Ina Boyle

Boyle was born in Bushey Park near Enniskerry, County Wicklow, and grew up in a restricted circle of her mother, father and sister. Her first music lessons were with her father William Foster Boyle (1860–1951), who was curate at St. Patrick's Church, Powerscourt, and was given violin and cello lessons by her governess with her younger sister Phyllis. From the age of eleven, she studied theory and harmony with Samuel Myerscough, the English organist who founded the Leinster School of Music in 1904.[http://enniskerryhistory.org/index.php/archives/2947 Beausang, Ita: "An Irish composer and World War I"] Enniskerry Local History Archives, enniskerryhistory.org. From 1904 onwards, she also undertook lessons via correspondence with Charles Wood, who was married to Boyle's cousin Charlotte Georgina Wills-Sandford.

From 1910 Boyle took lessons with Percy Buck who had just been appointed a non-resident professor of music at Trinity College Dublin. By 1913 she was studying counterpoint, harmony and composition with Charles Herbert Kitson and George Hewson in Dublin.{{cite thesis |last=Scott |first=David |date=2018 |title=Examining the Irish Art Song: Original Song Settings of Irish Texts by Irish Composers, 1900-1930 |type=MPhil |publisher=DIT |pages=109–110}} Kitson encouraged her to compose the two anthems published in 1915, but his promise of a performance at Christ Church did not happen in the end. From 1923, Boyle began to travel to London to take lessons with Ralph Vaughan Williams.Doctor, J (1998). '"Working for her own Salvation": Vaughan Williams as teacher of Elizabeth Maconchy, Grace Williams and Ina Boyle', in L. Foreman (ed.), Vaughan Williams in Perspective: Studies of an English Composer After exchanging correspondence, Boyle took her first composition lesson with Vaughan Williams at his home in February 1923.{{cite book |title=Letters of Ralph Vaughan Williams 1895-1958|first=Ralph|last=Vaughan Williams|first2=Hugh|last2=Cobbe|year=2008}}

Boyle's music received a series of first performances during the 1920s and 1930s in England, but though well-received they were very infrequent. She gained some benefit from her involvement with a group of other young female composers including Elisabeth Lutyens, Elizabeth Maconchy and Grace Williams, who organised a concert series as performance opportunity.{{cite book|author=Rhiannon Mathias|title=Lutyens, Maconchy, Williams and Twentieth-Century British Music: A Blest Trio of Sirens|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=md8oDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA35|year=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-10300-4|page=35}}

But the need to look after her family at home restricted her travelling, which mostly ceased altogether from the outset of war. Her mother died in 1931, her sister in 1938 and her father in 1951. Boyle continued to compose every day. Though isolated she nevertheless maintained contact with her peers and continually sent her scores to conductors and choir directors in the hope of further performances.[https://www.inaboyle.org/biography-1#:~:text=INA%20BOYLE%20was%20a%20prolific,were%20with%20her%20father%2C%20Rev. Biography, Ina Boyle Society] www.inaboyle.org In 1944 an orchestral concert devoted to her music was organised by Arthur Duff. However, with one exception (the brief orchestral overture Wildgeese of 1942), no new work of hers ever received a second performance.McGuiggan, James C. [https://journalofmusic.com/focus/making-case-ina-boyle 'Making the Case for Ina Boyle'] The Journal of Music, journalofmusic.com, 17 October 2019]

Ina Boyle died of cancer in Greystones, County Wicklow.Ita Beausang: "Boyle, Ina", in: The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland, ed. by Harry White and Barra Boydell (Dublin: UCD Press, 2013), p. 119–121.

Because of her isolation, Boyle's music was seldom performed. However, she continued to compose until her death.{{cite book |title=The Pandora Guide to Women Composers: Britain and the United States|url=https://archive.org/details/pandoraguidetowo00full|url-access=registration|author=Fuller, Sophie|year=1994}}

Early recognition came in 1913 when two of her works, the Elegy for cello and orchestra and a setting of Walt Whitman's The Last Invocation, were awarded first and second prizes in the composers' competition at the Sligo Feis Ceoil. In 1919, her orchestral rhapsody The Magic Harp received a Carnegie Award, through which it was published and was taken up by the conductor Dan Godfrey in Bournemouth.[http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Dec11/Godfrey_encores_CDLX7276.htm Dan Godfrey Encores], MusicWeb International www.musicweb-international.com[https://stainer.co.uk/ena-boyle/ Score of The Magic Harp], Stainer & Bell, stainer.co.uk.

The first of her three symphonies was composed between 1924 and 1927, but had to wait until 1945 for its first complete performance, at a Raidió Éireann studio concert.[https://issuu.com/rtenationalsymphonyorchestra/docs/composing_island_brochure_final_pri RTE, Composing the Island (2016) programme notes], issuu.com. Subtitled Glencree ("In the Wicklow Hills"), the three movements take the form of tone poems describing specific locations: "On Lacken Hill", "Nightwinds in the Valley", and "Above Lough Bray".[http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/2018/03/ Foreman, Lewis. New Dutton Epoch releases – April 2018] www.duttonvocalion.co.uk The second symphony (The Dream of the Rood), composed in 1930, received its world premiere on 30 September 2022 in Dublin, performed by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, conductor David Brophy.[https://www.inaboyle.org/forthcoming-performances/ina-boyle-second-symphony-world-premiere-national-concert-hall-dublin-rte-nso Ina Boyle: forthcoming performances]

The brief, three-movement Violin Concerto of the early 1930s has (according to Rob Barnett) "more in common with The Lark Ascending than with the big British Isles statements by Bax, Walton, Dyson, Creith and Moeran of that decade".[http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/May/Boyle_orchestral_CDLX7352.htm Boyle: Orchestral Works]. MusicWeb International, www.musicweb-international.com. The Concerto was dedicated to Boyle's mother who had died in 1932.

Her String Quartet in E minor (1934) was dedicated to Anne Macnaghten. A private recording was made by the Macnaghten Quartet, but the score remained in manuscript until a new edition was made in 2011, used for the first modern performance by the Callino Quartet on 4 February 2011.David Byers. [https://www.byersmusic.com/ina-boyles-string-quartet.php Ina Boyle's String Quartet] The ConTempo Quartet also performed the quartet in 2022[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk5CSo_QEKM Galway Music Residency, February 2022] and a recording was issued in 2023 by the Piatti Quartet.[https://www.musicwebinternational.com/2023/01/piatti-quartet-vaughan-williams-boyle-rubicon/ British String Quartets, Rubicon RCD1098 (2023)] Lament for Bion, a Greek-themed composition for tenor and strings she submitted to the Olympic Cultural Activities Committee, won an Olympic Honourable Mention in 1948 for Ireland.Beausang, Ita: [http://www.inaboyle.org/articles/2015/8/25/an-irish-composer-and-the-1948-olympics An Irish Composer and the 1948 Olympics], www.inaboyle.org.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/920784 |title=Ina Boyle |work=Olympedia |accessdate=21 August 2020}}.

Boyle also wrote about 60 solo songs throughout her career, around half of which have now been recorded.Ina Boyle, 'Songs'. Delphian DCD34264 (2021), [http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2021/Sep/Boyle-songs-DCD34264.htm reviewed at MusicWeb International] www.musicweb-international.com In 2023 the Ina Boyle Society published Selected Songs, containing 26 songs edited by Dr Orla Shannon and David Scott, and composed between 1906 and 1966. The songs were previously only available in manuscript.[https://chimesmusic.com/sheet-music/vocal-choral/vocal-repertoire/selected-songs-5/ Ina Boyle. Selected Songs (2023), Chimes Music] The early choral work Soldiers at Peace (1916) has been revived by Highgate Choral Society and the New London Orchestra, directed by Ronald Corp, who performed it in London on 2 November 2018.[https://www.tcd.ie/library/manuscripts/blog/2018/11/soldiers-at-peace/ Soldiers at Peace, Trinity College Dublin] The world premiere of Cædmon's Hymn for six part choir, written in 1925, was given at the Ludlow Festival by the Carice Singers in April 2022.[https://www.thecaricesingers.co.uk/concerts Carice Singers website]

Boyle has been dubbed "the most prolific and significant female composer from Ireland before 1950".{{cite book |last=Sadie |first=Julie Anne |title=The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers |last2=Samuel |first2=Rhian |year=1994}} Her papers are archived in the Library of Trinity College Dublin.{{cite web |title=Ina Boyle (1889-1967) |url=http://www.michaeljamiesonbristow.com/ina-boyle-1889-1967 |url-status=dead |work=www.michaeljamiesonbristow.com |accessdate=1 February 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020170932/http://www.michaeljamiesonbristow.com/ina-boyle-1889-1967 |archivedate=20 October 2006}}. Trinity College has digitised most of her music manuscripts, and they can be searched and studied [https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/collections/707957642?locale=en online].

A feature-length documentary about the life and music of Ina Boyle titled From the Darkness was broadcast 12 June 2010 on Ireland's RTÉ Lyric FM. In April and May 2013, an exhibition at Trinity College highlighted "Ina Boyle’s Symphonic Journey".[http://manuscriptsattrinity.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/ina-boyles-symphonic-journey/ "Ina Boyle’s Symphonic Journey"] manuscriptsattrinity.wordpress.com A CD of some of her major orchestral works, including the first full recording of her Symphony No. 1 and first ever performance of the Psalm for cello and orchestra, was issued by Dutton in 2018.

The Bushey Park Estate passed to the Bisgood family. In 1996 it was bought by the singer Chris De Burgh. It was sold again in 2023.[https://evoke.ie/2023/09/16/life-style/property/chris-de-burgh-house-sells 'Chris de Burgh sells his Wicklow mansion for €9.3m after four years'], Evoke, 16 September 2023

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Choral music

• Ireland (Walt Whitman), 1914
• Funeral Anthem (biblical); Stainer & Bell, 1915
• Wilt Not Thou, Oh God (biblical); Novello, 1915
• Soldiers at Peace (Herbert Asquith) for chorus and orchestra (1916); London: Novello, 1917
• The Transfiguration (biblical) for tenor, mixed chorus and organ (1922); London: Novello, 1922
• Gaelic Hymns (from Carmina gadelica, transl. by Alexander Carmichael) (1924); excerpts published London: J. & W. Chester, 1930
• Cædmon's Hymn, for six part choir, transl. by L Magnus and C Headlam (1925)
• Christ is a Path (Giles and Phineas Fletcher), chamber cantata (1925)
• A Spanish Pastoral (St. Teresa, transl. by Arthur Symons) for soprano and male choir (1931); London: Stainer & Bell, 1935

Orchestra

• Elegy (1913), rhapsody for cello and orchestra
• The Magic Harp, orchestral rhapsody (1919); London: Stainer & Bell, 1922
• Colin Clout, pastoral for orchestra (1921)
• Phantasy for violin and chamber orchestra (1926)
• Symphony No. 1: Glencree (1927)
• Psalm for cello and orchestra (1927)
• Symphony No. 2: The Dream of the Rood (1930)
• Overture (1934)
• Violin Concerto (1935)
• Wildgeese, sketch for small orchestra (1942)

Solo voice with orchestra

• Lament for Bion (attr. Moschus) for tenor solo and strings (1945)
• Still Falls the Rain (Edith Sitwell) for alto and string orchestra (1948)
• Symphony No. 3: From the Darkness (Edith Sitwell) for contralto and orchestra (1951)
• No Coward Soul is Mine (Emily Brontë) for alto and string orchestra (1953)

Songs

(for voice and piano, if not otherwise mentioned)

• The Joy of Earth (Æ = George Russell) (1914)
• Have You News of My Boy Jack? (Rudyard Kipling) (1916)
• A Song of Shadows, a Song of Enchantment (Walter de la Mare) (1922); London: Stainer & Bell, 1923, 1926
• If You Let Sorrow in on You (Winifred M. Letts) (1922)
• Sleep Song (Déirín Dé, tr. Pádraic Pearse) (1923)
• A Mountain Woman (Padraic Pearse, tr. Thomas MacDonagh) (1927)
• Five Sacred Folksongs of Sicily (Grace Warrack) (1930)
• Thinke then my Soul (John Donne) for tenor and string quartet (1938); Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1939
• Three Medieval Latin Lyrics: "Sleep"; "Storm"; "Evening on the Moselle" (1955)
• Three Songs by Ben Jonson for medium voice, violin, cello (1955)
• Three Ancient Irish Poems (transl. by Kuno Meyer) for soprano, viola, harp (1958)
• Three Songs by Walter de la Mare: "Song of the Mad Prince"; "The Pigs and the Charcoal-Burner"; "Moon, Reeds, Rushes"; "Looking Back" (1956)

Opera

• Maudlin of Paplewick (after The Sad Shepherd by Ben Jonson), pastoral opera (1966)

Ballet scores

• Virgilian Suite (1931), ballet suite for small orchestra
• The Dance of Death (1936), a masque for dancing after Holbein
• The Vision of Er (1939), a mimed drama or ballet

Chamber music

• String Quartet in E minor (1934)

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• The Magic Harp, performed by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Ronald Corp (cond.), on: [https://web.archive.org/web/20141110124731/http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=CDLX7276 Dutton Epoch CDLX 7276 (CD, 2011).]
• The Wild Geese, performed by European Union Youth Orchestra, Laurent Pillot (cond.), on: Classical Recording Company CRC 2309 (CD, 2013).
• Sleep Song and Three Songs by Walter de la Mare, performed by Aylish Kerrigan (mezzo) and Dearbhla Collins (piano), on: [http://www.divine-art.co.uk/CD/28558info.htm Métier MSV 28558] (CD, 2016).{{cite web | url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Nov/Wind_sea_MSV28558.htm | title=I am Wind and Sea (review) | publisher=MusicWeb International | first=John | last=France | accessdate=29 November 2020 }}
• Elegy, performed by [http://www.nadegerochat.com Nadège Rochat (cello)], Staatskapelle Weimar, Paul Meyer (cond.), on: [http://www.ars-produktion.de/Nad_ge_Rochat_CELLO_ABBEY_Konzerte_von_WaltonBoyle_und_Elgar/topic/Neuheiten/shop_art_id/546/tpl/shop_article_detail Ars Produktion ARS 38 221] (CD, 2017).
• Orchestral works: Overture; Violin Concerto; Symphony No. 1 Glencree; Wildgeese; Psalm; A Sea Poem; Colin Clout, performed by BBC Concert Orchestra, Benjamin Baker (violin), Nadège Rochat (cello), Ronald Corp (cond.), on: [https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7352 Dutton Epoch CDLX 7352 (CD, 2018)].
• Songs: Since thou, o fondest and truest; The Joy of Earth; Three Songs by Walter de la Mare; A Mountain Woman Asks for Quiet that her Child May Sleep; Looking Back; Himself and his Fiddle; Have you News of my Boy, Jack?; Roses; A Soft Day; Eternity; Sleep Song; All Souls' Flower; Five Sacred Folksongs of Sicily; A Song of Shadows; A Song of Enchantment; The Bringer of Dreams; Longing; Dust; The Stolen Child; Blessing; They Went Forth; Two Christmas Songs; The Last Invocation; performed by Paula Murrihy (mezzo), Robin Tritschler, (tenor), Ben McAteer (baritone), Iain Burnside (piano), on: [https://www.delphianrecords.com/products/ina-boyle-songs Delphian DCD324264] (CD, 2021).
• String Quartet in E minor; Piatti Quartet, [https://rubiconclassics.com/release/piatti-quartet-boyle-vaughan-williams-moeran-ireland/ Rubicon RCD1098] (2023)

• Elizabeth Maconchy: Ina Boyle. An Appreciation with a Select List of Her Music (Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1974).
• Sheila Powerscourt: "Powerscourt and Ina Boyle", in: S. Powerscourt: Sun too Fast (London: Bles, 1974), pp. 201–15.
• Axel Klein: Die Musik Irlands im 20. Jahrhundert (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1996), pp. 174–6, 368–71.
• Sonya Keogh: Ina Boyle. A Life and Work (MPhil, University College Cork, 2002).
• David Scott: Examining the Irish Art Song: Original Song Settings of Irish Texts by Irish Composers, 1900–1930 (MPhil, DIT, 2018).
• Ita Beausang, Séamas de Barra: Ina Boyle (1889–1967). A Composer's Life (Cork: Cork University Press, 2018); {{ISBN|9781782052647}}.
• Ina Boyle, Ina Boyle: Selected Songs, ed. by Orla Shannon and David Scott (London: Ina Boyle Society Ltd., 2023), https://chimesmusic.com/sheet-music/vocal-choral/vocal-repertoire/selected-songs-/.

{{reflist}}

• Profile at [http://cmc.ie/composers/composer.cfm?composerID=11 Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin]
• [http://www.inaboyle.org Ina Boyle Society]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKRAta9V22w Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1935) by Ina Boyle from YouTube]

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