Edward Bunting fell into his destiny when, at the age of 19, he was
commissioned to write down the tunes performed at a gathering of
traditional harp players in Belfast in July 1792. This assignment marked
the beginning of a 100-year process of enormous importance: the
preservation of a country's music, which otherwise might be lost
forever. In time, Bunting passed the torch to apprentice George Petrie
who, in turn, became instrumental in founding the Society for the
Preservation and Publication of the Melodies of Ireland, which published
Petrie's first collection in 1855. Petrie's daughter subsequently
entrusted the much-honored Sir Charles Stanford with three bound volumes
of her father's work, leading to the ultimate compilation, published in
1905, of 1,582 traditional melodies -- the musical wealth of a nation.