Ernest John Moeran

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Except for a web link to a composition, no lei literature, evidence, individual references (as of March 27, 2014).

Ernest John Moeran (born December 31, 1894 in Heston near London , † December 1, 1950 in Kenmare, Ireland ) was an English composer .

Life

Moeran was the son of a clergyman of Irish descent, but his family moved early to Fen Country , Norfolk . He learned the piano and violin as a child and from 1913 studied at the Royal College of Music in London with Charles Villiers Stanford . He suffered severe head wounds during World War I , and it is believed that this was a contributory cause of his later mental illness. After the war he continued his studies at college, now with John Ireland . His first mature compositions, songs and chamber music also date from this period. In addition, he began collecting and arranging folk music from Norfolk and other regions.

Moeran became a close friend of Peter Warlock in the mid-1920s , and they lived for several years in Eynsford , Kent , known locally for frequent drinking parties. Moeran struggled with alcohol problems for the rest of his life, later associated with mental instability. After Warlock's death, his interest in his Irish roots grew and he now spent most of his time in Kenmare, Ireland . In 1945 he married the cellist Peers Coetmore (1905–1976). The years of marriage were not pure happiness, although they inspired two of Moeran's masterpieces: the cello concerto and the cello sonata . Moeran died of a sudden brain hemorrhage at the age of 55.

Compositional style

Moeran was one of the last great English composers to be influenced mainly by English folk song, and thus belongs in the lyrical tradition of composers such as Frederick Delius , Vaughan Williams and John Ireland. The influences of the nature and landscapes of Norfolk and Ireland are also often evident in his music. However, unlike some of the now forgotten English "pastoral" composers, Moeran was able to express all kinds of emotions in his music, and he did not shy away from engaging somber and harsh moods when he felt like it. His style is conservative but not epigonal.

Already at Moerans lifetime his style appeared in some ways obsolete and he never reached as a composer that big break, despite the success of his dark, to Jean Sibelius reminiscent Symphony in G minor (1924-1937), considered to be his masterpiece. Although his chamber music initially received positive reviews, and he continued to write important works in this genre, his greatest achievements can be found in the few major orchestral works, including a violin concerto , a sinfonietta and a serenade . Today his works attract more attention, which is also evident in numerous recordings. Many, however, such as the songs based on poems by AE Housman and James Joyce , are still relatively unknown.

literature

• Alfred Baumgartner: Propylaea World of Music - The Composers - A lexicon in five volumes . Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-549-07830-7 , pp. 61, volume 4 .

Web links

• Moeran: String Quartet No. 1 , sound examples