Poetry and performance in the Gaelic world, c.1200-c.1650

This chapter considers the performance of poetry in the early modern period of the Irish/Gaelic language (c.1200–c.1650). The poets do not comment explicitly on the nature of the vocal component. However, as the social context of the poetry was of great interest to contemporary observers, we consider some of these accounts before turning to issues of patronage, performance, and reception. Related genres, which have survived to some extent in oral tradition, may cast light on the vocal accompaniment of professional poetry as may later eulogy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, examples of which also survive as songs. In view of the primacy of the text for the professional poets, the musical element which accompanied court poetry may have been simple and flexible, and the number of tunes limited accordingly. Nonetheless, the vocal dimension may have played a role in some instances in bridging the gap between the written and oral traditions, and in the passing of poems from the former to the latter.