Ireland, a small island nation with stunningly beautiful scenery, has a population of only three million, yet it has produced hundreds of world-renowned musicians. After immigrating to Ireland, listening to the ethereal and tranquil Irish folk songs feels as if one's soul is being drawn out and gently cleansed. Year after year, generation after generation, new Irish musical talents come and go on the world stage like a revolving lantern, but what remains unchanged is the Celtic culture and the spirit of the Middle Ages.
The early inhabitants of Ireland, the Celts, were a people with great musical and artistic talent. The bards of the Celtic tribes used a portable harp. They were the professional masters of music and poetry in ancient times. Today, the labor songs that the Irish people love to sing, such as weaving songs, milling songs, and fishing songs, all bear traces of ancient chanting.
The rich and colorful Irish music developed during the struggle for national independence and the promotion of national culture. By the 12th century, the exquisite playing techniques of Irish harpists were already famous throughout Europe. In the 17th century, the Irish people cleverly used the harp in their struggle against British colonialists. In the 18th century, with the rise of the Irish national liberation movement, the anti-feudal movement, and the revival of Irish national culture, not only were the ancient harp competitions restored, but music from the European continent took root, blossomed, and bore fruit in Ireland, shining with brilliance, and the Irish capital, Dublin, developed into an important musical center in Europe.
Today, the Irish people take pride in the fact that the classic oratorio "Messiah," based on biblical stories and composed by the famous German composer Handel with great effort, was first performed in Dublin in 1742, conducted by the composer himself; between 1814 and 1816, Beethoven adapted sixty-two Irish songs; and the Dublin pianist and composer John Field, who was thirty years older than Chopin, composed many beautiful nocturnes, which had a great influence on Chopin.
Irish folk songs and ballads, with their beautiful melodies, rich atmosphere of daily life, and romanticism, are world-renowned. The folk song "The Last Rose of Summer," with lyrics written by the 18th-century Dublin poet Thomas Moore, is a song deeply loved by people all over the world.
There is no other country in the world that holds as many spectacular music festivals every year as Ireland. These many international and national music festivals have simply become major events in the lives of the Irish people. St. Patrick's Day is a religious holiday in Ireland, commemorating the legendary and adventurous "missionary" Patrick, who brought Latin civilization and Roman culture to Ireland in the 4th century. On this holiday, in addition to grand religious celebrations held at the ancient St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, song and dance performances are also held in St. Stephen's Green, where girls in festive attire dance traditional folk dances to the accompaniment of bagpipes, and the audience and performers often mingle together.