Abstract
This chapter examines how Frederick May has been depicted in previous musicological literature and the ways in which both biographical facts and May’s music have been misrepresented in an attempt to create the impression that he was part of the main stream of central European modernism. The article uncovers new material regarding the early stages of May’s career and demonstrates that May’s educational trajectory was similar to other pupils of Vaughan Williams. The article counters the narrative of failure created by musicologists who judge May for failing to achieve aesthetic aims that he never set out to attain and reflects the point which research on May had reached at the time of writing. It therefore forms a precursor to the later article on May by Mark Fitzgerald ‘Retrieving the Real Frederick May’, Journal of the Society for Musicology in Ireland, 14 (2019) 31-73. DOI: 10.35561/JSMI14192
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | Music and Identity in Ireland and Beyond |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |