High quality digital copies of sheet music dating from the late eighteenth to mid nineteenth century are now available for open access on the recently launched National Archive of Irish Composers (www.naic.ie).The resource aims to make the pieces widely available while preserving the valuable source materials held in the National Library of Ireland's collections. The project has drawn on expertise from librarianship to historical music research and performance, partnered with cutting-edge digital technology.
At present over fifty pieces of historical piano music using Irish airs can be downloaded from the site, the majority of which were composed by Irish or visiting composers of the time, along with complementary audio and video files.
The National Archive of Irish Composers consortium comprises the National Library of Ireland, DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, DIT Digital Media Centre and Heritage Music Productions Ltd.
