BOYLE, Ina

Introduction
Selina (Ina) Adelaide Philippa Boyle (1889–1967) was one of the most prolific composers in Ireland during the first half of the twentieth century. Her compositional career spanned the First and Second World Wars, the Irish War of Independence (1919–21), and the Irish Civil War (1922–23). She is historically significant as the first woman in Ireland to compose a symphony (Symphony No. 1 ‘Glencree’, 1927), a concerto (Violin Concerto, 1935) and a ballet (Virgilian Suite, 1930–31). Her extant manuscripts are preserved at the Manuscripts and Archives Research Library of Trinity College, Dublin with select materials available online at the TCD Digital Collections website. 1

Background and Education
Boyle was born into a well-established family of Anglo-Irish heritage at Bushey Park, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow to parents Philippa Arabella Boyle, née Jephson (1857–1932) and Rev. William Foster Boyle (1860–1951), curate at St. Patrick’s Church, Powerscourt (1883–92). She grew up in this remote environment within a restricted circle comprising her parents and younger sister Phyllis Kathleen Boyle (1890–1938). In keeping with her home-schooled education, she was first introduced to music lessons by her father, and later taught violin and cello by her governess. At age eleven (1900), she began theory and counterpoint lessons with Samuel Spencer Myerscough (1854–1940), founder of the Leinster School of Music, and from 1904 received training via correspondence with Charles Wood (1866–1926), who was married to her first cousin Charlotte Georgina Wills-Sandford (1875–1940). Boyle went on to study privately with two teachers in Dublin, Dr Percy Buck (1871–1947) and Dr Charles Kitson (1874–1944). Buck had commenced a non-residential post as Professor of Music at Trinity College in 1910, and taught harmony and counterpoint to Boyle from September of the same year. Under his tutelage, Boyle received her first public acclaim as a composer. This success came in 1913 when she won both first and second prize at Sligo Feis Ceoil for her chamber work for cello and piano, Elegy (1913), and a setting of The Last Invocation by Walt Whitman (1913) respectively. 2

In 1913, Boyle began composition lessons with Kitson, organist at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and Professor of Music Theory at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin. As Kitson’s student, she entered the Carnegie Trust Competition in 1917 for the first time with ‘Soldiers at Peace’ (1916), a setting for choir and orchestra of a sonnet by Captain Herbert Asquith. She did not receive an award but was commended by the judges and placed on a list entitled ‘works of special merit’. Three years later, she had further success at the same Carnegie Trust Competition when her orchestral rhapsody dedicated to Kitson, The Magic Harp (1919), was unanimously selected for publication. 3 As the only woman to have been honoured by the prestigious scheme, she made many newspaper headlines in London in 1920, including in The Daily Mail. 4
Boyle’s final teacher was Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), who in 1920 had been appointed part-time Professor of Composition at the Royal College of Music, London. Between 1923–39, Boyle made periodic visits to London for private lessons. More so than her previous teachers, Vaughan Williams acted as a source of personal and professional support to Boyle, although she consistently retained his formal title of ‘Dr V.W.’ in her manuscripts. His endorsement included letters of introduction to influential persons on her behalf, most notably to Hubert J. Foss (1899–1953), the first musical director for Oxford University Press (1923–41). 5 In 1939, the outbreak of the Second World War abruptly ended these lessons and cut Boyle off from the musical landscape in which she had initially gained recognition. The composer did not return to London until her father passed away in 1951, by which point, demand for her music had diminished.

Critical Reception
With regards to her critical reception, Boyle made some radical strides, particularly in her early years, in becoming the first woman to be published by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust Competition in 1920. Despite this acclaim and numerous achievements including a commemoration medal and Diplôme d’Honneur in the music category of the Olympic Art Competition, London (1948), she faced much rejection throughout her life from publishing companies, musical directors, and performers alike. The composer has documented a stream of refusals and setbacks contemporaneously in her Memoranda which sheds light on her many unsuccessful attempts to have her music disseminated. 6 Although this rejection hindered both performances and publications of her compositions, it did not discourage her from sending scores to conductors and choir directors. Instead, she often facilitated performances of her music and paid for her own publications, which has impacted on the accessibility of her work today.

Posthumous Recordings:
Since 2011, there have been eight CDs released that feature Boyle’s music, each of which are listed below with purchase links:
- Ina Boyle, ‘The Magic Harp’, Dan Godfrey: Encores, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, cond. by Ronald Corp (Dutton Epoch, 2011), [CD, CDLX 7276]. https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8003708--dan-godfrey-encores

- Ina Boyle, ‘Sleep Song’ and ‘Three Songs of Walter de la Mare’, I Am Wind on the Sea: Contemporary Vocal Music from Ireland, Aylish Kerrigan (mezzo-soprano) and DearbhlaCollins (piano) (Metier, 2016) [CD, MSV 28558]. https://www.discogs.com/release/15629534-Aylish-Kerrigan-Dearbhla-Collins-I-Am-

- Wind-On-Sea-Contemporary-Vocal-Music-From-Ireland Ina Boyle, ‘Symphony No.1 ‘Glencree’ and No II. ‘Nightwinds in the Valley’, Composing the Island, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, cond. by Kenneth Montgomery (RTÉ,2016) [CD, 5391507331090]. https://www.rte.ie/radio/lyricfm/articles/releases/2016/1215/839161-composing-the-island/

- Ina Boyle, ‘Elegy’, Cello Abbey, Nadège Rochat (cello), Staatskapelle Weimar Orchestra, cond. by Paul Meyer (ARS Production, 2017) [CD, ARS38221]. https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8314227--cello-abbey

- Ina Boyle, Ina Boyle Orchestral Works, Benjamin Baker (violin), Nadège Rochat (cello), BBC Concert Orchestra, cond. by Ronald Corp (Dutton Epoch, 2018) [CD, CDLX7352]. https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7352

- Ina Boyle, Ina Boyle: Songs, Paula Murrihy (mezzo-soprano), Robin Tritschler (tenor), Ben McAteer (baritone), Iain Burnside (pianist and curator), (Delphian Records, 2021) [CD, DCD34264]. https://www.delphianrecords.com/products/ina-boyle-songs

- Ina Boyle, ‘The Joy of Earth’, A Shropshire Lad, Roderick Williams (baritone and orchestrator), Hallé Orchestra, cond. by Mark Elder, (Jeremy Hayes, 2022) [CDHLL7559]. https://the-halle.myshopify.com/products/a-shropshire-lad

- Ina Boyle, ‘String Quartet in E minor’, Boyle Premier Recording, Piatti Quartet, (Rubcion, 2023) [RCD1098]. https://rubiconclassics.com/release/piatti-quartet-boyle-vaughan-williams-moeran- ireland/

Acknowledgments
With thanks to Dr Ita Beausang and Dr Seán Doherty for proof-reading and to theManuscripts and Archives Library at Trinity College Dublin for access to primary source materials.

Entry provided by Orla Shannon
Dr Orla Shannon is a part-time lecturer at Dublin City University and Research Supervisor at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. In 2022, she completed her PhD on the song collections of Ina Boyle which was funded by the Irish Research Council.
1 Digital Collections: The Library of Trinity College Dublin (2021) [accessed2 April 2021].
2 Ina Boyle, Musical Compositions Memoranda: Ina Boyle’s Own Detailed Annotated Record of herCompositions, TCD MS 4172, 2r. [accessed 23 March 2021].
3 Ita Beausang and Séamus de Barra, Ina Boyle 1889–1967: A Composer’s Life (Cork: Cork University Press, 2018), 9. 4 ‘New Woman Composer/ Carnegie Fund Judges’, Daily Mail (22 May 1920).
5 Ina Boyle, Diary Extracts of Selina (Ina) Boyle, TCD MS 10959, 18r. [accessed 23 August 2022].
6 Boyle, Memoranda.

External Links:
Trinity College Dublin, Digital Collections: https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/collections/707957642?locale=en
Select scores available for purchase at the Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland: https://www.cmc.ie/composers/ina-boyle
Ina Boyle official website: https://www.inaboyle.org/