Category: Manuscripts & Archives

The Book of Kells is a constant object of attention for the staff of the Manuscripts and Achives Research Library.

On the 1^st November Dr Bernard Meehan, Head of Research Collections and Keeper of Manuscripts presented a talk on the Book of Kells at Faclan: The Hebridean Book Festival, held at An Lanntair Stornoway, 30th October to 2nd November 2013. The festival theme was ‘Taisteal is Turas: Pilgrimage and Journey: Beyond the equinox to the cusp of winter, the frontier of inquiry’. The talk was chaired by Malcolm Maclean, former Director of Proiseact nan Ealan and present Chairman UNESCO Scotland.

Caoimhe ní Ghormáin was interviewed about the Book of Kells and the Old Library on Raidió na Life you can listen to Caoimhe’s interview 20 minutes into the programme.

In 2009 the Manuscripts and Archives Research Library worked closely with the Cartoon Saloon in the production of their animated movie The Secret of Kells. Prints from the Oscar nominated film, many drawing inspiration from the images found within the Book of Kells, will be on view at The Ark Children’s Cultural Centre in Temple Bar from 11 January 2014.

A full set of digital images from the Book of Kells can also be viewed online via Trinity College Library’s Digital Collections resource.

Finally, the Book of Kells itself can be visited as part of the Turning Darkness into Light exhibition on display in the magnificent Trinity College Old Library which will remain open until 17.00 on 23 December 2013 and re-open at 9.30 on 2 January 2014.

Estelle Gittins

The next lecture in the series related to the In Tune exhibition will be given by Dr Kerry Houston in the Long Room Hub on Thursday 12 December at 6.00pm. This will focus on music at Trinity College Chapel, with particular reference to the 18^th-century Chapel manuscripts.

This collection of organ books and vocal part-books contains works performed in the College Chapel as well as the two Dublin cathedrals, amongst them several works by Ralph Roseingrave, the youngest member of a family prominent in the musical life of Dublin in the first half of the 18^th century. Ralph succeeded his father Daniel as organist at both St Patrick’s and Christ Church cathedrals in 1727, and held both positions until his death twenty years later. Unlike his elder brothers, one of whom was appointed organist at Trinity College Chapel in 1707, Ralph did not attend the College. Nevertheless, some of his compositions are preserved in the Chapel collection, including the anthems I will magnify thee and The Lord, even the most mighty God. This attests to the strong links that existed between the cathedrals and the College Chapel, formalised in 1762 when a regular chapel choir was established using singers from the two cathedrals.

In Tune, sponsored by KBC Bank, runs until April 2014.The exhibition is also available online.  Full details of the lecture series are available here.

Roy Stanley

Music Librarian

The first lecture in the series associated with the current Long Room exhibition In Tune takes place in the Long Room Hub at 6.30pm on Wednesday 20 November. Nicholas Carolan, Director of the Irish Traditional Music Archive, will discuss the Goodman manuscripts, and some of the tunes from the collection will be played by uilleann piper Peter Browne.

James Goodman, Professor of Irish at TCD from 1879 until his death in 1896, grew up in Co. Kerry speaking both Irish and English, and developed a passionate interest in Irish traditional music. He learned to play the flute and the uilleann pipes, and transcribed folk tunes from the local musicians he encountered. He compiled fair copies of the music he collected, and these were later presented to Trinity College Library: four volumes following his death, and a further two (including the words for some of the tunes) in 2006 after they were rediscovered by one of his descendants.

The Goodman manuscripts are significant because they preserve traditional tunes from the Munster area in pre-Famine times. They have begun to reach a wider audience in recent years through publication, performance and recording. The Irish Traditional Music Archive published a selection from the manuscripts in 1998 under the title Tunes of the Munster Pipers, edited by Hugh Shields. A second volume edited by Lisa Shields will be launched after the lecture-recital on 20 November.

In Tune, sponsored by KBC Bank, runs until April 2014.The exhibition is also available online.  Full details of the lecture series are available here.

Roy Stanley

Music Librarian

Ernest T S Walton (1903-95) physicist and Nobel laureate, entered TCD with a scholarship in 1922; he became a Scholar in 1924 and won many College prizes, including the large gold medal in Experimental Science. He graduated with joint honours in mathematics and physics in 1926 and went to Cambridge to do his postgraduate work. Thus began the momentous collaboration between Walton and his fellow physicist John Cockcroft, which exploited linear acceleration methods to induce nuclear disintegration by artificial means, as observed by Ernest Walton, on 14 April 1932. It was the first time that Einstein’s E=mc²was verified directly in a nuclear reaction. His and Cockcroft’s success, using artificially accelerated particles for experimenting on the atom, meant the research into the nature and structure of the atom was no longer restricted by having to rely upon natural sources of radiation.

Walton returned to Trinity College, to become Erasmus Smith Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, from 1946-74.

Walton generously presented his papers to the Library in 1993; his family subsequently donated his Nobel medal. A small exhibition, which includes the medal, is currently on display in the Long Room, to mark the formal launch of a piece of sculpture commemorating Walton and his work. The piece of sculpture, which is called Apples and Atoms, is by Eilís O’Connell and may now be viewed beside the Physics building.

Jane Maxwell

The Wide Open Opera production of Gerald Barry’s most recent opera, The Importance of Being Earnest, is currently touring Ireland to rave reviews. The Sunday Times critic, Hugh Canning, described it as ‘that rare thing, a modern operatic comedy with wings’ and predicted that it may become a classic of the operatic repertoire. Gerald Barry is an adjunct professor at the Music Composition Centre, TCD.

One of Barry’s earlier operas, The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit, is on display in the Long Room exhibition In Tune: a millennium of music in Trinity College Library. This opera shows Barry’s fondness for using pre-existing material in a subversive way. The libretto by Meredith Oakes is based on Handel’s last oratorio The Triumph of Time and Truth (1757), a moralistic allegory in which Beauty is persuaded by Time and Truth to renounce Pleasure in order to nurture the soul. In the reworking by Oakes and Barry, Time and Truth are outmanoeuvred through the machinations of Deceit, leaving Beauty free to pursue Pleasure. Barry’s strong influence over the text is clear from his handwritten amendments to successive drafts of Oakes’ libretto, as seen in this excerpt from Act II.

In Tune, sponsored by KBC Bank, runs until April 2014.The exhibition is also available online

Roy Stanley

Music Librarian