The Holy Sonnets of John Donne

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The Holy Sonnets of John Donne is a song cycle composed in 1945 by Benjamin Britten for tenor or soprano voice and piano, and published as his Op. 35. [1] It was written for himself and his life-partner, the tenor Peter Pears, and its first performance was by them at the Wigmore Hall, London on 22 November 1945. Britten began to compose the cycle shortly after visiting, seeing the horrors of, and performing at, the liberated Nazi Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. [2] [3]

The cycle was recorded for Decca by the original performers in November 1967 in The Maltings, Snape with John Mordler as producer and Kenneth Wilkinson as engineer. [4] [5]

The cycle consists of settings of nine of the nineteen Holy Sonnets of the English metaphysical poet John Donne (1572–1631). The following numberings are those of the Westmoreland manuscript of 1620, the most complete version of those sonnets. [6]

  1. IV: "Oh my blacke Soule! now thou art summoned"
  2. XIV: "Batter my heart, three person'd God"
  3. III: "Oh might those sighes and teares return againe"
  4. XIX: "Oh, to vex me, contraryes meet in one"
  5. XIII: "What if this present were the world's last night?"
  6. XVII: "Since she whom I lov'd hath pay'd her last debt"
  7. VII: "At the round earth's imagined corners"
  8. I: "Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?"
  9. X: "Death be not proud"

The concluding song, "Death be not proud", is a passacaglia, one of Britten's favorite musical forms.

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Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo is a song cycle composed by Benjamin Britten (1913–76) for tenor voice and piano in 1940, and published as his Op. 22. It was written for himself and his life-partner, the tenor Peter Pears (1910–86). The manuscripts of the songs are dated between April and October 1940; but there is some evidence that the cycle had been contemplated, and even begun, as early as 1937. It consists of settings of seven sonnets, all love songs, by the Italian painter and poet Michelangelo (1475–1564), in the original language:

  1. XVI: "Si come nella penna e nell'inchiostro"
  2. XXXI: "A che più debb'io mai l'intensa voglia"
  3. XXX: "Veggio co' bei vostri occhi un dolce lume"
  4. LV: "Tu sa, ch'io so, signor mie, che tu sai"
  5. XXXVIII: "Rendete agli occhi miei, o fonte o fiume"
  6. XXXII: "S'un casto amor, s'una pietà superna"
  7. XXIV: "Spirto ben nato, in cui si specchia e vede"

Songs and Proverbs of William Blake is a song cycle composed by Benjamin Britten (1913–76) in 1965 for baritone voice and piano and published as his Op. 74. The published score states that the words were "selected by Peter Pears" from Proverbs of Hell, Auguries of Innocence and Songs of Experience by William Blake (1757–1827). It was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in June 1965 by the German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925–2012) and the composer. The critic William Mann thought that the cycle would be judged "Britten's deepest and most subtle song-cycle"; and John Warrack wrote in The Daily Telegraph that Britten "has, I feel, here come to terms with the darkness and sense of cruelty that has always stalked his art".

The Poet's Echo is a song cycle composed by Benjamin Britten (1913–76) in August 1965 during a holiday visit to the Soviet Union, in Dilizhan, Armenia. It consists of settings for high voice and piano of six poems by the Russian poet Alexandr Pushkin (1799–1837), in their original language. It was published as his Op. 76.

Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente is a song cycle for high voice and piano composed in 1958 by Benjamin Britten (1913–76), and published as his Op. 61. It consists of settings of six short poems and verse fragments by the German lyric poet Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843).

Who Are These Children? is a song cycle for tenor and piano composed in 1969 by Benjamin Britten (1913–76), and published as his Op. 84. It consists of settings of twelve poems by the Scottish poet William Soutar (1898–1943).

Songs from the Chinese is a song cycle for soprano or tenor and guitar composed in 1957 by Benjamin Britten (1913–76), and published as his Op. 58. It consists of settings of six poems translated from the original Chinese by Arthur Waley (1889–1966). It was written for, and first performed by, the tenor Peter Pears and the guitarist Julian Bream.

Cycle for Declamation is a song cycle for tenor solo composed in 1954 by Priaulx Rainier (1903–86).

References

  1. ↑ Evans, Peter (1979). The Music of Benjamin Britten. London, Melbourne and Toronto: J. M. Dent & Sons. pp. 349–354. ISBN   0-460-04350-1.
  2. ↑ Carpenter, Humphrey (1992). Benjamin Britten: A Biography. London: Faber and Faber. pp. 227–228. ISBN   0-571-14324-5.
  3. ↑ "The Holy Sonnets of John Donne". Britten-Pears Foundation. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Liner notes to CD London 417428-2
  5. ↑ A performance by Pears on You Tube
  6. ↑ "The Holy Sonnets of John Donne". recmusic.org. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
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