ADAMS - THE HISTORY SALE Tuesday 19th April 2016 : You can Download a PDF Version from the Bottom Menu Down Arrow Icon

173

The History Sale 19

April 2016

Four printed pages, in two parts, 31 x 24cm approx.. Written in 1909-1910 by Peadar

Kearney, music by Paddy Heaney and arrangement by Cathal MacDubhgall. Later to

become “Amhrán na bhFiann” when it was translated to the Irish by Liam Ó Rinn in 1923.

Becoming the official Irish national anthem in 1926 following some debate about various

alternatives. Peader Kearney was a founder member of the Irish Volunteers and The

Soldier’s Song was sung in the GPO during the Rising and was popular among the Volun-

teers. As a result, later that same year (in December) it was published by Whelan and Son,

Dublin, 6. Seamus Whelan was a sympathiser. The printer was Patrick Mahon of Yarnhall

Street, who had also supplied some type for the printing of the 1916 Proclamation. The

cover design, with rifle butt signed in a stylised C.macD., is by Cathal Mac Dúbhghaill. The

first edition to include the music is rare and being sold not only on the 100th anniversary

of the Rising, but also the anniversary of the document itself.

Peadar Kearney joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in the early 1903, and became a

member of its Supreme Council. He served in the Jacob’s Factory garrison under Thomas

MacDonagh during the rising. He evaded capture but was arrested during the War of

Independence and interned at Ballykinler Camp in County Down in 1920-21. In the Dáil

debate preceding the original acquisition of copyright by the State in 1934, there was

discussion of the song’s merits and flaws. Frank MacDermot said, “Leaving out sentiment,

I must confess, from both a literary and a musical point of view, I would regard the

“Soldier’s Song” as, shall we say, a jaunty little piece of vulgarity, and I think we could have

done a lot better.”]Thomas F. O’Higgins responded, “National Anthems come about, not

because of the suitability of the particular words or notes, but because they are adopted

generally by the nation. That is exactly how the “Soldiers’ Song” became a National An-

them in this country. It happened to be the Anthem on the lips of the people when they

came into their own and when the outsiders evacuated the country and left the insiders

here to make the best or the worst of the country. It was adopted by the people here

before ever it was adopted by the Executive Council”

€ 1,500 - 2,000