As part of my background reading for the review of The C.W.
Orr Songbook I consulted Jane Wilson’s excellent biography – C.W. Orr – The
Unknown Song Composer. This book was published in 1989 by Thames Publishing. I
discovered a reference to The Joyce Book of
Songs.
Wilson explains that in 1929 friends of James Joyce were
concerned about the writer facing poverty in Paris after the scandal resulting
from the publication and subsequent banning of Ulysses. Apparently,
the composers Herbert Hughes and Arthur Bliss met in Paris whilst attending a
chamber music festival organised by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. It
was decided to publish a volume of songs which were to be settings of James
Joyce’s collection Pomes Penyeach. Thirteen
composers were to set one poem each. Naturally, this was to be
‘gratis’ as all royalties were to go to the author.
According to Jane Wilson, Herbert Hughes was to be editor.
Hubert Foss designed the book. Augustus John drew the frontispiece which was a
sketch of Joyce. The Irish poet James Stephens wrote the 'Prologue' and a poem.
Padraic Colum and Arthur Symons provided a written text. Only 500
copies of the music were published.
The songs were as follows:-
E.J. Moeran: Tilly
Arnold Bax: Watching
the Needleboats at San Sabba
Albert Roussel: A
Flower given to my daughter
Herbert Hughes: She
weeps over Rahoon
John Ireland: Tutto e
sciolto
Roger Sessions: On the
beach at Fontana
Arthur Bliss: Simples
Herbert Howells: Flood
George Antheil:
Nightpiece
Edgardo Carducci: Alone
Eugene Goossens: A
memory of the players in a mirror at midnight
C.W. Orr:
Bahnhofstrasse
Bernard van Dieren: A
prayer
Finally, Wilson notes that ‘the publicity gained for the
songs in The
Joyce Book of Songs was minimal as there does to appear to have been a
performance of them until the Joyce Centenary in 1982.’ As far as I
am aware, there is not a recording of the entire sequence of songs, although
some have been issued as individual items.
Stephen Banfield in his essential study of English Song, Sense and Sensibility has
given a good discussion of the songbook. Finally, the composer Peter Dickinson
wrote an essay on The Joyce Book of
Songs for the BBC in 1982. They are leads that can be
explored.
2 comments:
I have always admired Goossens as a conductor and his compositions, especially for wind instruments (and superbly in his conducting) are very refined with total clarity. Dropped in here because of Goossens setting of 6 Joyce songs from his Chamber Music 1929. They are for medium voice, mezzo or baritone, and the only recording I can find is the Unicorn LP (RHS348 1977) which is a lovely hommage by one of his ex students Gaspare Chiarelli. I love them! Very much in the mould of the Reincarnations choral work by Barber on Irish poems.
Thanks for that
J
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