One hundred years ago today, Ireland lost the brilliant young poet Francis Ledwidge in Belgium as a soldier in World War I.
Ledwidge only published a single volume of poetry during his life; additional works were published posthumously.
His poetry gravitates to natural images, notably in a set of poems that imagine months of the year as women – May, June, August.
I’m fortunate to have played a part in seeing May set to music – it was my students in 2011 who brought August by Michael McGlynn to me, and when I was granted money from the Rockford Education Foundation to commission Michael to write for The Rockford Aces in 2015, I was delighted to discover he wrote August‘s sister piece.
I’ve written more about the commission here, and you can purchase the score here. Now, on the centenary of his death, I’m proud to release this video of The Rockford Aces’ recording of May, which was released a few weeks ago on our fourth album, Get Ready!