Gurney, Ivor (Bertie)
Gurney, Ivor (Bertie)
Gurney, Ivor (Bertie), English poet and composer; b. Gloucester, Aug. 28, 1890; d. Dartford, Kent, Dec. 26, 1937. He became a chorister at Gloucester Cathedral in 1900, where he studied with Brewer. After serving as asst. organist there (1906-11), he continued his studies as a scholarship student in composition with Stanford at the Royal Coll. of Music in London (1911-15). He then served in the British Army during World War I, and in 1917 was wounded and gassed at Passchendaele. Although he never recovered his mental and physical health, he resumed his studies at the Royal Coll. of Music in 1919 as a student of Vaughan Williams. In 1922 he was declared insane and spent the rest of his life in mental hospitals. Gurney was a gifted composer of songs, being principally influenced by Parry and German lieder. He set some of his own poems, as well as others, to music. In all, he publ. some 40 songs (4 vols., 1917-22). Among his other works were piano pieces and violin pieces.
Bibliography
C. Moore, Maker and Lover of Beauty: I. G., Poet and Songwriter (Rickmansworth, 1976); M. Hurd, The Ordeal of I. G. (Oxford, 1978); A. Boden, ed., Stars in a Dark Night: The Letters of 1. G. to the Chapman Family (Gloucester, 1986); M. Pilkington, G., Ireland, Quilter and Warlock (London, 1989).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire