An Irish Symphony, now there's something that's bound to be full of wonderful tunes, a nostalgic longing for a lost world of magical nature, and an irrepressible spirit of life. Noted British composer and conductor Herbert Hamilton Harty wrote his Irish Symphony for a festival in Dublin in 1904, and it's one of his best-known works, along with the tone poem With the Wild Geese, Variations on a Dublin Air, and his Violin Concerto.
Harty was born in Hillsborough, County Down, Ireland in 1879. He was an organist in Belfast and Dublin before moving to England in 1900 to advance his career. Harty first became a piano accompanist for artists such as Irish tenor John McCormack, violinists Joseph Szigeti, Fritz Kreisler, and others. He began conducting concerts with the London Symphony and led the Halle Orchestra in Manchester from 1920 to 1933.
An Irish Symphony was composed for the 1904 Feis Ceoil festival, at which Harty was praised for his fine conducting. It was the first time he had conducted any orchestra--an auspicious start to a very successful conducting career. The music reflects the composer's deep love for his homeland, the Hillsborough of his childhood, the countryside of County Down, and the glens of Antrim.
The symphony incorporates a number of Irish melodies in its four movements, which are titled: "On the Shores of Lough Neagh," "The Fair Day," "In the Antrim Hills," and "The Twelfth of July," which celebrates the Battle of the Boyne, an annual commemoration in Ulster folk-culture.
Sadly, Hamilton Harty died of a brain tumor in 1941 at the age of 61 in Hove, England, but the spirit of his beloved Ireland lives on this wonderful music. I believe it's a fitting featured work for St. Patrick's Day this evening on Symphony @ 7 on Classical 101. Join me for a performance of An Irish Symphony with Bryden Thomson leading the Ulster Orchestra in a 1980 recording from Chandos Records.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpSZwIBeI8M