E.J. Moeran: Overture for a Masque (1944)

It is possible to underestimate Moeran’s Overture for a Masque, quite simply because it is populist in its impact. Yet, it must be recalled that this work was written as a commission by recording executive, Walter Legge for performance at ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) concerts as was Alan Rawsthorne’s Street Corner Overture and Arnold Bax’s Work in Progress. Moeran’s example was designed to entertain, rather than present any major ground-breaking personal statement or confession.

Moeran wrote his Overture during 1944, beginning on New Year’s Day. He was staying at this time at his parent’s house, Gravel Hill Villa, Kington, Herefordshire. Andrew Burn (Liner Notes Chandos, CHAN8577) notes that he enjoyed walks along Hergest Ridge and felt that “some measure of that delight is surely encapsulated here.” Other music produced around this time includes Six Poems by Seumas O’Sullivan written for the Irish soprano, Violet Burns. And then there were the early sketches for his Cello Concerto, which would be dedicated to his then fiancé, Peers Coetmore. One other task he had at this time was to produce his Red Army Fanfare for an event at the Royal Albert Hall in honour of the Russian Forces.

Roderick McNeill (1982, p.241) explains that at first Moeran lacked enthusiasm to compose this overture. In a letter to Peers (12 January 1944) he intimated that “…I am full of energy as regards keeping at work but, honestly, I wish the overture were finished with and I were [sic] on to something else. It is a commissioned work, as you know, and it is not my top notch; the fact is I am doing it as a duty engendered by the war, and working to a timetable I am not able to follow up my normal method of extreme self-criticism…”

However, needs must, and by 20 February 1944 he was copying out the full score. In another letter to Peers, he stated “… I think it turns out to be quite a good little work, what you might call athletic in style.” He felt that he was “going to make it really snappy and exciting for the troops.” (Letter to Peers Coetmore, 4 January 1944, cited Self, 1986, p.165).

Ian Maxwell (2021, p.248) explains that “As a short cut to get the composition of the overture completed to schedule and perhaps in some desperation, Moeran once again resorted to self-plagiarism. The music of the overture includes sections that were lifted and adapted from earlier pieces, including the First and Second Rhapsodies and two of the songs in the choral suite Phyllida and Corydon.”

Formally, this work is episodic in design, and is more of a ‘pageant’ than a ‘masque.’ Geoffrey Self (1986, p.166) suggests that “the music is nearest in structure to Moeran’s favourite form - rondo.” The composer never indicated any ‘programme’ behind the ‘masque’ title. Moeran presents the listener with lots of brass fanfares, rhythmical excitement, good tunes, and vivid syncopations. Frank Howes (Liner notes, Lyrita SRCD.247) has explained that a “four semiquaver la-la-la-la figure…pops up all over the orchestra but is also the foundation of much of the string writing as almost to create the effect of a perpetuum mobile...” This sense of motion is interrupted by the “lilting” episode in the middle of the overture. There is a deeper element here: Moeran manages to create an occasional nod towards the misty far Western shores of Eire.

The first performance of Moeran’s Overture for a Masque was given on Wednesday 5 April 1944 at the second ENSA symphony concert for war workers at the Victoria Hall, Hanley in the Potteries. Basil Cameron conducted the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert was a little obscure with the rare Symphony No.32 in G, K.318 by Mozart, a transcription from a Mozart quartet movement and the Konzertstück in F minor op.79 for piano and orchestra by Carl Maria von Weber. The soloist was Phyllis Sellick. The concert concluded with Beethoven’s Symphony No.8 in F major, op.93. The Staffordshire Sentinel critic, G.T., (6 April 1944, p.3) thought that Mr. Cameron's conducting had “both Vitality and fine musicianship, and the playing of the Orchestra - in particular of the strings, who had much to do was of first-rate quality throughout. To all the music, unfamiliar as most of it was, the audience smaller than at the first ENSA concert here listened with the closest attention.” As for Moeran’s Overture, he felt that it was “full of pomp and bustle, brilliantly scored, and with a pleasant pastoral interlude, [giving] an impressive start to the concert.”

The following night, Thursday, 6 April 1944, a similar programme was given at the Birmingham Town Hall. Eric Blom, reviewing the concert for the Birmingham Daily Post (8 April 1944, p.2), in a long introduction explained that this was “the first orchestral concert for war workers [here] was a great success. Even at a shilling (about £1.80 at 2024 prices) a head, it was a great achievement to fill every seat in so large a building with people most of whom have not so far cultivated the concert-going habit. That many of them will do so in the future seemed indicated by the tense attention with which the listeners followed and the keen appreciation with which they rewarded the performances.”

Furthermore, the “programme that very properly made no concessions at all to the popular taste of the day, which shows alarming signs of favouring no music that has not been made into ballet or used as a ‘plug’ for a film. It even included - concert promoters please note! - a rather forbidding novelty, E. J. Moeran’s bleak but bracing Overture for a Masque.”

W.R. Anderson, (Musical Times, January 1945, p.19) evaluating the first broadcast performance of the Overture on 28 November 1944, noted that “…I heard it on a bad wavelength. British music, as I have some ten thousand times remarked, is rarely happy when bustling: self-consciousness supervenes in the composer, and unconsciousness, in the shape of healing slumber, in me. But this is a nicely varied piece, with some attractive wood-notes wild, piquant orchestral effects and diatonic clashery…”

This was at a concert given by the BBC Northern Orchestra, conducted by Charles Groves. Other music included Edward Elgar’s Imperial March, Saint-Saens’s Piano Concerto No.2, the slow movement from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4 and Verdi’s Overture: Sicilian Vespers. The solo pianist was Marjorie Blackburn.

The score was published by Joseph Williams in 1949 and was dedicated to Walter Legge. A review in the Royal College of Music Magazine (Volume 46, No.2, June 1950, p.69f) reminded the reader that “This work was composed in 1944 for E.N.S.A. and was performed a good deal to the troops. It is well scored for full orchestra and has all the essentials of a good overture, rhythmic vitality, and contrast, with sonorous themes for horns and exciting fanfares for brass. The composer has assimilated the folk-tune element for which he has a predilection so that it is a completely unself-conscious part of his style. There are one or two faint reminiscences of Gilbert and Sullivan, but the total impression is of a vigorous, easily comprehensible, and really musical curtain-raiser.”

The Ulster Orchestra/Vernon Handley recording of Moeran's Overture for a Masque can be heard on YouTube, here.

Bibliography
Maxwell, Ian, Ernest John Moeran: His Life and Music, The Boydell Press, Woodbridge (2021).
McNeill, R. J., A critical study of the life and works of E. J. Moeran. PhD thesis (1982).
Self, Geoffrey, The Music of E.J. Moeran, Toccata Press, London (1986).

Discography
Moeran, E.J., Overture for a Masque, with Symphony in G minor, Sinfonietta, London Philharmonic Orchestra/Adrian Boult, LYRITA SRCD.247 (1997) (original LP release: LYRITA SRCS.43) (1970)
Moeran, E.J., Overture for a Masque with Symphony in G minor and Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra/Vernon Handley, CHANDOS CLASSICS 10169 (2004) (original CD release: CHANDOS CHAN 8577) (1988)
Moeran, E.J., Overture for a Masque with Rhapsodies Nos. 1, 2 and 3 and In the Mountain Country, Ulster Orchestra/JoAnn Falletta, NAXOS 8.573106 (2014)

Exploring E.J. Moeran’s Chamber Music Part 3

Sonata for Cello and Piano (1947)

Critically, many commentators would state that Moeran’s Sonata for cello and piano is the highest achievement in his catalogue of chamber music. That does not imply that it is the most enjoyable or satisfactory from the listener’s point of view. The rule of thumb for approaching this dark work, is to see it as a summation of Moeran’s musical aesthetic: a backward glance, if you will. In these pages, he has successfully synthesised his romantic and developing neo-classical styles.

On 9 February 1948, Moeran wrote to Peers: ‘Now, I have just spent all yesterday on cello sonata proofs. You know I don’t usually boast, but coming back to it, going through it note by note, & looking at it impartially, I honestly think it is a masterpiece. I can’t think how I ever managed to write it.’

The sonata is written in three movements - Tempo Moderato-Allegro, Adagio and Allegro. The forms that Moeran has deployed are sonata, ternary and rondo, respectively. Allusions to the music of Arnold Bax and Béla Bartók have been proposed for this Sonata. This is a well-practiced critical game with Moeran’s music, where some commentators give little credit to his originality. Yet, much time can be wasted in trying to perform source criticism on his music. It is better to accept that all composers are influenced by their predecessors and contemporaries to a greater or lesser extent (including Bach himself). Moeran’s Cello Sonata is a mature work, that is both confident and assured. It may be that in this Sonata, Moeran was moving into a new stylistic period. Who knows where this would have led if he had not died aged only 56 years old?

Peers Coetmore gave the premiere of her husband’s Cello Sonata during a Radio Eireann broadcast on 9 May 1947. The pianist was Charles Lynch. It was not heard in London until the following year.

Listeners will find that there is little optimism in this Sonata. The ambient mood is one of darkness and gloom. A wit (unattributed) once declared that he was reminded of Irish peat bogs as the music unfolded. Yet, this is not the full story. Here and there glimmers of sunshine seem to appear in the darkness, leading to a hesitant and short-lived hopefulness. Even the most cynical listener will recognise in these pages, the complex pattern of Moeran’s deep love and devotion that he held for Peers Coetmore, with the growing recognition that his marriage was doomed.

Fantasy Quartet for oboe and strings (1946)

In 1946, the legendary oboist Leon Goossens asked Moeran to compose a work for oboe ensemble. Geoffrey Self (1986, p.199) in his study of the composer, remarks that Moeran had always enjoyed Goossens’s playing and was especially enthused by his interpretation of the beautiful ‘Intermezzo’ from Delius’s opera Fennimore and Gerda.

The Fantasy Quartet was commenced during May 1946, whilst Moeran was holidaying at the New Inn at Rockland St. Mary in Norfolk, and was completed in July of that year, whilst staying with his mother in Ledbury.

Rockland St. Mary lies on a quiet country lane between Norwich and Lowestoft and is immediately adjacent to the Norfolk Broads. In a letter (undated) to Dr Dick Jobson (the Moeran family’s doctor at Kington) the composer wrote that ‘I board and lodge in this little pub overlooking Rockland Broad...in the evening I go out rowing on these 'Lonely Waters'...this reedy neighbourhood seems to suggest oboe music.’ (Cited Moeran Database)

Formally, Moeran’s Fantasy is conceived in a single movement. Self (1986, p.200) points out that the quartet falls into several sections, ‘which are linked by the monothematic nature of the work.’ Listening to the Fantasy, the listener is not conscious of this ‘single theme’ constantly replaying but is led into the belief that the formal structure is a rondo – with the diverse episodes separating the recurrences of the prin

The Fantasy Quartet is a reflection on much that had happened in the composer’s life – most especially his boyhood memories of the area. A few folk tunes have been detected by musicologists, including ‘Seventeen come Sunday’ and ‘The Pretty Ploughboy’, but this is not a set of variations on those tunes nor an arrangement of them. Rather, they are used as a basis for the generation of themes and motifs.

At the time of composition, Moeran was struggling with alcoholism. Further, his marriage with Peers Coetmore was in deep trouble. Perhaps, the innocence of much of this mature and deeply felt piece is to be understood against the composer’s troubled life and subsequent death only four years later?

The Fantasy Quartet was first heard on 8 December 1946 at the Cambridge Theatre, London. Leon Goossens, the dedicatee, was accompanied by the Carter String Trio.

The Times (10 December 1946, p.6) reporting the premiere, considered that Moeran’s Fantasy Quartet was ‘almost inevitably pastoral in its general character.’ The reviewer felt that this work ‘somehow conveyed the feeling of sunshine over rural England.’ It makes a fitting tribute to E.J. Moeran’s creative achievement in chamber music.

Addendum

It has been noted (Philip Heseltine/Peter Warlock, The Chesterian, No.36, 1923 p.124) that Moeran composed several chamber works prior to the Trio in D of 1920. These seemingly included three string quartets predating the published A minor, and two violin sonatas plus some other unspecified pieces. Of these, only one would appear to have survived: String Quartet No.2 in E flat (posthumous) (c.1918-20). But see the discussion on this dating above. Geoffrey Self (1986, p.31) cites Hubert Foss (Compositions of E.J. Moeran, Novello, 1948) as mentioning a second piano trio. After diligent searching no other references to it has been found. Self suggests that Foss may have considered that the rewrite of the surviving Trio as being ‘so extensive as to constitute a new work.’

Bibliography
Cobbett, Walter Willson, ed., Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music Volume 2 (Oxford University Press, 1963)

Maxwell, Ian, The Importance of Being Ernest John: Challenging the Misconceptions about the Life and Works of E. J. Moeran, Doctoral Thesis, Durham University, 2014
McNeill, R. J. (1982). A critical study of the life and works of E. J. Moeran. PhD thesis, Faculty of Music, The University of Melbourne.
Self, Geoffrey, The Music of E.J. Moeran, Toccata Press, 1986
Wild, Stephen, E.J. Moeran, Triad Press, Rickmansworth, 1974
The Moeran Database (website seems to be defunct, July 2024).
The files of The Times, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, The Chesterian, Music Review, Monthly Musical Record etc.

Brief Discography

I have listed six essential recordings featuring the corpus of Moeran’s chamber music. There are several more equally rewarding discs of many of these compositions. I have included only those currently available on CD or download.

Moeran, E.J. String Quartet No.1 in A minor; String Quartet No.2 in E flat; Trio for violin, viola, and cello [in G], Maggini String Quartet, Naxos 8.554079.

Moeran, E.J. String Quartet No.1 in A minor; String Quartet No.2 in E flat, Fantasy Quartet for oboe and strings, Trio in D for violin, cello and piano, Vanbrugh String Quartet, Joachim Piano Trio, Nicholas Daniel (oboe), John Lenehan (piano), ASV CD DCA 1045.

Moeran, E.J. String Quartet No.1 in A minor, Sonata in E minor for violin and piano, Fantasy Quartet for oboe and strings, John Talbot (piano), Donald Scotts (violin), Sarah Francis (oboe), Melbourne String Quartet, English String Quartet, Chandos CHAN 10170 X.

Moeran, E.J. Prelude for cello and piano, Sonata for cello and piano, includes Cello Concerto in B minor, Peers Coetmore (cello), Erik Parkin (piano), London Philharmonic Orchestra/Adrian Boult Lyrita SRCD 299.

Moeran, E.J. Sonata for two violins, with music by Rebecca Clarke, Paul Patterson, Gordon Jacob and Alan Rawsthorne, Midori Komachi (violin), Sophie Rosa (violin), Simon Callaghan (piano) EM RECORDS EMRCD043.

Moeran, E.J. Irish Lament for cello and piano, Prelude for cello and piano, with music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frank Bridge, Edward Elgar, Frederick Delius and Arnold Bax, Gerald Peregrine (cello), Antony Ingham (piano) Naxos 8.574035.

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

Concluded.

Exploring E.J. Moeran’s Chamber Music Part 2

String Quartet No.1 in A minor (1921)

This String Quartet is one of Moeran’s most characteristic pieces. Mostly lively, there are a few grey moments, which may reflect the composer’s response to the winter coasts of East Anglia. The opening movement (allegro) is urbane in its presentation of the two main themes, and their subsequent development. Much of this is redolent of the then-contemporary English music’s enthusiasm for modally inflected melodies and harmonies, as well as folksong. The movement ends with a reprise of the opening material.

The heart of this work is the lovely ‘andante con moto.’ The main theme is sad and moving in its gentle exposition. The music nods towards the country of Ireland here, which was so influential for Moeran. There is just a hint of animation in the middle section before the opening strain returns in all its subdued and reflective glory. The Quartet concludes with a technically demanding ‘Rondo.’ Moeran has introduced a comprehensive palette of rhythms to provide this lively and rumbustious movement with energy and drive. Once again, confected folk song seems to underlie the melodic material in this movement. Overall, it is hardly surprising that several critics have suggested the influence of Maurice Ravel’s Quartet (1903) on this piece.

The String Quartet in A minor was dedicated to Désiré Defauw (1885-1960), a Belgian violinist and conductor, who had been a refugee during the war, working in London. The Quartet was premiered at the Wigmore Hall on 15 January 1923, by the Allied String Quartet which included Defauw as lead violinist.

Sonata in E minor for violin and piano, (1923)

W J. Mitson (Cobbett, 1963 p.146) divines the correct mood for this introverted and sometimes disturbing work. He hears that its ‘dominant note is a strong seriousness, which deepens even to tragedy.’ For enthusiasts of Moeran’s music, this Violin Sonata may seem much more discordant than expected. There are several passages which project violence, and others that portray a ‘solemn intensity.’ This is so different in tone to the String Quartet written around the same time. Commentators often note the debt of this Sonata to Moeran’s teacher, John Ireland: he finished study with him in 1922. Geoffrey Self (1986, p.36) has insisted that this composition ‘far exceeds in power, energy, and scope anything similar by the older composer.’

The Violin Sonata opens with a brusque sonata-form movement. This balances a ‘tense and brooding’ first subject, with a second that gives just a little repose. Interestingly, Moeran breaks convention by recapitulating the main themes in reverse order. This enables him to conclude the movement with an unsettled mood. The coda is frantic in its brief explosion of power. The slow movement, ‘Lento’ is less brutal, but the intensity of the rhapsodic first subject is exacerbated by dissonant and chromatic harmonies. On the other hand, the second theme of movement is typical Moeran. It is relaxed and evocative of the English landscape. Only here in this Sonata is there any optimism. The final movement is a ‘rondo’, but there is little lightness of touch here, despite the dance-like principal theme (or refrain). This opening melody becomes increasingly ferocious in sound on each recurrence. Even the intervening episodes do little to ease the tension. Rhoderick McNeil (Liner Notes, CHAN 8465) has suggested that ‘the violence of this final movement, and indeed the dark intensity of the work as a whole, can be related to Moeran’s first-hand experience of the horrors of the First World War.’

The modernist tendency of this music pointed in a direction that Moeran may have taken if it had not been for his friendship with Peter Warlock, for better or worse.

Sonata for two violins (1930)

The remarkable thing about the Sonata for two violins is the wide-ranging invention which permeates virtually every bar of this three-movement work. There is a satisfying balance between a muscular approach to the material, and many sensitive and expressive moments. The music is always spontaneous. The opening movement shows a ‘nonchalant interweaving of parts.’ (Monthly Musical Record, October 1937, p.185). This insouciant temper is carried into the middle movement, ‘Presto’, which constantly displays ‘rhythmic vitality’. The final ‘Passacaglia’ is particularly impressive in its ingenuity. This is tightly controlled in both its exposition and variation. The entire piece demands an exacting technique from both soloists. There is little repose in this Sonata, with the pace being brisk for most of its sixteen-minute duration.

The Sonata for two violins was premiered during a Contemporary Music Centre concert at the College of Nursing on 3 May 1932. The soloists were André Mangeot and Walter Price (McNeill, 1982).

Trio for violin, viola, and cello (1931)

This work was dedicated ‘To the Pasquier Trio’, who gave the premiere performance on 20 October 1931, at a Music Society concert at the St John’s Institute, Tufton Street, Westminster. The Daily Telegraph (21 October 1931 p.10) reviewer C.G. (Cecil Gray) provided the fundamental critical assessment which has largely held to the present day. The ‘Trio further confirmed the favourable impression created by his Quartet some years ago [1921]. It is exceedingly well written for the medium…and, if lacking any outstanding originality, nevertheless, possesses distinction of thought and clarity and precision of style. It is probably the best thing its composer has yet given us, in fact.’ A good description of the music is given by The Times (23 October 1931, p.10). The reviewer, possibly H.C. Colles states that the Trio ‘is an attractive work of definitely English flavour, avoiding in its workmanship the extremes of bareness and fussiness…It also avoids prolixity, and the slow movement is striking for its terse combination of lyrical feeling and astringent quality.’ Despite the Trio’s ‘Englishness’ the thematic material is neither ‘folk’ nor ‘folksy’ [but] instrumentally conceived.’

The opening movement ‘Allegretto giovale’ is interesting in being written entirely in 7/8 time. This provides the opportunity for irregular cross rhythms, offering considerable interest throughout. The slow movement ‘Adagio’ is expressive, without ever descending into long-windedness. Here and there, Moeran introduces some sharpness, which never becomes commanding. The ‘scherzo’ played ‘molto vivace’, is suitably light-hearted and occasionally just a touch facetious. The finale begins with a fluid ‘andante grazioso’ before proceeding to a ‘presto’ dance-like coda.

Critically, in the Sonata for two violins and the Trio for violin, viola, and cello, Moeran can be seen pushing against his ‘Delian roots.’ In a letter to Peter Warlock (cited Self, 1986, p.91), Moeran wrote: ‘...It is an excellent discipline in trying to break away from the mush of Delius-like chords, which I have been obsessed with on every occasion I have attempted to compose during the last two years.’ There is a close relationship between the Sonata for Two Violins and the Trio, both in their more caustic mood and musical texture.

Peers Coetmore and Moeran

Moeran composed two major works for the English cellist Peers Coetmore (1905-1976) - the Cello Concerto (1945) and the Cello Sonata (1947), as well as two short pieces, the Prelude (1943) and the Irish Lament (1944) both for cello and piano.

For an informed appreciation of these compositions it is important to understand the context. Anecdotally, in 1930 Moeran met Peers Coetmore at a reception organised by the artist Augustus Johns (Wild 1973, p.14). Coetmore had been an exceptional student at the Royal Academy of Music, winning the Piatti Prize for cellists in 1924. At the time of her meeting with Moeran, she was beginning to enjoy a successful solo career. Thirteen years later, the couple met again at a concert in Leominster. Within weeks they were engaged to be married. It was virtually love at first sight, at least from Moeran’s perspective. The musical outcome of this relationship was the inspiration to compose several works for his bride-to-be to perform. The most significant of these is the magisterial Cello Concerto (1945). The wedding took place at Kington Parish Church on 26 July 1945. (Moeran Database).

Much has been written about the Moeran/Coetmore relationship: it is fair to say that their marriage was far from successful. They were largely incompatible. Moeran often needed to escape into solitude, and Coetmore had a busy performance schedule and a commitment to war-work with CEMA (Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts) and ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) engagements. Gradually, the couple drifted apart. In 1949, Coetmore left the United Kingdom for an extended tour of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. They did not see each other again. Moeran died on 1 December 1950. It is not possible to read a detailed programme into these compositions for cello and piano: they are not ‘autobiographies’. Yet, in many of these pages, Moeran expressed the genuine, deep feeling he had for Peers.

Prelude for Cello and piano (1943)

This Prelude, ‘Adagio ma non troppo’ for cello and piano is a deceptively simple piece. The cellist plays a heartbreakingly beautiful melody, that is accompanied by a straightforward piano part. It was offered to Peers as a ‘keepsake’ whilst she was on tour with ENSA. It was premiered by her in Alexandra, Egypt in early 1944. Geoffrey Self (1986, p.164) does not rate it highly. He writes, ‘it is a work of little distinction; the cello melody is shapely enough, but the piano part is frankly dull. It is a retrogressive piece doomed to a humble place in grade examination lists.’ I would suggest Moeran deliberately wanted the cello to predominate with its gorgeous, lyrical melody, and to allow the piano to play a subservient role. Reviewing the score (Novello, 1944), The Music Review (May1945, p.71) gives a less than complimentary note on the Prelude: ‘It…is best described as ‘School of Londonderry Air’ and a blasé posterity will probably earmark it as domestic after blacking-out music of the middle [1940s].’

Irish Lament for cello and piano (1944)

The Irish Lament is more complex than the Prelude. It is based on an authentic Irish folksong. Readers who know Moeran’s piano music will realise that it is an arrangement of his ‘Irish Love Song’, written in 1926. The ethos of the Lament is self-evident. This has been recreated as a heartfelt love song to his then fiancée. It is typically sad and introspective with just a hint of passion. I think that it is telling the title of the arrangement has changed from ‘Love Song’ to ‘Lament’. It is unfortunate that Peers Coetmore did not make a commercial recording of this piece.

The score was published by Novello in 1952. It is not known when the premiere of the Irish Lament was given.

Bibliography
Cobbett, Walter Willson, ed., Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music Volume 2 (Oxford University Press, 1963)
Maxwell, Ian, The Importance of Being Ernest John: Challenging the Misconceptions about the Life and Works of E. J. Moeran, Doctoral Thesis, Durham University, 2014
McNeill, R. J. (1982). A critical study of the life and works of E. J. Moeran. PhD thesis, Faculty of Music, The University of Melbourne.
Self, Geoffrey, The Music of E.J. Moeran, Toccata Press, 1986
Wild, Stephen, E.J. Moeran, Triad Press, Rickmansworth, 1974
The Moeran Database (website seems to be defunct, July 2024).
The files of The Times, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, The Chesterian, Music Review, Monthly Musical Record etc.

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

Exploring E.J. Moeran’s Chamber Music Part 1

The English composer E.J. Moeran (1894-1950) is best recalled for a few of his orchestral music, including a ‘rhapsodic’ Violin Concerto (1942) and a ‘glorious’ Symphony in G minor (1937). Singers may include the occasional song in their repertoire, whilst sporadically one or two piano pieces might creep into a recital. On the other hand, virtually all Moeran’s published music has been issued on record, CD, or download, in at least a single recording.

This essay will explore all the published chamber music by E.J. Moeran. This is an introduction to these works, not a detailed analysis. It is presented in roughly chronological order (beginning with the early String Quartet, composed (possibly) just after the end of the First World War, although there is some contention on this dating. The final chamber work is the heartfelt Cello Sonata, written in 1947 for his wife, the cellist Peers Coetmore. Much of this Sonata is a musical reflection on his love (or was it an infatuation?) for Peers. It was a relationship that was slowly coming to an inevitable end.  I have grouped the pieces written for Coetmore together.

Moeran’s chamber music provides a snapshot of his life, musical aesthetic, and passions. Taken overall, it is an enviable achievement, which cries out to be more prominent in the repertoire, both in the recital room and on CD.

Each work is given a brief introduction in non-technical language. I have tried to set them within the context of Moeran’s life and to give a few ‘helpful’ verbal impressions of the music. Additionally, I have referred to some contemporary reviews and subsequent critical comment. The essay concludes with a bibliography and a select discography.

Biographical Notes
The English composer Ernest John Smeed Moeran (E.J. or ‘Jack’) was born on 31 December 1894, in the village of Heston, near Hounslow in Middlesex. His father, who was a clergyman, had been born in Ireland, and his mother hailed from East Anglia. After prep school in Cromer, the young Moeran attended public school at Uppingham in Rutland. Then, as now, this school was particularly noted for its musical achievements. Moeran’s teacher there was Robert Sterndale Bennett, the grandson of the well-known Victorian composer, William. In 1912, Moeran enrolled at the Royal College of Music, however, he left here shortly after the declaration of war in 1914. He immediately enlisted in the army in the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, where he was a motorcycle despatch rider. After service on the Western Front, he was invalided out with a serious head wound. Before he was demobbed, he spent time in Ireland which was inspirational for him.

After the war, Moeran studied privately with John Ireland, but this arrangement did not last long. Unfortunately, for the composer’s health and wellbeing, he did much of his musical ‘training’ with Peter Warlock (Philip Heseltine) and the enigmatic Bernard van Dieren. Their social influence led to Moeran’s heavy drinking.  It was a problem that he would never entirely overcome. 

In the post First World War years, Moeran collected folksongs from Ireland, Norfolk, and Suffolk. This influenced his not inconsiderable catalogue of original songs and choral music. He continued to write several important works, but it was not until the premiere of his Symphony in G minor in 1938, that he finally established his reputation as a leading British composer. Other major compositions followed, including the Violin Concerto (1942), the Rhapsody No. 3 in F-sharp major for piano and orchestra (1943) and the Cello Concerto (1945).

An important element of Moeran’s aesthetic was the influence of the country of Ireland. As noted, his father had been born there, and the composer came to love that nation, its people and culture, and spent much time there.

E.J. Moeran died on the banks of the River Kenmare in County Kerry on 1 December 1950. It was believed that he had a cerebral haemorrhage. He is buried in Killowen Old Parish Churchyard.

Stylistically, Moeran’s music changed from the ‘John Ireland-esque’ piano music of the early twenties, through the ‘folksy’ works and then the ‘high’ romanticism of the Symphony in G minor, to a new, personal, even neo-classical style forged during and after the Second World War. Yet, underlying all these ‘periods’ is a concern for structure, and a warm, lyrical tone is nearly always a prominent feature of Moeran’s music.

The Published Chamber Music Catalogue
I have used the titles given in Geoffrey Self’s ‘Classified List of Works’ (Self, 1986, p.257f).

1. String Quartet No.2 in E flat (posthumous) (possibly 1918-20) Novello & Co. Ltd, 1956
2. Trio in D for violin, cello and piano (1920, revised 1925) Oxford University Press, 1925
3. String Quartet No.1 in A minor (1921) J & W Chester Ltd., 1923
4. Sonata in E minor for violin and piano, (1923) J & W Chester Ltd., 1923
5. Sonata for two violins (1930) Hawkes and Son, 1937
6. Trio for violin, viola, and cello (1931) Augener., 1936
7. Prelude for cello and piano (1943) Novello & Co. Ltd, 1944
8. Irish Lament for cello and piano (1944) Novello & Co. Ltd, 1952
9. Fantasy Quartet for oboe and strings (1946) J & W Chester Ltd., 1947
10. Sonata for cello and piano (1947) Novello & Co. Ltd, 1948

String Quartet No.2 in E flat (posthumous) (c.1918-20)

The immediate post-First World War years were particularly busy for E.J. Moeran. In February 1920, he had returned to the Royal College of Music to study composition with John Ireland. Several important works were written in that year, including the Theme and Variations for piano, the A.E. Housman settings in the song-cycle In Ludlow Town, and the first version of the Trio in D. Moeran’s first orchestral piece, In the Mountain Country was completed in the following year. For relaxation, he toured France and Spain on a motorcycle with the Irish artist and writer Robert Gibbings.

It is understood that Moeran wrote four string quartets. The earliest was composed whilst he was still at Uppingham School. The score is missing. Three more followed. Only the final one, in A minor was published in his lifetime.

The String Quartet No.2 in E flat was found by the composer’s wife, Peers Coetmore in her late husband’s papers: it was not published until 1956. There is a debate about the work’s dating. Geoffrey Self (1986, 253 ff.) has argued that it is a late composition: the composer’s valediction. On the other hand, there is also an opinion that what we know as String Quartet No.2 may consist of two fugitive movements from these above-mentioned ‘lost’ early quartets. Certainly, Ian Maxwell (2014, p.133 ff.) considers that they were written at different times. This is based on hand-writing analysis. Furthermore, the second ‘movement’ can be seen emulating the formal characteristics of the English Phantasy promulgated by Walter Willson Cobbett and his Competitions between 1905 and 1919.

After considerable analysis, Maxwell declares that the most likely date for the first movement is the spring of 1918, and the score was possibly completed whilst Moeran was stationed at Boyle, County Roscommon. The second movement may have been composed for submission to the Cobbett competition of 1917.

Whatever the historical precedent for this attractive quartet, it is well-written, both formally and instrumentally. The two movements operate well together. It may not be the composer’s greatest chamber work, but it is certainly full of good things, that are often quite inspired.

Trio in D for violin, cello and piano (1920, revised 1925)

The Piano Trio is the longest of Moeran’s chamber works being just short of half an hour. It would be unfair to suggest that this was ‘only’ a student exercise. On the other hand, the influence of his teacher John Ireland is evident as well as that of Johannes Brahms, by way of Charles Villiers Stanford. The Trio was premiered at the Wigmore Hall on 12 November 1921, by the Harmonic Trio.

The reception of the original (1920) version was mixed. The Observer, (13 November 1921, p.16) considered that  '...[the work] proved to be rather too dependent on rhythmical considerations, so that the lengthy slow movement loses interest, and the whole trio, which is in modern vein, and couched in the language with which John Ireland’s chamber music has made us familiar, does not grip very well. But the composer has ideas not without originality, and if he can develop them into more closely knit movements, with a power in them other than that of rhythm alone, he will produce some strong work one day.’ It was a prophetic critique.

Between 1920 and 1925, Moeran revised the Trio, including several excisions and modifications. The manuscript for the original version is lost. 

The opening movement uses several themes, which, it could be argued are overdeveloped. It has been suggested that Delius may be a model for the beautiful slow movement. The following scherzo is characterised by a much ‘harder edge’, that implies he was trying to get away from the ‘Delian’ tag. It is possible that the Ravel Piano Trio (1914) could have been at the back of Moeran’s mind here. The final movement, a rondo, is infused by folk music, with the principal subject being characterised by a pentatonic mood (black notes on the piano). Whatever the formal shortcomings of the Trio, it has a deep lyrical flow. This is what makes it a success and deserving of more performances.

Bibliography
Cobbett, Walter Willson, ed., Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music Volume 2 (Oxford University Press, 1963)
Maxwell, Ian, The Importance of Being Ernest John: Challenging the Misconceptions about the Life and Works of E. J. Moeran, Doctoral Thesis, Durham University, 2014
McNeill, R. J. (1982). A critical study of the life and works of E. J. Moeran. PhD thesis, Faculty of Music, The University of Melbourne.
Self, Geoffrey, The Music of E.J. Moeran, Toccata Press, 1986
Wild, Stephen, E.J. Moeran, Triad Press, Rickmansworth, 1974
The Moeran Database (website seems to be defunct, July 2024).
The files of The Times, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, The Chesterian, Music Review, Monthly Musical Record etc.

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

To be continued…

The King’s Alchemist: British String Trios

Gerald Finzi’s Prelude and Fugue for string trio, op.24 (1938) is anything but an academic exercise. Standing as the only piece of chamber music that he composed for string ensemble, it is hardly typical of his perceived pastoral style. This contrapuntal music makes use of exquisitely devised dissonances and presents a more astringent atmosphere than expected. One reviewer has suggested that it owes much to the plaintive mood of Peter Warlock’s The Curlew. This Trio was written as a tribute to R.O Morris, who had been one of Finzi’s music teachers.

For me, the most significant work on this CD is Hugh Wood’s Ithaca (2016). The original inspiration was the Greek poet Constantine Cavafy’s (1863-1933) poem, Ithaka. The composer has declared that “I suppose this piece is a sort of mini-symphonic poem – it is at least programme music.” Certainly, the music takes the listener on a journey, analogous to Ulysses/Odysseus’s homeward voyage. Every school child will recall the hero’s trials and tribulations: the Laestrygonians, the Lotus Eaters, the Cyclops, and the sea-god Poseidon. The journey is long. There are all kinds of challenges, intellectual revelations and pleasures. Hugh Wood has used fugal exposition to represent the long journey, contrasting with several lyrical interludes.  Typically, he balances intense drama with revelatory lyricism. There is a clear analogy between Ulysses’s voyage and humankind’s journey through life. The impact of the music reflects the rigours of the journey as well as the invocation of the peaceful Isle of Ithaca itself. It is a splendid work.

Sally Beamish’s The King’s Alchemist for string trio (2013) is also a mini-symphonic poem. The details of the underlying programme are explained in the liner notes written by the composer. It is set at the inspiring edifice of Stirling Castle. The date is prior to 1513, when King James IV is in residence, shortly before his death at Flodden Field. His guests included the composer Robert Carver and the “bizarre John Damian, a European alchemist who charmed the King with promises of creating gold from base metals.” Damian was clearly a charlatan. He distilled whisky as experiments (!), was big on organising entertainments and largely failed to achieve anything useful by his alchemy (apart from the whisky). Then, there was his attempt at manned flight. This failed. He ended up in the castle midden.  Sally Beamish writes, “I was enchanted by this colourful figure, and the trio reflects some aspects of his story. It takes the form of four variations on the French folksong ‘L’Homme Armé’ – a theme used by Carver in one of his masses; and perhaps appropriate to the court of the high-living James IV, who was fond of holding shooting competitions in the beautiful Great Hall of Stirling Castle.” The music is immediately approachable: there is nothing challenging. The overall impression is of a bewitching soundscape, appropriate to the subject matter 

The earliest work on this CD is E.J. Moeran’s Trio for violin, viola and cello, completed in 1931. Moeran has created chamber music that “possesses distinction of thought and clarity and precision of style.”  There is no doubt that this is an “English” work, yet there is no direct quotation of folk-tunes.  The entire Trio is well-written for the present instrumental forces.  There is a good balance between lyricism and some discrete astringency. The heart of the piece is the elegiac second movement adagio.  The work was dedicated “To the Pasquier Trio” who gave the premiere performance on 20 October 1931, during a Music Society concert at the St John’s Institute, Tufton Street, Westminster. 

My only complaint is the stingy 50 minutes playing time. Surely another English Trio could have been found – even a wee one. The CD company will no doubt argue that this is reflected in the relatively moderate price of the disc. The liner notes, by various hands, are excellent. They are conveniently divided into two sections: The Music and the Composers.  The performances by the Eblana String Trio are always inspiring and convincing. The recording is clear and luminous throughout. Altogether, it is a refreshingly well-balanced and imaginative programme.

Track Listing:
Gerald FINZI (1901-1956)
Prelude and Fugue for string trio, op.24 (1938)
Hugh WOOD (b.1932)
Ithaka for string trio, op.61 (2016)
Sally BEAMISH (b.1956)
The King’s Alchemist for string trio (2013)
Ernest John MOERAN (1894-1950)
String Trio in G major (1931)
Eblana String Trio: Jonathan Martindale (violin), Lucy Nolan (viola) Peggy Nolan (cello)
rec. 24-26 April 2019, Recital Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
WILLOWHAYNE RECORDS WHR 067

Some thoughts on E.J. Moeran’s Theme and Variations for piano (1920) Part 2

The ‘premiere’ performance of Theme and Variations was given by Moeran during the 469^th concert of the Oxford and Cambridge Musical Club held on 27 May 1920. One interesting aside is an entry into the Club’s Suggestion Book that ‘it should be possible for members to buy tobacco at the club’ It is signed by the composer. Moeran had taken up pipe-smoking in his army days and continued until the end of his life. (Maxwell, 2014). The Club did not take him up on the proposition.

The first ‘public’ performance of the Theme and Variations was advertised in The Times on 10 October 1921. Miss Dorothea Vincent was billed to play the work at the Wigmore Hall on Friday 14 October at 3:15 pm.  The concert included three Sonatas by Scarlatti, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.27 in E minor, op.90 and Cyril Scott’s massive ‘Introduction and Fugue’ from his Suite No.1 for piano, op.75 (1910) Reporting on the concert, the unsigned critic in The Times (15 October 1921) felt that:

 'we did not quite make out Mr Moeran’s music. It seemed as if it demanded the orchestra; for when the seven diatonic notes are sounded together it is obvious that some of them are substantive and intended, therefore, to be louder than others which are passing notes, and this distinction is easy for the orchestra, but difficult for fingers to make. Still, that the effect was a little ‘muddy’ did not seem to be any fault of the player; on the contrary, one was surprised that it came out as clearly as it did.'

The Daily Telegraph (15 October 1921) reported that ‘by way of novelty, Miss Vincent gave us a Theme and Variations in F minor by E.J. Moeran, a composer with whose name the writer is unfamiliar.’  The reviewer felt that:

‘The theme itself is quite a good one for its purpose, and the elaborations evolved from it are fanciful enough, without ever becoming ‘free’ to the point of completely disguising their origin. The work is written in a modern harmonic idiom [and] was played with plenty of skill and sympathy by Miss Vincent.’

The Theme and Variations was published by Schott and Co. in 1923.  In Volume 2 of the collected edition of Moeran’s piano music (Thames Publishing, 1998) John Talbot explains that despite the composer’s ‘often-avowed dislike’ of Robert Schumann’s music, there is a definite nod towards the German composer’s Études Symphoniques, op.13. This is more to do with mood and technique rather than duration.  Another possible work impacting on Moeran’s Theme and Variations is Gabriel Fauré’s eponymous op.73. Neither does it take much imagination to hear the influence of Moeran’s teacher John Ireland. In fact, the theme itself seems to echo the Holy Boy (1913). In the same year as the Theme and Variations were completed, Ireland composed his magisterial Piano Sonata and concluded his well-loved Three London Pieces: ‘Chelsea Reach’, ‘Ragamuffin’ and ‘Soho Forenoons’.

R.J. McNeil (1982) understands that in this work, Moeran ‘demonstrates a command of pianistic devices and effects throughout six variations and a virtuoso finale.’ McNeil does point out that ‘some might think that the finale is weakened by a predominance of technical effects which do not seem to proceed naturally from the development of the theme.’

Geoffrey Self (1986) was not impressed with Moeran’s Theme and Variations: he thinks that the theme, ‘while of haunting beauty’ offers too few opportunities for variation, which appear to him to be ‘uneven in quality.’ Again, Self considers that the finale is ‘not entirely successful.’ He does not give a reason, but it is possibly that the quality of the piano writing is sometimes less than convincing. He states that the third variation, the ‘march’ is ‘uncouth in texture’. The only positive element of the piece for Self is the 5^th variation with its alteration between ‘violent declamatory octaves’ and the quiet ‘withdrawn chordal passages’.  Here, there is a ‘glimpse of Moeran’s deeper self and…his latent power.’

Despite the misgivings of some critics both ‘then and now’, Moeran’s Theme and Variations is an appealing work that provides the listener with considerable musical interest, highlighting a wide range of emotion and textures. There is both vivacity and reflection in these pages in what is a typically Moeran-esque composition, despite a few pianistically awkward moments. For me, this is music that speaks of the Norfolk and the Irish landscape without ever descending into ‘Pastoral’ or ‘Irish’ clichés.

Bibliography

McNeill, R. J., A critical study of the life and works of E. J. Moeran. PhD thesis, Faculty of Music, The University of Melbourne (1982)

Maxwell, Ian, The Importance of Being Ernest John: Challenging the Misconceptions about the Life and Works of E. J. Moeran, Doctoral theses, Durham University, 2014

Self, Geoffrey, The Music of E.J. Moeran, Toccata Press, 1986

Ed. Talbot, John, E.J. Moeran: The Collected Solo Piano Music, Volume 2 Thames Publishing, 1998

Discography:

E.J. Moeran & Gordon Jacob Piano Music/Iris Loveridge Lyrita REAM.1103: original LP release Moeran Piano Music, RCS3 (1959/2008)

E.J. Moeran: Complete Piano Works/ Eric Parkin JMSCD 2 (1994)

E.J. Moeran: The Complete Solo Piano Music/Una Hunt ASV CD DCA 1138 (2003)

E.J. Moeran: The Complete Solo Piano Music + works by his English and Irish contemporaries/Duncan Honeybourne EM Records 0012-13 (2013)

Some thoughts on E.J. Moeran’s Theme and Variations for piano (1920) Part 1

Amongst works celebrating their centenary in 2020, Moeran’s Theme and Variations may seem like a relatively light-weight, unimportant anniversary. Yet this short piano piece marks a significant mile post in the composer’s career. Here we have a subtle fusion of Moeran’s English and Irish sensibilities as well as his growing technical command of formal and technical procedures. It is a work that is worthy of study as well as giving considerable pleasure and enjoyment.

In January 1919, Ernest John (E.J. Moeran) was demobilised from the Army. After a possible interlude as a teacher at Uppingham School and time spent in Ireland, he returned to the Royal College of Music. There he studied composition with John Ireland. The works that Moeran composed around this period included his extensive Piano Trio (1920), the song cycle Ludlow Town (1920) and his first recognised orchestral work, In the Mountain Country: [A] Symphonic Impression (1921). Geoffrey Self (1986) has written that from this point ‘the main influences to be heard in his music were now in place: his teacher, his Irish and East Anglian heritages, and his love of rural England.’

Virtually every commentator on the Theme and Variations for piano implies that the theme ‘seems instantly recognisable’ yet hard to pin down. Eric Parkin (CD Liner Notes, 1994) suggests ‘A Norfolk folksong, surely?’ Self (1986) states that the ‘theme could pass muster as one of the Norfolk folk-tunes he was shortly to collect and arrange’ and publish in 1923. The short answer is that this theme is one of Moeran’s own devising. 

Fig.1

This is the longest of Moeran’s piano works, lasting for nearly 14 minutes. The formal structure of the piece consists of the ‘Andante’ theme (Fig.1) followed by six variations and concluding with a long finale.  The ‘theme’, echoing English (possibly Norfolk) folksong, is written with a largely Dorian mode melody centred on F. This means the Db in a F melodic minor scale is typically played as D natural. This theme has a ‘diatonic, full chordal accompaniment’ emphasising the folk-like simplicity of the tune. The melody is played in octaves between left and right hands.

The first variation is marked ‘Poco piu moto’ implying a little more movement. McNeil (1982) suggests that it is a ‘moto perpetuo’ but it also features some delicate arabesques shared between hands. This leads into an ‘Allegro scherzando’ which introduces parallel fourth and fifth chords and jagged harmonies. Rapidly changing time signatures and ‘chattering semiquavers’ add to this variation’s vibrancy. The mood changes with an ‘energetic march’ which builds to a climax before dying away into the distance. This is characterised by filled octaves in the right hand supported by bare octave running quavers in the left hand. Variation 4 is much calmer and reflective: it should be played ‘Allegretto sostenuto’. Moeran has introduced a flexible metrical system that juxtaposes 9/8 and 6/8 bars. The fifth variation, a ‘Vivace’, is intricate. Partly presented as a ‘gigue’ with triplets superimposed on 4/4 time it is balanced by minim chords played with ‘una corda’ (soft pedal). 

Fig.2

The last variation (Fig.2) moves the focus of the music from Norfolk to Ireland. This is the emotional heart of the work and shows considerable depth of feeling. After a series of powerful and assertive chords this heartbreakingly beautiful music enters the finale. This complex ‘allargando ma mon troppo lento’ is a ternary (three-part) song movement with an extended coda which is truly dramatic and virtuosic in effect. It presents a thesaurus of pianistic devices with some recollection of phrases from the foregoing variations.

To be concluded

Ernest John Moeran: 1894-1950 Obituary by Arthur Hutchings

Ernest John Moeran died on 1 December 1950. He had been staying at Kenmore in County Kerry. He was ostensibly working on his second symphony. No apparent progress had been made. Unfortunately, he was struggling with alcoholism and mental health problems. Moeran had left his lodgings mid afternoon and headed towards Kenmare pier. He was seen toppling into the water and although a boat was immediately launched to rescue him; he was already dead when brought ashore. The inquest found that the composer had died of a cerebral haemorrhage which had occurred before he fell.

In the immediate aftermath of Moeran’s death his music seems to have entered the doldrums. It was not until the major recording projects initiated by Lyrita, Chandos and Naxos that his work was heard. Unfortunately, this belated interest has not spread to the concert halls and recital rooms.

The present obituary by the musicologist and composer Arthur Hutchings (1906-89) is one of several published after the composer’s death. It was printed in the Monthly Musical Record May 1951.  I have lightly annotated this essay.

BAX, IRELAND, WARLOCK, GIBBS, HOWELLS and MOERAN cannot but be regarded as a group, however much the enthusiast for one of them deplores such grouping; none of them, despite works with such titles as 'A London Overture', is inspired by modern urban civilization; each has faced the task of expressing romantic emotions without using musical phraseology in which those emotions have already been adequately expressed; each has been called 'escapist'- a word which has no more right than 'conventional' to unqualified use as a term of opprobrium; each has known, and possibly shared, the unjustified criteria which demand the satisfactory fulfilment of symphonic dimensions as a proof of first-rate creative ability; each has a gentle muse, capable of impassioned expression, but not convincing in ferocity, as Vaughan Williams's can be, or in ascetic mysticism, as Holst's was. [1]

It is not the duty of the general critic, still less of the writer of an obituary tribute, to forecast the ultimate relative importance of contemporary artists. Let time do its own work. It would be churlish, however, not to recognize the ‘still fairer hopes’ of additions to the ‘rich treasure’ given us by Moeran. All but two of the six composers named are still vigorously creative; Moeran was the youngest of them. Unlike the others, but like Vaughan Williams, he did not show extraordinary brilliance and facility in boyhood and youth, and his most considerable achievement came late, notably in two works which one seems to have reviewed as ‘New Music’ only a week or so ago—the Concerto and the Sonata for cello written in 1947 for his wife, Peers Coetmore. In these pieces he seems past the stage of the G minor Symphony and the Violin Concerto, which show a determination not to let natural lyricism take the stage too easily, and we may lament Moeran's death in frank selfishness, more than we might lament the death of a more clever or more highly idiomatic artist whose work was complete. Some composers are historically or biologically necessary in the evolution of musical expression; Moeran was not, and the fact is of minor importance when set against the fact that, in an age of philosophic uncertainty and technical experiment, he left a small legacy of works which enrich us now and are likely to be treasured when we are gone.

By the sheer sincerity of his best work, Moeran gained the attention of ears already familiar with most elements of his vocabulary in the music of Warlock, Bax or Ireland, [2] with whom Moeran studied in the years following his military service in the first war. He had collected Norfolk songs, enjoyed the music of Delius, Elgar, Vaughan Williams and others, and, though he remained the sociable and bluff  ‘Jack’ Moeran when visiting friends in London, he developed a liking for seclusion, first in East Anglia and then on the wild coastline of the north-west islands [of Scotland]. He also acquired a great love of the Tudor and Stuart musicians and poets. His temperament is reflected in the String Quartet, the Violin Sonata, and the short pieces which first brought him a large number of admirers: 'In the Mountain Country', 'Lonely Waters' and 'Whythorne's Shadow'. Here are no wild oats, no weeds of carelessness to eliminate from more mature and deliberate writing. The admiration of Delius is implicit, but there is more reticence than in Delius; there is also a certain Elizabethan sophistication that distinguishes Moeran from Bax or Ireland, and it is one of the marks of his better pieces that they do not seem spiced with conscious archaisms.

Moeran wrote exceptionally well for singers, achieving excellence of part-writing and sensitive setting of words; but here again, many will prefer the spontaneous ‘Songs of Springtime’ to the second choral suite, ‘Phyllida and Corydon’, which is more mannered and madrigalian, and contains passages which many a good student could write. No song in the later suite compares with ‘Love is a sickness’ in the earlier. Moeran perfected a choral style, a development of Elizabethan phrasing and the bittersweet harmony of virtuoso madrigalists, which Warlock deployed only in accompaniments, though he suggested it in one or two short carols. Certain of Moeran's solo songs should be better known, the ‘Ludlow Town’ cycle, for instance, or the exquisite setting of ‘Tis time, I think, by Wenlock Town’ and few collectors have better arranged folk tunes.

The works mentioned take us to the thirties, before which decade Moeran did not attract wide notice. The Symphony [in G minor] of 1937 is not to be praised or condemned either because it shows labour, for so does Walton's, Rawsthorne's [3] and many another ‘single’ symphony, nor because it is ‘inspired’ by the coast of South Ireland. The great opening melody is said to contain most of the material used in the first movement, but that fact does not in itself guarantee integrity. A symphony, whether programmatic or not, must hold us by purely musical processes. There are not wanting those who consider that Moeran's Symphony does so when those processes are least elaborate and frankly lyrical, and that the continental musician whom we wish to acquaint with the best and most characteristic of Moeran's music should first hear pieces like the slow movement of the String Quartet - the musical equivalent of fine water-colour painting - and proceed to the Violin Concerto (1938) which allowed him to sing, without bothering about being symphonic - a word not yet precisely defined. Melodic beauty is always rare and grows rarer as composers are timid to acknowledge romantic impulses; violin concertos of brittle themes and fiendish virtuosity do not seem to live long. From the Violin Concerto we should turn to the engaging and vernal Sinfonietta and finally to the two cello works, the Concerto and the Sonata that were written after the second war. These alone prove that lengthy composition was possible to a sensitive lyrical spirit who strove for it, with impatience sometimes, and passed from us just as nature had bestowed mastery. [4]

Arthur Hutchings, Monthly Musical Record May 1951, p.88-90.

Notes

[1] The author is clearly alluding to such works as Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No.4 in F minor (1935) and the Mars movement from Holst’s Planets Suite (1920).

[2] Many critics have suggested that Moeran was a musical kleptomaniac, using other composer’s aesthetics and styles, but failing to develop his own voice. It is an unfair judgement. Not all composers are destined to break new ground. Even the incomparable J.S. Bach created a perfect fusion of styles derived from Buxtehude, Pachelbel and Froberger.

[3] In 1950 both William Walton and Alan Rawsthorne had only produced a single symphony each. Walton would write his second example in 1959 and Rawsthorne would compose a further two essays in the genre, in 1959 and 1964.

[4] The list of works that Arthur Hutchings suggests the listener should explore would not become available on record for many years. Furthermore, it is doubtful that they would be heard in the concert hall. Fortunately, several programmes on the BBC Third Programme did feature Moeran’s music in the 1950s.

Folk Tales: British Cello and Piano Miniatures on Naxos

This excellent CD fills several little gaps in the British musical repertoire for cello and piano. I am not suggesting that all these works cannot be found on other discs, downloads, uploads and vinyl. What is important is to have these minor masterpieces all in one place. Add to that, the committed performances of these pieces, the succinct liner notes and the splendid sound quality and you have an ideal disc for enthusiasts of both cello music and this group of pre-eminent late 19^th/early 20^th century British composers. 

I explored these works in chronological order rather than by composer. 

Despite the liner notes’ statement that Frederick Delius’s Romance for cello and piano was composed in 1918, when he was hard at work on the opera Koanga, I beg to suggest that this dating is wrong. For starters, Delius was working on this opera between 1895 and 1897. Secondly, I followed the score of the ‘Romance’ in the Frederick Delius Complete Works edition, Volume 31c. Robert Threlfall gives the date of this Romance as 1896. It was published posthumously in 1976. So, the Koanga connection is correct but the date is manifestly wrong.

Whatever the dating of this piece, it is a little bit of Delius that is largely untypical of his later works. It is both ‘winsome’ and ‘charming’ but sometimes displaying something a little more troubled.

Other early pieces are the ‘Romance’ by Sir Edward Elgar and the ‘Cradle Song’ by Frank Bridge.  Elgar originally wrote his ‘Romance’ for bassoon and orchestra in 1910. In the same year, it was published in a version for bassoon and piano. I am guessing that the version played here was made by Julian Lloyd Webber in 1985. Like so much music by Elgar, the typically warm, romantic sound of this work has a melancholic undertow.

The same year saw the Cradle Song by Frank Bridge. Ostensibly a ‘salon’ piece this beautiful short work evokes sadness and provides a glimpse of the composer’s ‘impressionistic’ style, soon to blossom forth in the remarkable tone poem The Sea. The other Bridge piece on this CD is the equally evocative ‘Spring Song’ arranged to be played by either violin or cello: it was dedicated to the composer’s pupil Cynthia Lubbock. Do not let the relative technical ease of the solo part detract from the ‘Elgarian’ wistfulness clearly displayed in this Song.

The most substantial work on this CD is Arnold Bax’s splendid Folk Tale. This piece was written at the conclusion of the Great War. The liner notes major on the impact of W.B. Yeats and the Celtic Revival on Bax’s music. Perhaps the inference is that the composer was writing a forlorn commentary on the events in Dublin during the Easter Rising of 1916? Interestingly, the work was written in same year that the composer left his wife Elsita Sobrino for Harriet Cohen. Yet I think the mood of this work is ‘Northern’. It is redolent of the much later orchestral tone-poem The Tale the Pine-Trees Knew (1931) with its dark colourings. Sibelius may be the musical inspiration in this Folk Tale, rather than the Free-State? Whatever the background, this is not a bucolic folk song, but ‘a tragic and melancholy reflection on Bax’s life and the world he found himself in’- both politically and emotionally.

Folk Tale for cello and piano was dedicated to Felix Salmond, who along with the composer gave the work its premiere in 1918.

I have always enjoyed listening to RVWs Six Studies in English Folk Song written in 1926. I have very happy memories of playing the piano part for a cellist now sadly dead. They seem to me to epitomise the subtle balance between the ‘innocence’ of the base material and its subtle reworking by Vaughan Williams. All the songs were collected by the composer ‘in the field’. The success of these studies is heightened by their conciseness and brevity. For me, the most beautiful (and memorable) number is the second song- ‘Spurn Point’- it is a surprisingly concentrated little piece that is utterly heart-breaking in its impact.

They have been ‘dished up’ in many guises with the solo part played by violin, clarinet or cello. There is also a version for cello and small orchestra arranged by Arnold Foster in 1957. The present version the Six Studies original incarnation.

Frederick Delius wrote his ‘Caprice’ and ‘Elegy’ for cello and piano during the last years of his life. He was assisted by his amanuensis Eric Fenby. Both were originally devised for cello and a chamber orchestra and are dedicated to the prominent cellist Beatrice Harrison. My thoughts about the ‘Caprice’ is that it is wrongly titled. It is hardly ‘capricious’ in its exposition; more of a subdued, meditative romance. Equally dark in mood is the ‘Elegy’ which is quite a complex little piece that balances two troubled melodies.

RVWs Fantasia on Greensleeves needs no introduction. Originally lifted from the composer’s opera Sir John in Love (1929) by Ralph Greaves in 1934, it has been arranged by several hands for various instrumental combinations including string orchestra with harp and optional flutes, piano solo, violin and piano and the present version for cello and piano. This latter was arranged by Scottish violist Watson Forbes in 1947.

My ultimate Desert Island Disc is E.J. Moeran’s Cello Concerto dating from 1945. It was dedicated to Peers Coetmore. They had been wed in that year, but alas, their marriage was not a great success. They were to a large extent incompatible: Moeran often need to escape into solitude and Coetmore had the pressures of a busy concert schedule. The ‘Prelude’ was the first piece that he dedicated to Peers. It was composed in 1943 and was presented to her before she went on a concert tour with ENSA. It is a beautiful tear-jerking tune, supported by a simple, but ultimately effective accompaniment. It surely reflects Moeran’s deep feelings towards his wife. The ‘Prelude’s’ first performance was in Alexandria in Egypt.

The Irish Lament is a much more powerful work based on a genuine Irish folk tune: ‘Johnny Asthore’. I am not sure that I have heard this piece before, although I have read the score. More complex than the Prelude, the piano part echoes the composer’s Irish Love Song for piano solo. Notwithstanding this self-borrowing, this a gorgeous elegy for cello and piano which once again seems to speak volumes about Moeran’s love for Peers Coetmore and possibly the realisation of the ultimate end of the relationship.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable album that is exceptionally well-played by Gerald Peregrine (cello) and Antony Ingham (piano). The liner notes are concise and informative, despite the misdating of the Delius ‘Romance’. And finally, for my point of view the CD is worth the price just to have a recording of Jack Moeran’s Irish Lament.

Track Listing:

Ralph Vaughan WILLIAMS (1972-1958) Six Studies in English Folk Song (1926)

Frank BRIDGE (1879-1941) Four Short Pieces for violin and piano: no.2 ‘Spring Song’ (1912)

E. J. MOERAN (1894-1950) Irish Lament (1944)

Edward ELGAR (1852-1934) Romance (version for cello and piano), op.62 (1910)

Frederick DELIUS (1862-1934) Caprice (1930), Elegy (1930)

Arnold BAX (1883-1953) Folk Tale (1918)

E.J. MOERAN Prelude for cello and piano (1943)

Frederick DELIUS Romance for cello and piano (1896)

Frank BRIDGE Cradle Song for cello and piano (1910)

Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, Fantasia on Greensleeves (1934/47) (arr. Ralph GREAVES/Watson FORBES)

Gerald Peregrine (cello), Antony Ingham (piano)

Rec. Potton Hall, Suffolk, 19-20 February, 10 July 2018

NAXOS 8.574035 [54:26]

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published. 

E.J. Moeran Te Deum and Jubilate in E flat (1930)

I was tidying up a pile of choral sheet music the other day. Amongst many little gems I found a copy of E.J. Moeran’s Te Deum and Jubilate in E flat (1931). It was originally price 1s.9d, which, in new money is just under 9p. I paid the grand sum of 5p in a second-hand bookshop. Two things can be said. Firstly, despite being a great enthusiast of Moeran, I had ‘forgotten’ that he had written any ‘liturgical’ music. And secondly, what a splendid number it turned out to be. I played the piece through on the piano best I could and then was lucky to find a YouTube recording sung by the Choir of Norwich Cathedral. (See below for details).

In fact, there is precious little church music in Moeran’s catalogue. All were composed in 1930. The earliest piece would appear to be ‘Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem’ for SATB chorus and organ. The next work is a setting of the Evening Canticles (Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis) now known (where known at all) as Moeran in D. The third was the Te Deum and Jubilate in E flat provides for the Book of Common Prayer Matins service.

These three pieces were published by Oxford University Press in 1931. The final ‘church’ piece is ‘Blessed are those servants’ which sets a text from St Luke’s Gospel for unaccompanied SATB chorus. This appeared in 1939.

In a letter to Peter Warlock, Moeran writes:

‘I have a fairly easy Te Deum all ready & copied out & am well on with an evening service into which I cannot resist inserting some luscious Stainerisms. I spend a good deal of time writing music, but lack of privacy prevents me from doing anything on a larger scale, as I am still too helpless to be free of constant attendance…’

Moeran was in hospital following a ship-board accident. ‘Stainerisms’ refers to musical devices penned by the Victorian composer and organist Sir John Stainer. In 1930 they would have been regarded as ‘quaint.’

E.J. Moeran’s Te Deum and Jubilate in E flat is set in context in a short note in the Moeran Database. I cannot confirm, but I guess that this is an extract from the Priory CD liner notes written by Michael Nicholas in 1993:

‘[The setting displays] ...strongly diatonic unison writing [which] contrasts with the modal flavour of the harmonised passages. The choral writing, often heard over marching bass lines in the organ accompaniment, suggests Vaughan Williams and Holst... However, these movements have characteristics of their own, fitting well into the regular round of Anglican worship.’

I was impressed by the Te Deum and Jubilate. It shows considerable invention, great sympathy for the text and a generally imaginative flair. The contrasts in the alteration between the ‘big’ diatonic unison tune with which the Te Deum opens and the four-part writing are excellent. There are few contrapuntal passages in either section of the canticle, although there are some canonic exchanges between the organ and unison voices (Thou art the King of Glory). Harmonically, the setting is largely diatonic, though Moeran does sometimes modulate to chords well-removed from the prevailing key centre. The organ part features several added note chords as well as the pronounced walking bass.

Although it is not certain that Moeran retained any religious opinions or beliefs, he is known to have enjoyed hearing his canticles and would attend Hereford Cathedral when they were slated for performance.

E.J. Moeran Te Deum and Jubilate in E flat (1930) was released on Priory PRCD 470 (1993). The choir of Norwich Cathedral was conducted by Michael Nicholas and the organ played by Neil Taylor. The Te Deum and the Jubilate can be heard on YouTube. The score can be found online at IMSLP.