FROM THE ARCHIVES:James Joyce was doing well in the tenors competition at the Feis Ceoil in 1904 until he refused to do a sight reading test. The
Irish Timesreporter ignored that and managed to get his middle initial wrong. –
JOE JOYCE
YESTERDAY, THE annual competitions in connection with the Feis Ceoil opened in the Antient Concert Rooms . There was a large attendance of the general public, and much interest was taken in the singing and pianoforte playing. It may be remarked that the entries this year show a slight falling off, but this did not take away from the general interest.
The vocal competitions for soprano (solo), and tenor (solo), took place in the large hall, whilst the upper hall was set apart for the pianoforte competitors. In the first of these three classes there were 29 entries, in the second 22, and in the third no less than 40.
The judge of solo singing was Signor Luigi Denza, Professor R.A.M. The test pieces were as follows:-- (a) “Hear ye, Israel,” from Mendelssohn’s “Elijah”; (b) an Irish Air-- “Lullaby,” arranged by Stanford; and (c) a sight-reading test.
Signor Denza announced the result as follows:-- 1, Miss Margaret Moriarty, 92 Lower Leeson street; 2 Miss Katharyn Warwick, 71 University avenue, Belfast; 3, Miss Molly Byrne, 6 Irishtown avenue, Sandycove; highly commended, Miss Fanny Vincent, Loreto Abbey, Rathfarnham; Miss Frances Walsh, 15 The Square, Tralee, and 103 Upper Rathmines.
Signor Denza said it gave him great pleasure to be back adjudicating at the Feis. The competition had been a very close one, there being but one mark between the winners of the first and second prizes.
Tenor solo- 1, Joseph A. Walsh, 66 Dublin road, Belfast; 2, Whiston R. Gage, 2 Brighton terrace, Rathgar; 3, James J. Joyce, 7 St. Peter’s terrace, Cabra.
The adjudicator said he awarded second place to Mr. William Rathborne, of 164 Clonliffe road. He placed Mr. W. R. Gage second, and highly commended Mr. Joyce. Mr. Rathborne was disqualified from winning the second prize, he having won it last year.
The attendance at the Feis inaugural concert in the Great Hall of the Royal University Building last evening did not exactly betoken an overflowing enthusiasm for Celtic song. The audience was not a large one, but probably this was due to strong counter-attractions at our theatres. If so, these counter-attractions are a fixed quantity for the week, and the committee must be up and doing to heighten the attractions of their programme. Last evening’s concert was, too severely, too classically, Irish. If numbers outside the scope of the Feis programme are not to be introduced, why should we not have a snatch of the melodies of “Kathleen Mavourneen” (not Irish, of course, but formally bequeathed to us), “Eileen Alanna,” “The Kerry Dance,” or some others which do not require a preliminary schooling in order to be fully appreciated.
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