Introduction: Music, the moving image, and Ireland

Conceiving the field

A national cinema?

Aims and methods

Representing Ireland

Musical tropes and their alternatives: a book of three parts

Musical and ideological readings


Part1: Irish Themes on Screen and in Sound

Chapter 1: The first half-century: From silent newsreel to narrative sound film

The beginnings of Irish cinema

Early Irish-themed sound film

Max Steiner and Irish-themed film

British and Irish film: the mid-to-late 1930s

Irish-themed British film music: William Alwyn

The luck of the Irish?

Chapter 2: Harping on? The 1950s to the 1990s

The early to mid-1950s

Irish-produced and Irish-themed

Fighters, writers and leprechauns

Different directions in the 1970s

Re-working sonic Irishness

Chapter 3: Literature-to-film adaptations and music

O’Casey and Synge

Joyce, music and film

New generations of writers

Elmer Bernstein and adapted Irish screenplays

End-of-century adaptations


Part2: Perception and Production from Within

Chapter 4: Sounding nation and culture on screen

Early perspectives on the independence struggle

Anthropology and ideology

Nation building

Tourism, heritage and the natural world

Commemoration

Documenting tradition in a modern age

Chapter 5: Soundtracks to Ireland’s troubles: dramas and documentaries

The 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 diaspora

Abuse, abjection and marginalization

Millennial perspectives on Irish history

Chapter 6: Irish Composers and 20th-century film and TV

Mid-20th century composers

Combining tradition and modernity?

Experimental scoring: Brian Boydell

Composing for TV: A.J. Potter

From newsreel to feature film: Gerard Victory

The late 20th century: Seoirse Bodley, John Buckley and Roger Doyle


Part3: Cinematic and Musical Developments

Chapter 7: Soundtracks for an emerging Irish cinema: Margins, borders, troubles

On the margins: first wave Irish cinema

Early narrative features on the Troubles

Troubles films go mainstream

South of the border: past troubles

Chapter 8: A plurality of genres

Documenting music on screen

Traditional and folk soundtracks

Traditional music and orchestral scores: Micheal O Suilleabhain, Bill Whelan and Shaun Davey

From stage to soundtrack: music hall, dance bands and jazz

Popular music: composition and compilation

The Irish music-film

Chapter 9: 21st-century themes

Soundtracks, places, spaces

Crime drama

Past traumas

Looking back at the Troubles

Outsiders

Beyond Ireland

Conclusion: Retrospectives and recent developments

Music, the moving image and Ireland: the first 120 years

21st-century documentary features

Retrospectives and (re)-composition

Developments in screen music production

Glossary of Musical Terms

Selected Filmography

Bibliography