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| Ina Boyle |
Reviewed 10 March 2026
An exploration of Irish composer Ina Boyle's song legacy in performances that were never less than engaging and sometimes profoundly moving, leaving one puzzled as to why we don't know this repertoire better
Ina Boyle is an intriguing figure: she might be said to have lived a life of quiet industry, with music and family being important to her. She was relatively prolific even though she hardly travelled after World War Two, yet few songs were published in her lifetime.
Born and brought up in County Wicklow, family was important, and she lived in Wicklow all her life. Though she had some success during her lifetime, she remained somewhat on the fringes. Lessons with Ralph Vaughan Williams during the 1920s and 1930s and friendship with some of his other female pupils has led her to be associated with composers such as Elizabeth Maconchy (with whom she had a 50-year friendship), Elizabeth Lutyens and Grace Williams, but it is worth bearing in mind that she was around 20 years older than them.
Her music is in the process of being rediscovered yet though there have been discs of her songs (on Delphian) and her orchestral music (on Dutton Epoch), it has not yet reached common currency.
On 10 March 2025 at Wigmore Hall, Ina Boyle: a Rediscovery presented Ailish Tynan (soprano), Paula Murrihy (mezzo-soprano), Robin Tritschler (tenor) and Iain Burnside (piano) in a programme of Ina Boyle's songs performed alongside those of her teachers, Charles Wood and Ralph Vaughan Williams, and her friend Elizabeth Maconchy. Rather impressively for a programme of somewhat less-known music, all of Boyle's songs were performed from memory.
We began with A soft day, thank God (sung by Robin Tritschler) from 1912 (intriguingly Stanford's setting of the same text dates from 1913). The sound world was very much circle of RVW (though at this stage she was not having lessons from him) with a focus on the text, with Tritschler bringing out both passion and character.
The programme featured three songs from Boyle's late cycle Looking Back (written 1961 to 1966). First off, Carrowdow (sung by Paula Murrihy). Here the music, though not radically different, had a more stripped down quality with Murrihy giving the song lyric beauty and a touchingly poetic end. The Joy of Earth (Tritschler) flowed along with impetuous passion and seemed remarkably dissociated from its time (1914 and the First World War). Blyssid be the Tyme (Tynan) setting a 15th century text was simply and touching yet rather melancholy. Himself and his Fiddle (Murrihy), taking words from the Irish Independent, as a lively, Irish folk-song-like piece with Murrihy delighting in its charm.
The Kipling setting, Have you news of my boy Jack from 1916 returned us to the war years, yet with a profound seriousness. Sung as a duet by Murrihy and Tritschler, it was a serious, deceptively simple piece that proved to be rather moving particularly in its willingness not to give easy answers. Back to Looking Back (1961-1966), O ghost, that has gone (Tritschler) proved to be a short, skittish piece full of impetuosity.
RVW's Orpheus with his lute (Tynan) dates from 1925, just after he first started working with Boyle. Tynan made it delightfully confiding, she was communicating directly to us. Boyle's The Mill Water (Murrihy) from Looking Back had a simple but effect mill wheel sound in the piano contrasting with the lyric intensity of the voice, yet the end was left in the air. RVW's The Water Mill (Tritscher) took us back to the 1920s, with Tritschler giving the piece an engaging charm as he delighted in the storytelling.
Elizabeth Maconchy's Sun, Moon and Stars (Tynan) from 1977 rather took us into a different musical world. After a complex yet atmospheric piano prelude the voice came in unaccompanied and the plain, intense vocal line contrasted with the atmospheric mystery in the piano. Boyle's Spring goeth all in white (Tynan) was engagingly impulsive, whilst A Song of Enchantment (Tritschler) began with a lyrical vocal line contrasting with skittish piano yet managed to end on a note of quiet mystery. This song, from 1921, was one of the few published in Boyle's lifetime.
The composer Charles Wood was married to one of Boyle's cousins. Some 20 years older than her, he took an interest in her early career and training. His The Blackberry Blossom (Murrihy) proved to be an engaging piece of storytelling with hints of Irish folk music that Murrihy brought out with great charm. Boyle's early song (from 1909) Roses (Tritschler) had a vocal line of quiet intensity over a rhythmic piano and seemed to presage an interesting talent. Wood's Oh! Skylark, for thy wing! (Tynan) had a fine sense of flowing rapture to it. Boyle's All Souls' FLower from 1928 was sung by all three singers. A piece of lyric melancholy with a simple, moving piano part.
Charles Wood's Darest though now, O Soul (Murrihy) set Walt Whitman in 1897. It began strikingly with spare, intoned vocal line over a hymn-like accompaniment but became more intense and flowing as the climax was reached. Boyle's own Whitman setting, from 1913, The Last Invocation (Tritschler) received second prize in a Sligo music competition, yet the song was rejected for publication. And intimate piece that whilst reaching a climax managed to die right down at the end.
I don't think we have quite established Boyle's individual sound in our minds, yet her well-crafted songs are each a little gem. Most of those in this programme would fit happily and all manner of recital programmes and her output deserves far more exploration. Rediscovery might have begun, but it has by no means finished.
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