Ernest John Moeran
Encyclopedia
Ernest John Moeran was an English
composer who had strong associations with Ireland
(his father was Irish, he spent much of his life there, and he died there).
), the son of an Irish
clergyman. The family moved around for several years as the Revd J. W. W. Moeran was appointed to various parishes but they eventually settled in Bacton
, on the coast of Norfolk.
Moeran studied the violin
and the piano
as a child. He was educated from an early age at home, by a governess. At the age of ten, he was sent to Suffield Park Preparatory School in Cromer
, North Norfolk. In 1908, he was enrolled at Uppingham School
where he spent the next five years. He was taught music by the director Robert Sterndale Bennett (grandson of Sir William Sterndale Bennett
), who greatly encouraged his talents. On leaving Uppingham in 1913, he studied piano and composition at the Royal College of Music
with Charles Villiers Stanford
. He was also a member of the prestigious Oxford & Cambridge Musical Club
.
as a despatch rider
but this ended when he was wounded at Bullecourt
in 1917. After recovering from his injuries, he did not return to the front.
After the war he returned for a few months to Uppingham School, where he was employed as a teacher of music. This role did not satisfy him and he returned to the Royal College of Music
to resume his composition studies, now with John Ireland
, who had been a pupil of Moeran's earlier teacher Charles Villiers Stanford
.
.
By the mid-1920s, Moeran had become close friends with Peter Warlock
and they lived for some years in Eynsford
, Kent
, notorious among the locals for their frequent drunken revelry. For the rest of his life, Moeran was to have problems with alcohol, later joined by mental instability. After Warlock's death in 1930, he became interested in his Irish roots and began spending much of his time in Kenmare
, County Kerry
.
As a person, E. J. Moeran was greatly influenced by a number of people. However, it was the time spent with Peter Warlock in Eynsford that had the greatest impact on his life. While Warlock was seemingly capable of drinking alcohol to excess without any apparent long-term effects, Moeran developed a dependency which handicapped him for the remainder of his life. His later problems have been attributed to his war wound to the head, but this is incorrect. By 1930, Moeran had become an alcoholic.
Although English and middle-class, Moeran was at ease in a bar surrounded by local characters from local farms. Indeed, until 2007, "Moeran's Bar" at the hotel in Kenmare where he lived was named after him. He was looked on with affection by all who knew him, and his gauche, bumbling personality belied a very sharp-witted character who was quick to learn and take up new approaches to music. He also had an encyclopaedic knowledge of trains and train timetables.
He married the cellist Peers Coetmore
on 26 July 1945. The marriage was not entirely happy although it inspired some of Moeran's masterpieces, the Cello Concerto and Cello Sonata.
He died suddenly, probably from a cerebral haemorrhage, in Kenmare at the age of 55. He was found in the Kenmare River and it was at first assumed he had drowned. However, an inquest later established that he had died before falling into the water.
, Vaughan Williams
and Ireland
. The influence of the nature and landscapes of Norfolk and Ireland are also often evident in his music. Some of his larger-scale orchestral pieces were composed (or at least conceived) whilst Moeran walked the hills of western England, particularly in Herefordshire, and Ireland, where the grandness of the mountain ranges of Kerry inspired him greatly. But, unlike some now-forgotten English "pastoralist" composers, Moeran was capable of conveying a wide range of emotions through his music and wasn't afraid of writing in a darker and harsher idiom when it suited him. His style is conservative but not derivative.
By Moeran's time, however, such a style was already seen as somewhat dated and he never made a big breakthrough as a composer despite the success of the sombre, Sibelian
Symphony in G minor
(1934–1937), generally regarded as his masterpiece. The Symphony stands along with the Symphony No. 1
of Sir William Walton
as one of the two tightest and most controlled symphonies emanating from the British Isles of the inter-war era. The Moeran work demonstrates a robust sonata form in the first movement, along with a questioning harmonic structure, which, on first examination, may appear orthodox, but which on deeper analysis indicates the dichotomy of the interval of the fifth (which is European diatonic), with the interval of the fourth, which is both the completion of the European fifth, but also introduces the Irish dimension, in which the fourth can be the predominant interval. More will follow.
Though he first received favourable critical attention for his chamber music and continued to compose significant works in this genre, his greatest achievements in general are to be found among his few large-scale orchestral works, including a Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto, Sinfonietta and Serenade.
Moeran was very interested in "folk" music and utilised an extensive collection of songs that he had notated in Norfolk pubs as part of his creative material. He also made great use of Irish music. The Norfolk material can be sensed in the piano works of the early 1920s. The Irish influence is seen within the second movement of the Violin Concerto (Puck Fair at Killorglin?), and even more so in the second movement of the String Quartet in E flat, as well as in the Cello Concerto, in which fragments of Irish music, in particular "The star of County Down" (also used by Vaughan Williams in his Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus), are evident.
Another facet to the music of Moeran is the madrigal
. He once stated to a friend that if he were ever arrested and thus forced to state his profession, he would have to say it was that of being a madrigalist. Moeran was capable of staggering harmonic invention whilst working within the madrigal form - in "Spring the Sweet Spring" the harmonies progress from those of the madrigal into harmonies of a jazz style reminiscent of Duke Ellington; full of contradictions and added-note chords. The Serenade, an orchestral work, evinces madrigalist harmony re-worked by Moeran into an astringent style in which acerbic tonal and harmonic patterns are grafted onto the madrigalist basis to produce music of outstanding freshness and originality that surely places Moeran into the genre of inventive twentieth-century music, rather than into the "English Pastoral School", which, in itself, is arguably a misnomer.
Although he was not by any means a prolific church composer, his Services in D and E flat are still performed today.
Recently, there has been more interest in and many recordings of Moeran's works, but many of them, such as the songs to poems by A. E. Housman
and James Joyce
, still remain relatively unknown.
Over 40 of his manuscripts, including that of his unfinished Second Symphony in E-flat, were bequeathed by his widow Peers Coetmore
to the Victorian College of the Arts
, now part of the University of Melbourne
.
Conductor Martin Yates
has recently realised and completed the Symphony No.2 from sketches and the recording of the work with Yates conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra was released on the Dutton Epoch label (together with the early Overture and also with Martin Yates
' own orchestration of Sarnia by John Ireland
in October 2011.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
composer who had strong associations with Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
(his father was Irish, he spent much of his life there, and he died there).
Early life
Moeran was born in Heston (now in the London Borough of HounslowLondon Borough of Hounslow
-Political composition:Since the borough was formed it has been controlled by the Labour Party on all but two occasions. In 1968 the Conservatives formed a majority for the first and last time to date until they lost control to Labour in 1971. Labour subsequently lost control of the council in the...
), the son of an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
clergyman. The family moved around for several years as the Revd J. W. W. Moeran was appointed to various parishes but they eventually settled in Bacton
Bacton, Norfolk
Bacton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is on the Norfolk coast, some 20 km south-east of Cromer, 40 km north-west of Great Yarmouth and 30 km north of Norwich. Besides the village of Bacton, the parish includes the nearby settlements of Bacton Green, Broomholm,...
, on the coast of Norfolk.
Moeran studied the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
as a child. He was educated from an early age at home, by a governess. At the age of ten, he was sent to Suffield Park Preparatory School in Cromer
Cromer
Cromer is a coastal town and civil parish in north Norfolk, England. The local government authority is North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters is in Holt Road in the town. The town is situated 23 miles north of the county town, Norwich, and is 4 miles east of Sheringham...
, North Norfolk. In 1908, he was enrolled at Uppingham School
Uppingham School
Uppingham School is a co-educational independent school of the English public school tradition, situated in the small town of Uppingham in Rutland, England...
where he spent the next five years. He was taught music by the director Robert Sterndale Bennett (grandson of Sir William Sterndale Bennett
William Sterndale Bennett
Sir William Sterndale Bennett was an English composer. He ranks as the most distinguished English composer of the Romantic school-Biography:...
), who greatly encouraged his talents. On leaving Uppingham in 1913, he studied piano and composition 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...
with 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 :...
. He was also a member of the prestigious Oxford & Cambridge Musical Club
Oxford & Cambridge Musical Club
The Oxford & Cambridge Musical Club was founded in London in 1899 as a residential Club for Gentlemen. At the club's foundation, it was open to past and present members of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The club's original purpose was the performance of chamber music but expanded over...
.
War service
Moeran spent most of the World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
as a despatch rider
Despatch rider
A despatch rider is a military messenger, mounted on horse or motorcycle.Despatch riders were used by armed forces to deliver urgent orders and messages between headquarters and military units...
but this ended when he was wounded at Bullecourt
Bullecourt
Bullecourt is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in France.-Geography:Bullecourt lies on the Upper Cretaceous plain of Artois between Arras and Bapaume and east of the A1 motorway. This shows Bullecourt just north of centre. Quéant is the larger of the two...
in 1917. After recovering from his injuries, he did not return to the front.
After the war he returned for a few months to Uppingham School, where he was employed as a teacher of music. This role did not satisfy him and he returned to 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...
to resume his composition studies, now with John Ireland
John Ireland (composer)
John Nicholson Ireland was an English composer.- Life :John Ireland was born in Bowdon, near Altrincham, Manchester, into a family of Scottish descent and some cultural distinction. His father, Alexander Ireland, a publisher and newspaper proprietor, was aged 70 at John's birth...
, who had been a pupil of Moeran's earlier teacher 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 :...
.
Mature composer
His first mature compositions, songs and chamber music, date from this time. He also began collecting and arranging folk music of Norfolk and other regions. He collected about 150 folk songs in Norfolk and Suffolk. His preferred method was to sit in a country pub and wait until an old man started singing. He noted the song down and then asked for more. According to the biography The Music of E. J. Moeran by Geoffrey Self (1986), he spent time living with gypsies, but no further details are available. He spent some time after the war living at Kington, HerefordshireKington, Herefordshire
Kington is a market town and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,597.-Location:Kington is near the Wales-England border and, despite being on the western side of Offa's Dyke, has been English for over a thousand years. The town is in the...
.
By the mid-1920s, Moeran had become close friends with Peter Warlock
Peter Warlock
Peter Warlock was a pseudonym of Philip Arnold Heseltine , an Anglo-Welsh composer and music critic. He used the pseudonym when composing, and is now better known by this name....
and they lived for some years in Eynsford
Eynsford
Eynsford is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located on the River Darent, south of Dartford in Kent.-The village:...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, notorious among the locals for their frequent drunken revelry. For the rest of his life, Moeran was to have problems with alcohol, later joined by mental instability. After Warlock's death in 1930, he became interested in his Irish roots and began spending much of his time in Kenmare
Kenmare
Kenmare is a small town in the south of County Kerry, Ireland. The name Kenmare is the anglicised form of Ceann Mara meaning "head of the sea", referring to the head of Kenmare Bay.-Location:...
, County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
.
As a person, E. J. Moeran was greatly influenced by a number of people. However, it was the time spent with Peter Warlock in Eynsford that had the greatest impact on his life. While Warlock was seemingly capable of drinking alcohol to excess without any apparent long-term effects, Moeran developed a dependency which handicapped him for the remainder of his life. His later problems have been attributed to his war wound to the head, but this is incorrect. By 1930, Moeran had become an alcoholic.
Although English and middle-class, Moeran was at ease in a bar surrounded by local characters from local farms. Indeed, until 2007, "Moeran's Bar" at the hotel in Kenmare where he lived was named after him. He was looked on with affection by all who knew him, and his gauche, bumbling personality belied a very sharp-witted character who was quick to learn and take up new approaches to music. He also had an encyclopaedic knowledge of trains and train timetables.
He married the cellist Peers Coetmore
Peers Coetmore
Peers Coetmore was an English cellist. She spent her early years in Spilsby in Lincolnshire.She was born Kathleen Peers Coetmore Jones. She won the Royal Academy of Music's Piatti Prize for cellists in 1924....
on 26 July 1945. The marriage was not entirely happy although it inspired some of Moeran's masterpieces, the Cello Concerto and Cello Sonata.
He died suddenly, probably from a cerebral haemorrhage, in Kenmare at the age of 55. He was found in the Kenmare River and it was at first assumed he had drowned. However, an inquest later established that he had died before falling into the water.
Moeran's music
Moeran was one of the last major English composers to be heavily influenced by English folk-song and thus belongs to the lyrical tradition of such composers as DeliusFrederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
, Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
and Ireland
John Ireland (composer)
John Nicholson Ireland was an English composer.- Life :John Ireland was born in Bowdon, near Altrincham, Manchester, into a family of Scottish descent and some cultural distinction. His father, Alexander Ireland, a publisher and newspaper proprietor, was aged 70 at John's birth...
. The influence of the nature and landscapes of Norfolk and Ireland are also often evident in his music. Some of his larger-scale orchestral pieces were composed (or at least conceived) whilst Moeran walked the hills of western England, particularly in Herefordshire, and Ireland, where the grandness of the mountain ranges of Kerry inspired him greatly. But, unlike some now-forgotten English "pastoralist" composers, Moeran was capable of conveying a wide range of emotions through his music and wasn't afraid of writing in a darker and harsher idiom when it suited him. His style is conservative but not derivative.
By Moeran's time, however, such a style was already seen as somewhat dated and he never made a big breakthrough as a composer despite the success of the sombre, Sibelian
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
Symphony in G minor
Symphony in G minor (Moeran)
The Symphony in G minor was the only completed symphony written by Ernest John Moeran. He wrote it in 1934-37. It is in four movements.In 1926, the conductor of the Hallé Orchestra, Sir Hamilton Harty, commissioned a symphony from Moeran. He had already been working on a symphony since 1924, and...
(1934–1937), generally regarded as his masterpiece. The Symphony stands along with the Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 1 (Walton)
The Symphony No. 1 in B-flat minor by the English composer William Walton was commissioned by Sir Hamilton Harty, and completed in 1935.-Structure:The work is in four movements.# Allegro assai# Scherzo: Presto con malizia...
of Sir William Walton
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
as one of the two tightest and most controlled symphonies emanating from the British Isles of the inter-war era. The Moeran work demonstrates a robust sonata form in the first movement, along with a questioning harmonic structure, which, on first examination, may appear orthodox, but which on deeper analysis indicates the dichotomy of the interval of the fifth (which is European diatonic), with the interval of the fourth, which is both the completion of the European fifth, but also introduces the Irish dimension, in which the fourth can be the predominant interval. More will follow.
Though he first received favourable critical attention for his chamber music and continued to compose significant works in this genre, his greatest achievements in general are to be found among his few large-scale orchestral works, including a Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto, Sinfonietta and Serenade.
Moeran was very interested in "folk" music and utilised an extensive collection of songs that he had notated in Norfolk pubs as part of his creative material. He also made great use of Irish music. The Norfolk material can be sensed in the piano works of the early 1920s. The Irish influence is seen within the second movement of the Violin Concerto (Puck Fair at Killorglin?), and even more so in the second movement of the String Quartet in E flat, as well as in the Cello Concerto, in which fragments of Irish music, in particular "The star of County Down" (also used by Vaughan Williams in his Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus), are evident.
Another facet to the music of Moeran is the madrigal
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
. He once stated to a friend that if he were ever arrested and thus forced to state his profession, he would have to say it was that of being a madrigalist. Moeran was capable of staggering harmonic invention whilst working within the madrigal form - in "Spring the Sweet Spring" the harmonies progress from those of the madrigal into harmonies of a jazz style reminiscent of Duke Ellington; full of contradictions and added-note chords. The Serenade, an orchestral work, evinces madrigalist harmony re-worked by Moeran into an astringent style in which acerbic tonal and harmonic patterns are grafted onto the madrigalist basis to produce music of outstanding freshness and originality that surely places Moeran into the genre of inventive twentieth-century music, rather than into the "English Pastoral School", which, in itself, is arguably a misnomer.
Although he was not by any means a prolific church composer, his Services in D and E flat are still performed today.
Recently, there has been more interest in and many recordings of Moeran's works, but many of them, such as the songs to poems by A. E. Housman
A. E. Housman
Alfred Edward Housman , usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems were mostly written before 1900...
and James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, still remain relatively unknown.
Over 40 of his manuscripts, including that of his unfinished Second Symphony in E-flat, were bequeathed by his widow Peers Coetmore
Peers Coetmore
Peers Coetmore was an English cellist. She spent her early years in Spilsby in Lincolnshire.She was born Kathleen Peers Coetmore Jones. She won the Royal Academy of Music's Piatti Prize for cellists in 1924....
to the Victorian College of the Arts
Victorian College of the Arts
The Faculty of the VCA and Music is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria . VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and the other - the...
, now part of the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
.
Conductor Martin Yates
Martin Yates
Martin Yates is a British conductor.Studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe , Richard Arnell , Ian Lake, Jakob Kaletsky & Alan Rowlands and Douglas Moore & John Burden .Conducting debut 1983 with Israel National Opera...
has recently realised and completed the Symphony No.2 from sketches and the recording of the work with Yates conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra was released on the Dutton Epoch label (together with the early Overture and also with Martin Yates
Martin Yates
Martin Yates is a British conductor.Studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe , Richard Arnell , Ian Lake, Jakob Kaletsky & Alan Rowlands and Douglas Moore & John Burden .Conducting debut 1983 with Israel National Opera...
' own orchestration of Sarnia by John Ireland
John Ireland
John Ireland may refer to:* John Ireland , Anglican priest and philanthropist* John Ireland , American politician...
in October 2011.
Symphonic
- In the Mountain Country, symphonic impression (1921)
- Rhapsody No. 1 in F major (1922)
- Rhapsody No. 2 in E major (1924; rev. 1941)
- Two pieces for small orchestra (1931):
- Lonely Waters
- Whythorne's Shadow
- Farrago, suite for orchestra (1932)
- Symphony in G minorSymphony in G minor (Moeran)The Symphony in G minor was the only completed symphony written by Ernest John Moeran. He wrote it in 1934-37. It is in four movements.In 1926, the conductor of the Hallé Orchestra, Sir Hamilton Harty, commissioned a symphony from Moeran. He had already been working on a symphony since 1924, and...
(1934-37; dedicated to Sir Hamilton HartyHamilton HartySir 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...
) - Sinfonietta (1944; dedicated to Arthur BlissArthur BlissSir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was an English composer and conductor.Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army...
) - Overture for a Masque (1944; dedicated to Walter LeggeWalter LeggeHarry Walter Legge was an influential English classical record producer, most notably for EMI. His recordings include many sets later regarded as classics and reissued by EMI as "Great Recordings of the Century". He worked in the recording industry from 1927, combining this with the post of junior...
) - Serenade in G major (1948)
- Symphony in E flat major - unfinished
Concertos
- Violin Concerto (1942; written for Arthur CatterallArthur CatterallArthur Catterall was an English concert violinist, orchestral leader and conductor, one of the best-known English classical violinists of the first half of the twentieth century.- Early training :...
) - Rhapsody No. 3 in F-sharp major for piano and orchestra (1943)
- Cello Concerto (1945; written for Peers CoetmorePeers CoetmorePeers Coetmore was an English cellist. She spent her early years in Spilsby in Lincolnshire.She was born Kathleen Peers Coetmore Jones. She won the Royal Academy of Music's Piatti Prize for cellists in 1924....
)
Vocal
- Ludlow Town, song cycle (1920)
- Songs of Springtime (1934)
- Nocturne, for baritone, chorus and orchestra (1934; dedicated to the memory of Frederick DeliusFrederick DeliusFrederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
) - Phyllida and Corydon (1939)
Chamber
- Piano Trio in D minor (1920)
- String Quartet in A minor (1921)
- Violin Sonata in E minor (1923)
- Sonata for 2 Violins in A major (1930)
- Trio for violin, viola and cello in G major (1931)
- Fantasy Quartet, for oboe and strings (1946)
- Prelude for cello and piano (1948)
- Cello Sonata in A minor (1947; written for Peers Coetmore)
- String Quartet in E flat
Piano
- Three Pieces (1919)
- Theme and Variations (1920)
- On a May Morning (1921)
- Stalham River (1921)
- Toccata (1921)
- Three Fancies (1922)
- Two Legends (1923)
- Bank Holiday (1925)
- Summer Valley (1925)
- Two Irish Folk Songs (1926, 1927)
- Berceuse (1933)
- Prelude in G minor (1933)
External links
- Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950), Composer: Sitter in 6 portraits (National Portrait Gallery)
- The Worldwide Moeran Database by Andrew Rose, including a more detailed biography and a complete list of works.
- Moeran String Quartet No.1 Sound-bites and discussion of work
- Moeran EJ at musicweb.uk.net
- Moeran's Last Symphony (BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of his last days)
- Moeran's Ghost (BBC Radio 3 programme)
- At Ease with the Locals
- 'Old Raspberry' Goes off the Rails
- Jack Reclaims His Irish Heritage
- A Mysterious Death