Music, the Moving Image and Ireland, 1897–2017

John O’Flynn is Associate Professor of Music at Dublin City University. He is author of The Irishness of Irish Music (2009) and co-editor of several books, including Music and Identity in Ireland and Beyond (2014) and Made in Ireland: Studies in Popular Music (2020).

• Introduction: Music, the moving image, and IrelandConceiving the fieldA national cinema?Aims and methods Representing IrelandMusical tropes and their alternatives: a book of three partsMusical and ideological readingsPart 1: Irish Themes on Screen and in SoundChapter 1: The first half-century: From silent newsreel to narrative sound film The beginnings of Irish cinemaEarly Irish-themed sound filmMax Steiner and Irish-themed filmBritish and Irish film: the mid-to-late 1930sIrish-themed British film music: William AlwynThe luck of the Irish?Chapter 2: Harping on? The 1950s to the 1990sThe early to mid-1950sIrish-produced and Irish-themedFighters, writers and leprechaunsDifferent directions in the 1970sRe-working sonic Irishness Chapter 3: Literature-to-film adaptations and musicO’Casey and SyngeJoyce, music and filmNew generations of writersElmer Bernstein and adapted Irish screenplaysEnd-of-century adaptationsPart 2: Perception and Production from Within Chapter 4: Sounding nation and culture on screenEarly perspectives on the independence struggleAnthropology and ideology Nation buildingTourism, heritage and the natural world CommemorationDocumenting tradition in a modern ageChapter 5: Soundtracks to Ireland’s troubles: dramas and documentariesThe long 19th century on TV The Northern Ireland Troubles in documentary film The mid-1990s: A new aesthetic for Troubles documentaries? Critical perspectives on the Republic: the 1960s Continuing themes of unemployment, emigration and diasporaAbuse, abjection and marginalization Millennial perspectives on Irish history Chapter 6: Irish Composers and 20th-century film and TVMid-20th century composersCombining tradition and modernity?Experimental scoring: Brian BoydellComposing for TV: A.J. PotterFrom newsreel to feature film: Gerard VictoryThe late 20th century: Seóirse Bodley, John Buckley and Roger DoylePart 3: Cinematic and Musical DevelopmentsChapter 7: Soundtracks for an emerging Irish cinema: Margins, borders, troublesOn the margins: first wave Irish cinemaEarly narrative features on the TroublesTroubles films go mainstream South of the border: past troublesChapter 8: A plurality of genresDocumenting music on screenTraditional and folk soundtracksTraditional music and orchestral scores: Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Bill Whelan and Shaun DaveyFrom stage to soundtrack: music hall, dance bands and jazzPopular music: composition and compilationThe Irish music-film Chapter 9: 21st-century themesSoundtracks, places, spaces Crime drama Past traumas Looking back at the Troubles OutsidersBeyond Ireland Conclusion: Retrospectives and recent developmentsMusic, the moving image and Ireland: the first 120 years 21st-century documentary featuresRetrospectives and (re)-composition Developments in screen music production Glossary of Musical TermsSelected Filmography Bibliography

"Overall, I highly recommend Music, the Moving Image and Ireland, 1897–2017 as a seminal book that demonstrates the evolution of music in Irish-themed and Irish-produced films over the last 120 years." - Lauren Alex O’Hagan, Örebro University