John Nicholson Ireland (13 August 187912 June 1962)
was an English composer and teacher of music. The majority of his output consists of piano miniatures and of songs with piano. His best-known works include the short instrumental or orchestral work "
The Holy Boy", a setting of the poem "
Sea-Fever" by
John Masefield
John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels ''The Midnight Folk'' and ...
, a formerly much-played
Piano Concerto
A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpiec ...
, the hymn tune
Love Unknown and the choral motet "Greater Love Hath No Man".
Life
John Ireland was born in
Bowdon, near
Altrincham
Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...
, Cheshire, into a family of English and Scottish descent and some cultural distinction. His father,
Alexander Ireland Alexander Ireland may refer to:
* Alexander Ireland (boxer) (1901–1966), Scottish amateur and professional welter/middleweight boxer
* Alexander Ireland (journalist)
Alexander Ireland (1810–1894) was a Scottish journalist, man of letters, a ...
, a publisher and newspaper proprietor, was aged 69 at John's birth. John was the youngest of the five children from Alexander's second marriage (his first wife had died). His mother,
Annie Elizabeth Nicholson Ireland, was a biographer and 30 years younger than Alexander. She died in October 1893, when John was 14, and Alexander died the following year, when John was 15.
[Stewart R. Craggs, ''John Ireland'']
Ashgate Publishing (2007). John Ireland was described as "a self-critical, introspective man, haunted by memories of a sad childhood".
Ireland entered the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...
in 1893, studying piano with
Frederic Cliffe
Frederic Cliffe (2 May 1857 – 19 November 1931) was an English composer, organist and teacher.
Life
Cliffe was born in Lowmoor, near Bradford, Yorkshire. As a youth, he showed a promising musical aptitude and was enrolled as a scholar of the N ...
,
[ and organ, his second study, under ]Walter Parratt
Sir Walter Parratt (10 February 184127 March 1924) was an English organist and composer.
Biography
Born in Huddersfield, son of a parish organist, Parratt began to play the pipe organ from an early age, and held posts as an organist while sti ...
. From 1897 he studied composition under Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was educated at the ...
.[Hugh Ottaway]
" Ireland, John (Nicholson)"
Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, retrieved 6 June 2014 In 1896 Ireland was appointed sub-organist at Holy Trinity, Sloane Street
The Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity with Saint Jude, Upper Chelsea, commonly called Holy Trinity Sloane Street or Holy Trinity Sloane Square, is a Church of England parish church in London, England. It was built in 1888–90 at the ...
, London SW1, and later, from 1904 until 1926, was organist and choirmaster at St Luke's Church, Chelsea
The Parish Church of St Luke, Chelsea, is an Anglican church, on Sydney Street, Chelsea, London SW3, just off the King's Road. Ecclesiastically it is in the Deanery of Chelsea, part of the Diocese of London. It was designed by James Savage in 1 ...
.
Ireland began to make his name in the early 1900s as a composer of songs and chamber music. His Violin Sonata No. 1 of 1909 won first prize in an international competition organised by the well-known patron of chamber music W. W. Cobbett. Even more successful was his Violin Sonata No. 2: completed in January 1917, he submitted this to a competition organised to assist musicians in wartime. The jury included the violinist Albert Sammons
Albert Edward Sammons CBE (23 February 188624 August 1957) was an English violinist, composer and later violin teacher. Almost self-taught on the violin, he had a wide repertoire as both chamber musician and soloist, although his reputation res ...
and the pianist William Murdoch
William Murdoch (sometimes spelled Murdock) (21 August 1754 – 15 November 1839) was a Scottish engineer and inventor.
Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten yea ...
, who together gave the work its first performance at Aeolian Hall in New Bond Street on 6 March that year. As Ireland recalled, "It was probably the first and only occasion when a British composer was lifted from relative obscurity in a single night by a work cast in a chamber-music medium." The work was enthusiastically reviewed, and the publisher Winthrop Rogers offered immediate publication (the first edition was sold out even before it had been processed by the printers). A subsequent performance of the Violin Sonata by Ireland and the violinist Désiré Defauw
Désiré Defauw (5 September 1885, Ghent, Belgium – 25 July 1960, Gary, Indiana, United States) was a Belgian conductor and violinist.
During World War I he became a refugee, working in London where in 1917 he appeared at the Wigmore Hal ...
drew a packed audience to 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 ...
in London.
Ireland frequently visited the Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
and was inspired by the landscape and the ambience. In 1912 he composed the piano piece ''The Island Spell'' (the first of the three pieces in his set ''Decorations
Decoration may refer to:
* Decorative arts
* A house painter and decorator's craft
* An act or object intended to increase the beauty of a person, room, etc.
* An award that is a token of recognition to the recipient intended for wearing
Other ...
'') while staying in Jersey, and his set of three pieces for piano '' Sarnia: An Island Sequence'' was written while living in Guernsey in 1939 to 1940. He returned from Guernsey to Britain in 1940 just before the German invasion of the Channel Islands during World War II.
From 1923 he taught at the Royal College of Music.[Scott-Sutherland, Colin. "John Ireland: A Life in Music" in Foreman (2011): p. 5] His pupils there included Richard Arnell
Richard Anthony Sayer Arnell (15 September 191710 April 2009) was an English composer of classical music. Arnell composed in all the established genres for the concert stage, and his list of works includes six completed symphonies (a seventh w ...
, Ernest John Moeran
}
Ernest John Smeed Moeran (31 December 1894 – 1 December 1950) was an English composer of part-Irish extraction, whose work was strongly influenced by English and Irish folk music of which he was an assiduous collector. His output includes or ...
, Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
(who later described Ireland as possessing "a strong personality but a weak character"), composer Alan Bush
Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed pro ...
,[ ]Geoffrey Bush
Geoffrey Bush (23 March 1920 – 24 February 1998) was a British composer, teacher and music scholar. Largely without formal training in composition, he produced a wide range of compositions across different genres, including many songs and wor ...
(no relation to Alan), who subsequently edited or arranged many of Ireland's works for publication, Anthony Bernard
Anthony Bernard (25 January 18916 April 1963) was an English conductor, organist, pianist and composer.
Early life
Anthony Bernard's birth was registered as Alan Charles Butler in West Ham, then classified as Essex, in early 1891. His mother was ...
and Percy Turnbull
Percy Turnbull (14 July 1902 – 9 December 1976) was an English composer and pianist best known for his piano character pieces and songs.
Life
Percy Purvis Turnbull trained as a chorister at the Cathedral Church of St Nicholas in Newcastle and ...
(who became a lifelong friend).
John Ireland was a lifelong bachelor, except for a brief interlude when, in quick succession, he married, separated, and divorced. On 17 December 1926, aged 47, he married a 17-year pupil, Dorothy Phillips. This marriage was dissolved on 18 September 1928,[ and it is believed not to have been consummated. He took a similar interest in another young student, ]Helen Perkin
Helen Craddock Perkin (25 February 1909 – 19 October 1996) was a pianist and composer, best known today for her association with John Ireland (composer), John Ireland during the 1920s and 1930s.Richards, Fiona. 'Helen Perkin: Pianist, Composer a ...
, a pianist and composer, to whom he dedicated both the '' Piano Concerto in E-flat major'' and the ''Legend'' for piano and orchestra (which began life as a second concerto). She gave the premiere performance of both works,[ but any thoughts he had for a deeper relationship with her came to nothing when she married George Mountford Adie, a disciple of ]George Gurdjieff
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (; rus, Гео́ргий Ива́нович Гурджи́ев, r=Geórgy Ivánovich Gurdzhíev, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪd͡ʑ ɡʊrd͡ʐˈʐɨ(j)ɪf; hy, Գեորգի Իվանովիչ Գյուրջիև; c. 1 ...
, and she later moved with Adie to Australia. Subsequently, Ireland withdrew the dedications. In 1947 Ireland acquired a personal assistant and companion, Mrs Norah Kirkby, who remained with him till his death.[ Despite these associations with women, it is clear from his private papers that he was a closeted homosexual; several commentators support this view.
]
On 10 September 1949, his 70th birthday was celebrated in a special Prom concert, at which his Piano Concerto was played by Eileen Joyce
Eileen Alannah Joyce CMG (died 25 March 1991) was an Australian pianist whose career spanned more than 30 years. She lived in England in her adult years.
Her recordings made her popular in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly during World War I ...
, who was also the first pianist to record the concerto, in 1942.
Ireland retired in 1953, settling in the hamlet of Rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
in Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
, where he lived in a converted windmill, Rock Mill, Washington
Rock Mill is a Grade II listed smock mill at Washington, West Sussex, England, which has been converted to residential use.
History
Rock Mill was built in 1823. The mill was working at the outbreak of the First World War but was converted to a ...
, for the rest of his life. It was there he met the young pianist Alan Rowlands
Alan Rowlands (1 March 1929 – 2 January 2012) was an English pianist (though born in Swansea, Wales) who made notable contributions to British musical life both as a teacher and as a performer.
He obtained a degree in chemistry at Jesus Col ...
who would be Ireland's choice to record his complete piano music.
He died of heart failure aged 82 at Rock Mill and is buried at St. Mary the Virgin in Shipley, near his home. His epitaph reads "Many waters cannot quench love" and "One of God's noblest works lies here."
Music
From Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
, Ireland inherited a thorough knowledge of the music of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
, Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...
and other German classical composers, but as a young man he was also strongly influenced by Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
and Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
as well as by the earlier works of Stravinsky and Bartók. From these influences, he developed his own brand of "English Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...
", related more closely to French and Russian models than to the folk-song style then prevailing in English music.
Like most other Impressionist composers, Ireland favoured small forms and wrote neither symphonies nor operas, although his Piano Concerto
A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpiec ...
is considered among his best works. His output includes some chamber music and a substantial body of piano works, including his best-known piece '' The Holy Boy'', known in numerous arrangements. He wrote songs to poems by A. E. Housman
Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...
, Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...
, Christina Rossetti
Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including " Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Bri ...
, John Masefield
John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels ''The Midnight Folk'' and ...
, Rupert Brooke
Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...
and others. Due to his job at St Luke's Church, he also wrote hymns, carols, and other sacred choral music; among choirs he is probably best known for the anthem ''Greater love hath no man'', often sung in services that commemorate the victims of war. The hymn tune '' Love Unknown'' is sung in churches throughout the English-speaking world, as is his Communion Service in C major.
His works have been recorded and performed by Choir of Westminster Abbey, The Choir of Wells Cathedral and many others.
He appears as pianist in a recording of his Fantasy-Sonata for Clarinet and Piano with Frederick Thurston
Frederick John Thurston (21 September 1901 – 12 December 1953) was an English clarinettist.
Career
From the age of 7 he was taught by his father and he won an open scholarship to the Royal College of Music, becoming a pupil of Charles Drap ...
, his Cello Sonata
A cello sonata is usually a sonata written for solo cello with piano accompaniment. The most famous Romantic-era cello sonatas are those written by Johannes Brahms and Ludwig van Beethoven. Some of the earliest cello sonatas were written in the 1 ...
(1923) with cellist Antoni Sala and his Violin Sonata No. 1 (1909) with Frederick Grinke, who performed and recorded several of his chamber works. His Piano Sonatina (192627) and a number from his cycle '' Songs Sacred and Profane'' (1929) were dedicated to his friend the conductor and BBC music producer Edward Clark.[Stewart R Craggs, John Ireland: A Catalogue, Discography and Bibliography]
/ref>
Ireland wrote his only film score for the 1946 Australian film '' The Overlanders'', from which an orchestral suite was extracted posthumously by Charles Mackerras
Mackerras in 2005
Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; 1925 2010) was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associated with the Engli ...
. Some of his pieces, such as the popular '' A Downland Suite'' and ''Themes from Julius Caesar'', were completed or re-transcribed after his death by his student Geoffrey Bush
Geoffrey Bush (23 March 1920 – 24 February 1998) was a British composer, teacher and music scholar. Largely without formal training in composition, he produced a wide range of compositions across different genres, including many songs and wor ...
.
Works
Chamber works
; A to R
* ''Bagatelle'' for violin and piano (1911)
* ''Berceuse'' for violin and piano (1902)
*'' Fantasy-Sonata'' in E-flat major for clarinet and piano (1943)
* ''Cavatina'' for violin and piano (1904)
* '' The Holy Boy: A Carol of the Nativity'' for cello and piano (arr. 1919)
* ''The Holy Boy: A Carol of the Nativity'' for violin and piano (arr. 1919)
*''The Holy Boy: A Carol of the Nativity'' for string quartet (arr. 1941)
*''Phantasie'', Trio No. 1 in A minor for violin, cello and piano (1906)
; S to Z
*Sextet for clarinet, horn and string quartet (1898)
* Sonata in G minor for cello and piano (1923)
*Sonata No. 1 in D minor for violin and piano
*Sonata No. 2 in A minor for violin and piano (1915–1917)
*String Quartet No. 1 in D minor (1897)
*String Quartet No. 2 in C minor (1897)
*Trio No. 2 in One Movement for violin, cello and piano (1917)
*Trio No. 3 in E for violin, cello and piano (1938)
*Trio in D minor for clarinet, cello and piano (1912–1914)
Church music
; A to G
*Benedictus in F
*Communion Service in A flat (Treble voices and organ)
*Communion service in C
*Evening Service in A (SATB and organ)
*Evening Service in C (SATB and organ)
*Evening Service in F
*''Ex Ore Innocentium'' (treble voices and organ or piano)
*''Greater Love Hath No Man'' (motet)
; H to Z
*''The Hills'' (chorus a capella)
* ''Jubilate Deo'' in F major
* Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in C major
* Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in F major
* " My Song Is Love Unknown" (hymn)
* ''Te Deum'' in F major
*''Vexilla Regis'' (anthem)
Film score
*'' The Overlanders'' (1946)
Orchestra
; A to L
*''Comedy Overture'' (1934)
*Concertino Pastorale (string orchestra) (1939)
*'' A Downland Suite'' (1932)
*''Epic March'' (1942)
* '' The Forgotten Rite'' (1913, published 1918)
* '' The Holy Boy'' (string orchestra, arr. 1941)
*''London Overture'' (1936)
; M to Z
*''Mai-Dun
''Mai-Dun'' is an orchestral work composed in 1921 by John Ireland (composer), John Ireland (18791962). He called it a symphonic Rhapsody (music), rhapsody; another description might be tone poem. In 1931, he arranged it for piano four hands.
...
, A Symphonic Rhapsody'' (1921)
*''Meditation on John Keble's Rogation Hymn'' (1958)
*''Orchestral Poem''
*''Poem''
*''Satyricon'' – Overture (1946)
*''Symphonic Studies''
* ''Tritons'' (1899)
*''Two Symphonic Studies''
Organ
; A to G
*Alla marcia
*Capriccio
* ''Cavatina'' (arr. of ''Cavatina'' for violin and piano, 1904)
*Elegiac Romance
*Elegy (from ''A Downland Suite'' – arr. Alec Rowley)
*Epic March (arr. Robert Gower)
; H to Z
* '' The Holy Boy'' (1913, arr. 1919 by Alec Rowley
Alec Rowley (13 March 1892 – 12 January 1958) was an English composer, organist, pianist, lecturer and writer on music. He composed a large number of works, mainly on a small scale and often of an educational nature though with some larger-scale ...
)
*Marcia Popolare
*Meditation on John Keble's Rogation Hymn
*Miniature Suite
*Sursum Corda
Piano
; A to L
* '' The Almond Tree'' (1913)
* ''Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
'' (1929)
* ''Ballade of London Nights
''Ballade of London Nights'' is a solo piano work composed in 1930 by John Ireland but not finished. The manuscript was completed after his death by Alan Rowlands, who first performed it on 6 June 1965. Rowlands advocated repeating the opening ...
'' (1930)
* ''Columbine'' (1949)
* ''The Darkened Valley
''The Darkened Valley'' is a piece for piano solo composed in 1920 by John Ireland
John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the Ki ...
'' (1920)
* ''Decorations
Decoration may refer to:
* Decorative arts
* A house painter and decorator's craft
* An act or object intended to increase the beauty of a person, room, etc.
* An award that is a token of recognition to the recipient intended for wearing
Other ...
'' (191213)
# ''The Island Spell''
# ''Moonglade''
# ''The Scarlet Ceremonies''
* ''Equinox'' (1922)
* '' First Rhapsody'' (1906)
* '' Green Ways – Three Lyric Pieces'' (1937)
# ''The Cherry Tree''
# ''Cypress''
# ''The Palm and May''
* ''In Those Days'' (1895)
# ''Daydream''
# ''Meridian''
* ''Indian Summer'' (1932)
* '' Leaves from a Child's Sketchbook'' (1918)
# ''By the Mere''
# ''In the Meadow''
# ''The Hunt's Up''
* ''London Pieces
''London Pieces'' is a set of three pieces for piano solo composed in 191720 by John Ireland
John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in '' ...
'' (191720)
# ''Chelsea Reach''
# ''Ragamuffin''
# ''Soho Forenoons''
; M to S
* ''Mai-Dun
''Mai-Dun'' is an orchestral work composed in 1921 by John Ireland (composer), John Ireland (18791962). He called it a symphonic Rhapsody (music), rhapsody; another description might be tone poem. In 1931, he arranged it for piano four hands.
...
, A Symphonic Rhapsody'', arranged for piano four hands (1931)
* ''Merry Andrew'' (1919)
* ''Month's Mind
A month's mind is a requiem mass celebrated about one month after a person's death, in memory of the deceased.mon ...
'' (1935)
* ''On a Birthday Morning'' (1922)
* '' Prelude in E-flat major'' (1924)
* '' Preludes for Piano'' (191315)
# ''The Undertone''
# ''Obsession''
# '' The Holy Boy''
# ''Fire of Spring''
* ''Rhapsody
Rhapsody may refer to:
* A work of epic poetry, or part of one, that is suitable for recitation at one time
** Rhapsode, a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry
Computer software
* Rhapsody (online music service), an online m ...
'' (1915)
* '' Sarnia: An Island Sequence'' (194041)
# ''Le Catioroc''
# ''In a May Morning''
# ''Song of the Springtides''
* ''A Sea Idyll'' (1960)
* ''Soliloquy'' (1922)
* ''Sonata in E'' (1920; premiered by Frederic Lamond on 12 June 1920, the only time he ever played it)
* '' Sonatina'' (192627)
* ''Summer Evening'' (1920)
; T to Z
* '' The Towing Path'' (1918)
* ''Two Pieces for Piano'' (1921)
# ''For Remembrance''
# ''Amberley Wild Brooks''
* ''Two Pieces for Piano'' (1925)
# ''April''
# ''Bergomask''
* ''Two Pieces for Piano'' (192930)
# ''February's Child''
# ''Aubade''
* ''Three Dances'' (1913)
# ''Gypsy Dance''
# ''Country Dance''
# ''Reaper's Dance''
* '' Three Pastels'' (1941)
# ''A Grecian Lad''
# ''The Boy Bishop''
# ''Puck's Birthday''
Piano and orchestra
*Legend (1933)
* '' Piano Concerto in E-flat major'' (1930)
Songs
; A to S
* "Alpine Song" (James Vila Blake
James Vila Blake (18421925) was an American Unitarian minister, essayist, playwright and hymn writer and poet.
Blake was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 21, 1842. He graduated from Harvard College in 1862, and from Harvard Divinity School ...
, 1911)
* "Aubade" (soprano, alto and piano, 1912)
* "Bed in Summer"
* "The Bells of San Marie" (John Masefield
John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels ''The Midnight Folk'' and ...
, 1918)
* "Earth's Call (A Sylvan Rhapsody)" (1918)
* ''Five Poems by Thomas Hardy'' (song cycle, Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...
, 1926)
# "Beckon to me to come"
# "In my sage moments"
# "It was what you bore with you, woman"
# "The tragedy of that moment
# "Dear, think not that they will forget you"
* '' Five Sixteenth Century Poems'' (song cycle, various poets, 1938)
# "A Thanksgiving" (William Cornysh
William Cornysh the Younger (also spelled Cornyshe or Cornish) (1465 – October 1523) was an English composer, dramatist, actor, and poet.
Life
In his only surviving poem, which was written in Fleet Prison, he claims that he has been conv ...
)
# "All in a Garden Green" ( Thomas Howell)
# "An Aside" (Anon.)
# "A Report Song" (Nicholas Breton
Nicholas Breton (also Britton or Brittaine) (c. 1545/53 – c. 1625/6) was a poet and prose writer of the English Renaissance.
Life
Nicholas belonged to an old family settled at Layer Breton, Essex. His father, William Breton, a London merchant ...
)
# "The Sweet Season" (Richard Edwardes
Richard Edwardes (also Edwards, 25 March 1525 – 31 October 1566) was an English poet, playwright, and composer; he was made a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and was master of the singing boys. He was known for his comedies and interludes. H ...
)
* "Full Fathom Five" (William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
)
* "A Garrison Churchyard" ( Eric Thirkell Cooper, 1916)
* "Hawthorn Time" (1919)
* "The Heart's Desire" (1917)
* "Hope the Hornblower" (1912)
* "I Have Twelve Oxen" (1919)
* "If There Were Dreams to Sell" (1918)
* "If We Must Part" (1929)
* "The Journey" (1920)
* '' The Land of Lost Content'' (song cycle, A. E. Housman
Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...
, 192021)
# "The Lent Lily"
# "Ladslove" ("Look not in my eyes")
# "Goal and Wicket" ("Twice a week the winter thorough")
# "The Vain Desire" ("If truth in hearts that perish")
# "The Encounter" ("The street sounds to the soldiers' tread")
# "Epilogue" ("You smile upon your friend today")
* "Love is a Sickness Full of Woes"
* ''Mother and Child
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestat ...
'' (song cycle, Christina Rossetti
Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including " Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Bri ...
, 1918)
# "Newborn"
# "The Only child"
# "Hope"
# "Skylark and Nightingale"
# "The Blind Boy"
# "Baby"
# "Death Parting"
# "The Garland"
* "The Sacred Flame"
* "Santa Chiara" (1925)
* " Sea-Fever" (John Masefield
John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels ''The Midnight Folk'' and ...
, 1913)
* "Song from o'er the Hill" (1913)
* '' Songs of a Wayfarer'' (song cycle, various poets, 1912)
# "Memory" (William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
, "Memory, hither come")
# "When Daffodils Begin to Peer" (William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
)
# "English May" (Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...
)
# "I Was Not Sorrowful" (Ernest Dowson
Ernest Christopher Dowson (2 August 186723 February 1900) was an English poet, novelist, and short-story writer who is often associated with the Decadent movement.
Biography
Ernest Dowson was born in Lee, then in Kent, in 1867. His great-uncle ...
, "Spleen")
# "I Will Walk on the Earth" (James Vila Blake
James Vila Blake (18421925) was an American Unitarian minister, essayist, playwright and hymn writer and poet.
Blake was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 21, 1842. He graduated from Harvard College in 1862, and from Harvard Divinity School ...
)
* '' Songs Sacred and Profane'' (song cycle, various poets, 192931)
# "The Advent" ( Alice Meynell)
# "Hymn for a Child" ( Sylvia Townsend Warner)
# "My Fair" (Meynell)
# " The Salley Gardens" (W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
)
# "The Soldier's Return" (Warner)
# "The Scapegoat" (Warner)
* "Spring sorrow" (1918)
*Spring Will Not Wait
; T to Z
* '' Three Songs'' ( Arthur Symons, 191819)
# "The Adoration"
# "The Rat"
# "Rest"
* '' Three Songs'' (various poets, 1926)
# "Love and Friendship" (Emily Brontë
Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...
)
# "Friendship in Misfortune" (poet not identified)
# "The One Hope" (Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...
)
* ''Three Songs to Poems by Thomas Hardy
''Three Songs to Poems by Thomas Hardy'' is a set of songs for voice and piano composed in 1925 by John Ireland (18791962). It consists of settings of three poems by Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an Eng ...
'' (1925)
# "Summer Schemes"
# "Her Song"
# "Weathers"
* "The Three Ravens" (1920)
* "There is a Garden in Her Face" (two voices and piano)
* "Three Variations on 'Cadet Rousselle'" (1919)
* '' Two Songs'' (Eric Thirkell Cooper, 1916)
# "Blind"
# "The Cost"
* '' Two Songs'' (Rupert Brooke
Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...
, 191718)
# "The Soldier"
# "Blow Out, You Bugles"
* '' Two Songs'' (various poets, 1920)
# "The Trellis" (Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxley ...
)
# "My True Love Hath My Heart" (Sir Philip Sidney
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
)
* '' Two Songs'' (various poets, 1928)
# "Tryst" ( Arthur Symons)
# "During Music (Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...
)
* "The Vagabond" (John Masefield
John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels ''The Midnight Folk'' and ...
, 1922)
* '' We'll to the Woods No More'' (song cycle, A. E. Housman
Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...
, 1928)
# "We'll to the Woods No More"
# "In Boyhood" ("When I would muse in boyhood")
# "Spring Will Not Wait" ("'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town")
* "What Are You Thinking Of?" (1924)
* "When I Am Dead, My Dearest" (1924)
Chorus and orchestra
*''These Things Shall Be'' (1937)
Other (unclassified)
*''Brooks Equinox''
*''Elegiac Meditation''
*''Scherzo & Cortege'' (1942)
References
Bibliography
* Foreman, Lewis (ed). ''The John Ireland Companion''. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2011.
* Longmire, John. ''John Ireland: Portrait of a Friend''. Baker, 1969.
* Richards, Fiona. ''The Music of John Ireland''. Ashgate, 2000 (reissued Routledge, 2018).
* Scott-Sutherland, Colin. ''John Ireland''. Rickmansworth: Triad Press, 1980.
* Muriel V. Searle. ''John Ireland: The Man and His Music''. Midas Books, 1979.
External links
*
John Ireland
from an original broadcast by Ian Lace
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ireland, John
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1962 deaths
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