Henry Elliott Hudson

Life

Hudson was the son of the eminent dentist Edward and during adulthood practiced as surgeon / dentist on Grafton Street, Dublin.

At the age of 14, Hudson transcribed the music manuscripts of Irish language teacher and lexicographer Edward O'Reilly. However, little was added to his collection until around 1840. His interest in Irish music was rekindled by a statement by collector Edward Bunting (1773-1843) to the effect that no newly composed tunes sounded characteristic of the Irish style. Hudson felt that he and others could compose melodies that sounded traditional and he began to compose sample pieces. Between 1841-43 he edited the music section of the literary magazine The Citizen, publishing 106 tunes from his own collection. Many of the tunes he published were his own compositions but were presented as traditional melodies and given a false provenance to back them up. Hudson felt vindicated when he heard that Bunting had expressed some jealousy towards Hudson's published airs. Henry Hudson never publicly admitted to his deceit and several of his compositions appear as traditional melodies in the manuscripts and publications of other collectors. His collection numbered 870 melodies at the time of his death. In 1901 the various volumes of his manuscript collection were privately sold, though it is now publicly available at the National Library of Ireland, the Boston Public Library, and the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Henry's brother William Elliot Hudson (1796-1853) was a barrister noted for his philanthropy and his support of the Irish language. He was also a composer and, like his brother Henry, a collector of Irish folk tunes. However, his manuscript collection does not appear to have survived.