Cormac Mac Dermott

Cormac Mac Dermott (year of birth unknown – February 1618), Irish harper and composer, was one of the best-known Irish harpers at the Elizabethan court.

Life

Mac Dermott may have been a native of Moylurg, whose ruling family were the Mac Diarmata (Mac Dermott) clan.

In 1605, he was appointed to the Royal Musick in London, the first harper since the death of Blind William More in 1565. He was succeeded on his death by his pupil Phillip Squire.

Mac Dermott's compositions survive in consort form only and Andrew Lawrence-King suggested that it was Mac Dermott who "brought (t)his new consort-style of Irish harp-playing to the English court".

Recordings

• Cormacke; Allmane; Mr. Cormake Allman; Schoc.a.torum Cormacke – recorded by Andrew Lawrence-King on historical harps: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 05472 77504 2 (CD, 1999).
• Sir John Packington's Pavin; Allmane; Mr. Cormake's Pavin; Mr. Cormake's Allman – recorded by Siobhán Armstrong (Irish harp) and The Irish Consort: Destino Classics DC 1801 (CD, 2018).