Music of the Gael. 1–3 / by Rev. P. A. Walsh
Also in 1924, having provided collections of songs in Irish for the schoolchildren of the new Irish Free State, Fr Breathnach turned to editing patriotic and inspiring songs in English in three similar twopenny songsters for the Dublin educational publisher Fallons. Entitled Music of the Gael: The Ideal Song Book for Irish Children and containing lyrics mostly of the previous century, these were the first of his publications in which the melodies are harmonised in two or three parts, probably with school choirs in mind. Although she is not credited, the harmonisation is likely by Dr Annie Patterson, a musician and composer, and at that time a pioneering lecturer in Irish music in University College Cork with whom Breathnach would collaborate in several of his remaining publications.
For more information on the songbooks of Fr Pádruig Breathnach see here.
