Timothy A. Downing (1909)
My cherished boyhood friend
Compliments of the
Compiler and editor
Francis O'Neill
Chicago, USA.
May 20th 1909
Biography: Timothy Downing, born 1821, was a neighbor of the O’Neill’s in Tralibane. Francis called Downing “a gentleman farmer of illustrious ancestry,” who played equally well on the flute and the fiddle. Francis went to his house for lessons on the flute. Although Downing could read music he taught Francis to play by ear. He had, "a chest full of music manuscript which he possessed,” Francis wrote, "and from which he selected the tunes for my lessons. On his visit to Ireland he was able to see the manuscripts then in the possession of Downing's daughter, Jane, who still lived at “the old homestead,” and from his son Timothy A. Downing, who then lived in Wales. The dedication here is to the son, Timothy A. Downing.
From O'Neill's Irish Minstrels and Musicians, "In our own case we had the good fortune to be taught the flute by Mr. Timothy Downing, a gentleman farmer of illustrious ancestry living in Tralibane, our townland in West Cork, and one of the chief regrets of our life is having lost by early emigration the opportunity to learn the fiddle also, on which he was a fine free-hand performer. His rousing strains still haunt our memory after a lapse of nearly fifty years."
From O'Neill's Irish Folk Music, A Fascinating Hobby (Page 105):
The rudiments of music on the flute were kindly taught me by Mr. Timothy Downing, a gentleman farmer in Tralibane, our townland. He was an accomplished performer on several instruments, but the violin was his favorite. He never played outside his own residence, and there only for a favored few. Humming a tune as he played it, was one of his peculiarities. How often since leaving home, at the age of sixteen, have I longed to get a glimpse of the chest full of music manuscript which he possessed, and from which he selected the tunes for my lessons. My wish has since been gratified, unexpectedly, for on a recent visit to Ireland I found some of it treasured by his daughter, Miss Jane, at the old homestead, and the rest of it in the possession of his son, T.A. Downing, at Bangor Wales. In addition to the tunes memorized from his playing in my boyhood there were found among his manuscripts several unpublished melodies— such as, "Open the Door for Three," "Three Halfpence a Day," and a rare setting of the hop jig, named "I have a Wife of My Own."
[Biography by Michael O'Malley]Provenance: From the collection of Kristina Igoe, who writes "This book was given to me as a gift by my music teacher (Dr. Richard Hall) in 1991 after studying music in Weymouth, Dorset, on the south-west coast in England. As far as I know, they were found in the library of a convent school just before it closed down, and were rescued before they were scrapped."