Full Description
This long-awaited study of the life and music of Anglo-Irish composer Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950) finally provides a full biography of the last senior figure in early twentieth-century British Music to have been without one.
This long-awaited study of the life and music of Anglo-Irish composer Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950) finally provides a full biography of the last senior figure in early twentieth-century British Music to have been without one.
Although Moeran's work was widely performed during his lifetime, he suffered neglect in the years following his death. It was not until a re-awakening of appreciation for the music of the folksong-inspired English pastoralism in the latter part of the twentieth century that Moeran's tuneful, well-crafted and approachable music began to attract a new audience. However, widely accepted misconceptions about his life and character have obscured a clearunderstanding of both man and composer.
Written with the benefit of access to previously unknown or unresearched archives, Ernest John Moeran: His Life and Music strips away a hitherto unchallenged mythological framework, and replaces it by a thorough-going examination and analysis of the life and work of a musician that may reasonably be asserted as having been unique in British music history.
Contents
Introduction
Part 1: Ancestry, Childhood and Education
Chapter 1: Irish and Victorian Origins
Chapter 2 (1894-1908): Childhood and Early Education
Chapter 3 (1908-1912): Uppingham School
Chapter 4 (1912-1914): The Music Student
Part 2: The First World War
Chapter 5 (1914-1917): In the Army
Chapter 6 (1917): A Composer Goes to War
Chapter 7 (1918): Ireland, and Recovery
Part 3: Rise and Fall
Chapter 8 (1919-1920): The Establishment of a Composer
Chapter 9 (1921-1922): London
Chapter 10 (1923-1924): Meteoric Rise
Chapter 11 (1925-1927): The Composer Ruined
Part 4: Reconstruction
Chapter 12 (1928-1931): Starting Again
Chapter 13 (1932-1935): Rebuilding a Reputation
Chapter 14 (1936-1942): Return to Ireland
Part 5: Maturity, Marriage and Last YearsChapter 15 (1943-1944): 'Wonderful Things Together'
Chapter 16 (1944-1945): Muse
Chapter 17 (1945-1946): 'My Word as a Gentleman'
Chapter 18 (1947-1948): Masterpiece?
Chapter 19 (1949-1950): 'No More Partings'
Chapter 20: Last Days and Death
Appendix I: The Moeran Mythology
Appendix II: List of Works
Select Bibliography
Index
