The Eisteddfod and the Feis Ceoil. 57 



time to time. The programme embraces competitions in 

 literature, art, and music. In Ireland this Feis Ceoil has only 

 to do with music, but a time may come when an amalgamation 

 of such societies as the Arts and Crafts Society, The National 

 Literary Society, the Gaelic League and the Feis Ceoil may 

 come about, and annually hold a Festival resembling the 

 Welsh Listed dfodau. 



The most remarkable feature at present in the programme 

 of the Eisteddfod is the choral contests. Almost every town 

 and village sends up its choir or glee party, and the interest in 

 these events is intense. The wooden pavilion in which all the 

 proceedings take place is specially constructed for the occasion, 

 and is capable of seating over 12,000 people, and on the days on 

 which the choral competitions take place it is crowded in every 

 part with people who come from all parts of the country. 



With regard to numbers, the Feis Ceoil cannot compare 

 with the Welsh Festival. But throughout all the competitions 

 I think we have a distinctly higher standard. Even in the 

 choral competitions unaccompanied singing is enforced in all 

 our competitions, which is not so in Wales. A marked 

 difference with us is the class of competitors. In Wales the 

 working classes are the bulk of the competitors, but this is a 

 point to which the Feis may yet attain. The results so far 

 have tended to great encouragement, the formation of local 

 choral societies being the most gratifying result of the efforts 

 of the Feis Ceoil. 



In any organization of the kind in Ireland it would be 

 impossible to omit the subject of the traditional music of 

 Ireland. Sir C. H. H. Parry says of Irish music that it is " the 

 most human, most varied, most poetical and most imaginative 

 in the world." It is scarcely possible to over-estimate the 

 importance of our folk music. It appears more and more that 

 the national note in music is becoming important. Now that 

 what may be called the technique of musical composition has 

 been so thoroughly mastered, the new source of inspiration 

 must be supplied by the extraordinary vigour and freshness of 



