Frederick May (9 June 1911 – 8 September 1985) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

composer and arranger. His musical career was seriously hindered by a lifelong hearing problem and he produced relatively few compositions.

Early years

Frederick May was born into a

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

family who lived in the suburb of Donnybrook. His father, also named Frederick, was employed at the

Guinness Brewery St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...

. May pursued his musical studies at the

Royal Irish Academy of Music The Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) in Dublin, Ireland, is one of Europe's oldest music conservatoires, specialising in classical music and the Irish harp. It is located in a Georgian building on Westland Row in Dublin. An institution whic ...

, where he was taught composition by John Larchet. In 1930, McCullough Pigott and Co. published his ''Irish Love Song''. The same year he was awarded the Esposito Cup at the Feis Ceoil and as a result of this he was nominated as the first recipient of a new scholarship prize worth £100 to be spent on the further study of piano. In July he took his preliminary examination for the BMus at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

before departing Dublin to utilise his scholarship in London. In September he enrolled at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

where his teachers included Charles Kitson, Ralph Vaughan Williams, R. O. Morris and

Gordon Jacob Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob CBE (5 July 18958 June 1984) was an English composer and teacher. He was a professor at the Royal College of Music in London from 1924 until his retirement in 1966, and published four books and many articles about ...

. He took his final TCD examination in December 1931 submitting a string quartet and on 10 December his degree was conferred. During 1932 May's study was funded by the RCM's Foli Scholarship and in October May was awarded the Octavia Travelling Scholarship. On 17 March 1933 there was a first orchestral run through of May's Scherzo for orchestra, and it received its first public performance on 1 December when it was heard as part of the Patron's Concert. Between the months of May and October May composed his ''Four Romantic Songs'', which received their premiere in London at a Macnaghten-Lemare concert on 22 January 1934. At some point, probably in the second half of 1933, May followed in the footsteps of other Octavia Scholarship winners and travelled to Vienna to study with

Egon Wellesz Egon Joseph Wellesz CBE (21 October 1885 – 9 November 1974) was an Austrian, later British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music. Early life and education in Vienna Egon Joseph Wellesz was ...

Life and career

On 1 January 1936, he took up the position of Director of Music at the Abbey Theatre Dublin, a position he retained until he was fired in 1948. His duties mainly consisted of leading the piano trio which bore the title "The Abbey Orchestra" in music during the intervals of productions. In 1936 he composed what is today his best known composition, the String Quartet in C Minor, but it was not premiered until 1948 when it was performed by the Martin Quartet in the

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...

, London. This was followed by the ''Symphonic Ballad'' (1937), the Suite of Irish Airs (1937), ''Spring Nocturne'' (1938), ''Songs from Prison'' (1941) and the Lyric Movement for Strings (1942). May effectively ceased original composition at this point, the major exception being his late orchestral work ''Sunlight and Shadow'', which was premiered in January 1956. Later work was confined to arrangements and the revision of earlier compositions. Throughout his life May suffered from significant mental health issues which resulted in hospitalisation. He also experienced

otosclerosis Otosclerosis is a condition of the middle ear where portions of the dense enchondral layer of the bony labyrinth remodel into one or more lesions of irregularly-laid spongy bone. As the lesions reach the stapes the bone is resorbed, then har ...

, as a result of which May was gradually to become increasingly deaf. In addition he suffered from severe

tinnitus Tinnitus is the perception of sound when no corresponding external sound is present. Nearly everyone experiences a faint "normal tinnitus" in a completely quiet room; but it is of concern only if it is bothersome, interferes with normal hearin ...

with constant ringing noises in his head. In later life he became homeless for a time due to alcoholism and slept at night in Grangegorman Asylum, Dublin. He was rescued by some friends led by

Garech Browne Garech Domnagh Browne (25 June 1939 – 10 March 2018) was an Irish art collector and a notable patron of Irish arts, traditional Irish music in particular. He was often known by the Irish designation of his name, Garech de Brún, or alternative ...

whose record company

Claddagh Claddagh () is an area close to the centre of Galway city, where the River Corrib meets Galway Bay. It was formerly a fishing village, just outside the old city walls. It is just across the river from the Spanish Arch, which was the location of ...

recorded the String Quartet in 1974. Throughout his career May was an advocate of better musical education in Ireland and expressed his views on this and other musical matters through the medium of '' The Bell'', a monthly journal dealing with the arts. He was a co-founder, along with Brian Boydell and

Aloys Fleischmann Aloys Fleischmann (13 April 1910 – 21 July 1992) was an Irish composer, musicologist, professor and conductor. Life Fleischmann was born in Munich to Ireland-based German parents. Both were musicians, both graduates of the Royal Academy of Mu ...

, of the Music Association of Ireland (now "Friends of Classical Music"), set up in 1948 to promote art music as an integral part of the cultural life of Ireland. Later he became a member of

Aosdána Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association of artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers with support from the country's Arts Council. Membership, which is by invitation from current member ...

. He lived for the last years of his life at Clontarf orthopaedic hospital, Dublin. He died at the age of 74 and is buried in

Mount Jerome Cemetery Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

Music

May's compositions are few in number and he produced most of his small output in the 1930s and early 1940s.The Contemporary Music Centre Ireland
retrieved 6 December 2010. May's first significant work was the ''Scherzo for Orchestra'', written while he was still a student in London. In 1936 he composed his ''String Quartet in C Minor'', described in the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' as "one of the most individual statements from an Irish composer in the first half of the 20th century"."May, Frederick", ''Grove Music Online''
retrieved 6 December 2010. May composed the quartet as his hearing was beginning to deteriorate and he later described it as "an appeal for release".''The Irish Times'', "Frederick May", 12 December 1974. The first performance of his ''Songs From Prison'', a setting for baritone and orchestra of poems by

Ernst Toller Ernst Toller (1 December 1893 – 22 May 1939) was a German author, playwright, left-wing politician and revolutionary, known for his Expressionist plays. He served in 1919 for six days as President of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, ...

and Erich Stadlen, was broadcast on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

in December 1942. For fellow composer Arthur Duff, the work demonstrated that May was "more a follower of

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

and Berg than a successor to (Charles Villiers) Stanford and (Hamilton) Harty". Following a long break from composition, May produced what was to be his valedictory work in 1955. This was the nine-minute orchestral piece ''Sunlight and Shadows'', given its first performance on 22 January 1956 by the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. Although this was his last original work, May did not abandon music completely. He produced arrangements of Irish music for

Radio Éireann Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

, which while not perhaps rewarding artistically did help to alleviate his always precarious financial situation. May also composed a number of songs for voice and piano and a short piece entitled ''Idyll'' for violin and piano. The latter was chosen as a set work for the junior violin competition at the Feis Ceoil in 2017.

Recordings

*''Suite of Irish Airs'', Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra, Milan Horvat (cond.), on: Decca (USA) DL 9843, LP (1958). *''String Quartet in C Minor'',

Aeolian Quartet The Aeolian Quartet was a highly reputed string quartet based in London, England, with a long international touring history and presence, an important recording and broadcasting profile. It was the successor of the pre-War Stratton Quartet. The qua ...

, on: Claddagh Records CSM2, LP (1974); re-issued on CD in 2020 (CSM2CD). *''String Quartet in C Minor'', Vanbrugh Quartet, on
Marco Polo 8.223888
CD (1996). *''Sunlight and Shadow'', ''Scherzo'', ''Spring Nocturne'', ''Suite of Irish Airs'', ''Songs from Prison'',

RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO; previously known as RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra) is the largest professional orchestra in Ireland. Housed at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, since January 2022, it used ...

, Owen Gilhooley (baritone), Robert Houlihan (cond.), on
RTÉ lyric fm CD 135
CD (2011). * ''Irish Love Song'', ''Hesperus'', ''Spring'', ''Drought'', ''The Little Black Boy'', ''I Sing of a Maiden'', ''Herdsman'', ''April'', ''Evening on Road, Dun Laoghaire'', ''By the Bivouac's Fitful Flame'', ''The Traveller'', ''The Finch'', ''Brimscombe'', ''Communion'', ''North Labrador'', ''Garden Abstract'', ''Dialogue'', ''Four Romantic Songs''; Owen Gilhooley (tenor), Catherina Lemoni O'Doherty (piano), Vanbrugh Quartet; on: DIT CMD 004 (CD accompanying the book edited by Mark Fitzgerald, see 'Bibliography', 2016).

Bibliography

* T.O.S. omás Ó Súilleabháin? "Spring Nocturne: A Profile of Frederick May", in: ''Counterpoint'' 2 (1970) November, pp. 14–18. * Kent Kay: ""Frederick May", in: ''The Irish Times'', 12 December 1974. * Fanny Feehan: " The Fiery Soul", in: ''Hibernia'', 10 January 1975. * Axel Klein: ''Die Musik Irlands im 20. Jahrhundert'' (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1996). * Philip Graydon: ''Modernism in Ireland and its Cultural Context in the Music and Writings of Frederick May, Brian Boydell and

'' (unpublished MA thesis, Maynooth University, 1999). * Mark Fitzgerald: "Inventing Identities: The Case of Frederick May", in: Mark Fitzgerald & John O'Flynn (eds.): ''Music and Identity in Ireland and Beyond'' (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2014), pp. 83–101. * Mark Fitzgerald (ed.):
The Songs of Frederick May
' (Dublin: Dublin Institute of Technology, 2016) – with CD. * Mark Fitzgerald:
Retrieving the real Frederick May'
(Journal of the Society of Musicology Ireland, 2019) * Mark Fitzgerald:
Mogu and the Unicorn: Frederick May's music for the Gate Theatre
(in ''A Stage of Emancipation: Change and Progress at the Dublin Gate Theatre'', edited by Marguérite Corporaal and Ruud van den Beuken, 151–66. Liverpool University Press, 2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Frederick 1911 births 1985 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century male musicians Alumni of the Royal College of Music Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Aosdána members Burials at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium Deaf classical musicians Deaf people from Ireland Irish classical composers Irish male classical composers LGBT classical composers Musicians from Dublin (city) People from Donnybrook, Dublin Pupils of Ralph Vaughan Williams