The Prelude was originally entitled Penumbra, but this was crossed out in the score. It is difficult to know what sense of the word Ireland meant but possibly “a penumbra of secrecy?” Fiona Richards (** p.230) has identified two further “fainter pencil mark” on the holograph – ‘Long Dawn’ and ‘Before Sunrise.’ She has suggested that there may be a literary link with a poem by Algernon Swinburne entitle ‘Prelude,’ from his Songs before Sunrise. This poem is “about youth, and the passing of pleasure and passion.”
Conceived as a ‘processional,’
the Prelude opens with a descending five note scale richly harmonised. (Fig.1).
From this motif develops much of the ongoing material. The chords are dense,
with many added notes. In fact, this could be described as “turgid.”
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| Fig.1 |
There is a secondary theme, presented in the right hand as a single line of melody, (Fig.2) with triadic accompaniment. The work ends after a short cadenza with a quiet close.
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| Fig.2 |
Alan Rowlands has stated that “…it comes closest to revealing something of Ireland the man. It is written in an intensely subjective vein, and it is characteristic that the serene E-flat tonality of the opening phrase turns almost at once to C minor. This music has strong links with that called up in Ireland by his settings of some of the most tormented poems of Hardy and Housman, and it needs many hearings to reveal fully its extraordinary qualities. One most beautiful passage is that written in small notes on the second page- it occurs again at the end, a succession of descending chords, (Fig.3) each dissonance dissolving into the next, is followed by a nostalgic modal cadence, plaintively repeated. No other composer could have written this.” (Liner Notes, REAM 3112).
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| Fig.3 |
The Prelude in E flat was premiered on 13 January 1925, by Harriet Cohen, at the Wigmore Hall during a concert of music by William Byrd, John Bull, Josef Haydn, and Arnold Bax. It was published by Augener & Co. during 1925.
The Daily Telegraph (15 January 1925, p.4) reviewer considered that “The chief interest in the modern compositions centred in a Prelude of Mr. John Ireland, which Miss Cohen played last night for the first time "on any stage." Like other compositions of Mr. John Ireland's it does not reveal all its worth at a first hearing. Miss Cohen made it evident that it is effectively written and quite up-to-date technically. Whether the ideas expressed really need such an elaborate apparatus, and whether clarity is one of its qualities, are questions which could only be answered after a second performance. Last night it was very well received, hut the reticent composer, who was present, did not acknowledge the applause of the audience.”
In a long assessment of “New Music” in the Musical Times, (March 1925, p.230) the critic suggested that “John Ireland's Prelude in E flat is a grimly serious bit of work, with some characteristic clashings. It is not extremely difficult in regard to technique, but it calls for a good deal on the mental side.”
Colin Scott-Scott Sutherland (in Foreman, 2011, p.14) remarked that “the Prelude in E flat [was] given no other title, The term ‘Prelude’ has little relation to Chopin or Scriabin but is used by Ireland as if it were a programmatic title, implying the opening of some sombre ritual with his dark incantations.”
Listen to John Ireland’s Prelude in E flat for piano on YouTube, here. The piano soloist is Eric Parkin.
Bibliography:Craggs, Stewart R., John Ireland, A Catalogue, Discography and Bibliography 2nd edition, Ashgate, 2007.
Richards, Fiona, Meanings in the Music of John Ireland, Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2000. Ed. Foreman, Lewis, The John Ireland Companion, Boydell Press, 2011