Carolan's vocal range
In MS29 f73r & f76r Bunting records the first four items above as being 'in high Bass' key
and, in f73r & f75v, the Fairy Queen (Carolan's set of the tune of Ciste nó Stór) as being 'in
G'.
We cannot be sure which tunes Miss B and Miss D refer to. No lyric survives for Mrs
Bermingham which, in MS29 f51r, Bunting calls Miss Bermingham. Nor does a lyric survive
for Lady Dillon, called Miss Dillon in MS29 f42r, so we can discount these tunes as firm
evidence towards establishing a vocal range. Isabella Burke and Fanny Dillon do have lyrics
however.
NB The numbers and most of the titles used for Carolan pieces in this article are taken from Donal O'
Sullivan's Carolan, The Life Times and Music of an Irish Harper (2001 edition). For the sake of simplicity,
most ranges are also out of the same book.
Miss B
Nancy Cooper
Miss D
Grace Nugent
Fairy Queen
item
|
title
|
harp
treble
range
|
tuning
|
final
|
12
|
Isabella Burke
|
dd-a
|
o
|
(a)
|
16
|
Nancy Cooper 1st air
|
ee-G
|
o
|
d
|
17
|
Nancy Cooper 2nd air
|
cc-a
|
o
|
(d)
|
37
|
Fanny Dillon
|
ff-a
|
o
|
d
|
110
|
Grace Nugent
|
ff-a
|
o
|
d
|
195
|
The Fairy Queens /
Ciste nó Stór
|
dd-G
|
#
|
g
|
|