Magnum opus: John Spillane's 'fairy tale sean-nós folk opera'

Beloved Cork singer-songerwriter John Spillane introduces his new album Fíoruisce, a 'three-act surreal phantasmagorical re-Gaelicised Cork Victorian fairy tale sean-nós folk opera' years in the making, released this month.

September 2024 is a very special month for me as I launch my folk opera album Fíoruisce - The Legend of the Lough. Many years of work have gone into this record including two years talking about it, three years researching and furiously composing and workshopping it, then (after I had left it to gather) three years of dust on a shelf, I took it down and spent two years recording it with some of the loveliest voices in Ireland, a land that is so rich in wonderful singers. Fíoruisce is a three-act surreal phantasmagorical re-Gaelicised Cork Victorian fairy tale sean-nós folk opera. It's mostly in Irish, with some English and it’s my magnum opus, my big work.

Myth is something that never happened but always is.

I was incredibly lucky to get these singers on this recording and I’m talking seriously beautiful singers: Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin is the powerful king, Ríoghnach Connolly my wise queen, Nell Ní Chróinín sings the part of Milbhéal, a bard in the ancient world and Fíoruisce our princess is exquisitely represented by Niamh Farrell. Their voices shine and entwine, they rise and fall, they live love and lament and in the end they are all sadly drowned as their well overflows, the water rises and the Lough as we know it today is formed.

Fíoruisce means 'spring water’. My folk opera is based on a story from the book Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland by T. Crofton Croker in 1828. Translated into German the following year by the brothers Grimm as Springwasser in their collection Irischen Elfenmärchen. There was a beautiful green valley with a castle and a well in the garden. The king closes the well, much to the distress of the common people. A mysterious prince arrives at a ball and dances with the princess Fíoruisce. There is no water at the feast. When someone asks for a drink of water, Fíoruisce is sent out to the well with the prince. The water jumps up out of the well, it keeps coming and the Lough is formed. They do not drown but live on in an underwater otherworld in the land of the ever-young Tír na nÓg.

Just as you can glimpse the tops of the towers of the ancient castle under the waves, I fancied I could glimpse the older Gaelic myth before Croker translated it from Irish to English, if that even happened. So, I stole great treasures from the Aladdin’s cave of Gaelic wisdom and built this work.

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Myth is something that never happened but always is. This seemingly fanciful little tale turns out to be a major myth of these times. When I was composing, hundreds of thousands of Irish people were marching in protest at water charges, the exact theme of my folk opera, and then came Greta Thunberg who is pure Fíoruisce, foretelling rising water levels and prophesising the drowning of our world.

The Lough is a lovely lake and bird sanctuary. It’s one mile ‘round and lies about a mile southwest of Cork city centre. It’s much loved by the people of Cork, and I’m thrilled to be honouring it with this folk opera.

Fíoruisce – The Legend of the Lough is released on 13th September 2025