John Ireland: Spring Sorrow (1918)

John Ireland (1879-1962) had already set two of war-poet Rupert Brooke’s (1887-1915) most memorable poems, The Soldier and Blow out, You Bugles, Blow, which were composed in early 1918. Later that year, he completed a third, Song (All suddenly the wind comes soft) which Ireland renamed Spring Sorrow. All three poems were taken from Brooke’s 1914 and Other Poems, published in May 1915. 

All suddenly the wind comes soft,

And Spring is here again;

And the hawthorn quickens with buds of green

And my heart with buds of pain.

My heart all Winter lay so numb,

The earth so dead and frore, [frosty]

That I never thought the Spring would come,

Or my heart wake any more

But Winter's broken and earth has woken

And the small birds cry again.

And the hawthorn hedge puts forth its buds,

And my heart puts forth its pain.

Despite possible allusions to wartime sentiments in Brooke’s Song, it was in fact penned in 1912. This was a troubled year for the poet, with several difficult relationships with both men and women. He suffered a mental breakdown. The following year he travelled extensively in the United States, Canada, and the South Seas.  Rupert Brooke returned to England in 1914.

A major theme of this poem is the advent of spring, with the hawthorn buds “quickening” and the snows of winter beginning to melt.  The birds are singing again. However, the poet is metaphorically related to the budding hawthorn hedge where his “heart puts forth its pain.”

Muriel V. Searle in her study of the composer (John Ireland: The Man and His Music, Tunbridge Wells: Midas Books, 1979, p.52), wrote that “the message of the last page of the song was the message of life itself, as the struggle drew towards its close: peace will come, spring will come again. But not yet...”

Ireland’s pupil, Charles Markes (ed. Lewis Foreman, The John Ireland Companion, Aldershot, The Boydell Press, 2011, p.280) has written that “Ireland was bound to react to this poem by Rupert Brooke, as it so faithfully portrays his own feelings.”  In her thesis Meanings in the Music of John Ireland (University of Birmingham, 2000, p.276) Fiona Richards suggests that Ireland’s “decision to set Spring sorrow in April 1918…was because of this mingling of nature, lyricism and personal emotions, all set against the melancholy backdrop of the war.”

The song is straightforward, with a ternary form structure. Melodically it is simple.There are few accidentals, the most important being the flattened 7^th that occurs at the end of the song and at a few other places. Vocally, the melodic line is characterised by straightforward rhythms, melodic “steps, skips and broken chords” and an effective falling seventh. Michael Pilkington (English Solo Song Guide to the Repertoire: Gurney, Ireland, Quilter and Warlock, London, Thames 1989, p.69) notes the “gently moving harmonies in four or five parts, as if designed for string quartet.”

Muriel V. Searle (op.cit, p.52) explains that Ireland had pondered over three possible endings to the song. He played them on the piano to Markes. There was “one ordinary, one more original, and the third having one of those twists of an unexpected accidental that make Ireland’s music unmistakable. He is reputed to have asked Markes “Which one do you like?” “That one” replied the pupil, “Because of that flat.”

John Ireland’s Spring Sorrow was premiered at the Wigmore Hall on 3 October 1918. The soloist was Muriel Foster, soprano and Harold Samuel, piano. The Times (4 October 1918, p.9) reported that “Miss Foster…put much of herself, that is, a stately conception of the song and a sustained, dignified pure tone – into three styles – the Italian, the impressionist, and the narrative.” The former included works by the Florentine composer, Raffaello Rontani and the second were settings of Verlaine and Baudelaire by the German-American Charles Loeffler. The final group featured songs by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser and two new songs by John Ireland: I have twelve oxen and Spring Song [sic] by John Ireland. The critic suggests that these latter numbers show him “making use of an individual manner in a simple practical way.”

Finally, Charles Markes (op.cit, p.180) has stated that “This song is of imperishable beauty, its very simplicity and perfection almost defy adequate performance…”

The sheet music of Spring Sorrow was published by Winthrop Rogers Ltd in 1918, in two keys, F major and Ab major.

Several versions of this song have been uploaded to YouTube. I have chosen Mark Stone and Sholto Kynoch’s version on Stone Records (5060192780260), here.