ON April 18, 2013, the harping world bid farewell to Grainne Yeats, the renowned Irish harper, singer, pedagogue, arranger, Irish language enthusiast and historian. From the 1950s onwards, Yeats played an important role in the revival and promotion of the Irish harp, in particular, the wire-strung Irish harp. Her tireless devotion and admirable advocacy contributed to a transformation of the harping tradition in Ireland, and her influence is evident in harping initiatives such as, Cairde na Cruite (Friends of the Harp) and its annual international harp festival, An Chuirt Chruitireachta. (1)

Born in Dublin on 14 April, 1925, Grainne Dill Ni Eigeartaigh (Hegarty) was the youngest child of Patrick Sarsfield O'Hegarty (2) from Cork and Wilhelmina (Mina) Rebecca Smyth (3) from Derry. Her parents met in London while attending Irish language classes organised by the Gaelic League, (4) and both were committed political and cultural activists. Her father was a member of the Supreme Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (5) and Sinn Fein, (6) and her mother was a member of Cumann na mBan. (7) Yeats was educated at Scoil Bhnghde (St. Brigid's School), an Irish language elementary school, Alexandra College, Dublin and Trinity College, Dublin, where she received a degree in history. She studied piano and voice at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, and, though she considered singing to be her main interest, she received awards in singing and piano at the Feis Ceoil. (8) At the age of nineteen, she met Michael Yeats, son of renowned poet and playwright, William Butler Yeats, at the Gaelic Society, Trinity College, Dublin. They married in 1949 and had four children: Caitriona (concert harpist), Siobhan, Padraig, and the late Sile.

From an early age, Yeats was immersed in both Irish and classical music and learned Irish language and folk songs during her holidays in the Gaeltacht (Irish speaking area of Ireland). Her journey into the world of harping did not begin until her late twenties, and she commenced harp lessons with Sheila Larchet Cuthbert and Mercedes Bolger following a chance hearing of a performance by Joan O'Hara, Abbey Theatre actress. Yeats, Larchet Cuthbert and Bolger later become life-long friends, teaching colleagues, and together they transformed Irish harp performance and pedagogy for the remainder of the twentieth century. In the 1950s, however, Yeats painted a depressing picture of the status of the Irish harp, in particular, the paucity of instruments, teachers and published music. In a recent interview, she noted that it was

... extremely difficult to find a good harp to play ... even when the would-be player had found a harp, there was practically nothing to play. The harper had to forage in the dark corners of second-hand bookshops, on the hunt for the scarce and expensive collections of Bunting, Petrie, Joyce, and others. The long labour then began of looking through the hundreds of tunes, deciding which of these the harper had to make arrangements of his tunes--a skilled trade in itself--or bully more capable friends into doing...