My wifes uncle is Eddie Delaney,the famous sculptor of many famous works that can be seen around the streets of Dublin. At the moment I'm reading a book by his son Eamon Delaney called "Breaking thr Mould" a story of Art and Ireland.
Theres an interest paragraph on page Three.
"However ,my father kept other versions of Clarkes death mask which he thought were more interesting than the original. He also had the death mask of Seamus Ennis,the piper and folklorist,and better still a cast of his hands,with their extraordinary long fingers from piping. As kids we were confused; was he a great piper because his hands were naturally long,or did they become long from playing"

In this day and age it may be considered a little ghoulish ,the idea of a death mask, but I wonder what became of the casts.
Eddie Delaney died in 2009.

RORY
PS anyone know who done this statue of Seamus.

Wikipedia lists a whole slew of noted personages who were preserved in this fashion: Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Joseph Haydn, Dante Alighieri, Filippo Brunelleschi, Torquato Tasso, Blaise Pascal and Voltaire, plus Cromwell, Bonaparte, various Czars. Interesting momento mori, or effigy, or reliquary perhaps?

Dunno about that statue's maker. I heard about Seamus receiving the plaster treatment years ago. File that along with the bag cover made to resemble a hawk's cowl.

There is nothing strange in this, though perhaps somewhat late in its creation as an artifact. They were common at one time, made of convicts to kings. Madame Tussaude started off doing this. Photography, and later, film/video etc, reduce its impact. Perhaps there was an intention in making a mask, of a last attempt to capture the soul of the individual.

Some people were not noted for their fame until too late, or if really bad, until dead . The death mask is the last chance to gather and preserve an image, whether of the good, or the very, very bad.

The 'fingers' ? I would say they were always long at a guess. Exercise, and nutrition, can lead to changes in developed physical characterisitics, but I doubt they would ever lengthen a set of fingers, by playing pipes, or whistle say. Seamus's overall body shape was 'long', I would say his fingers would just be in proportion to his overall size and shape. His genius - in the music in his head, and his genes, that allow that to be connected to the muscles in his hands, and arms, with such skill and evocation, to the pipes under his control.

Pwrt

someone on this board once put forward the possibility that ennis had a medical condition that caused elongated fingers and a tall, skinny frame

That could be an explanantion, but perhaps one that was inherited, from an extended family connection.

I speculate here, as before.

Pwrt

I think I may have the same medical condition....elongated fingers and tall. Is there some cure?

i just checked - it's called marfan syndrome - peter laban mentioned it a long time ago

this is going a bit off-topic but i've never really connected with ennis' playing - i can recognise that he was a virtuoso and improviser of massive ability but for some reason he doesn't touch me the way others do - it may sound a bit of a nerve for an unknown like me to comment on such a towering figure but i can't help the way i respond to him

"i can recognise that he was a virtuoso and improviser of massive ability but for some reason he doesn't touch me the way others do - it may sound a bit of a nerve for an unknown like me to comment on such a towering figure but i can't help the way i respond to him" John.

We all have different tastes in music, it's very subjective what we respond to. I can listen all day to Seamus Ennis as he has a lot of heart, humour, and feeling in his piping. I love the sound of his pipes too. On the other hand I can't stand the showy style of fiddler Sean Maguire - different strokes

Theres pipers pipers and theres non-pipers pipers.

RORY

If you think you might have Marfan syndrome, get medical help, as it will usually kill you in middle age without it.

The classic example is Abraham Lincoln, who was probably not far from sudden death even without the assistance of a bullet.

Heres what Seamus might of looked like if he'd lived longer.


RORY

There's a life-size statue of Robert Wadlow in front of the Ripley's Museum on Hollywood Boulevard (here in Hollywood, of course). It's quite startling. By all accounts, he was a very nice man who lived a very short (22 years) and difficult life.

I imagine Seamus had an interesting death mask. In my opinion they are to fulfill people's inner morbid curiosity of the deceased. They are a frank representation of the person in every detail. I don't think they would jive with people's sensibilities in our modern era.

Below for the curious, is a death mask I did a while ago for fun while learning casting (I happened to be alive at the time).


- Jason