Settings of his poetry by E. J. Moeran and Samuel Barber By E. J. Moeran :
Strings in the earth and air The merry green wood Brightcap
The pleasant valley Dennycamey
Now 0 now in this brown land
By Samuel Barber :
Rain has fallen
Sleep now
I hear an army sung by William Parsons (baritone)
James Joyce , after a life of suffering and misunderstanding, is now after his death becoming established as one of the greatest figures in twentieth-century literature. As a noet he was a very delicate and subtle artist, and of his small output of poems nearly all cry out for a musical setting. ' Chamber Music from which most of the above songs are set, and ' Pomes Penyeach ' are his best-known collections.
Of the former Arthur Symons wrote: 'There is no substance at all in these songs, which hardly hint at a story ; but they are like a whispering clavichord that someone plays in the evening, when it is getting dark. They are full of ghostly old tunes, that were never young, and will never be old, played on an old instrument. If poetry is to be a thing overheard, these songs, certainly, will justify the definition.'