85-468: Wexford Festival Opera ( Irish : Féile Ceoldráma Loch Garman ) is an opera festival that takes place in the town of Wexford in south-eastern Ireland during the months of October and November. Tom Walsh, an avid opera lover, dreamt of staging an opera production in his hometown Wexford. He started the Wexford Opera Study Circle in 1950, and invited Sir Compton Mackenzie , the founder of
170-540: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There
255-697: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of
340-560: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It
425-455: A classical best-seller. He was responsible for three recordings of The Magic Flute , conducted by Beecham, Karajan and Klemperer, each of which has incurred the disapproval of critics for omitting the spoken dialogue. His recording of Fidelio under Klemperer has been compared unfavourably with Klemperer's contemporaneous live recording from Covent Garden, on the grounds that Legge's chosen singers were less effective than their ROH rivals. He
510-472: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,
595-541: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of
680-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in
765-661: A new orchestra, the Philharmonia . Beecham conducted its first concert (for the fee of one cigar) but was unwilling to be the employee of his former assistant and soon founded the Royal Philharmonic in competition with the Philharmonia. In its early years the Philharmonia became closely identified with Karajan, but when he turned his attentions to the Berlin Philharmonic , Legge worked more and more with Otto Klemperer ,
850-574: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in
935-554: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on
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#17328556720481020-554: A permanent job. He was offered, and accepted, the directorship of the Wexford Festival , but he suffered a disabling heart attack in 1967 before he could take up the post, and he withdrew. He continued to supervise the EMI recordings made by his wife, but the breach with the company was complete when in 1977 and 1979 he produced her last recordings not for EMI but for Decca , EMI's great rival. Legge attended Schwarzkopf's final appearance,
1105-489: A prominent conductor in the 1920s and '30s whose career Legge revitalised. Other eminent musicians of the time whom Legge persuaded to conduct the Philharmonia were Wilhelm Furtwängler , Arturo Toscanini and Richard Strauss . At its peak in the 1950s the Philharmonia was widely rated as the finest British orchestra and one of the finest orchestras in the World. In 1964, concerned at what he saw as falling standards, Legge disbanded
1190-654: A recital at Zürich Opera House on 19 March 1979, despite having suffered a heart attack two days earlier. Three days after the recital, he died in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat , France, at the age of 72. He was cremated, and his ashes were initially placed near those of Hugo Wolf in Vienna, as he had requested. After Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's death in 2006, their ashes were buried next to her parents in Zumikon near Zürich, where she had lived from 1982 to 2003. Legge's artistic judgment
1275-611: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by
1360-538: A result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022 was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within
1445-484: A role in bringing music to the armed forces and civilians. After the war, Legge founded the Philharmonia Orchestra and worked for EMI as a recording producer. In the 1960s, he quarrelled with EMI and resigned. He attempted to disband the Philharmonia in 1964, but it continued as an independent body without him. After this he had no permanent job, and confined himself to giving masterclasses with, and supervising
1530-537: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss
1615-519: A young conductor from Prague, began a long association with the company in 1965, and he went on to conduct eighteen Wexford productions. He was later appointed Principal Conductor of the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and was Conductor Laureate at the time of his death in 1997. In 1967, Walter Legge , the EMI recording producer and founder of the Philharmonia Orchestra was asked to take over the running of
1700-584: Is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It is a member of the Goidelic language group of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as
1785-448: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of
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#17328556720481870-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years
1955-567: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described
2040-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it
2125-659: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act
2210-619: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")
2295-461: The Taoiseach Brian Cowen , followed by a live broadcast of RTÉ 's The Late Late Show from the O'Reilly Theatre. 52°20′17″N 6°27′46″W / 52.338193°N 6.462798°W / 52.338193; -6.462798 Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),
2380-611: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English
2465-769: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as
2550-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which
2635-563: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme
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2720-483: The Allies, and contracted German and Austrian artists who were then seriously short of work. These performers included Josef Krips , Irmgard Seefried , Ljuba Welitsch , Hans Hotter , Ludwig Weber , Herbert von Karajan and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (whom Legge married in 1953). Later he was among the first to spot the potential of Maria Callas , whose studio recordings he produced for EMI. The repertoire he chose to record
2805-520: The Arts" (as the event was first called) from 21 October to 4 November 1951. The highlight was a production of the 19t-century Irish composer Michael William Balfe 's 1857 The Rose of Castille , a little-known opera whose composer had lived in Wexford . Setting itself aside from the well-known operas during its early years placed Wexford in a unique position in the growing world of opera festivals, and this move
2890-517: The Dún Mhuire Hall on Wexford's South Main Street. Only two operas were staged over a period of two weeks, instead of the usual three operas over three weeks. In 2007, the festival took place in the summer in a temporary theatre in the grounds of Johnstown Castle , a stately home roughly 5 km from the town centre. The National Opera House was officially opened on 5 September 2008 in a ceremony with
2975-463: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish
3060-536: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but
3145-597: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,
3230-505: The Screw was presented along with a rarity in Cimarosa 's one-man piece Il maestro di cappella . Other rare Italian operas of the 18th century were presented in 1979 and subsequent years. Adrian Slack concentrated on mainly Italian opera. There were some exception such as Handel 's Orlando , Floyd 's Of Mice and Men and Mozart 's Zaide . Spontini 's La vestale was memorable for
3315-461: The armed forces. At Beecham's instigation he took on the musical side of ENSA , arranging concerts for British troops all over the world, and securing the services of musicians such as Solomon , Sir Adrian Boult and John Barbirolli . In 1941 Legge married the singer Nancy Evans ; they divorced in 1948. After the war Legge set to work to refresh EMI's catalogue and its roster of star performers. He set up his base in Vienna, then still occupied by
3400-731: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He
3485-577: The company's monthly retailing magazine, The Voice , but he caught the eye of the leading record producer, Fred Gaisberg , and was soon taking an active role in HMV recording procedures. Between 1933 and 1938, Legge also worked as a music critic for The Manchester Guardian . In the pre-war years, Legge pioneered "subscription" recordings, by which the public were invited to pay in advance for their copies of future recordings, thus making it economically possible for EMI to make such "niche" but classic recordings as
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3570-713: The education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to the 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of
3655-468: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as
3740-517: The festival with a modern venue with a 35% increase in capacity by creating the 771-seat O'Reilly Theatre and a second, highly flexible Jerome Hynes Theatre, with a seating capacity up to 176. The architect was Keith Williams Architects with the Office of Public Works; the acoustics and structure were designed by Arup. In 2006, because of the closure of the Theatre Royal, a reduced festival took place in
3825-600: The festival, but within a month of the appointment he suffered a severe heart attack and was obliged to withdraw. The 26-year-old former Trinity College student Brian Dickie took over the running of the Festival. A new era of outstanding singing emerged, with the first operas in Russian and Czech plus a new emphasis on the French repertory as represented by Delibes ’ Lakmé in 1970 and Bizet 's Les pêcheurs de perles in 1971. Dickie
3910-482: The festival. Many seasons have also been broadcast by BBC Radio 3 . In 2001, the fiftieth festival was a special event marked by the introduction of surtitles . David Agler became artistic director and programmed the 2005 and subsequent seasons. He is an American conductor, previously the music director at Vancouver Opera and resident conductor at the San Francisco Opera . One innovation, following up from
3995-545: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of
4080-407: The incident involving the entire company slipping on a steeply raked, smoothly finished stage, as described by Bernard Levin. Elaine Padmore had been a BBC opera producer and had supervised transmissions of the productions for BBC Radio 3 and, during her tenure as artistic director, a wide spectrum of music and singers with many remarkable productions made appearances at Wexford. Sergei Leiferkus
4165-698: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has
4250-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of
4335-472: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,
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#17328556720484420-471: The magazine The Gramophone and a writer on music, for the inaugural lecture for the circle. Mackenzie and Walsh discussed the idea of a local opera festival, and Mackenzie became the first President of the Wexford Festival of Music and the Arts. The result was that a group of opera lovers (including Dr. Tom Walsh who was to become the festival's first artistic director) planned a "Festival of Music and
4505-563: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed
4590-771: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to
4675-463: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them
4760-639: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as
4845-639: The orchestra, which at once re-formed as the New Philharmonia, without him but with Klemperer as chief conductor. Legge's employer, EMI, tolerated his independent ways for many years, but in the 1960s attempts were made to curtail his freedom of choice of repertoire, and finally in 1964 he resigned. His memoirs, edited by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and published in 1982, set out his disenchantment with EMI and its increasingly powerful internal committees: In retirement Legge, together with Schwarzkopf, gave many joint masterclasses for young singers but he failed to find
4930-577: The original idea of "Opera Scenes", has been the "mini opera" concept, presenting the more mainstream works in condensed versions, was developed with success. In 2020 Agler was succeeded as artistic director by Rosetta Cucchi . The festival's home of so many years, the Theatre Royal , was demolished and replaced by the National Opera House on the same site. The first opera in the new building opened on 16 October 2008. Wexford Opera House provides
5015-448: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish
5100-422: The pit, a role it maintained up until 2005. The 1962 L'amico Fritz brought the young Irish singers Veronica Dunne and Bernadette Greevy to international notice, while other distinguished names from the 1960s included Mirella Freni in Bellini 's I puritani . Massenet 's Don Quichotte was another standout in 1965 with the veteran bass Miroslav Cangalovic as Cervantes' old knight. Albert Rosen ,
5185-415: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After
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#17328556720485270-436: The presentation of excerpts from operas. This provided a lower-cost alternative for younger audience members as well as offering more work to the chorus, and the idea proved to be very successful. Michael William Balfe 's The Rose of Castile , directed by Nicolette Molnár and designed by John Lloyd Davies, was revived in a professional production in early 1991 to commemorate the festival's 40th anniversary. In 1995, Padmore
5355-578: The recordings of, his second wife, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf . Legge was born in Shepherd's Bush , London, where his father was a tailor. He was educated at the Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith. He excelled in Latin and French, but received no musical training. He left school at 16 and had no further formal education. Encouraged by his father he developed a taste for music, and Richard Wagner in particular, in pursuit of which he taught himself to read music and to speak German. Legge first joined HMV in 1927, writing album and analytical notes and copy for
5440-436: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )
5525-422: The renovation of the Theatre, the 1960 season did not take place, but at its re-opening, Verdi 's Ernani was presented in September 1961. Problems in obtaining the Radio Éireann Light Orchestra (now the RTÉ Concert Orchestra ) led to the involvement of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic for this one season, while in the next year the Radio Éireann Symphony (now the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra ) moved into
5610-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need
5695-452: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in
5780-599: The songs of Hugo Wolf and the complete piano works of Beethoven (played by Artur Schnabel ). Another pre-war recording supervised by Legge, which has been reissued on LP and CD, was Sir Thomas Beecham 's set of The Magic Flute , made in Berlin in 1937. Beecham invited Legge to join him at the Opera as assistant artistic director. Given a free hand by Beecham he engaged Richard Tauber , Jussi Björling , Maria Reining , Hilde Konetzni , Julius Patzak and Helge Roswänge in their Covent Garden debuts. During World War II, Legge's poor eyesight prevented him from serving in
5865-536: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at
5950-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By
6035-491: The young conductors, working with subsequently famous producers and designers like Michael MacLiammoir . For the time, the results were astounding, and the festival was soon attracting leading operatic talent, both new and established. Increasingly, it was possible to recruit singers like Nicola Monti , Afro Poli , Franco Calabrese and Paolo Pedani as well as rising British and Irish stars as Heather Harper , Bernadette Greevy , Thomas Hemsley and Geraint Evans . Due to
6120-523: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from
6205-612: Was an English classical music record producer, most especially associated with EMI . His recordings include many sets later regarded as classics and reissued by EMI as "Great Recordings of the Century". He worked in the recording industry from 1927, combining this with the post of junior music critic of The Manchester Guardian . He was assistant to Sir Thomas Beecham at the Royal Opera House , Covent Garden, and in World War II played
6290-495: Was broad, though not extending much earlier than Handel and among modern composers concentrating on the approachable and diatonic . From the 1940s to the 1960s he supervised a long series of recordings of the works of William Walton . Legge had promoted some Lieder recitals before the war, but in 1945, finding his influence at Covent Garden much diminished under the management of David Webster he again ventured into promoting concerts. For these, and for recordings, he founded
6375-643: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build
6460-532: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. Walter Legge Harry Walter Legge (1 June 1906 – 22 March 1979)
6545-459: Was introduced to audiences outside Russia along with many other newcomers such as the American dramatic soprano Alessandra Marc during her era. Other outstanding productions included newcomer Francesca Zambello 's two productions, the first of Donizetti 's L'assedio di Calais in 1991 and Tchaikovsky 's Cherevichki in 1993. A new idea introduced by Padmore in 1982 was the "Operatic Scenes",
6630-465: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in
6715-482: Was persuaded to return to Glyndebourne, but his successor in 1974 was Thomson Smillie who came from the Scottish Opera . He maintained the three-opera format. Much neglected during this period, Massenet's operas quickly became his favourites, and Smillie staged Thaïs in his first season, starting a series of the composer's operas which included the rare Sapho produced in 2001. In 1976, Britten 's The Turn of
6800-492: Was sometimes questioned. He was aesthetically conservative; he wrote to a friend, "If producers and scenic designers are allowed to continue their writing of graffiti and vulgarity and stupidity on masterpieces … not to mention Chéreau at Bayreuth – we shall be forced to insist that they write the libretto and music to match the rubbish they put on the stage!" Legge predicted to John Culshaw and Georg Solti that their Decca recording of Das Rheingold would not sell; it became
6885-678: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in
6970-620: Was succeeded as artistic director by Luigi Ferrari , then director of the Rossini Opera Festival at Pesaro and later director of the Teatro Comunale in Bologna . Naturally, he developed his own style by emphasising Italian and late Romantic works such as Meyerbeer 's L'étoile du nord in 1996. In 1994, a four-year series of commercial recordings from the festival was started, in addition to Raidió Teilifís Éireann broadcasts from
7055-526: Was supported by well-known critics such as the influential Desmond Shawe-Taylor of The Sunday Times , who communicated what was happening each autumn season. During its first decade, Wexford offered an increasingly enthusiastic and knowledgeable audience such rarities as Lortzing 's Der Wildschütz and obscure works (for that time) such as Bellini 's La sonnambula was staged, with Marilyn Cotlow as Adina and Nicola Monti as Elvino. Bryan Balkwill , Charles Mackerras and John Pritchard were among
7140-406: Was suspicious of stereo recording, and resisted it for as long as he could. Nevertheless Legge's legacy is "a vast number of outstanding recordings that set standards unlikely ever to be surpassed". His recordings of The Dream of Gerontius ( Sargent ), Tristan und Isolde (Furtwängler), Tosca ( De Sabata ), Der Rosenkavalier and Falstaff (Karajan), Così fan tutte ( Böhm ) and
7225-442: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,
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