An Anthology of friendship: the letters from John Ireland to Father Kenneth Thompson

Richards, Fiona (2002). An Anthology of friendship: the letters from John Ireland to Father Kenneth Thompson. In: Fuller, Sophie and Whitesell, Lloyd eds. Queer episodes in music and modern identity. Urbana, USA: University of Illinois Press, pp. 245–267.

URL: http://www.press.uillinois.edu/s02/fuller.html

Abstract

In this collection this chapter examines the rarefied sexuality of the English composer John Ireland, who was smitten by young choristers. The most valuable evidence is a collection of confessional letters to a close friend, Father Kenneth Thompson. The chapter considers how the love of youth may be sensed in Ireland's lyrical, intense and introspective music; through homoerotic references, both classical and personal; and through the delicate symbolic interplay of sensuality and innocence.

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