JOHN IRELAND
Born in 1879 at Bowdon near Altrincham in Cheshire, John Ireland had a sombre childhood because his father was 70 when he was born, 30 years older than his second wife with whom he had five children. John, being the youngest, was still only a youthful teenager when they died.
Almost immediately, he entered the Royal College of Music where he studied piano and organ, then composition with Sir Charles Villers Stanford. While still only 17 he became sub-organist at Holy Trinity, Sloane Square, and from 1904 to 1926 was organist and choirmaster at nearby St. Luke’s, Chelsea.
He was introspective by nature, and his music reflects deep thought and possibly solitude because, at 47, he married a student aged 17 but, unfortunately, their union did not last more than a couple of years. Thereafter he became a confirmed bachelor immersed in his music.
Fascinated by landscapes, he composed many named pieces including several relating to the metropolis including Ballade of London Nights, London Pieces (Chelsea Reach, Ragamuffin, Soho Forenoons), Epic March (commemorating the London Blitz), and his well-known London Overture which began as a test piece for the 1934 Crystal Palace Brass Band Championship called Comedy Overture which he later orchestrated as an image of post-war London. One of the composer’s more animated tunes, it begins with a jaunty sound based on a London bus conductor shouting “Dilly, Piccadilly”.
A regular visitor to the Channel Isles, his musical tributes include The Island Spell and Phantasie plus Sarnia (Guernsey) and The Forgotten Rite (Jersey). He was evacuated shortly before the Nazi invasion in June 1940.
Other atmospheric pieces include Mai Dun (Maiden Castle in Dorset), Legend, Downland Suite, Rhapsody, Amberley Wild Brooks and Cello Sonata all based on the South Downs to where he retired to live in a former windmill in West Sussex. His Concertino Pastorale was based on Deal in Kent and the Towing Path on the Thames Valley at Pangbourne in Berkshire.
Ireland’s single venture into films was The Overlanders, a 1946 movie about Australian cattlemen who, in the face of a possible Japanese wartime invasion, drove hundreds of cattle 1,600 miles across the outback from Northern Territory to the relative safety of Queensland. Their leader was Chips Rafferty, whose film career came to a sad and premature end after he challenged a man to a fight. His opponent turned out to be a professional wrestler who did him serious damage from which he never recovered.
John Ireland died in 1962, his huge output including chamber and orchestral music, dozens of piano pieces, songs, carols and anthems, including the hymn tunes, Chelsea and My Song is Love Unknown.
Shy? Possibly but when Benjamin Britten arrived at the Royal School of Music, Ireland declared “Either the boy is awarded a scholarship or I resign.” He retained his job and Britten soon became famous.
Introspective he may have been but what a musical legacy, which you can enjoy again via our boxed set of solo piano pieces offered at a special price.