We'll to the Woods No More (John Ireland) explained

We'll to the Woods No More is a song cycle for voice and piano composed in 1928 by John Ireland. It consists of settings of two poems by A. E. Housman (18591936) and a concluding piece for solo piano named after a third.^[1]

A performance takes about 8 minutes. The poems are:^[2]

1. "We'll to the Woods No More" (Last Poems (1922), unnumbered preface)
2. "In Boyhood" ("When I would muse in boyhood"; Last Poems, No. XXXII)
3. "Spring Will Not Wait" ("'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town"; A Shropshire Lad (1896), No. XXXIX)

John France has written, "The mood of this cycle is typically a deep sense of the fragility of life, love and friendship that so influenced both men."^[3] Rob Barnett has written of the piano piece "Spring Will Not Wait" that, "It is in Ireland’s typically elusive, wanderingly ambivalent tonal palette."^[4]

Notes and References

1. Web site: List of works – T to Y. The John Ireland Trust. 29 April 2015 .
2. Web site: We'll to the woods no more: Song Cycle by John (Nicholson) Ireland (18791962). recmusic.org. 29 April 2015 .
3. Web site: John Ireland (18791972): The Songs. musicweb-international.com. France. John. 29 April 2015 .
4. Web site: John Ireland (18791972): The Songs. musicweb-international.com. Barnett. Rob. 29 April 2015 .