Henry Philerin Hudson facts for kids

Henry Philerin Hudson (born in 1798, died in 1889) was a talented Irish musician. He was a composer, which means he wrote music. He also collected old folk songs and was a scholar, someone who studies a lot.

Early Life and Interests

Henry Hudson was born in a place called The Hermitage in Rathfarnham, Dublin, Ireland. His father, Edward Hudson, was a famous dentist. Henry also worked as a dental surgeon in Dublin for a time.

Henry loved music and was part of several musical groups in Dublin. These included the Anacreontic Society and the Philharmonic Society. He was also a member of a group that worked to save and share Irish melodies. Because of his knowledge, he became a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a well-known group for learning and science.

Collecting Irish Folk Songs

Henry Hudson started collecting music when he was just 14 years old. He copied down songs from Edward O'Reilly, a teacher of the Irish language. But he didn't add much more to his collection until around 1840.

His interest in Irish traditional music grew again because of something another collector, Edward Bunting, said. Bunting believed that new songs didn't sound like true Irish music. Henry thought he could write new songs that sounded just like old, traditional Irish tunes. So, he started composing some examples.

Between 1841 and 1843, Henry was in charge of the music part of a magazine called The Citizen. He published 106 tunes from his own collection in it. Many of these tunes were actually his own creations, but he presented them as if they were old, traditional melodies. He even made up stories about where they came from.

Henry felt good when he heard that Edward Bunting was a bit jealous of the tunes Henry had published. Henry never told anyone publicly that some of these "traditional" tunes were his own. Because of this, several of his compositions are still thought of as old folk songs in other collections.

By the time he died, Henry had collected 870 melodies. Today, you can find his collection of music at the National Library of Ireland, the Boston Public Library, and the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA.

Henry's brother, William Elliott Hudson, also collected Irish folk songs. He wrote even more music than Henry did!

Composing Other Music

Besides the tunes that sounded like old folk songs, Henry Hudson also wrote original songs and piano music. The National Library of Ireland has a book with 30 of his songs in English. They also have another book with 20 songs set to German words.

He also worked with a musician named Vincent Novello. Together, they created an English version of a famous piece by Beethoven called Christ on the Mount of Olives. This version was published in 1853.

See also

• Irish folk music (1500–1899)