A great place to begin an exploration of Joan Trimble’s music is with the short, but faultless, miniature for clarinet and piano: The Pool among the Rushes. The work dates from 1940 when she was still studying at the Royal College of Music. The title follows an ancient Irish tradition that named musical pieces after ‘everyday places or situations.’ No-one will know if Trimble had a certain ‘pool’ in mind. It does not matter. The ‘andante espressivo’ melody begins with the typical ‘scotch snap’ (A Scotch snap is ‘a rhythmic feature in which a dotted note is preceded by a stressed shorter note) but is suitably decorated with well-judged arabesques, typically in the middle of the clarinet’s range. The piano part is straightforward, allowing the nostalgic melody to express its sorrow. Trimble makes use of gently spread piano chords to echo the harp. It is unlikely that the melody is based on a genuine Irish folksong: what Trimble has done is to create a picture-perfect pastiche that seems to encapsulate the ethos of the genre. The only problem with this piece is that it is too short. The listener will wish that it could go on for ever.
Ruth Stanley (Joan Trimble (1915-2000) and the issue of her 'Irish' musical identity, 2003) recalls that when Trimble explained to Ralph Vaughan Williams that she was struggling to compose in the ‘modern’ style of Hindemith and Bartok, he replied that she ‘should follow her own inclinations towards composition regardless of the current fashion.’ Michael Dervan (Irish Times 2 June 1995) noted that when Trimble told RVW that she had written The Pool among the Rushes, he said, ‘I’d rather you’d written that than a symphony.’ (cited Stanley, 2003). He was not being disparaging: Joan Trimble has achieved absolute perfection in a tiny musical canvas.
Two Songs: My Grief on the Sea (1937) & Green Rain (1938)
During her time at the Royal College of Music, Joan Trimble begged her tutor Herbert Howells to be allowed to try some ‘real’ composition and have a break from her academic studies. The immediate result was the song ‘My Grief on the Sea’ for mezzo-soprano and piano. It was composed in 1937. This remains one of the most beautiful (yet largely unknown) songs in the repertoire. The words were taken from the collection Love Songs of Connacht, (1893) translated and edited by Douglas Hyde (1860-1949). Hyde was an Irish poet, a literary historian and statesman. He is often regarded as having created the agenda for Irish cultural nationalism and the revival of Erse or Irish Gaelic. Hyde latterly became the first President of the Free State Government of Eire in 1938.
The burden of the song is one of separation, as a result of emigration engendered by the Famine. The poet’s lover has left for America, no doubt promising to call for her to join him. The song climaxes with the singer declaring that ‘were I and my darling…on board the ship/For America bound.’ After a sleepless night, she imagines (vainly) that her lover had returned ‘from the South.’ The text reminds the reader of Ariadne’s abandonment at Naxos when Theseus set sail during the night. Douglas Hyde collected the text from an elderly lady, Biddy Crummy, who lived in Roscommon.
The vocal line has a genuine folk-like quality. The piano accompaniment is typically restrained throughout, although Trimble uses full chords to allude to the ‘lover’ aboard ship bound for America. The entire effect of the song is one of lament, with the straightforward vocal line and the pianist providing a commentary on the course of the text, rather than a ‘mere’ accompaniment. ‘My Grief on the Sea’ won first prize (£5) at the Dublin Feis Ceoil in May 1937.
'Green Rain' is a short poem written by the early twentieth-century romantic novelist and poet Mary Webb (1881-1927). Much of Webb’s work is set in her native Shropshire: she was noted for her poetic descriptions of the countryside, local worthies and nature. Less positive, was her fatalistic view on the human condition. Her prose style was often characterised by ‘soil and gloom.’ The poem is an idealised description of a deep wood, replete with faery. It expressed the poet’s joy at living in this ‘enchanted landscape’.
Joan Trimble has imbued her setting of Webb’s poem with similar pleasure, although it is not all lightness. The song reflects the passing of the seasons, from winter with its cold and grief, to spring with laughter, delight, rebirth and wonder. It is likely that ‘Green Rain’ is an image of fertility. The style of the song is largely tonal with little to disturb the reverie. The accompaniment is gentle and tranquil.
Joan Trimble’s songs fuse her love of words and poetry. To these she brought her own individual style which was a subtle combination of Irish folksong and ‘English’ art-song.
Phantasy Trio (1940)
Joan Trimble’s Phantasy Trio is one of her most significant works. Ralph Vaughan Williams encouraged her to enter the 1940 Cobbett Competition and gave her advice. The trio, which is written for violin, cello and piano was completed in only ten days. Trimble wrote about this work: ‘The piano trio was frankly rhapsodic and rhythmic—what came most easily to me.’ (Trimble, 1994). The description ‘rhapsodic’ is entirely appropriate here, with a score that is in the trajectory of English (British) Romanticism tinged with a gently stated pastoralism. The music is certainly conservative in style and harks back to an earlier age. There is nothing derived from contemporary modernism, the neo-classicism of Lennox Berkeley or the bombast of William Walton. Yet, this is a timeless piece, full of beautiful melodies, rich instrumentation and a profound understanding of formal constructs. The listener will not be surprised to discover an Irish mood permeating what is ostensibly an ‘English’ form. This is especially the case with the ‘jig’ in the central section.
The Phantasy was premiered by the Grinke Trio (Frederick Grinke, Florence Hooton and Kendall Taylor) on 30 April 1943 as during a concert promoted by the Committee for the Promotion of New Music. (Jamieson, 2017)
Buttermilk Point (1938)
Buttermilk Point (1938) for two pianos is a fine example of an Irish reel seen through the prism of classical sophistication. Joan Trimble explained in an interview (cited McCarroll 2013) that Buttermilk Point was an actual location on the shores of Lough Erne in County Fermanagh, where she had several family picnics.
A traditional ‘reel’ is usually designed as AABB, in other words, two musical thoughts with each one repeated. Trimble has adapted this structure of a rondo, simplified as ABACA, where the letters indicate contrasting or thematic sections. It is an exciting piece of music that is nearly always optimistic and full of sunshine. There is nothing here to disturb the pleasure of a picnic on a warm summer’s day.
Buttermilk Point was the Trimble Duo’s most performed work, and as mentioned above, often appeared as an encore.
Suite for Strings (1951 or 1953)
Joan Trimble’s Suite for Strings was composed in 1953 (or possibly 1951). It was a commission from Arthur Duff, who was then assistant director of music at Radio Éireann. He was also an accomplished composer, with several attractive works to his credit that do not deserve obscurity.
The Suite was originally composed in four movements; however, Trimble was persuaded to remove an ‘offending’ ‘Intermezzo’. The first of the remaining movements, a Prelude, is typically forceful with some more reflective moments that seem to speak of the Irish landscape rather than of its turbulent history. The emotional heart of the Suite is the intensely felt ‘Air’. The ‘Finale’ is a good-going Irish Reel that brings the work to a rumbustious conclusion. Nevertheless, even here there are times when the mood becomes just a little introspective.
The Suite for strings stands in a distinguished line of British music for string orchestra. From Elgar’s Serenade for strings, by way of Vaughan Williams’s Five Variants of Dives & Lazarus, Frank Bridge’s Suite for strings and Michael Tippett’s Concerto for double string orchestra. Trimble’s music equals these masterpieces in every way: technical prowess, imagination and sheer listening pleasure. The Gramophone (August 1999) is disingenuous in labelling Trimble’s Suite as displaying ‘unpretentious charm’. There is considerable emotional depth in the middle movement that goes far beyond ‘charming.’ The entire work epitomises Joan Trimble’s subtle balance between Irish-tinged music and the pastoralism of the more conservative British composers of the day.
Unbelievably, the Suite for Strings remains unpublished. The manuscript score is available from the Contemporary Music Centre in Dublin. The work was premiered at the Phoenix Hall, Dublin on 7 April 1953 with the Dublin Radio Éireann Orchestra conducted by Arthur Duff.
One unfortunate footnote to the Suite is that Trimble considered it was old fashioned, not displaying any sense of modernism characteristic of so much then-contemporary music. The BBC reading panel (John Lowe) had declared that it was ‘undistinguished’ (cited Stanley, 2003). Trimble stopped composing for several years. It was not until her TV opera commission that she recommenced. It is good that listeners are no longer hide-bound by an ever-progressive musical aesthetic: few could fail to admire Joan Trimble’s Suite for strings, when given the opportunity to hear it in a concert hall.
Searching the Internet throws up several ‘recent’ performances in the United States and Great Britain. They are often given by amateur and youth orchestras.
There is an excellent professional recording of the work in YouTube, here, (accessed 11 August 2024) played (I believe) by the Ulster Orchestra, conducted by Takuo Yuasa. Its source is unidentified but may be from a BBC Radio broadcast aired on 14 July 2008.
With thanks to Spirited, the Journal of the English Music Festival where this essay was first published.
To be contiuned...
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