John Spillane’s “Fíoruisce – The Legend of the Lough” is epic storytelling, requiring a scale of ambition that few would contemplate. It sits alongside such fine works as Peter Bellamy’s The Transports and Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown.
Fíoruisce – The Legend of the Lough is a two-hour ‘Gaelic folk opera’ in three acts that employs a cast of some of the finest singers and musicians. It is an astonishingly impressive achievement; the listener can but be in awe at what it takes to write and produce a musical work of such quality that has so many lyrical, vocal and musical parts. It is a macaronic, bilingual work, sung variously in Irish Gaelic and English. Its creator, singer and songwriter, John Spillane, has described it as his “magnum opus.”
A Cork native, John’s recording career began in 1997 with his debut album, The Wells of the World. The regard that fellow musicians hold him in is made evident by the likes of Christy Moore, who said, ‘I sing John Spillane songs wherever I go’. John’s 2008 Irish Songs We Learned at School and a “More…” follow-up sold very well in Ireland. In his 2021 KLOF album review, John O’Regan described 100 Snow White Horses as “A masterclass of eloquent romanticism delivered by a poet of song”. On In Another Light, John’s most recent album, released in 2022, he recorded some of his best-known songs with the Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra. In April this year, he released a single, Palestine Sunbird, sharing that he wrote the song “in response to the unfolding genocide in Gaza”, adding, “The Palestine Sunbird was declared the national bird of Palestine in 2015 after the Israeli occupation authorities tried to change it’s name in their efforts to erase Palestinian identity.”
Fíoruisce means spring water and is also the name of the Princess in the opera. The opera is a re-Gaelicized musical, an extended version of the Victorian Cork-set fairy tale Fior-USGA, written by Thomas Crofton Croker. Crofton Croker’s version was first published in 1825 in his Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. It was translated into German by the Brothers Grimm as ‘Springwasser’. The story is a tale that culminates in the flooding of a kingdom, which became The Lough in Cork City as it is today. John draws on his lifelong dedication to storytelling, the Irish language and music, and his libretto was inspired by the rich literary and oral Gaelic storytelling tradition. Using these elements, the album weaves together threads of Irish mythology, depicting scenes of war, curses, lullabies, lamentations, shapeshifting tricksters, scenes of love, a great Fleadh, and in the end – the drowning of the kingdom.
The cast of the singers and musicians includes Ríoghnach Connolly (The Breath, Honeyfeet), rather fittingly as the Queen; Niamh Farrell, who, like Connolly, can sing equally well in different genres, sings the part of the Princess; the King, sung by Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, who has been a member of Skipper’s Alley and Jiggy and recorded as a duo with fiddle and viola player Ultan O’Brien; Nell Ní Chróinín, who sung on Dan’s last album, ‘Ten Thousand Miles’ (2018) is Honeymouth the Bard in the Ancient World; Aisling Urwin, who has recorded with Clare Sands, is the Fairy Woman and plays harp; ex-Gráda member Alan Doherty plays the flute. John Spillane sings both the Minstrel and the Prince parts and plays Spanish guitar, and Brian Casey co-produces, sings and adds instrumentation.
Overture, sung by Niamh and Eoghan, released as a single and a video, sets the story’s scene as a fairy tale about a legendary lough with an ‘underwater land’. Little Well sees the minstrel (John) describing the castle and the well where there is now a Lough, with responses sung in varying combinations from the Chorus, Princess, Queen and Fairy Woman. More recitative, opera-like than folk-like, the song is immediately compelling. John’s lived-in, verging on spoken singing contrasts impeccably with the other, higher singing parts, with the harp providing the musical frame. The stirring entrance of a sovereign, in King, is told by the Bard and the Prince, with a roaring Chorus, and sticks and stones provide percussion that adds to a tumultuous ending as all bow before him.
One Place opens with a muted horn followed by march-like percussion and a call and response between the King and the Chorus and, briefly, the Prince. The King haughtily and repeatedly asks if any find fault with him – Eoghan’s hearty vocal appropriately imparting the King’s pompousness. An argument ensues as the Queen warns him against such arrogance. Their argument is interrupted by Fíoruisce’s foretelling of a drowning before the King marches off to war. The pace shifts between the stomping of the King’s emphatic words and the Chorus’s response to the less harsh harp-accompanied interventions from the Queen and Princess, sung marvellously by Ríoghnach and Niamh. All that (and more) happens in just under four and a half minutes. The following track, Fíoruisce, is a stunning vocal, more traditional interchange, primarily between Ríoghnach and Niamh, as a series of nightmare visions visit Fíoruisce, and the Queen soothes her with a lullaby. There’s nothing quite like Ríoghnach Connolly singing a lullaby.
The songs seamlessly swing between those that lead more toward the operatic (even then not ‘proper’ opera) and those with a more traditional sensibility, and some sound like neither. Foolsong is an example of the latter. Two fools, sung by Liam Heffernan and Giordaí Ó Laoghaire, tumble on, one crying, the other laughing, playing bodhráns and hurling insults at each other – it brings to mind a more raucous, driving Talking Heads style. Act 3 comes back to some more traditional elements, starting with the joyful, upbeat Fleadh, which has Nell, Ríoghnach, Niamh and Eoghan sounding for all the world like they are having a drunken feast, singing in an enthralling bouncy slip-jig rhythm, with a dash of fluttering flute. After the arrival of the Prince at the feast, he captivates Fíoruisce despite the Queen’s cautioning; the party continues as the slip-jig resumes. Fíoruisce dances with the Prince and declares, ‘I can feel wings under my heart’; the Queen’s warnings are made in vain.
The denouement arrives with Lakeburst. After being ordered by the King to fetch water from the well house, Fíoruisce is accompanied by the Prince. After they kiss, he reveals his true identity as Mananán Mac Lir, the sea god. He recites a magic charm, invoking the water to rush up. The well overflows, leading to the lake rising around them, and so the Lough comes into being. The singing and music become more cacophonous and nightmarish, rising to a crescendo, after which, as the Lough becomes full, the music subsides.
Fíoruisce – The Legend of the Lough is epic storytelling, requiring a scale of ambition that few would contemplate, never mind see through to a finished work as extraordinary and excellent as this. It sits alongside such fine works as Peter Bellamy’s The Transports and Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown. While Folk and opera may seem entirely different musical forms, they are often used for storytelling, and John Spillane is a master storyteller. It is a testament to all involved and their considerable adaptability that they sing so well in the differing styles presented across Fíoruisce. This excellence and variety draw you in, while John’s fascinating re-telling of a story engages from start to finish.
Fíoruisce – The Legend of the Lough (Friday 13th September 2024)
Pre-order: fioruisce.ie
John Spillane launches Fíoruisce – The Legend of the Lough by unveiling a site-responsive art exhibition by artist Megan Clancy at The Lough in Cork City, 4pm Sunday 15th September, followed by a listening party at MTU Cork School of Music. Admission is free; however, booking is essential. Book via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/john-spillane-fioruisce-launch-tickets-936471540587?aff=oddtdtcreator
John Spillane also has two events coming up in London:
On Friday, 11th October, he will perform live at the London Irish Centre, and on Saturday, 12th October, he will host a songwriting workshop at the London Irish Centre.
Tickets/more info available at: https://johnspillane.ie/#tour