James Joyce and Music

1
James Joyce and Music

• Jiyeon Park

2
James Joyce the ... Musician?
Though he made his mark on the world as a
brilliant writer, he almost was a musician.
His books are full of the deep knowledge and
affection for music with which he grew up and
which stayed with him all his life. Joyce's
training and skill in making music, and even his
love and appreciation of music of all types
influenced his writing at his career.
3
Influence of John Joyce
He attended whichever parish church was nearby,
more as an excuse to sing in the choir than to
attend to his soul. Music was a magnificent
extension of his own grandiose character and
dreams. Like John Joyce, James Joyce was a
follower of opera and music theater. John Joyce
had a song for every occasion, and would sing it
on that occasion.
4
James Joyce had a fine tenor voice
From an early age he took singing lessons and
more than once flirted with making it a career.
Wherever he lived he tried to have a piano in
the house, and he sang all his life, at home.
Sometimes he sang all day at home, driving his
neighbors crazy. His first book of poems was
called "Chamber Music."
5
John McCormack
Joyces interest involved more than collecting
the singers records and attending concerts.
Joyce read all the newspaper accounts of
McCormack's doings, his love affairs, his tennis
playing, his way of dressing and his curly
hairdo. The two artists had known each other
since their Dublin days and shared a concert
stage in 1904. After both had left Ireland, they
met on several occasions.
6
John McCormack
McCormacks success as a singer and his wealth
may have inspired feelings of rivalry and
jealousy in Joyce. McCormack's Irishness was
especially clear in his performance of many
traditional Irish songs and ballads. McCormack
encouraged James Joyce to be a singer offering to
be his teacher. In the end, Joyce declined to
follow that path, but he remained an concertgoer
and later became friends with the modernist
composer George Antheil. Joyce read Pierre V.R.
Key's John McCormack. His Own Life Story (1918)
in order to update and supplement his knowledge
of the tenor's life.
7
John Sullivan
Later in life (1929) Joyce heard and met John
Sullivan, an Irish tenor in the French
Opera. Joyce became a promoter of Sullivan,
arranging meetings with any and all musicians of
the day, including Thomas Beecham.
8
John Sullivan
He was convinced that established cliques were
working against Sullivan, so Joyce helped him
to get adequate recognition. This campaign
began in November 1929 until 1931. It gradually
became clear to Joyce and to Sullivan, that the
voice was losing some of its quality, but Joyce
continued to work up interest in his friend.
9
Giorgio, his son, became a singer
In 1929, Giorgio initiated a singing career thus
continuing the Joyce musical line. In December,
1930, he married Helen Fleischman, a rich
American. Thomas McGreevy, an intimate friend of
Helen assisted Joyce with "Work in Progress"
(Finnegans Wake). Later, Giorgio became an
alcoholic.
10
Lucia, his daughter, became a dancer
Joyce loved Lucia, spoiled her, sang to her, but
only when he had time. When Lucia was fifteen,
she began taking dance lessons, mostly of the
new, anti-balletic, and this became her main
interest during her teens and early twenties.
Lucia was a professional dancer. Nora nagged
Lucia to give up dancing. As for Joyce, it was
unseemly for women to get on the stage and wave
their arms about.
11
Music from His Work

• Bid adieu, adieu, adieu,Bid adieu to
  girlish days,Happy Love is come to wooThee and
  woo thy girlish ways The zone that doth become
  thee fair,The snood upon thy yellow hair.
• When thou hast heard his name uponThe
  bugles of the cherubimBegin thou softly to
  unzoneThy girlish bosom unto himAnd softly to
  undo the snoodThat is the sign of maidenhood.
• Listen

Bid Adieu to Girlish Days Musical arrangement by
Edmund Pendleton words and air by James Joyce
Song Lyrics From Chamber Music by James Joyce
12
Music from His Work
Brigid's Song"Dingdong! The Castle Bell Music
by David Diamond   LyricsBrigid's Song Dingdong!
The castle bell!Farewell, my mother!Bury me in
the old churchyardBeside my eldest brother.My
coffin shall be black,Six angels at my back,Two
to sing and two to prayAnd two to carry my soul
away.

• This piece appears in A Portrait of the
  Artist as a Young Man,
• where a very young Stephen Dedalus quotes it,
  thinking in his
• sick bed how sweet and sad the words are and how
  sentimental his own funeral is likely to be.
• It is one of the first indications
• of Stephen's preoccupation with sounds and
  words.
• Listen

13
Music in Ulysses

• In the Episode 11, Siren, Joyce applies the
  techniques of musical composition to literature.
• The Two main sources of musical allusions in the
  chapter are, first, the opera Martha, by the
  German composer von Flotow, and second, the
  street ballad, The Croppy Boy.

14
Music Types in Ulysses

• Nationalist songs, Child balladsIrish folk
  music, British patriotic songs
• Royal anthems, Music hall songsSailors'
  shanties, soldiers' garrulityNursery rhymes,
  schoolyard inventionsstreet songs, begging
  musicShakespeare,
• Sacred music (Catholic, Anglican, Protestant,
  Jewish
• evangelical anthems, revivalist expressions
• Songs in different languages, Italian, French,
  German, Irish, Latin, etc.

15
Influence on the Modern Music

• Van Morrison wrote the following summary of
  Joyce's career, "James Joyce wrote streams of
  consciousness books", in his song 'Summertime
• in England'.
• Van identifies with Joyce and in his song 'Too
  Long In Exile' he compares himself with
• the great writer when he says, "Been too long in
  exile /
• Just like James Joyce, Baby".
• Listen

16
Influence on the Modern Music

Syd Barrett had previously taken, "Lean out of
the window, Golden Hair", from Joyce's 1907 poem
'Chamber Music' and used it as the first line for
his song 'Golden Hair in 1969. Fire Records
album released 'James Joyce Chamber Music
Project' in June 2008, involving artists such as
Mercury Rev, Peter Buck, Lee Ranaldo and Jeff
Tweedy Each artist was given one of the 36
verses from 'Chamber Music' and asked to set it
to music.
17
James Joyce about Singing

• Joyce expressed his motto for the intertwining of
  opera, song and performers with his writings
• I have always insisted that I know little about
  literature, less about music, nothing about
  painting and less than nothing about sculpture
  but I do know something about singing, I think.