Carolan modes
The evidence as given presents the possibility that Carolan used a specific system of
finals when composing and that the final signified whether or not the composition was a
port (instrumental composition) or fonn (vocal air).
This might not have been the case in relation to the keys of D natural, E one sharp and D
one flat where only one final appears to have been used.
However, the other keys fairly consistently use two finals an octave apart which might have
been systematised as follows (bearing in mind that the Carolan songs which appear to
imply a low A final may in fact have been D mode songs with ranges expanded later).
The wider instrumental Gaelic harp repertoire does not reveal a similar pattern overall. It
may be that Carolan's system of finals was a personal practice developed at a time when
the key system had enveloped the tonality of Gaelic music.
It is curious that the version of the Fairy Queen (195) in the 2001 publication transmits at
the end of each section the exact finals required to fit this theory: lower finals for the end of
each original song section and upper finals for the end of each instrumental section. The
version was originally published by J & W Neale during Carolan's lifetime which speaks for
a degree of authenticity.
Such a system of vocal finals would offer some help in the quest to identify vocal airs for
which no lyrics survive but the evidence might also have deteriorated. It is often very easy
at the end of a tune to add a repeated note or to shift repeated notes up or down the
octave. One might also expect a composer of Carolan's ingenuity to bend or break rules
in some way.
Given the nature of the transmission process and historical sources, one might be tempted
into too much mistrust with regard to finals were it not for the incredible uniformity
observable purely by referring to the choice settings of the 2001 publication.
Carolan's compositions are presented here under the following categories of keys.
tuning
|
oC
|
oA
|
#G
|
port final
|
cc
|
aa
|
g
|
fonn final
|
c
|
a
|
G
|
|