John Ireland (1879-1962)

John Ireland was born in Bowdon, near Manchester, England in 1879. He studied piano, organ and composition under Charles Villiers Stanford at The Royal College of Music and went on to teach, perform and compose. Fame came overnight, following the performance of the Second Violin Sonata toward the end of the First World War.

Ireland’s lifelong music career continued with his teaching at The Royal College where he studied, as well as fulfilling the role of organist and choirmaster at St. Luke’s Church in Chelsea, London.

As an English Impressionist composer, influenced by the French styles of Debussy and Ravel, Ireland preferred small, intimate forms. He concentrated on chamber music, songs and piano works as well as producing the sacred music his role at St. Luke’s required. English poetry provided a rich source of inspiration. Ireland’s settings of verses by A. E. Houseman, Thomas Hardy and Christina Rossetti are some of his best known works.

Another hallmark of Ireland is a real sense of the English countryside within the music. Ireland’s frequent visits to the Channel Islands were clearly a source of great inspiration as was the county of Sussex in which he settled. Fittingly, A converted windmill at the foot of the Downs became his retirement home. He died aged 82 from heart failure.