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Chamber Music by James Joyce: A Choral Commissioning Project

Jo-Michael Scheibe: Was James Joyce ly said: “For myself, I always write about Dublin, be-
a graduate of University College Dublin? cause if I can get to the heart of Dublin, I can get to
the heart of all the cities of the world.” 2
Desmond Earley: Yes, Joyce was a grad- Some may consider it deeply ironic that James Joyce
uate of University College—now known wrote so extensively, and so exactingly—with an almost
as University College Dublin—where he forensic precision—about Ireland after leaving her.
studied French and English literature and Joyce’s Dublin was quite a vibrant city (and still is), and
languages. Although he spent his later the Joyce family enjoyed theatre and opera at Dublin’s
years abroad, Dublin was his primary par- Theatre Royal and the Gaiety Theatre.
adigm and the fountain of his inspiration.
His works give voice to the idioms and the sounds that Scheibe: I read that Joyce was a singer, so it seems mu-
Dubliners make… the Hiberno-English speech pat- sic was quite important to him.
terns, idioms, twists, and sounds of Dublin. He pres-
ents what it is to have that Dublin speech pattern and Earley: Yes, it’s not widely known, but Joyce was a fine
sounds the pattern in his texts, and I love that. In many singer. He won a bronze medal for solo singing in 1904
ways, we are still intimately connected to Joyce through at the Dublin “Feis Ceoil” competition, which is a mu-
the music of spoken speech. I like to think that some of sic festival competition that started in Dublin in 1897.
the phrases we use today (and their music) connect us According to a review of the competition in the Irish
to an older Dublin and to Joyce himself. Daily Independent: “Mr. Joyce showed himself possessed
Joyce left Ireland in 1904 at the age of twenty-two of the finest quality voice of any of those competing.” 3
and lived the rest of his life abroad (Trieste, Zurich, We know Joyce was exposed to quite a lot of music
Paris). Yet his literary imagination remained fiercely in his early life. His use of language was itself musi-
tethered to Dublin, and he wrote about the city with cal, but certainly, references to music appear through-
such clarity. After the publication of Ulysses, he famous- out Joyce’s literature. For example, in the story “The

Listening Links

Sample: Track 3, “O cool is the valley now,” poem XVI. Composed by David Walters.

Sample: Track 12, “Silently she’s combing,” poem XXIV. Composed by Desmond Earley.

Sample: Track 17, “Lean out of the window, Goldenhair,” poem V. Composed by Jocelyn Hagen.

Chamber Music by James Joyce

8 CHORAL JOURNAL May 2026 Volume 66 Number 8