Herbert Hughes (composer)

Described as having an "ardent and self-confident manner", Hughes is first heard of in an Irish musical capacity (beyond being honorary organist at St Peter's Church on Antrim Road at the age of fourteen) collecting traditional airs and transcribing folksongs in North Donegal in August 1903 with his brother Fred, F.J.

Dedicated to seeking out and recording such ancient melodies as were yet to be found in the more remote glens and valleys of Ulster, he produced Songs of Uladh (1904) with Joseph Campbell, illustrated by his brother John and paid for by Bigger.

[3] Married to Lillian Florence (known as Meena) Meacham and Suzanne McKernan, Herbert had three children: Patrick (known professionally as Spike Hughes), Angela and Helena.

He called upon the influence of the French impressionist Claude Debussy in his approach to harmony: "Musical art is gradually releasing itself from the tyranny of the tempered scale.

[…] and if we examine the work of the modern French school, notably that of M. Claude Debussy, it will be seen that the tendency is to break the bonds of this old slave-driver and return to the freedom of primitive scales.