Scotland and Ireland

Concerts were given from 1605 in the Merchant Hall, 7 West George Street. Chopin appeared there in 1848, but the hall was (beautifully) rebuilt in 1874 and has no musical function anymore.

The composer and conductor Oliver Knussen (1952-2018) was born in Glasgow (address not known).

Theatre built in 1867 with 1541 seats; modern foyers added in 2014. Home of the Scottish Opera since 1975.

Traditional shoebox-shaped concert hall with 1066 seats, built in 1882 and refurbished in 2006. Home of the B.B.C. Scottish SO. Performances also take place in the covered Old Fruit Market.

New concert hall, opened in 1990; design by Leslie Martin. Main Auditorium (2475 seats) and smaller halls. Home of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

In 1881 a School of Music was added to the Glasgow Atheneum, which became an Academy of Music in 1929, ‘Royal’ since 1944. It fused in 1968 with the Academy of Dramatic Art.

The present building from 1988 houses also various concert and theatre halls.

Next to works of art, stuffed animals and a Spitfire airplane, this museum from 1901 also houses a collection of c. 400 musical instruments. Concerts take place in the Great Hall.

The Piping Centre was established in 1996 and occupies the former Cowcaddens Free Church. It is offers piping tuition and courses on the history of Highland bagpipe music; it houses a large archive and a museum of bagpipes from Scotland and Eastern and Southern Europe. Concerts are given too.

Birthplace of the composer and pianist Eugen (Eugéne) d’Albert (1864-1932). The family also lived at 9 Newton Terrace and several sources mention this address as the composer’s birthplace. He was of Italian descent; the 18^th century composers Giuseppe Matteo and Domenico Alberti belong to his ancestors. Best known work: opera Tiefland.

The Keep of this castle has a beautiful minstrel’s gallery and houses the Charles van Raalte collection of ancient musical instruments.

Chopin stayed in this 16^th century castle in October 1848 with Ann Houston, the sister of Jane Sterling (> 9141). The stay was spoiled by fatigue, sickness and in addition a carriage accident. 
The nearby Milliken House where Chopin stayed as well was demolished.

Chopin stayed in the beginning of October 1848 in this home of the Sterling family. Jane Sterling admired her piano teacher and accompanied him during the Scottish tour which was undertaken on her instigation. To her disappointment she didn’t attain the status of a second George Sand, but after Chopin’s death she used to act as his widow.

House of Lady Murray, Chopin’s first pupil in London. The composer paid her a visit too.

On 8 August 1829 Mendelssohn and Klingemann embarked from Tobermorry at 5 am for a trip to the uninhabited Isle of Staffa, famous for ‘Fingal’s Cave’ with its basalt columns, resembling organ pipes. Also the Isle of Iona with its wonderful medieval buildings was visited. The trip, rather uncomfortable because of a rough sea and poor weather, ended at 7 pm. It is questionable if the violently seasick Felix really had enjoyed it.

The day before, the composer had sketched the beginning of his Hebrides Overture op. 26; it is also called Fingal’s Cave, although its first source of inspiration was not the cave but the Hebrides landscape in general. The Overture was composed in 1830.

The composer Arnold Bax discovered this hotel in 1928 and returned every winter of the 1930s with his mistress Mary Gleaves; symphonies and concertos were the profit.

Memorial Cairn of the McGrimmon dynasty of bagpipers between 1500 and 1800. They also operated a piping school with a course duration of seven years.

The old village school housed a McGrimmon Piping Heritage Centre from 1881 until the beginning of this century. Now a B&B.

The McGrimmons were buried in Dunvegan; plaque at the church ruin there.

The composer Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016) moved in 1974 to mountainous Rackwick on the Isle of Hoy, living there for forty years in a hill croft above the valley which he had bought in a ruinous state to be restored. His last years he spent in Sanday. Addresses not available.

Grave of the parents of Alexander Greig (1739-1805) who moved from Cairnbulg farm to Norway, changed his name into Grieg and became the great-grandfather of the composer Edvard Grieg, who moreover had a Scotch granny. Grieg was well aware of his Scottish descent and loved the country.

Birthplace of the soprano singer Mary Garden (1874-1967), who excelled as Mélisande in the first performances of Debussy’s opera in 1905. Between 1907 and 1937 she had a successful career in the USA. The town erected a memorial stone at the Craegie Loanings.

Monument of Niel Graw (1727-1807), the patriarch of the Scottish fiddler tradition and a composer of c. 70 still popular dance tunes. He was in the service of the Duke of Atholl and frequently appeared at Blair Castle. His grave is at the Little Dunkeld Graveyard. An annual Niel Graw festival is held in March.

Birthplace of Thomas Alexander Erskine, sixth Earl of Kellie (1732-1781). He was a violinist and composer, being a pupil of Stamitz, and worked as conductor at St Cecilia Hall in Edinburgh. Unfortunately, the majority of his compositions, once praised by Burney, is lost.

Birthplace and museum of the wealthy industrialist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), who had the legendary Carnegie Concert Hall in New York built in 1891 and who established the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust in Dunfermline (1913) which aided musical institutions and financed the publication of various works by British composers. All this apart from innumerable other benefactions in the realm of culture and charity.

Mansion from the 16^th century, Chopin stayed here with Lord Torphichen, Jane Stirling’s brother-in-law, in August 1848 and paid more visits in September and October.

The Russian composer Shostakovich was guest of honour of the Edinburgh Festival 1962. His eight completed string quartets, the Piano Quintet and six symphonies were performed. The composer stayed at the George Hotel. 
Many other composers presented own works at the Festival, which was established in 1947, including Bloch, Dohnanyi, Poulenc, Walton, Henze, Berio, Krenek and Petrassi.
At nr 54 are the Assembly Rooms from 1787, a modest concert hall and Fringe Festival venue. Paganini appeared there in 1831.

Paganini also appeared in the Hopetown Rooms, at present the hall of a school. Liszt (1841) and Chopin (1848) also gave recitals in the Hopetown Rooms.

St Cecilia’s Hall was built in 1768 for the Edinburgh Musical Society (1728-1798). It was reopened in 1968 by the University. In the Sypert Concert Room is an 18^th century organ by John Snetzer, acquired in 1967 and restored in 2017.

The building also houses the Russell collection of historical keyboard instruments, the Macaulay collection of plucked strings and some wind instruments.

The Reid Concert Hall was built in 1859 and belonged to the Reid School of Music, now a department of the University. It houses a recording studio and the Donaldson collection of instruments.

Main concert hall, home of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. It was opened in 1914 and has 2200 seats. 
Next to the Usher Hall is the Royal Lyceum Theatre. It was built in 1881 and has 658 seats. Thea Mushgrove, born in nearby Barnton in 1928, conducted the FP of her opera Mary Queen of Scots in 1977.

This theatre was built in 1892 as Empire Palace Theatre. After a thirty years decline, it was remodelled and opened in 1994; 1915 seats. Used by the Scottish opera as well as other opera and ballet companies.

Graves of two German born musicians: the cellist and composer J. Georg Christoph Schetky (1737-1824), living in Edinburgh since 1772, and the bassoonist and composer John Frederic Lampe (1703-1751) who lived in Britain from 1720 and delighted the Londoners with his ‘mock operas’, comical masks in which Italian opera is ridiculed (The Dragon of Wantley, Pyramus and Thisbe).

The Icelandic composer Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson (1847-1927) lived here from 1870 to 1919. In 1892 he composed the national anthem of Iceland, Guð vors Lands, on a poem by Matthías Jochumsson.

At the end of his Scotland tour in 1848, Chopin stayed several times with Dr. Lyszczyński. His health was so poor that he had to be carried to his upstairs bedroom.
Chopin also stayed in the Douglas Hotel, 35 St Andrew Square, today occupied by the Bank of Scotland.

Visiting the Royal residence Hollyrood House and the ruined chapel at 28 July 1829, Felix Mendelssohn composed the introduction of what would be his third or ‘Scottish’ Symphony, completed only in 1842.

House of George Thomson (1757-1851), an amateur collector and publisher of folk songs. He commissioned Haydn, Pleyel, Koželuch, Beethoven and Hummel to make arrangements for voice and piano trio. Of the 400 pieces in six volumes, 187 are by Haydn, 126 by Beethoven.

The Pleyel piano which was played by Chopin during his visit in Hamilton House landed in this mansion, another house of the Duke of Hamilton; the palace which Chopin visited was demolished in 1927.

House of the Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007), famous for short chamber operas (The Consul, The Telephone, Amahl and the Night Visitors); he lived here from 1972. 

Grave of Gian Carlo Menotti.

House of the great novelist Sir Walter Scott. After having seen Melrose Abbey, Mendelssohn and Klingemann paid a visit to the writer, or tried to: ‘We found Sir Walter in the act of leaving Abbotsford ... drove eighty miles and lost a day for the sake of at best half an hour of superficial conversation. Melrose compensated us but little’.

This obelisk was erected in 1820 in honour of the poet James Thomson (1700-1748), the author of Rule Britannia, set on music by Arne, and of The Seasons, on which based the libretto of Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten.

This concert hall was opened in 1862 and has 1000 seats (or 1850 standing places). Home of the Ulster Orchestra, but light entertainment dominates the program.

Beautiful theatre from 1895 with a modern annex. The repertoire includes all genres, but in spite of its name, opera is a rare phenomenon.

Birthplace of Howard Ferguson (1908-1999). He is best known as a musicologist and editor of early keyboard music and the piano sonatas by Schubert, but before 1960 he was a composer of late romantic works, including a fine Octet (1933).

Birthplace of the composer, arranger and conductor Sir Herbert Hamilton Harty (1879-1941).

Grave of Hamilton Harty at the west door of the church, near a bird bath dedicated to him.

Birthplace of the composer Charles Wood (1866-1926). He lived here until 1883 and was a singer in the Cathedral choir. He composed some sacred works, including a St Mark Passion.

Ireland is the only country of which a musical instrument is the national symbol, to be seen on the coat of arms, on coins, Guinness beers, etc. The example was the medieval Brian Boru harp, displayed in the library of Trinity College. The library also has the disposal of musical manuscripts from the Middle Ages unto recent times.

The Italian violinist and composer Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) lived in Dublin from 1733 to 1739 and from 1759 until his death. He was buried in this church - the cenotaph can be seen - but in 1929 his mortal remains were moved to Lucca, where he was born. His house at College Green is not extant. 

Handel played the organ here. He lived in Dublin from November 1741 until August 1742 at 26 Abbey Street, receiving numerous guests (not extant either).

Archive/library with scores, recordings and documentation of contemporary Irish music.

The site is holy ground: the plaque and ‘Handel’s Hotel’ next door refer to ‘Mr Neale’s Great Musick Hall’ where the FP of Handel’s Messiah took place on 17 April 1742. On a courtyard behind the buildings is a Handel monument which evoked some controversy.

In this museum, mostly devoted to writers such as Swift, Stoker, Yeats, Shaw, Wilde and Joyce, some Handel memorabilia can be seen, including his chair.

The Rotunda Maternity Hospital was built in 1745. Some rooms were (and are) used for cultural and social manifestations. Musicians who appeared here include Field, Paganini, Liszt, Strauß senior and Sousa.

This building from 1824 became a concert venue in 1843, for concerts by Esposito’s Dublin Orchestral Society and recitals by famous soloists, including Jenny Lind, Joseph Joachim and Anton Rubinstein.

From 1845 it housed the first Academy of Music and between 1921 and 1981 it was a cinema and ballroom; today an office building.

Built in 1865 as exhibition hall, it was later used as University college and is a concert hall since 1945, home of the RTE National SO. The main auditorium has 1200 seats.

Graves of the madrigal composer Thomas Bateson (c1570-1630) and the organist and master of the choristers Richard Woodward (1743-1777); monument in the ‘Musicians Corner’ of the vicar choral and composer Sir John Stevenson (1761-1833).

Windows in honour of the composers John Stevenson and Michael William Balfe. 
In the churchyard is the family grave of the composers Roseingrave: Daniel (c1655-1727) and his sons Thomas (1688-1766) and Ralph (c1695-1747); they probably worked at both cathedrals, as it was common practice to share their musicians. Thomas is the most versatile and best known member of the family.

Site of the birthplace of the composer Michael William Balfe (1818-1870) in the former Pitt Street, renamed. A plaque is on the Westbury Hotel with main entrance at Clarendon Street.
Balfe also lived at 2 Hamilton Row, but this house was demolished too.

A tiny plaque marks the birthplace of the composer Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924).

The pianist and composer John Field (1782-1837) was born in the Golden Lane. His Nocturnes were an example for Chopin. Field lived in Russia from 1802 until his death. There is a monument at the corner of Golden Lane and Bride Street.

Plaque of John Field at his baptismal church.

The Academy of Music was established in 1845 in the Ancient Concert Rooms (> 9711), moved here in 1871 and became ‘Royal’ in 1872. The curriculum includes the study of the Irish harp. The Historic Performance Department has the disposal of period keyboard instruments (Gammon Early Music Room, 2003).

Collection of musical instruments, mainly of Irish make and including harps and bagpipes. 
Workshops ‘Make your own musical instrument’.

A mosaic from 1937 commemorates John Dowland (1563-1626), based on the questionable opinion of the Irish composer Gratton Flood that the composer of Flow my Tears was born in Dalkey; his birthplace probably was in Westminster. Nevertheless, the great composer, whose traces nearly all have been wiped out, deserves an extra mark of honour.

The only real opera theatre in the Irish Republic. The company was founded in 1952, specialized in ‘neglected opera gems’; the own building with 771 seats was opened in 2008. Annual festival, two weeks around the 1^st of November with daily performances.

Outside this theatre is a monument of the composer William Vincent Wallace (1812-1865). His adventurous life brought him to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, India, North- and South America; he died in France and was buried in London (Kansal Green). His most successful work was the light opera Maritana (1845); cut out for Wexford?

Birthplace of the composer William Vincent Wallace. (Behind the gate, a second plaque also mentions the tragedian Charles Meane.)

Grave of the composer Arnold Bax (1883-1953).

House of the composer, conductor and musicologist Aloys Fleischmann (1910-1992). Arnold Bax was an intimate friend of Fleischmann; during a visit in October 1953, Bax suddenly died in his friend’s house.

The composer Ernest John Moeran (1895-1950) frequently stayed in an annex of this hotel. He died of a fall from the Kenmare pier; there are suspicions of suicide.

Grave of the composer Ernest John Moeran.

The pianist and composer George Alexander Osborne (1806-1893)was born in Limerick and a chorister in the Romanesque cathedral, where his father was organist and choirmaster. Osborne went to Paris in 1826, being taught by Kalkbrenner and befriending Chopin and Berlioz. In 1843 he settled in London.

The present café formerly housed a concert hall, ‘Swinburn’s Great Rooms’. Famous musicians appeared there: Paganini in October 1831 and Liszt in January 1841, each giving two recitals. Supposedly Osborne too has showed his talent.

The actress Harriet Smithson (1800-1854) was born in Bridewell Lane (now Cooke’s Lane); both parents were actors and put her upbringing in the hands of father James Brown, who resided in this Presbytery. Smithson entered the musical history as the muse and later wife of Hector Berlioz.

Open air museum of historic houses and rural life, together with the surrounding landscape a veritable ‘Ireland experience’. The composer Arnold Bax loved this village and stayed frequently in a hotel opposite the present museum. The village also is named Ghleann Cholm Cille or Glencolmcille.