"a singleminded supercrowd"

(42.17-44.6)  Time for a second Memorial Day weekend doubleheader.  As of yesterday, I had read 19 passages in 21 days, putting me two days "behind" my intended pace.  If I can swing a doubleheader today and a doubleheader tomorrow, I'll be back on track.

Today's first reading sets the scene for the grand debut of Hosty's ballad.  The song is "poured forth where Riau Liviau riots and col de Houdo humps."  In his Annotations, McHugh points out that the Riau Liviau stands for the River Liffey and col de Houdo stands for the hill of Howth.  Of course these locations tie in with the rest of the novel, for the book's opening paragraph begins with the river ("riverrun") and ends in Howth ("Howth Castle and Environs"), and these two have been popping up almost continually ever since.  After all, the river also is a form of HCE's wife, ALP, and Howth Hill is also a form of HCE.

The next page or so is dedicated to highlighting many of the figures who have gathered to form "a singleminded supercrowd" in anticipation of the ballad's performance.  Notable among these notables are "a jolly postoboy" and "a plumodrole" who are HCE's sons, Shaun the postman and Shem the penman (McHugh notes that in Provençal "plumo" means "pen" and "drole" means "boy").  

After the key members of the supercrowd are identified, the instruments and players in the band are listed.  McHugh notes that among these on one level are Joyce's hero, the Irish nationalist political leader Charles Stewart Parnell ("that onecrooned king of inscrewments," or the uncrowned king of Ireland); Parnell's rival Pigott; and Patrick Delaney, who gave testimony against Parnell to secure his release from life imprisonment for his role in the Phoenix Park murders (Phoenix Park again . . . it's all connected).  Of course, the "onecrooned king of inscrewments" can also be the organ (it has been nicknamed "the king of instruments"), and Pigott could also be the man who played the cello at Dublin's Theatre Royal.  With these preliminaries over, the conductor, "'Ductor' Hitchock" takes his place and starts the performance.  The song is "chantied there chorussed and christened" by "Saint Annona's Street and Church."

In Post #2 of today's doubleheader, it looks like we'll get to "hear" the first part of Hosty's ballad.