Frederick May (composer)
Encyclopedia
Frederick May was an Irish
composer and arranger. His musical career was seriously hindered by a lifelong hearing problem and, despite displaying early promise, he produced relatively few compositions.
family who lived in the suburb of Donnybrook
. His father, also named Frederick, was employed at the Guinness Brewery. May pursued his musical studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music
where he was taught composition by John Larchet
. In 1931 he graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a Bachelor of Music
degree. May then moved to London where he studied at the Royal College of Music
under Vaughan Williams and Gordon Jacob
. Two years later, he was awarded a scholarship that enabled him to travel to Vienna
where he was to receive tuition from Alban Berg
. However, Berg died just before May's arrival in the city and he studied instead under Egon Wellesz
.
, a position he held until 1948. The onset of otosclerosis
, which began to affect May's hearing in his twenties, hampered his productivity as a composer. Despite this he became an advocate of better musical education in Ireland and expressed his views on this and other musical matters through the medium of The Bell
, a monthly journal dealing with the arts. He was a co-founder, along with Brian Boydell
and Aloys Fleischmann
, of the Music Association of Ireland
(now Friends of Classical Music), set up in 1948 to promote music as an integral part of the cultural life of Ireland. Later he became a member of Aosdána
.
May never married. He spent his last years as a patient in St. Ita's Hospital
, Portrane
.
He died at the age of 74 and is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery
.
and increasing deafness that plagued him for much of his adult life. He produced most of his small output in the 1930s and early 1940s and ceased composing altogether during the last thirty years of his life.
May's first significant work was the Scherzo for Orchestra, written while he was still a student in London. Three years later he produced his only chamber
work, the String Quartet in C Minor, described in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
as "one of the most individual statements from an Irish composer in the first half of the 20th century". May composed the quartet as his hearing was beginning to deteriorate and he later described it as "an appeal for release".
The first performance of his Songs From Prison, a setting for baritone
and orchestra of poems by Ernst Toller
and Eric Stadlen, was broadcast on BBC Radio
in December 1942. For fellow composer Arthur Duff
, the work demonstrated that May was "more a follower of Mahler and Berg than a successor to (Charles Villiers) Stanford
and (Hamilton) Harty
". However, May later turned away from Berg and his contemporaries, describing them as "the very antithesis of Haydn and Mozart".
Following a long break from composition, May produced what was to be his valedictory work in 1955. This was the nine-minute orchestral piece, Sunlight and Shadows, given its première performance on January 22, 1956 by the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra
at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. Although this was his last original work, May did not abandon music completely. He produced arrangements of Irish music for Radio Éireann
, which while not perhaps rewarding artistically did help to alleviate his always precarious financial situation.
May never realised his considerable musical potential. As music critic Charles Acton
wrote in May's obituary, "(Frederick May) might have been our Sibelius or Grieg if things had worked out differently".
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
composer and arranger. His musical career was seriously hindered by a lifelong hearing problem and, despite displaying early promise, he produced relatively few compositions.
Early years
Frederick May was born into a Dublin ProtestantChurch of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
family who lived in the suburb of Donnybrook
Donnybrook, Dublin
Donnybrook is a district of Dublin, Ireland. It is situated on the southside of the city, in the Dublin 4 postal district, and is home to the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ. It was once part of the Pembroke Township...
. His father, also named Frederick, was employed at the Guinness Brewery. May pursued his musical studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music
Royal Irish Academy of Music
The Royal Irish Academy of Music is a linked college of Dublin City University located in Dublin, Ireland.It was founded in 1848 by a group of music enthusiasts and moved to its present address in Westland Row in 1871. The following year it was granted the right to use the title "Royal"...
where he was taught composition by John Larchet
John Larchet
John Francis Larchet was an Irish composer. He was music director at the Abbey Theatre from 1907 to 1934, and taught counterpoint at the Royal Irish Academy of Music 1920-1955.His daughter, Sheila Larchet Cuthbert, is an Irish harpist and author....
. In 1931 he graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree; the majority of work consists of prescribed music courses and study in applied music, usually requiring a...
degree. May then moved to London where he studied at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
under Vaughan Williams and Gordon Jacob
Gordon Jacob
Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob was an English composer. He is known for his wind instrument composition and his instructional writings.-Life:...
. Two years later, he was awarded a scholarship that enabled him to travel to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
where he was to receive tuition from Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
. However, Berg died just before May's arrival in the city and he studied instead under Egon Wellesz
Egon Wellesz
Egon Joseph Wellesz was an Austrian-born British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music.- Life :...
.
Life and career
May returned to Dublin in 1936 where he combined composition with his role as musical director at the Abbey TheatreAbbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day...
, a position he held until 1948. The onset of otosclerosis
Otosclerosis
Otosclerosis is an abnormal growth of bone near the middle ear. It can result in hearing loss.-Clinical description:Otosclerosis can result in conductive and/or sensorineural hearing loss...
, which began to affect May's hearing in his twenties, hampered his productivity as a composer. Despite this he became an advocate of better musical education in Ireland and expressed his views on this and other musical matters through the medium of The Bell
The Bell (magazine)
The Bell Magazine Dublin, Ireland. A monthly magazine of literature and social comment which had a seminal influence on a generation of Irish intellectuals.- History :...
, a monthly journal dealing with the arts. He was a co-founder, along with Brian Boydell
Brian Boydell
Brian Boydell was an Irish composer whose works include orchestral pieces, chamber music, and songs. He was professor of music at Trinity College, Dublin for 20 years, founder of the Dowland Consort, conductor of the Dublin Orchestral Players, and a prolific broadcaster and writer on musical...
and Aloys Fleischmann
Aloys Fleischmann
Aloys Fleischmann was an Irish composer and musicologist. In addition he wrote several books and articles on Irish music.-Life:...
, of the Music Association of Ireland
Music Association of Ireland
The Music Association of Ireland was set up in 1948 to improve the position of classical music within the cultural life of Ireland. It was instrumental in setting up the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland and played a leading role in the long-running campaign to establish Ireland's National...
(now Friends of Classical Music), set up in 1948 to promote music as an integral part of the cultural life of Ireland. Later he became a member of Aosdána
Aosdána
Aosdána is an Irish association of Artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers and with support from the Arts Council of Ireland. Membership, which is by invitation from current members, is limited to 250 individuals; before 2005 it was limited to 200...
.
May never married. He spent his last years as a patient in St. Ita's Hospital
St Ita's Hospital
St Ita's Hospital, Portrane, formerly Portrane Asylum is a long stay facility for those with intellectual disabilities and those with long term mental illnesses. It is currently being scaled back in operations with planned mixed use development...
, Portrane
Portrane
Portrane or Portraine ) is a small seaside town one kilometre from, and merging into the larger town of Donabate in Fingal, north County Dublin, Ireland.- St. Ita's Hospital :...
.
He died at the age of 74 and is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery
Mount Jerome Cemetery
Mount Jerome Cemetery is situated in Harold's Cross on the south side of Dublin, Ireland. Since its foundation in 1836, it has witnessed over 300,000 burials...
.
Music
May's compositions are few in number, primarily due to the tinnitusTinnitus
Tinnitus |ringing]]") is the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound.Tinnitus is not a disease, but a symptom that can result from a wide range of underlying causes: abnormally loud sounds in the ear canal for even the briefest period , ear...
and increasing deafness that plagued him for much of his adult life. He produced most of his small output in the 1930s and early 1940s and ceased composing altogether during the last thirty years of his life.
May's first significant work was the Scherzo for Orchestra, written while he was still a student in London. Three years later he produced his only chamber
Chamber
Chamber may refer to:*Chamber , a Marvel Comics superhero associated with the X-Men*Chamber , the portion of the barrel or firing cylinder in which the cartridge is inserted prior to being fired...
work, the String Quartet in C Minor, described in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, it is the largest single reference work on Western music. The dictionary has gone through several editions since the 19th century...
as "one of the most individual statements from an Irish composer in the first half of the 20th century". May composed the quartet as his hearing was beginning to deteriorate and he later described it as "an appeal for release".
The first performance of his Songs From Prison, a setting for baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
and orchestra of poems by Ernst Toller
Ernst Toller
Ernst Toller was a left-wing German playwright, best known for his Expressionist plays and serving as President of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, for six days.- Biography :...
and Eric Stadlen, was broadcast on BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
in December 1942. For fellow composer Arthur Duff
Arthur Duff
Arthur Knox Duff was an Irish composer and conductor, best known for his short orchestral pieces such as the Handel-inspired Echoes of Georgian Dublin.-Early years and education:...
, the work demonstrated that May was "more a follower of Mahler and Berg than a successor to (Charles Villiers) Stanford
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
and (Hamilton) Harty
Hamilton Harty
Sir Hamilton Harty was an Irish and British composer, conductor, pianist and organist. In his capacity as a conductor, he was particularly noted as an interpreter of the music of Berlioz and he was much respected as a piano accompanist of exceptional prowess...
". However, May later turned away from Berg and his contemporaries, describing them as "the very antithesis of Haydn and Mozart".
Following a long break from composition, May produced what was to be his valedictory work in 1955. This was the nine-minute orchestral piece, Sunlight and Shadows, given its première performance on January 22, 1956 by the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is the concert music orchestra of Raidió Teilifís Éireann...
at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. Although this was his last original work, May did not abandon music completely. He produced arrangements of Irish music for Radio Éireann
RTÉ Radio
RTÉ Radio is a department of Irish national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Radio broadcasts four analogue channels and five digital channels....
, which while not perhaps rewarding artistically did help to alleviate his always precarious financial situation.
May never realised his considerable musical potential. As music critic Charles Acton
Charles Acton (critic)
Charles Acton was the music critic at The Irish Times for thirty one years until his retirement in 1987. He was one of only two critics based outside Great Britain to be a member of The Critics' Circle.-Early life:...
wrote in May's obituary, "(Frederick May) might have been our Sibelius or Grieg if things had worked out differently".
Recordings
- Suite of Irish Airs, Radio Éireann Symphony OrchestraRTÉ National Symphony OrchestraThe RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is the concert music orchestra of Raidió Teilifís Éireann...
/Milan Horvat, Decca (USA) DL 9843 (1958) - String Quartet in C Minor, Aeolian QuartetAeolian QuartetThe Aeolian Quartet was a highly reputed string quartet based in London , with a long international touring history and presence, an important recording and broadcasting profile. It was the successor of the pre-War Stratton Quartet...
, Claddagh Records CSM2 (1974) - String Quartet in C Minor, Vanbrugh Quartet, Marco Polo 223888 (1996)