The tradition of music I salute has long had in Ireland a Cinderella-like position,
an invisibility that can seem like the airbrushing into non-existence
of a major Irish art form.
Yes. Composers have felt the slight acutely.
‘I’m a Composer’—‘You’re a What?’
was the title Frank Corcoran gave an essay he contributed to The Crane Bag ( – way back in 1982 ) .
Yes. It was his way of explaining that Irish people simply didn’t see being a composer as a serious or full-time
occupation.
The composer’s lot, it is true, is rarely easy.