The names of four poems that John Paul Jones has written music to have been released online, shedding new light on his song cycle project which seems to be about the role of women in society.
Earlier this month, the Britten Sinfonia began selling tickets for a January 8 performance in which opera singer Dame Sarah Connolly will premiere a new song cycle written for her by Jones.
The website shows that the song cycle will be structured around four poems that Jones has selected and written music for: “Her Kind”, “Pygmalion’s Bride”, “Morning Glory” and “I Say”.
We’ve firmly identified two of the poems, which suggest Jones has created a song cycle about the role of women in society. Last year, he said in a podcast interview that the poems had a “common theme”, something we can already see signs of.
“Her Kind” is likely a 1960 poem published by US poet Anne Sexton. The poem addresses the theme of motherhood as well as witchcraft. “I have gone out, a possessed witch, haunting the black air, braver at night; dreaming evil,” the poem begins.
“Pygmalion’s Bride” is a 1999 poem written by Scottish poet and playwright Carol Ann Duffy which describes the exploitation of a sculpture. “Cold, I was, like snow, like ivory,” the poem begins. “I thought ‘He will not touch me’, but he did.”
The poem describes “graphic emotional, physical and sexual exploitation of a sculpture who eventually manages to liberate herself,” the website IB Wisdom says.
It’s possible that “Morning Glory” is a 1989 poem by the US poet Carolyn Marie Rodgers. Her work was known for addressing feminist issues, which fits with the prior two poems.
We haven’t found a poem that fits with the theme that has the title “I Say”. However, there is a 1978 poem by Maya Angelou titled “Phenomenal Woman” which features the phrase “I say” as a recurring motif that appears four times.
“Phenomental Woman” is “a celebration of self-acceptance and female empowerment”, the website All Poetry says.
The history of John Paul Jones’ new opera project
The first public mention of a collaboration between Jones and Dame Sarah came in 2018 when The Telegraph reported that the pair were working together on new songs as well as Jones’ Ghost Sonata musical.
“You might be surprised to know that I’ve been a Led Zeppelin fan since my youth,” Dame Sarah said in the interview. “They’ve written some really fantastic music, so inventive and passionate. John Paul is a really gifted composer, and I can’t wait to hear what he has come up with.”
The next sign that the pair were working together came when the Twitter account @JohnPaulJones, which seems to be the man himself, followed Dame Sarah’s Twitter account.
And when Jones was announced in 2023 as a performer at the 2024 Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, his biography on the festival website included the following section: “John is currently composing a song cycle for Dame Sarah Connolly which has been commissioned by a number of the finest, as yet unannounced, contemporary classical music venues and ensembles in the world.”
In an interview with Steinway published in July 2024, Jones revealed that the song cycle was based on poems he had selected.
“I’ve got four poems from some Americans poets and some British poets,” Jones said in the podcast episode. “You’ve searched for these poems, that’s the hardest part, finding the poem that fits. They have to be related to each other slightly, these poems. And they are, there is a common theme which again I won’t reveal just yet.”
“It’s a song cycle for Dame Sarah Connolly, who is one of the finest mezzo-sopranos in the world,” Jones said. “It’s for a Pierrot ensemble. It’s the Pierrot ensemble, which is Pierrot lunaire orchestration which is piano, flute, clarinet, violin and cello. So it’s classical Pierrot ensemble.”
“The people who commissioned it said ‘You can add instruments’. I thought maybe I could add another violin which would give me a string trio. Then that makes it a bit too easy,” Jones explained.
“The clarinet can double bass clarinet, which is what I’ve got them doing, and the flute can double piccolo. And so you’ve really got quite a good range there,” he added.
Interesting Project.
Mister Baldwin is quite the Composer.
Hopefully I will get a chance to see it performed.