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In October 1832, Blind Irish Harpist Matthew Wall Settles in Boston as Performer + Teacher

 

Advertisement in the Boston Post, October 23, 1832 

 Matthew Wall, a blind harpist from Ireland who emigrated to Canada around 1830 before eventually making his way to Boston in 1832, is one of the first Irish musicians cited in public records to perform and teach Irish music in Boston.

The Boston Evening Transcript ran a notice on, October 6, 1832 and October 12, 1832, announcing that Wall would be performing at the State Museum, corner of Court and Howard Streets in Downtown Boston near Scollay Square. 

Wall was described as "a celebrated performer upon the Irish Harp. As this is the first instrument of its kind ever in this country, the lovers of Music will do well to avail themselves of this opportunity to witness the sweetness of its tones...This was the instrument used by the bards of olden times, and is well calculated to touch and arouse the feelings." 

On October 23, 1832, the Boston Post printed an advertisement from Wall, in which he  "tenders his services to the ladies and gentlemen of Boston, as an instructor on the Harp....His terms are moderate and no pains will be spared to advance his pupils."

On October 19, 1832, the Transcript ran an editorial endorsement, stating that Wall "is himself an admirable performer, and, being unfortunately deprived of sight, and having a family dependent upon him, presents claims of more than ordinary urgency on the benevolence of our citizens."  

In a blog on early Gaelic Harps, researcher Simon Chadwick reports that Wall was born in Queen's County (now County Laois) around 1809, and was blinded by cataracts as a child.  He went to Dublin for treatment, where he was temporarily cured, then moved to Belfast for five years.   

According to a notice in the Belfast News Letter, June 22, 1830, Wall was a member of the Irish Harp Society, which urged him to accept "an offer made by Mr. M. Cannan, of St John’s, New Brunswick, to give him a free passage from Belfast to that place, and to settle him there as a Harper."

Within nine months of moving to New Brunswick,  Wall's sight "was extinguished.  He has been sightless ever since."  He was married with two children at the time.

Wall was likely playing an Irish harp built by famed instrument maker John Egan of Dublin, who is hailed for creating the modern Irish folk harp, according to Chadwick.  Egan's harps were popular at the turn of the 19th century in the wake of the famous Belfast Harp Festival of 1792. 

A copy of an Egan harp is in the musical instrument collection at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.

Egan harp at the Burns Library. Photo courtesy of Nancy Hurrell

Thanks to efforts by harpist Nancy Hurrell and music librarian Elizabeth Sweeney, the  John J. Burns Library at Boston College has two Irish harps made by Egan, which are part of the library's significant collection of Irish music.   

Microfilm of the Boston Evening Transcript, Boston Post and other early newspapers are available at the Boston Public Library. 

For more about Boston's history and heritage, visit IrishHeritageTrail.com.  For details about Irish culture in the Boston area, visit IrishBoston.org. 

- research by Michael Quinlin

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