Discovering Joan Trimble (An Ulster-born composer) Part 3

Possible Works to Revive? The orchestral miniature In Glenade was composed in 1942. Commissioned by the Dublin String Orchestra (DSO), it was premiered by them at a Royal Dublin Society Concert on 16 February of that year, conducted by Terry O’Connor (Jamieson, 2017). The work is scored for solo violin and strings and is written in ternary form with a ‘cantabile’ middle section. It lasts for only four minutes. In Glenade was never published, however the score is available from the Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland. ‘Glenade’ is in County Leitrim, in the north-west of Eire. There is a lough at the end of the valley. The name is an anglicization of Loch Ghleann Éada, meaning ‘lake of the glen of jealousy’. This does not really give a clue to Trimble’s music, which is a wistful, but largely untroubled idyll.

Joan Trimble’s final major composition was the Three Diversions for wind quintet: flute, oboe, clarinet in B flat, horn, and bassoon. This three-movement work was composed in 1990, some years after she had moved to Enniskillen to run The Impartial Reporter. It was commissioned with the support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The work was premiered by the Belfast Wind Quintet on 8 June 1990 (Jamieson, 2017).   The Diversions are largely in Trimble’s slightly more astringent style with her usual Irish sympathies. It begins with a ‘Preamble’ featuring fugal writing, an introspective ‘Pastoral’ and the final ‘Burlesque’ utilising Scottish and Irish dance rhythms and including a discrete nod to ragtime. The score was issued by Rosewood Publications (England) in c.2000. It deserves to be in the repertoire and on CD.

Finally, is there a possibility of a revival of her opera Blind Raftery? It was premiered on BBC Television, on 21 May 1957.  At this time, it was only the second TV opera to have been produced in the UK. The first was Arthur Benjamin’s Mañana. The libretto for Trimble’s opera, was written by Cedric Cliffe, who also wrote for Benjamin. The Times (23 May 1957) noted that ‘the chief virtue of…[the] music is its complete rightness of style for the subject.’  Eschewing serialism, Trimble provided ‘lyrical melody which has its roots in the folksong of her native country.’ The reviewer felt that the entire opera was characterised by ‘generously singable’ tunes and ‘orchestral writing that reveals the…craftsman’s understanding of what is immediately clear an effective.’ Finally, the entire score is imbued with the ‘potent emotional persuasiveness of an old ballad or folksong.’ On this basis it would seem to deserve at least a detailed perusal by an operatic group - professional or amateur.

Select Bibliography

• Burn, Sarah M., ‘Joan Trimble’ The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Stanley Sadie (ed.) 2^nd revised edition (London, 2001).
• Jamieson, Alasdair, Music in Northern Ireland: Two Major Figures: Havelock Nelson (1917-1996) and Joan Trimble (1915 - 2000), Grosvenor House Publishing Limited, Surrey 2017
• McCarroll, Lisa, The Celtic Twilight as Reflected in the Two-Piano Works of Joan Trimble (1915-2000), DMus dissertation, University of Houston, 2013
• Percival, Fay, The Life and Works of Joan Trimble – A Study in Context. (BMus dissertation, Queen’s University Belfast, 1997. (not inspected)
• Stanley, Ruth, Joan Trimble (1915-2000) and the issue of her 'Irish' musical identity (MA Thesis, University of Limerick, 2003)
• Trimble, Joan, ‘Joan Trimble’, Contemporary Music Review, vol. 11, 1994, pp. 277-84.
• Files of The Times, The Irish Times, etc.

Select Discography

There is only one CD devoted entirely to Joan Trimble’s music. This album includes the Phantasy Trio, several original works for two pianos and some songs, including the song cycle The County Mayo. Reviews for this disc have been favourable. Michael Oliver in the International Record Review (June 2000) wrote: ‘[Trimble's] work has something of the pastoral quality of the English music of her youth, but more than a touch of French elegance - her Pastorale, subtitled 'Hommage a F. Poulenc,' is a slowish ‘mouvement perpetuel’ which would have pleased its dedicatee... All the performances are good…Una Hunt and Roy Holmes are audibly grateful for Trimble's idiomatic and resourceful two-piano writing.’ (Cited Naxos Website).

Most of the recordings listed below are available on CD or download. It may be possible to find copies of deleted discs on Amazon.

• Trimble, Joan, Two Pianos: Songs and Chamber Music, includes, Three Traditional Songs arrange for two pianos, My Grief on the Sea, Green Rain, Girl’s Song,  Sonatina for two pianos, Pastorale - Hommage à F. Poulenc, Phantasy Trio, Puck Fair, The Green Bough, The County Mayo (song cycle), Buttermilk Point (Reel), The Bard of Lisgoole, The Humours of Carrick (Hop-jig). (Marco Polo 8.225059, 1999)
• Trimble, Joan, Celtic Keyboard Duets by 19^th and 20^th century Irish Composers, includes The Humours of Carrick, The Bard of Lisgoole, Buttermilk Point, Sonatina, The Green Bough, The Gartan Mother’s Lullaby, The Heather Glen, with works by George Alexander Osbourne and John Field (KOCH International, 3-7287, 1994)
• Trimble, Joan, Silver Apples of The Moon, Suite for Strings, includes works by Arthur Duff, Thomas C. Kelly and John Francis Larchet (Black Box BBM1003,1998). This CD has gone out of print and is only available as an MP3 download.
• Trimble, Joan, Frederick Delius: Orchestral music arranged for two pianos, Volume 1, ‘La Calinda’ from Koanga, includes Dance Rhapsody no.1, On hearing the first cuckoo in spring, Brigg Fair, Poem of Life and Love and A Song of Summer transcribed by several hands. (SOMM SOMMCD 0112, 2012)
• Trimble, Joan, Composing the Island: A Century of Music in Ireland, 1916-2016, Phantasy Trio, with works by Norman Hay, Hamilton Harty, Ina Boyle, Brian Boydell, Aloys Fleischmann, Gerald Victory, et al. (RTÉ LYRIC FM, RTECD153, 2016)
• Trimble, Joan, Calen-O: Songs from the North of Ireland, Green Rain, Girl’s Song, My Grief on the Sea, with songs by Hamilton Harty, Howard Ferguson and Charles Wood. (Delphian, DCD 34187, 2018)
• Trimble, Joan, Irish Holidays, includes The Pool among the Rushes for clarinet and piano, with works by Arnold Bax, Eric Sweeney, Gerald Barry, Howard Ferguson, Charles Villiers Stanford, James Wilson and Christopher Moriarty, (GENUIN Classics GEN 18495, 2018)

With thanks to Spirited, the Journal of the English Music Festival where this essay was first published.

Concluded.