This long-awaited study of the life and music of Anglo-Irish composer Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950) finally provides a full biography of the last senior figure in early twentieth-century British Music to have been without one.This long-awaited study of the life and music of Anglo-Irish composer Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950) finally provides a full biography of the last senior figure in early twentieth-century British Music to have been without one. Although Moeran's work was widely performed during his lifetime, he suffered neglect in the years following his death. It was not until a re-awakening of appreciation for the music of the folksong-inspired English pastoralism in the latter part of the twentieth century that Moeran's tuneful, well-crafted and approachable music began to attract a new audience. However, widely accepted misconceptions about his life and character have obscured a clearunderstanding of both man and composer. Written with the benefit of access to previously unknown or unresearched archives, Ernest John Moeran: His Life and Music strips away a hitherto unchallenged mythological framework, and replaces it by a thorough-going examination and analysis of the life and work of a musician that may reasonably be asserted as having been unique in British music history.

IntroductionPart 1: Ancestry, Childhood and EducationChapter 1: Irish and Victorian OriginsChapter 2 (1894-1908): Childhood and Early EducationChapter 3 (1908-1912): Uppingham SchoolChapter 4 (1912-1914): The Music StudentPart 2: The First World WarChapter 5 (1914-1917): In the ArmyChapter 6 (1917): A Composer Goes to WarChapter 7 (1918): Ireland, and RecoveryPart 3: Rise and FallChapter 8 (1919-1920): The Establishment of a ComposerChapter 9 (1921-1922): LondonChapter 10 (1923-1924): Meteoric RiseChapter 11 (1925-1927): The Composer RuinedPart 4: ReconstructionChapter 12 (1928-1931): Starting AgainChapter 13 (1932-1935): Rebuilding a ReputationChapter 14 (1936-1942): Return to IrelandPart 5: Maturity, Marriage and Last YearsChapter 15 (1943-1944): 'Wonderful Things Together'Chapter 16 (1944-1945): MuseChapter 17 (1945-1946): 'My Word as a Gentleman'Chapter 18 (1947-1948): Masterpiece?Chapter 19 (1949-1950): 'No More Partings'Chapter 20: Last Days and DeathAppendix I: The Moeran MythologyAppendix II: List of WorksSelect BibliographyIndex