Cormac Ó Comáin
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Cormac Ó Comáin (aka Cormac Dall, Blind Cormac, Cormac Common), Irish seanchai, May 1703 – 1813.
Contents
Background
A celebrated Irish storyteller and bard, Common was born in May 1703, at Woodstock, near Ballindangan, County Mayo. Walker remarks that "His parents were poor and honest; remarkable for nothing but the innocence and simplicity of their lives."
He was blinded by smallpox when about a year old, and as was the custom with blind children, was given the opportunity to earn a livelihood via music:
"Shewing an early fondness for Music, a neighbouring Gentleman determined to have him taught to play on the Harp. A professor of that instrument was accordingly provided, and Cormac received a few lessons, which he practised 'con amore'. But his patron dying suddenly, the Harp dropped from his hand, and was never after taken up:-It is probable he could not afford to string it.
Fin-Sgealaighte
Luckily, he was able to memorise songs and stories he heard recited at the fireside of his father and neighbours. He became "a FIN-SGEALAIGHTE...a MAN OF TALK or a TALE-TELLER" and was a welcome guest at weddings, funerals and other events, where he would relate Irish legends and folktales. He could also be found as a guest-entertainer for the gentry, recieting genealogies, poems and songs. Walker goes on to say that:
"Endowed with a sweet voice and a good ear, his narrations were generally graced with the charms of melody.-(I say were generally graced, for at his age "nature sinks in years," and we speak of the man, with respect to his powers, as if actually a tenant of the grave.)-He did not ... chant his tales in an uninterrupted even-tone; the monotony of his modulation was frequently broken by cadences introduced with taste at the close of each stanza. "In rehearseing any of Ossian's poems, or any composition in verse ... he chants them pretty much in the manner of our Cathedral-service"
He was especially appreciated for his versions of the songs of Carolan and James Macpherson's Ossian poems.
Original works
He composed a few airs of quality, though they do not seem to have survived. His own lyrical compositions attracted praise:
"But it was in Poetry Cormac delighted to exercise his genius. He has composed several songs and elegies which have met with applause. As his Muse was generally awakened by the call of gratitude, his poetical productions are mostly panegyrical or elegiac; they extol the living, or lament the dead. Sometimes he indulged in satire, but not often, though endued with a rich vein of that dangerous gift."
Among those know by name are Lament for John Burke of Carrentryle (one of his best patrons)
Personal life
Common was married twice and had several children, but was a widower by 1796, living in Sorrelltown, near Dunmore, County Galway, with one of his married daughters. At that time he still earned his livelihood wandering about the country, led by a grandson or other lad, relating legendary tales and reciting genealogies. Walker described his moral character as "untainted", his person as "large and muscular". A portrait of Common by William Ousley of Dunmore was reproduced as an engraving in Walker's Memoirs ...
According to Donnell Treacy, Cormac died aged 110
He bore the same last name as a later Galway scribe, Pádhraic Ó Comáin.
See also
References
- Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards, Joseph Cooper Walker, Dublin, 1796.
