On the Beach at Fontana
COMPOSER'S NOTE
On the Beach at Fontana is part of a cycle of ten art songs on poems by James Joyce that I wrote during the winter and spring of 2019.
Joyce reveals his vulnerabilities in the text. It's about a father's love for his son. It's also about the fear of loss. The inspiration for the poem can be found in Joyce's notebook of 1907:
I held him in the sea at the baths of Fontana and felt with humble love the trembling of his frail shoulders: Asperge me, Domine, hyssopo et mundabor: lavabis me at super nivem dealbalor [Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, O Lord, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me and I shall be made whiter than snow]. Before he was born I had no fear of fortune.
On the Beach at Fontana is also available as part of a compilation:
Ten Poems of James Joyce (High Voice and Piano)
Ten Poems of James Joyce (Medium Voice and Piano)
THE TEXT
Wind whines and whines the shingle,
The crazy pier-stakes groan;
A senile sea numbers each single
Slime-silvered stone.
From whining wind and colder
Grey sea I wrap him warm,
And touch his trembling fine-boned shoulder
And trembling arm.
Around us fear, descending,
Darkness of fear above;
And in my heart how sweet unending
Ache of love!
James Joyce, 1882 - 1941
James Joyce by Jacques-Émile Blanche
DURATION
3¾ minutes
YEAR OF COMPOSITION
2019
CATEGORIES
Solo Voice
VERSIONS
High Voice Solo and Piano
Medium Voice Solo and Piano
PERFORMING RIGHTS
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
PURCHASE SHEET MUSIC
US: TBA
World: TBA
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