"the religious die-hards were well and truly beaten."
Only partly true in Ireland Ard Mhacha.
The acute decline in Irish music in the first part of the 20th century can be laid largely at the door of emigration, but the church and state played a not-insignificant part in its disappearance.
Luckily some musicians persisted, but many of the ones we spoke to still expressed guilt (what the church does best here) for continuing to play - having swallowed the line that unsupervised (by the clergy) gatherings led to licentiousness and sinful behaviour.
Some years ago we were at a talk/recital by an extremely devout local veteran fiddle player who spoke with warmth about the country house dances, and punctuated his talk with "And my curse on those who destroyed them" - addressed directly to the priests and nuns sitting in the front row.
I often wonder if the paucity of genuine erotic and bawdy songs in the Irish repertoire is not directly due to the influence of the church.
Jim Carroll