Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Music Examples
- Preface
- Notes on Archival Sources and Citations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part 1 Ancestry, Childhood and Education
- Part 2 The First World War
- Part 3 Rise and Fall
- Part 4 Reconstruction
- Part 5 Maturity, Marriage and Last Years
- Appendix I The Moeran Mythology
- Appendix II List of Works
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Works
- General Index
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Music Examples
- Preface
- Notes on Archival Sources and Citations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part 1 Ancestry, Childhood and Education
- Part 2 The First World War
- Part 3 Rise and Fall
- Part 4 Reconstruction
- Part 5 Maturity, Marriage and Last Years
- Appendix I The Moeran Mythology
- Appendix II List of Works
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Works
- General Index
Summary
The atmospheric pressure and temperature charts for the afternoon of Friday 1 December 1950 indicate that the weather on the south-west coast of Ireland was poor and that in Kenmare, Co. Kerry, it was especially bad. Despite the cold, wet and very windy conditions, at about four o’clock Moeran evidently left his lodgings at the Lansdowne Arms Hotel for a walk down to the town pier: a distance of about half a mile. By the time he reached the river estuary, the light would have been fading, but he was a well-known and recognisable figure. According to the report in the Irish Times:
There was a strong gale blowing when [Moeran] was standing on the Pier and, shortly afterwards, he was seen to fall over the edge into the water. The alarm was raised immediately, and Sergt McCabe, Kenmare, with Mr Thomas Palmer, farmer, Mr John Fitzgerald, manager of the Kenmare Creamery and Mr Richard Aldwell, Press correspondent, went out in a boat and brought Mr Moeran to the pier. The Bay was so rough that they were unable to get Mr Moeran into the boat, and one of the men held his head out of the water while he was brought in.
By the time they returned, a doctor had been summoned and resuscitation was attempted unsuccessfully. Moeran's body was taken to the local mortuary, and an inquest was opened and adjourned until the next day. The report of the composer’s death was quickly communicated by telephone and telegram from that remote corner of Ireland and was printed in many newspapers in Britain as early as the following morning. Lionel Hill recalled: ‘We received the shock of [Moeran’s] sudden death in the morning papers.’ Within a few days, the composer's life and career had been summarised and celebrated by obituary writers in Britain, Ireland and around the world. The news of his death was received in Ledbury by telegram and similarly by Coetmore in Australia. Ada Esther Moeran wrote to her on 3 December:
My darling Peers, I don't know how to write to you. You will have received the cable with the tragic news. It came as a dreadful shock to me, as I had actually had a letter from Jack only a few days ago – I expect you had one too. Graham has gone to Kenmare.
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- Ernest John MoeranHis Life and Music, pp. 313 - 328Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2021