Overview

Composer Ina Boyle (1889–1967) was the first Irishwoman to undertake a symphony, a concerto and a ballet. After developing a passion for music at an early age, she worked at her craft throughout her life being educated privately in Dublin and later in England.   In 1919 her orchestral rhapsody, ‘The magic harp’, was selected for publication by the prestigious Carnegie United Kingdom Trust and was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. From 1923 until the outbreak of the Second World War she travelled regularly to London for lessons with composer and mentor Ralph Vaughan Williams. During the 1940s several of her orchestral works were broadcast on Radio Éireann in programmes of music by Irish composers.  Despite these achievements, Boyle struggled to gain recognition during her lifetime or to hear her works performed. This long overdue study seeks to restore her legacy as one of twentieth-century Ireland’s most prolific composers. 

Full Product Details

9781782052654

Table of Contents

Reviews

...a welcome addition to scholarship devoted to women composers, particularly in the much-needed area of biography, where there is still much work to be done ... Beausang and de Barra make a compelling case for Boyle's music.--Erica Siegel ""NABMSA Reviews"" I warmly recommend ... to everyone with an interest in Irish musical history and/or female composers.--Anja Bunzel ""Women's History Association of Ireland"" ... Beausang and de Barra's work provide a wonderful starting point for re-engagement with Boyle's life and work for students, listeners, programmers, artists and listeners alike.--Niamh NicGhabhann ""Irish Studies Review"" Meticulously researched, this attractive volume is a fascinating account of an extraordinary life and will be a valuable resource for any performers undertaking a revival of the work of Ina Boyle.--Cathy Desmond ""The Irish Examiner"" This book will appeal to music students and scholars interested in Irish music studies, as well as studies of Boyle's contemporaries or mentors, including Vaughan Williams and Maconchy. It is more broadly recommended to general readers interested in Irish music, women composers, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century music. --Anna E. Kijas ""Notes""

Author Information

Ita Beausang lectured at Cork Municipal School of Music and at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama where she also served as Acting Director. Her book Anglo-Irish Music 1780–1830 (1966) is the standard work on the period. In 2014 she was awarded honorary life membership of the Society for Musicology in Ireland.  Séamas de Barra is a composer and musicologist whose orchestral and vocal works have been performed and broadcast by the National Orchestra of Ireland, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the BBC Singers, the National Chamber Choir amongst others. He has published widely on twentieth-century Irish music including a major monograph on Aloys Fleischmann. He was editor (with Patrick Zuk) of a series of monographs on Irish composers issued by Field Day Press in conjunction with the University of Notre Dame. 

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