In a recent post, I discussed the
original version of John Ireland’s A Downland Suite written in 1932 for
brass band. In 1941 the composer ‘freely adapted’ two movements from this
Suite: The Minuet and the Elegy for string orchestra. At this time, the order
of these two movements were reversed from that of the brass band version. It is
also important to note that Ireland made cuts to the Minuet and extended the
Elegy. The composer himself thought that these two movements were more
effective played by strings than brass.
In October 1939, John Ireland
left his studio in Gunter Grove, Chelsea and moved to Guernsey in the Channel
Islands. There he rented a large ‘rambling house’ built close to Fort Saumarez,
a Martello Tower, at L’Erée. Ireland
shared his rooms there with the pianist and composer John Longmire.
This was during the so-called
Phoney War which was the relatively quiet period between the outbreak of hostilities
on 3 September 1939 and the German invasion of France and the Low Countries on
10 May 1940.
John Longmire, in his memoirs (John
Ireland: Portrait of a Friend, London, John Baker, 1969), recalled his time
in Fort Saumarez with the composer. He wrote,
‘I set about practising for a piano recital to be given in Jersey, whilst Ireland
busied himself in making orchestral arrangements of two of the movements from
his Downland Suite…’
As the threat of German invasion
of the Channel Islands increased, Ireland and Longmire moved from their house
to the Birnam Court Hotel in St Peter Port.
Muriel V. Searle (John
Ireland: The Man and his Music, Midas Books, 1979) also notes that Ireland
had begun work on arranging the Elegy and the Minuet for string orchestra. Due
to the imminent German invasion of the Channel Islands she explained that
‘these sketches, with an unfinished manuscript of Sarnia [for piano
solo] and the clothes he wore were all that Ireland salvaged in his flight from
the Nazis.’ In the scramble to leave the island, Ireland ‘left behind his car,
wardrobe and other personal possessions.’ On 22 June 1940, Ireland and Longmire
escaped on the S.S. Antwerp, one of the last ships to leave St Peter’s Port
bound for Weymouth. They were accompanied by fellow composer Percy Turnbull (1902-76)
who had been visiting them. Six days
later the Channel Islands were invaded by the Germans.
After returning to England, the
composer went to live at a house belonging to composer Alan Bush’s mother at
Loom Lane in Radlett before moving into Bush’s own house in Christchurch
Crescent, Radlett for a few weeks. Shortly afterwards he moved to digs in 15
Calthorpe Road, Banbury. During this period Ireland took up composing again
from where he had left off in Guernsey. Several of his manuscripts from this
time are notated as having been composed in Banbury. He was to leave there in July
1942 and moved to Little Sampford Rectory in Saffron Walden where he stayed
with his friend Paul Walde.
The Two Pieces (Elegy and Minuet)
were published by Hawkes and Co. in 1942. They were first performed in the BBC
Home Service on 2 May 1942. It was part of a concert aired at 11.00 am on
Saturday, 2 May 1942. The BBC Scottish Orchestra was conducted by Guy Warrack.
Other works heard during this broadcast included Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Overture: The
North Star, Anton Dvorak’s ‘Silent Woods’ from From the Bohemian Forest,
op.68, the Suite from Gabriel Fauré’s
Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80. The concert conclude with an orchestral
arrangement of Mortiz Moszkowski’s Cortege, op.42, no.1. Interestingly, 2 May
1942 was the day that Mandalay fell to the Japanese, with the British community
having been evacuated the day before.
In 1978 Geoffrey Bush was
commissioned by the John Ireland Trust to orchestrate the opening ‘Prelude’ and
the final ‘Rondo’. This was to be part of the celebrations for the composer’s
centenary year. Bush has insisted that
he followed Ireland’s example of ‘reconceiving the music as a composition for
string orchestra rather than making a literal transcription of the brass band
version.’ (John Ireland Companion, Boydell Press, 2011). Cuts were made
to the ‘Prelude’ with more than a minute being removed. The ‘Rondo’ maintains
the reprise of the ‘big tune’ from the ‘Elegy’ but now transformed from being
played ‘fortissimo’ to a gentle and reposing modulation to E flat before the
‘final flourish.’ The string orchestra transcription has become reasonably well
established in the repertoire, with especial interest in the Minuet. This has
been used as a signature tune or incidental music for radio and TV programmes,
including in the 1971 TV adaptation of Jane Austin’s Persuasion.
The premiere performance of the
completed string version of A Downland Suite was given at the BBC Studios
on 17 June 1981. It was broadcast on Radio 3 on Monday 27 July 1981. The BBC
Concert Orchestra was conducted by Christopher Adey. The Matinee Musicale
concert also featured music by Richard Wagner, Arthur Honegger, Pyotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky, and Arthur Bliss.
The arrangement of A Downland
Suite for string orchestra can be heard on YouTube (accessed 29/09/2019)
played by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia conducted by Gavin Sutherland.
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