A Cycle of Seven Sonnets
James Nathaniel Holland
About this work:
When studying Shakespeare’s Sonnets, a mystery remains to this day, were the early sonnets intended for a male lover or merely written for a woman to use? And remaining true to the enigma, that is exactly how these seven selections are set to music, mostly intended for a man to sing, but versatile enough for a female voice as well.
These particular sonnets touched me deeply and seemed to be the most vivid by way of images: the sanctuary of love in the midst of our stormy day-to-day affairs; saucy, nimble jacks leaping here and there; the pleading of “O never say that I was false of heart... for thou art my rose” no matter how much I “range“; the echo of eternity in “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”; the lofty stars; the slavish fool in love; and finally the wind of the ocean waters blowing over the broad main. Beautiful images, and images, I hope, superbly set to “modern” music with slight indulgences.
Please note that some of the sonnets have been springboards for other works. No. 1 is also arranged for SATB choir and piano acc. (score available upon request); No. 5 is arranged for treble voices, or children‘s choir, and piano acc. (score available upon request); and No. 4 is expanded and set for a small ensemble of woodwinds and strings.
If you would like to perform any of these songs, but have different ensemble requirements, please e-mail me.
We’ll work something out!
So without further ado, here are the texts to “A Cycle of Seven Sonnets“:
I. SONNET 29
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,
Haply I think on thee,-- and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
(Repeated)
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate,;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
II. SONNET 128
How oft when thou, my music, music play'st,
Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds
With thy sweet fingers when thou gently sway'st
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds,
Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap,
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand,
Whilst my poor lips which should that harvest reap,
At the wood's boldness by thee blushing stand!
To be so tickled, they would change their state
And situation with those dancing chips,
O'er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait,
Making dead wood more bless'd than living lips.
(Repeated)
Since saucy jacks so happy are in this,
Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.
III. SONNET 109
O! never say that I was false of heart,
Though absence seem'd my flame to qualify,
As easy might I from my self depart
As from my soul which in thy breast doth lie:
For nothing this wide universe I call,
Save thou, my rose, in it thou art my all.
That is my home of love: if I have rang'd,
Like him that travels, I return again;
Just to the time, not with the time exchang'd,
So that myself bring water for my stain.
For nothing &c.
Never believe though in my nature reign'd,
All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood,
That it could so preposterously be stain'd,
To leave for nothing all thy sum of good;
For nothing &c.
IV. SONNET 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
So long as men &c.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men &c.
V. SONNET 14
Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck;
And yet methinks I have astronomy,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality;
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,
Or say with princes if it shall go well By oft predict that I in heaven find:
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
And constant stars in them I read such art
As 'Truth and beauty shall together thrive,
If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert';
Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
'Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.'
VI. SONNET 57
Being your slave what should I do but tend,
Upon the hours, and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend;
Nor services to do, till you require.
Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour,
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour,
When you have bid your servant once adieu;
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought
Where you may be, or your affairs suppose,
But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought
Save, where you are, how happy you make those.
(Repeated)
So true a fool is love, that in your will,
Though you do anything, he thinks no ill.
VII. SONNET 80
O! how I faint when I of you do write,
Knowing a better spirit doth use your name,
And in the praise thereof spends all his might,
To make me tongue-tied speaking of your fame!
But since your worth--wide as the ocean is,--
The humble as the proudest sail doth bear,
My saucy bark, inferior far to his,
On your broad main doth wilfully appear.
Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat,
Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride;
Or, being wreck'd, I am a worthless boat,
He of tall building, and of goodly pride:
Then if he thrive and I be cast away,
The worst was this,--my love was my decay.
(Instruments and Vocals Performed by: James Holland)
Year composed: 2001
Duration: 00:27:00
Ensemble type: Voice, Solo or With Chamber or Jazz Ensemble:Voice with Chamber/Jazz Ensemble, 2-5 Players
Instrumentation: 1 Piano, 1 High Voice, 1 Synthesizer
Instrumentation notes: High Voice,
Synthesizer,
Piano