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Ernest John Moeran
Ernest John Smeed Moeran (/ˈmɔːrən/; 31 December 1894 – 1 December 1950) was an English composer whose work was strongly influenced by English and Irish folk music of which he was an assiduous collector. His output includes orchestral pieces, concertos, chamber and keyboard works, and a number of choral and song cycles as well as individual songs.
The son of a clergyman, Moeran studied at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford before service in the army during the First World War, in which he was wounded. After the war he was a pupil of John Ireland, and quickly established a reputation as a composer of promise with a number of well-received works. From 1925 to 1928 he shared a cottage with the composer Peter Warlock; the bohemian lifestyle and heavy drinking during this period interrupted his creativity for a while, and sowed the seeds of the alcoholism that would blight his later life. He resumed composing in the 1930s, and re-established his reputation with a series of major works, including a symphony and a violin concerto. From 1934 onwards he spent much of his time in Ireland, mainly in the coastal town of Kenmare.
In 1945 Moeran married the cellist Peers Coetmore, and for her he composed several works for cello. The marriage was not destined to last, and Moeran's final years were lonely. He died at Kenmare on 1 December 1950, having fallen into the water after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage. A second symphony was left unfinished at the time of his death. Composer Anthony Payne declared that "Moeran occupied a minor place in the music of his time, but his meticulously polished and ready technique is unsurpassed among his British contemporaries. This craftsmanship is evident in the clarity of his textures and processes, and in the superb sonority of his orchestral writing".
Moeran was born on 31 December 1894, at the Spring Grove vicarage, Heston, Middlesex, the second son of an Anglo-Irish clergyman, The Rev. Joseph William Wright Moeran, vicar of St Mary's, Spring Grove, and Ada Esther Smeed, née Whall, who came from Norfolk. Joseph subsequently served in several country parishes in southern and eastern England, including Salhouse in Norfolk, before his retirement on health grounds when Ernest was 13. The household was cultured; Ada was a talented pianist and singer, and Ernest began music lessons from the age of five or six. His initial education was under a governess at home, after which, in 1904, he attended Suffield Park preparatory school in Cromer. In 1908 he went to Uppingham School, where he studied music under Robert Sterndale Bennett, grandson of the composer William Sterndale Bennett. He became a proficient pianist, and learned the violin sufficiently to be able to perform in chamber groups; he also began to compose. In 1913 he entered the Royal College of Music (RCM), initially as a piano student, but switching to composition under Charles Villiers Stanford after his first year. He also became a member of the Oxford and Cambridge Musical Club, an important body whose members included Vaughan Williams, George Butterworth and Adrian Boult; Parry and Elgar were honorary members. A few sketches of piano compositions attempted in this prewar RCM period survive in manuscript form.
Moeran was 19 when his studies at the RCM were interrupted in August 1914 by the outbreak of the First World War. He enlisted as a motor cycle dispatch rider in the 6th (cyclist) battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, and the following year was commissioned second lieutenant. He did not altogether abandon his musical activities; on leaves in Norfolk, he began to collect folk music. In early 1917 his unit was sent to France, and on 3 May, during the Second Battle of Bullecourt, he received a wound in the head. According to several accounts, this wound required emergency surgery, including the insertion of a metal plate into the skull, and commentators have attributed Moeran's later instabilities and erratic behaviour, and his eventual development of alcoholism, to the primitive surgery and after-effects of this wound. However, other evidence suggests that the wound was less severe, that no metal plate was necessary, and that he made a rapid recovery. He was reported, in August 1917, as performing a very demanding piano piece at a London concert, indicating that he was in a reasonable state of fitness at that time.
After a period of convalescence he returned to military duty, and saw out the rest of the war in Ireland, at Boyle, County Roscommon, attached to a transport section of the Royal Irish Constabulary. He used this period in Ireland to engage with his Irish roots, and spent time collecting folk songs. In London, just before his discharge from the army in January 1919, Moeran met the composer Arnold Bax, who described him at that time "as charming and as good-looking a young officer as one could hope to meet".
Following demobilisation in January 1919, Moeran returned to England. Some accounts report that he was briefly employed as a music master at his old school, Uppingham, but there is no evidence from the school for this. He appears to have returned to Ireland for a while before resuming his studies at the RCM, under John Ireland. His association with the RCM did not last long, but he continued to receive tuition in composition from John Ireland in a private capacity. Moeran's biographer Geoffrey Self observes that from this point "the main influences to be heard in his music were now in place: his teacher, his Irish and East Anglian heritages, and his love of rural England."
An allowance from his mother relieved Moeran from the necessity of earning a living, and with this financial independence he was able to devote his time to study and composition. The Oxford & Cambridge Musical Club gave him the means by which his works could be performed. In five productive years following the end of the war, he established his reputation as a composer with a steady stream of works across a range of genres. According to the critic Herbert Foss, these early pieces display a fluency that was often absent in later years. They include numerous songs, a number of piano and chamber works and, on a larger canvas, his first attempts at orchestral writing, the symphonic In The Mountain Country and two Rhapsodies. These early orchestral pieces indicate the influences of Delius and Vaughan Williams, but also demonstrate the emergence of a distinct, individual voice.
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Ernest John Moeran
Ernest John Smeed Moeran (/ˈmɔːrən/; 31 December 1894 – 1 December 1950) was an English composer whose work was strongly influenced by English and Irish folk music of which he was an assiduous collector. His output includes orchestral pieces, concertos, chamber and keyboard works, and a number of choral and song cycles as well as individual songs.
The son of a clergyman, Moeran studied at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford before service in the army during the First World War, in which he was wounded. After the war he was a pupil of John Ireland, and quickly established a reputation as a composer of promise with a number of well-received works. From 1925 to 1928 he shared a cottage with the composer Peter Warlock; the bohemian lifestyle and heavy drinking during this period interrupted his creativity for a while, and sowed the seeds of the alcoholism that would blight his later life. He resumed composing in the 1930s, and re-established his reputation with a series of major works, including a symphony and a violin concerto. From 1934 onwards he spent much of his time in Ireland, mainly in the coastal town of Kenmare.
In 1945 Moeran married the cellist Peers Coetmore, and for her he composed several works for cello. The marriage was not destined to last, and Moeran's final years were lonely. He died at Kenmare on 1 December 1950, having fallen into the water after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage. A second symphony was left unfinished at the time of his death. Composer Anthony Payne declared that "Moeran occupied a minor place in the music of his time, but his meticulously polished and ready technique is unsurpassed among his British contemporaries. This craftsmanship is evident in the clarity of his textures and processes, and in the superb sonority of his orchestral writing".
Moeran was born on 31 December 1894, at the Spring Grove vicarage, Heston, Middlesex, the second son of an Anglo-Irish clergyman, The Rev. Joseph William Wright Moeran, vicar of St Mary's, Spring Grove, and Ada Esther Smeed, née Whall, who came from Norfolk. Joseph subsequently served in several country parishes in southern and eastern England, including Salhouse in Norfolk, before his retirement on health grounds when Ernest was 13. The household was cultured; Ada was a talented pianist and singer, and Ernest began music lessons from the age of five or six. His initial education was under a governess at home, after which, in 1904, he attended Suffield Park preparatory school in Cromer. In 1908 he went to Uppingham School, where he studied music under Robert Sterndale Bennett, grandson of the composer William Sterndale Bennett. He became a proficient pianist, and learned the violin sufficiently to be able to perform in chamber groups; he also began to compose. In 1913 he entered the Royal College of Music (RCM), initially as a piano student, but switching to composition under Charles Villiers Stanford after his first year. He also became a member of the Oxford and Cambridge Musical Club, an important body whose members included Vaughan Williams, George Butterworth and Adrian Boult; Parry and Elgar were honorary members. A few sketches of piano compositions attempted in this prewar RCM period survive in manuscript form.
Moeran was 19 when his studies at the RCM were interrupted in August 1914 by the outbreak of the First World War. He enlisted as a motor cycle dispatch rider in the 6th (cyclist) battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, and the following year was commissioned second lieutenant. He did not altogether abandon his musical activities; on leaves in Norfolk, he began to collect folk music. In early 1917 his unit was sent to France, and on 3 May, during the Second Battle of Bullecourt, he received a wound in the head. According to several accounts, this wound required emergency surgery, including the insertion of a metal plate into the skull, and commentators have attributed Moeran's later instabilities and erratic behaviour, and his eventual development of alcoholism, to the primitive surgery and after-effects of this wound. However, other evidence suggests that the wound was less severe, that no metal plate was necessary, and that he made a rapid recovery. He was reported, in August 1917, as performing a very demanding piano piece at a London concert, indicating that he was in a reasonable state of fitness at that time.
After a period of convalescence he returned to military duty, and saw out the rest of the war in Ireland, at Boyle, County Roscommon, attached to a transport section of the Royal Irish Constabulary. He used this period in Ireland to engage with his Irish roots, and spent time collecting folk songs. In London, just before his discharge from the army in January 1919, Moeran met the composer Arnold Bax, who described him at that time "as charming and as good-looking a young officer as one could hope to meet".
Following demobilisation in January 1919, Moeran returned to England. Some accounts report that he was briefly employed as a music master at his old school, Uppingham, but there is no evidence from the school for this. He appears to have returned to Ireland for a while before resuming his studies at the RCM, under John Ireland. His association with the RCM did not last long, but he continued to receive tuition in composition from John Ireland in a private capacity. Moeran's biographer Geoffrey Self observes that from this point "the main influences to be heard in his music were now in place: his teacher, his Irish and East Anglian heritages, and his love of rural England."
An allowance from his mother relieved Moeran from the necessity of earning a living, and with this financial independence he was able to devote his time to study and composition. The Oxford & Cambridge Musical Club gave him the means by which his works could be performed. In five productive years following the end of the war, he established his reputation as a composer with a steady stream of works across a range of genres. According to the critic Herbert Foss, these early pieces display a fluency that was often absent in later years. They include numerous songs, a number of piano and chamber works and, on a larger canvas, his first attempts at orchestral writing, the symphonic In The Mountain Country and two Rhapsodies. These early orchestral pieces indicate the influences of Delius and Vaughan Williams, but also demonstrate the emergence of a distinct, individual voice.