Ina Boyle (1889-1967): A Composer’s Life

The book addresses the dearth of information about the life and music of the twentieth-century Irish composer, Ina Boyle. She worked at her craft throughout her life, although as a woman living in the then remote village of Enniskerry she struggled for recognition and to have her music performed. A member of an Anglo-Irish family with roots in the military, religious and diplomatic professions she had a sheltered childhood and studied music privately with several teachers in Dublin. With their encouragement she looked to England and entered works in competitions, which culminated in 1919 with the selection for publication of her orchestral rhapsody, The magic harp by the prestigious Carnegie Trust. She decided that she needed a new teacher and contacted Ralph Vaughan Williams for tuition in composition. For fifteen years, despite family duties, she travelled to London for lessons. With the outbreak of World War II her travels were curtailed and her rate of composition waned. During the 1940s several of her orchestral works were broadcast on Radio Eireann in programmes of music by Irish composers. After the death of her father in 1951 Boyle had freedom to travel again and to devote the rest of her life to composition.