verses to coordinate to the three different boxing rounds. A three round Hibernian ditty. There were also multiple songs about John L Sullivan, the Boston Strong Boy, the most famous, bare knuckled fighter of the day. So there was John Sullivan's song, Sullivan's left and right, and just to grasp the hand that shook the hand of Sullivan. An Irish name was always a very clear indicator to advertise what type of song a piece of sheet music was. And that's true in both the romantic and comedic sides of Irish song. But there are many, many comedic songs that are just a big laundry list of names. Because songwriters loved the fact that you could easily rhyme all these Irish names. For example, from the McGinnis Guards, on the roster of our company we've many a gallant name. There is Googity, Houlihan, and McCarthy, Fogarty, and Killain. There's Gloffin, Finnigan, and Flagerty too, McLaughlin and McClune, and Haggerty Flynn and Sullivan Mulcahy and Muldoon. There are other songs that more blatantly make fun of Irish names. This is a macro madman's Ackman McCann, not the easiest to say. And here in the circle part in the inset, it says, "After dinner, they adjourned to the kitchen for music and amusement. And they're all fighting. Or, this unfortunate song, what's in a name, and they imply what's in a name. The lion's name is Randy. The hock's name is William G. But the polecat's name is Murphy. The piebald rat's name is Doyle. The kangaroo's name is Hooligan. The baboon, of course, is Bridget. And the orangutan is Pat. So it's quite clear what they are indicating what's in a name. Another way that you can convey that you're trying to sell an Irish song is to mention other famous Irish songs. We talked about mother Machree earlier. The wearing of the green is mentioned in many, many, many songs. But my personal favorite in this category is, My Irish Song of Songs. So they're very blatant about it. Sure, you have all the charms of my mother Machree. You're my wild Irish Rose. You remind me of old Kilkenny, where the river Flynn Shannon flows. When your Irish eyes are smiling, I know where my heart belongs. You're a little bit of heaven, you're my Irish song of songs. So they were like, we're just going to throw in as many of these top hits as we can, and maybe that will sell our song. Novelty song started to appear in the 1890s as technological advancements were made. And so there were, of course, Irish novelty songs as well. So here we have in my Irish airplane. Or there's Nora Malone call me by phone. Mike Doolin's jointing car. Or I'll be back in me low back car. And there are even dance crazes of the time. There was the Irish tango, the Dublin rag, and the Irish cakewalk. And in my favorite category of comedic song, there's songs reflecting the melting pot. Sometimes the various ethnicities mentioned are not melting together very well. So here we have Mike Murphy's phonograph. Not that you could ever tell that. I think this is like the comic sans of the 19th century. It's horrible. So this is actually, you know, crosses several different categories. It's a novelty song because Mike Murphy can get this brand-new phonograph. He has people over at his house every night to listen to it. And Dan, Dan Brady comes over, and he asked to hear a song. And he's expecting to hear something like The Wearing of the Green, let's mention another song again. But instead, a Dutch song comes out. And so Dan has to beat Mike Murphy up. But there are lots of romantic melting pot songs. In Arrah Wanna, an Irish Indian matrimonial venture, they speak of a wigwam built of shamrock's green. Or there is my little Dutch Colleen. The Irish were Egyptians long ago. I did not know that. O'Brien is trying to learn to talk Hawaiian. And it doesn't have a good cover but I really liked, there's a song called Hortense Clancy, and she's half Irish and half French. But after 1910, we see many Irish and Jewish songs, such as Yiddish of Luck and Irish of Love, Kelly and Rosenbaum, that's mazel tov. Other fun titles, It's tough when Izzy Rosenstein loves Genevieve Malone. My Yiddish Colleen. Moshe Machree. And there is a little bit of Irish in Sadie Cohen. But there is also the title of Mick Moloney's talk here at the library and a CD that he put out, which is quite wonderful, and it's called If it wasn't for the Irish and the Jews. So we'll listen to a little bit of that. ^M00:37:41 [ Music ] ^M00:37:54 >> I just returned from Europe I've seen London and Paris, and I'm glad to get back home to Yankee land. In fact the little USA looks better now to me. It's a real place that the real folks understand. But still I often sit and think what would this country be. If we hadn't men like Rosenstein and Hughes. We've surely have a Kingdom there would be no democracy, if it wasn't for the Irish and the Jews. ^M00:39:00 >> Janet McKinney: So there is the comedic image of the Irish. So now we turn to my third leaf in the shamrock and look at songs that convey Irish pride. And we're here to talk about stereotypes today, but I have to -- I don't want to leave out that obviously, there was a huge long tradition of Irish nationalistic songs, rebel songs, cause for Irish freedom, published throughout the whole trajectory that we've been following today. There could be a whole other talk on just that topic. But I thought I'd highlight a few titles. From 1865, there is Awake yee brave sons of Erin, a Fenian song. And the Fenian Brotherhood was dedicated to the establishment of a free Irish Republic. And of course, just because one emigrated to America doesn't mean that they are no longer passionate about the political state of their homeland. In 1866, we have a whole collection of Irish war music. And we can see several titles of soul-stirring national songs. I was very excited to see that there is a Fenian girl song. Oh, yes, I am an Irish girl and glory in the name and boast it with far greater pride than glittering wealth or fame. We envy not the Saxon last nor robes of beauties where the diamonds grace her snowy brow and pearls bedeck her hair. Hurrah hurrah for Irish rights so dear. Three cheers for the Lindsay dress our Irish girls can wear. Lindsay dress being a type of -- Lindsay being a type of fabric. It was cheap and durable, but it wasn't very attractive. And of course, one of the most famous songs that's already been mentioned several times is the Wearing of the Green used in Dion Boucicault's famous show from 1864, Arragh na Pogue. And the variation on it, Up with the green. And these songs continue throughout the century. There is home rule for dear old Ireland, the question of the hour, it's always been the question of the hour. This is my favorite sheet music cover of all times. I've never seen an Irish wolfhound on another piece of Irish music. And it's so beautiful, it's so gorgeously illustrated. I just love it. But this song is dedicated to the cause of Ireland. And there was a number of Irish Civil War songs, Fighting for the Union army was a chance for the Irish to convey their loyalty to America. And in the in the Irish Volunteer, they speak of America. The land that has blessed us with love and protection, is smitten with peril, beleaguered with foes, the brave and true hearted with loyal affection must march where the banner of liberty goes. And there are many songs writing about this dual patriotism, loyalty to Ireland and loyalty to America. Such as the Red white and blue with the green. And there are World War I songs as well, the most famous title being, I'm a long way from Tipperary. A few years back, Loras Schissel put together a fantastic exhibit, which you can still view the online component, The musical worlds of Victor Herbert. Because we are fortunate enough to have the Victor Herbert collection here at the library. So he was born in Ireland, raised in Germany, moved to America. Cellist, orchestra leader, composer, founder of ASCAP, Irish activist. He was an advocate for Irish freedom. He composed the songs The new Ireland, God spare the Emerald Isle, and Old Ireland shall be free. He was the leader of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick and the Friends of Irish Freedom. And besides speeches and political activism, on behalf of the cause of Irish freedom, one of his most powerful statements was actually the composition of the operetta Eileen. It was first known as Hearts of Erin. And we have time sheet music that have both of the titles, because they changed it after they had already started -- after they had already opened. And it's greatly indebted to his Irish grandfather Samuel Lover and his story Rory O'more. And was about the Irish and English struggle for freedom. The Irish and English struggle after the aftermath of the 1798 rebellion. And Herbert scholars have cited it as his very best work, not only for the songwriting, but his orchestration. He actually took great care to orchestrate it himself, which wasn't the case for many of his other works. Because he was a busy guy. And it was Eileen that he was most, most proud. It opened in Cleveland as Hearts of Erin to great acclaim, and moved on to Buffalo. And then in Boston it changed its name to Eileen. But about a year after it opened, it was back in Dayton, Ohio, and unfortunately, there was a fire, and everything was destroyed. And it took a few years to get it back up and running again. But unfortunately, by that time, you know, times had changed and it just wasn't received the same way that it was when it had first come out. But the show was recently reconstructed, and there was a really great recording done with the Orchestra of Ireland. And Died Alone is its greatest hit that people still know today. But we're going to listen to the Irish have a great day tonight. ^M00:45:25 [ Music ] ^M00:46:38 I have a copyright deposit of Eileen, it's in the cradle there, and it's still very much a working document. It was when it was still known as Hearts of Erin, and it's a copy manuscript. And it's interspersed with typed libretto. And I confirmed with Deloris, there are corrections in there done in the hand of Victor Herbert. So we're going to work on getting its catalog record updated to reflect that. I noticed another aspect of the Irish-American history that's told through the sheet music covers. Over and over again, once color comes into play, obviously, green is the chosen color for advertising your Irish sheet music. But I noticed when another color is used, it's red. Maybe you've seen in some examples. And I don't know, maybe there's some technical aspect of sheet music history that I'm not aware of why red was always the chosen color after green. But there were a few pieces from the later years that stuck out because I was like, oh, they finally used orange. And it just kind of hit me one day that, that makes absolute sense. Orange had been used since the Orange Order. The Protestant Fraternal Organization had been founded way back in 1795. And you can see here, this is a 1911 piece of sheet music. And this woman is carrying the old flag of Ireland, the green with the harp on it. The modern flag of Ireland wasn't used until it was risen over the Dublin post office at the 1916 Easter Rising, whose centenary we are remembering this year. So then it all kind of made sense, of course, they didn't use orange because none of us associated orange with Ireland very much, it was just green. So there's some fun history for you. And so aside from political music, we see songs that mark some progress away from the negative stereotypes, not the mythical Patrick, not the laughable Patty, but perhaps an Irish-American Pat. At the turn of the 20th century, you see a shift, the Irish-American second and third generations, they moved up the socioeconomic ladder. They sought out a new identity where they are proud of their Irish heritage, yet were very American. So the comic songs decline in number. They didn't go away, but they're not as prominent as they once were. And you can see with Eileen how far we've come from Patty on the minstrel stage. Irish people are portrayed more often as just regular old Irish-Americans, people who fit right in. For example, we have in the good old Irish way, if the sheet music was just below that white line, you would have no idea that these people are supposed to be Irish. What respectable bunch of people having a good old decent time. So the stereotypes have declined. Or even when we do have a comic song, Who through the overalls in Mrs. Murphy's chowder. Just a few years prior to that, you know, regardless of Who through the overalls where, even though it was Mrs. Murphy herself, the situation would've ended up in a brawl. But now there is no brawl, it's okay. So after 1900, there were many more titles that convey a sense of pride and self-esteem. And as we've seen, there have been songs always conveying Irish pride but in the early days they were more centered around the idea of Irish freedom and nationalism. Now, we have songs of pride that don't have as much of an agenda. There is I'm Glad He's Irish, I'm Proud I'm Irish, My Heart is Irish, When Irish Eyes are Smiling, and They are Proud of the Irish Now, which I love because it's -- they weren't before, but now they are. This song is actually about a wedding, and it mentions the word, right away it mentions the word, wealth, so you know that these people are well-off and they've made it. They're doing just fine. And the father is wearing a shamrock in his lapel and the son, the groom, asks him to wear a rose instead. And this is his reply, "Don't be ashamed of the shamrock, green my country, I'll ne'er deny. No other flower can take its place. I'll cherish it 'til I die. I love the green flag with its harp of gold. There's no stain on Erin's brow, though some have despised her in days gone by, they are proud of the Irish now." And so, we use the cutoff, I use the cutoff date of 1920 for a couple of reasons. We know from current views and events that these stereotypes didn't go away, but there is never such a concentration to study again, a concentration of material, and I find myself working various displays and I like to ascribe to the aesthetic of less is more. But today, one of the things I'm trying to convey to you is just the sheer, vast amount of this material. There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of these songs. So I have loaded the tables up with as many covers as I could fit, but so that you could still see them. So, never again is there such a concentration of material. Also, the media in which the Irish are portrayed expands and changes. Radio comes into play and, in particular film. And Hollywood took the romantic image of the Irish and, and ran right with it. And they also have their stock characters, the Irish washerwoman, the Irish priest, and the Irish policeman. But also the 1920's brings about the Jazz age and we have modern technology breaking with tradition and all that really didn't fit with the aesthetic of a rural, romantic Ireland. So, it doesn't go away, we never, we know it never went away, but it's not as prodigious and permeating as it was in the 19th and early 20th centuries. So, in the end, the Irish actually had a great hand in shaping their own image, even though they had to work with an image that's full of these ethnic symbols. We hopefully all know that being an Irish-American is more than just a bunch of shamrocks. And I think it's incredibly fascinating to see how the Irish image developed through popular music over time. So, thank you. >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at LOC.gov.