More albums from John Ireland
John Ireland's Popular Music Videos
About John Ireland
Hometown
Inglewood, Bowden, Cheshire, England
Born
1879
Genre
Classical
Ireland’s musical idiom combined English Romanticism with an impressionist finesse derived from Debussy, and a dash of Stravinsky-influenced modernism. Born in Cheshire in 1879, he won a scholarship to London’s Royal College of Music at age 14; soon afterward, both his parents died, a blow from which his introverted emotional life never fully recovered. For many years Ireland worked as a church organist and taught piano at the RCM. His large output of songs explored an expressive world ranging from the fervent lyricism of “Sea-Fever” (1913) to the taut realism of two Thomas Hardy cycles (1925 and 1926). He also composed many short solo piano pieces, while his orchestral works included Mai-Dun (1921), inspired by the setting of an iron-age hill fort in Dorsetshire. His Piano Concerto (1930) was dedicated to a young student to whom he was attracted (though a relationship never blossomed), Helen Perkin, who played the work frequently. In 1953 he retired to live in a converted windmill in Sussex, where he died nine years later.
Similar to: John Ireland
Discover more music and artists similar to John Ireland, like Pierre De Charmoy, Lesley Rae Dowling, The Helicopters
