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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 June 2021
Six Suffolk Folksongs
In February, Moeran was checking the final proofs of his Six Suffolk Folksongs, and he wrote to Roger Quilter about the set:
I was wondering if you would have any objection to a dedication to yourself of it [the book of songs]. I think in some ways it is the best thing I have done in the way of songs. I assure you it would give me great pleasure if you would allow me to do this.
Moeran had long been an admirer of Quilter's songs, having accompanied many of them at the musical club, and the older composer's music had been a significant influence during Moeran's early compositional development. The set of folksong arrangements was published in late April, and he wrote again to Quilter on 8 May, enclosing a copy of the printed volume. Coming some ten years after the publication of Moeran's earlier Six Norfolk Folksongs and with his having composed music of much formal and harmonic originality during the intervening years, Quilter may have expected more complex arrangements than those delivered. The accompaniment harmonies are mostly simple, with few accidentals evident, and most of the songs have a straightforward strophic form with accompaniment for the first verse or pair of verses repeated. However, Quilter would probably have enjoyed Moeran’s characteristic stacked fourth chords, particularly in the first song of the set ‘Nutting Time’ and in the last song ‘A Seaman's Life’. Moeran's assessment that the set was ‘the best thing I have done in the way of songs’ seems very curious, given their general lack of sophistication and overall musical simplicity. However, that is perhaps what he meant.
The Day of Palms
While establishing precisely when many of Moeran's works were composed can be problematic, creative interpretation of other evidence can suggest a possible date, and the song The Day of Palms is a case in point. The song is a setting of a poem by Arthur Symons, ‘Palm Sunday: Naples’, which articulates the poet's world- weary response to the elaborate annual Palm Sunday celebrations at Santa Chiara. Moeran's setting was published in 1932, and the style of the piano accompaniment resembles that of Tilly. This information, together with the subject matter of the poem, suggests that The Day of Palms was composed on or near Palm Sunday in either 1931 or 1932.
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