Opera planned about storm that devastated Offaly

The ferocious storm known as 'The Night of the Big Wind', which struck Offaly on Sunday, January 6, 1839, doing untold damage to Tullamore and its hinterland, is to be the subject of an opera. Belfast composer Elaine Agnew, a former Composer in Residence with RTE Lyric FM and the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, has received a Major Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to enable her to undertake research for a new chamber opera based on the story. Elaine is widely regarded as one of Ireland's most exciting young composers. 2012 will be a busy year for her. On Saturday 4th August, her newest composition Dark Hedges will receive its first performance at the Proms in the Albert Hall, London. It will be performed by flautist Sir James Galway, the Ulster Orchestra, and the Ulster Youth Orchestra. She hopes to return to composing the opera in the autumn. To accompany these developments, the book that inspired the opera, Peter Carr's Night of the Big Wind, has been re-issued. To reflect current austerity, it has been republished at its original 1991 price of 7 euro (£4.95). The 'hurricane' devastated Tullamore. 'The storm made dreadful havoc in this town and neighbourhood on Sunday night,' declared the Leinster Independent, causing losses so extensive they were 'almost impossible' to calculate. Thousands of panes of glass were broken. Thatch and slate roofs were stripped off. Houses collapsed. Two died. 'A woman named Sherwin was killed in bed by the falling in of a wall, and a child by the falling in of a roof.' Many others, such as the Duinagan family, 'dug out of the ruins of their house in a hopeless condition,' had near miraculous escapes. 'To add to the town's misfortunes,' the Dublin Evening Post continued, 'one of the great metal wheels that work the distillery of Messrs, Cuffe & Codd has been broken by the immense flow of water, and that great concern which employed so many hands, will be left idle for some weeks.' In Philipstown, 'the houses… were dreadfully scattered.' Kinnitty suffered 'much injury' with two gentlewomen 'buried in ruins.' In Birr four died and 'a great part of the barracks' and other houses were blown down. The countryside felt the full destructive force of the storm. Houses were stripped and blown down. Many were burned, for when the wind broke in, the fire became a tiny volcano, the sods and coals 'dancing on the hearth'. Corn and oats were scattered. Hedges were uprooted. Cattle were maimed and killed in falling byres. Tens of thousands of trees were lost. Charleville's glorious demesne was savaged. The Kerry Evening Post reported that it 'suffered more, perhaps, than any other place in Ireland… upwards of ten thousand pounds worth of timber has been destroyed.' For some, this chaos represented opportunity. With barely concealed outrage the Mayo Constitution reported that, 'In defiance of the law', poor cottiers had invaded a demesne near Shinrone, cut up the fallen timber and sold it 'openly in Nenagh and Roscrea'. No date or location for the opera's premiere has yet been determined.