An Irishman’s Diary

• Published date: 15 April 2024
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

The following day, however, Scanlan had relapsed and, for his own safety, his manager took him to his own home. Within weeks, Scanlan’s increasingly violent behaviour led to him being committed to the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum in White Plains. It was here that Scanlan died six years later aged 42

Born to Irish emigrant parents in Springfield, Massachusetts, Scanlan had enjoyed a successful career in New York’s burgeoning musical theatre scene before illness tragically cut it short. He began working in Vaudeville before becoming a song composer, despite not being able to read music. From one song, Peek-a-Boo, he was said to have made more than $20,000 in royalties in six weeks. Scanlan then moved into musical theatre, becoming a well-known actor, composer and lyricist.

The sentimental flavour of the production in which Scanlan was performing when he succumbed to his breakdown may be gleaned from the names of some of the songs which featured. They included The Auld Country, Molly O! and Mrs Reilly’s Party. The title, Mavourneen, an anglicisation of the Irish mo mhurnín, most likely drew on the popularity of the song Kathleen Mavourneen.

Penned by English composer Frederick Crouch and poet Marion Crawford in the 1830s, Kathleen Mavourneen became very popular during the Civil War. Its haunting theme of parting sweethearts struck a chord with an audience coming to terms with the daily sundering of families and lovers, as well as the break-up of the Union.

The song had first come to prominence a few years earlier when one of the greatest musical stars of the era, the Limerick-born soprano Catherine Hayes, arrived in the States, bringing her signature piece, Kathleen Mavourneen, with her.

Hayes was born into a musical family in Patrick Street in 1818; her father was a bandmaster with the local militia. Having studied with a voice teacher in Dublin, in her twenties, she earned renown touring the country, even performing at one Liszt’s concerts in the capital in 1841.

Within a couple of years, she was performing in France and Italy, making her debut at Milan’s La Scala in 1845 in Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix and, therefore, becoming the first Irishwoman to perform on the stage of the prestigious Italian opera house. She holds the same distinction at the Royal Opera...