Joyce Music – Barber: Solitary Hotel
- At March 06, 2022
- By Great Quail
- In Joyce
- 0
“Solitary Hotel”
Song 4 from Despite & Still, op. 41
(1968)
For voice and piano
(Like a rather fast tango; op. 41; From Ulysses)
The saddest of all Barber’s Joyce songs is “Solitary Hotel,” the fourth song in Despite & Still, op. 41. The five-song suite was written during a period of depression following the failure of his opera Antony and Cleopatra. Adapted from the “Ithaca” catechism in Ulysses, “Solitary Hotel” begins with Stephen’s playful idea for an intriguing setting: a solitary, alpine hotel where a pensive woman flirts with a mysterious letter. The fanciful scenario comes crashing down when mention of Queen’s Hotel reminds Bloom of his father’s suicide.
Often described as “enigmatic,” the sparse lyrics are telegraphed above a desultory tango played on piano. The climax of the song is the question “What?”, the answer to which throws open the doors of sorrow. The song terminates in the middle of the repetition, “Queen’s hotel, Queen’s hotel, Queen’s ho…” (For those playing at home, this is one less repetition than Joyce.) The script-like lyrics and declamatory vocal afford the singer a broad license of interpretation, and of all Barber’s Joyce songs, “Solitary Hotel” is the most varied in performance. It’s been sung by sopranos, mezzos, tenors, and baritones. The climactic “What?” is always a highlight, whether sung, spoken, breathed, screeched, or gasped.
Excerpt from Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music
By Barbara Heyman
Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music
Oxford University Press, 1992
The cycle Despite and Still, Op. 41, taking its name from the last song of the group, was completed in June 1968 and dedicated to Leontyne Price, who gave the first performance with pianist David Garvey on 27 April 1969 at Avery Fisher Hall. The songs are both intellectually and vocally challenging, which may explain why they have been the most neglected of the Barber repertoire in this genre. In their keenly dramatic rendering of enigmatic texts, the songs (especially Nos. I, III, and V) represent the duality of Barber’s mature style—an affinity for late nineteenth-century German Romantic Lieder and a free use of twentieth-century harmonic language.
The diverse texts—three by Robert Graves (the poet’s “A Last Poem,” pointedly retitled “A Last Song”; “In the Wilderness”; and “Despite and Still”), Theodore Roethke’s “My Lizard,” and a paragraph from James Joyce’s Ulysses, beginning “Solitary hotel in mountain pass”—might seem an illogical grouping, especially to those with only a casual knowledge of the composer’s personal demons. One critic, for example, found the thoughts “disparate, compartmented, and unrelated to each other. An enigma.” All the texts of the five songs, however, suggest that the cycle has profound biographical significance, perhaps even acting as a catharsis for the composer; they probe bleak themes about loneliness, lost love, and isolation—in the creative quest, in old age, in the pious mission.
Barber believed the texts for Op. 41 (as well those for Op. 45) asked for more dissonant music than his earlier songs. Characteristic of the harmonic language of the group is a tendency toward tonal ambiguity—a blurring of tonal centers—with tritones, full chromaticism, conflicting triads, and whole-tone scale segments directed toward a vivid expression of textual imagery.
Op. 41, No. 4, “Solitary Hotel,” from a passage in the “Ithaca episode” near the end of Joyce’s Ulysses, is a description of a scene constructed by Stephen Dedalus for Bloom. Earlier in Joyce’s narrative, a question about Bloom had been presented: “What example did he adduce to induce Stephen to deduce that originality, though producing its own reward, does not invariably lead to success?” The question would have been of great interest to the composer who believed his Antony and Cleopatra to be unappreciated. For the vocal part, Barber used a declamatory, syllabic style that mirrors the bare language of Joyce’s descriptive passage, in which short phrases—sometimes consisting of only one or two words—seem analogous to a series of musical motives. A monotone recitative juxtaposed against the piano’s tango creates an atmosphere of emotional distance, like a memory preserved in a faded photograph. As in Joyce’s passage, the singer ends in midword, the text’s inconclusiveness mirrored in the final chord.
Liner Notes from Samuel Barber: The Complete Songs
By Dylan Perez
Samuel Barber: The Complete Songs
Resonus, 2022
Born in 1910, Samuel Barber knew what he wanted from very early in his life. Such strength of character and courage to follow his path is heard in his music; at a me when American classical music was heavily influenced by experimentalism, Barber’s inclination for ‘traditional’ harmony and melody helped set him apart. What I have always loved about Barber’s vocal music is the ease he finds in the marriage of text and music. Even in the posthumous songs, some recorded here for the first time, he always puts the text first, inspired by both contemporary and ancient texts.
Barber had a long fascination with the words of James Joyce. As a truly intelligent and well-read composer, we can hear his understanding of even the thickest of Joyce’s texts in his Three Songs, Op. 10… In Nuvoletta, Op. 25, Barber returns to James Joyce, this time excerpting from Finnegans Wake….
Perhaps the most harmonically adventurous set of songs, Despite and Still, Op. 41, was written after a prolonged period of compositional and emotional depression which stemmed from his personal life and the perceived failing of his opera Antony and Cleopatra. You can hear Barber’s tortured soul in these songs and they were perhaps written to help him get through his darker moments. The poetry deals with couples: ‘A Last Song’ is an argument and ‘My Lizard’ is a wish for young love never to grow old. ‘In the Wilderness’ is about Christ and a follower cast out of society wandering and conversing with the lesser of society. ‘Solitary Hotel’ is enigmatic; we are dropped into hotel witnessing an exchange we don’t understand. The anger in ‘Despite and Still’ is palpable in the hammered piano part, this couple is staying together regardless of their differences.
Text
“Solitary Hotel” from Despite & Still, op. 41
Solitary hotel in a mountain pass.
Autumn. Twilight. Fire lit.
In dark corner young man seated.
Young woman enters.
Restless. Solitary. She sits.
She goes to window. She stands.
She sits. Twilight. She thinks.
On solitary hotel paper she writes.
She thinks. She writes. She sighs.
Wheels and hoofs. She hurries out.
He comes from his dark corner.
He seizes solitary paper.
He holds it towards fire. Twilight.
He reads. Solitary. What?
In sloping, upright and backhands:
Queen’s hotel, Queen’s hotel, Queen’s ho…
Ulysses: “Ithaca”
The origin of the song is a passage from Ulysses, one of the “catechisms” of the penultimate “Ithaca” episode:
Which example did he adduce to induce Stephen to deduce that originality, though producing its own reward, does not invariably conduce to success?
His own ideated and rejected project of an illuminated showcart, drawn by a beast of burden, in which two smartly dressed girls were to be seated engaged in writing.
What suggested scene was then constructed by Stephen?
Solitary hotel in mountain pass. Autumn. Twilight. Fire lit. In dark corner young man seated. Young woman enters. Restless. Solitary. She sits. She goes to window. She stands. She sits. Twilight. She thinks. On solitary hotel paper she writes. She thinks. She writes. She sighs. Wheels and hoofs. She hurries out. He comes from his dark corner. He seizes solitary paper. He holds it towards fire. Twilight. He reads. Solitary.
What?
In sloping, upright and backhands: Queen’s Hotel, Queen’s Hotel, Queen’s Hotel. Queen’s Ho. . .
What suggested scene was then reconstructed by Bloom?
The Queen’s Hotel, Ennis, county Clare, where Rudolph Bloom (Rudolf Virag) died on the evening of the 27 June 1886, at some hour unstated, in consequence of an overdose of monkshood (aconite) selfadministered in the form of a neuralgic liniment composed of 2 parts of aconite liniment to 1 of chloroform liniment (purchased by him at 10. 20 a.m. on the morning of 27 June 1886 at the medical hall of Francis Dennehy, 17 Church street, Ennis) after having, though not in consequence of having, purchased at 3.15 p.m. on the afternoon of 27 June 1886 a new boater straw hat, extra smart (after having, though not in consequence of having, purchased at the hour and in the place aforesaid, the toxin aforesaid), at the general drapery store of James Cullen, 4 Main street, Ennis.
Did he attribute this homonymity to information or coincidence or intuition?
Coincidence.
Recordings
Compact Disc: Complete Songs
There are two recordings of Samuel Barber’s complete songs available on compact disc.
Barber: The Complete Songs (a.k.a. “Secrets of the Old”)
Cheryl Studer, Thomas Hampson, John Browning, Emerson Quartet
CD: Deutsche Grammophon, 1992
Recorded in 1991-1992 and released on Deutsche Grammophon in 1994, this venerable 2-CD set has never been out of print, a mandatory purchase for fans of Samuel Barber’s elegantly-crafted art songs. It features the soprano Cheryl Studer and the baritone Thomas Hampson, with John Browning on piano and the Emerson String Quartet backing Dover Beach. Having boasted several album covers and titles—including Secrets of the Old—this set continues to shine thirty years later. The liner notes are sparse and the production favors contemporary notions of close-miking and reverb, but the performances are stellar, all musicians in top form. John Browning was Barber’s own choice to première his Pulitzer-Prize winning Piano Concerto, so he’s as definitive a Barber interpreter as the twentieth century has to offer. Cheryl Studer is magnificent. While some operatic sopranos might be tempted to showy displays, Studer allows the lyrics to dictate her delivery, and she touches each word with an appropriate amount of grace, irony, impishness, and sorrow. (Her Nuvoletta is a delight!) And Thomas Hampson’s silky baritone is always a pleasure to hear. Although his voice is darker than the tenor Joyce had in mind, he brings a richness to each of his selections, especially the dramatic clangor of “I hear an army.” A collection that’s stood the test of time, Secrets of the Old—or whatever it’s being called at the moment!—belongs in the library of every classical music fan.
You can hear Thomas Hampson’s “Solitary Hotel” on YouTube.
Samuel Barber: The Complete Songs
Dylan Perez, Fluer Barron, Jess Dandy, Louise Kemény, Soraya Mafi, Dominic Sedgwick, Nicky Spence, & others
CD: Resonus, 2022
Since 1994, fans of Samuel Barber had only the Deutsche Grammophon Secrets of the Old set to represent Barber’s complete songs. As good as that set is, thirty years of the same interpretations can become overfamiliar. Fortunately, this remarkable 2-CD set by Resonus has arrived to freshen things up. Interested visitors are directed to the Brazen Head review of Samuel Barber: The Complete Songs.
Compact Disc: Selected Joyce Songs
“Solitary Hotel” is available on the following collections:
Barber: Songs
Soprano: Roberta Alexander, Piano: Tan Crone
CD: Etcetera, 1988
This set features the soprano Roberta Alexander accompanied by pianist Tan Crone. Released in 1988 on Etcetera, the set is erroneous labeled Barber: Complete Songs on Amazon. For the interests of Joyce enthusiasts, the CD contains Three Songs op. 10, Nuvoletta, “Solitary Hotel,” and “In the dark pinewood.” Alexander also recorded a version of “I hear an army” with full orchestra.
Samuel Barber: Vocal and Chamber Works
Baritone: Sir Thomas Allen, Piano: Roger Vignoles
Digital: Warner Classics, 1994
For the interests of Joyce enthusiasts, this set contains Three Songs op. 10, “Solitary Hotel,” and “Now have I fed and eaten up the rose.”
Mélodies Passagères: The Songs of Samuel Barber
Soprano: Gweneth-Ann Jeffers, Piano: Stephen de Pledge
CD: Quartz, 2012
For the interests of Joyce enthusiasts, this set contains Three Songs op. 10, Nuvoletta, and “Solitary Hotel.”
Chimère
Soprano: Sandrine Piau, Piano: Susan Manoff
CD: Alpha, 2018
This lovely CD contains a haunting version of “Solitary Hotel.”
Long Time Ago
Baritone: Adèle Charvet, Piano: Susan Manoff
CD: Alpha, 2019
Charvet sings four Barber songs, including “Solitary Hotel.”
Online Video
The following live performances are available on YouTube.
Barber: “Solitary Hotel”
Soprano: Sona Ghazarian, Piano: Adolph Henning
This dramatic rendition was recorded at the Bregenz Festspielhaus. I like the way Ghazarian exclaims, “What?” rather than singing it.
Barber: “Solitary Hotel”
Soprano: Roberta Alexander, Piano: Tan Crone
This video was recorded in 1993 for the Dutch public broadcast organization VPRO. A long-time champion of Barber’s songs, Alexander sings with incredible precision, staring directly into the camera and feeling every word. While her exaggerated stage expressions are less effective three feet from the camera, if you can overlook the awkward melodrama, Alexander’s reading of the song is superb.
Barber: “Solitary Hotel”
Tenor: Lukasz Rosiak, Piano: Alina Hoffman
An unfortunately low-fidelity recording from 19 October 2005.
Barber: “Solitary Hotel”
Baritone: Thomas Hampson, Piano: Wolfram Rieger
A live performance from 28 October 2010. Recorded at the Coolidge Auditorium, Washington, DC during the Favorites from the Song of America Tour.
Barber: “Solitary Hotel”
Tenor: Max Zander, Piano: Nikolay Verevkin
A senior recital recorded in 2014.
Additional Information
Library of Congress Samuel Barber Collection
The Library of Congress holds several Barber works available for viewing as PDFs, including the original scores to “Rain Has Fallen,” “Solitary Hotel,” and “I Hear an Army.”
Samuel Barber: Other Joyce-Related Works
Samuel Barber Main Page
Return to the Brazen Head’s Samuel Barber profile.
Songs from Chamber Music (1935-1937)
These six songs are settings of poems from Chamber Music.
Nuvoletta (1947)
A playful song with lyrics adapted from Finnegans Wake.
Fadograph of a Yestern Scene (1971)
A short instrumental inspired from a line in Finnegans Wake.
“Now have I fed and eaten up the rose” (1972)
This song is based on James Joyce’s translation of a German poem by Gottfried Keller. It’s about a man who is buried alive.
Author: Allen B. Ruch
Last Modified: 20 July 2022
Joyce Music Page: Bronze by Gold
Main Joyce Page: The Brazen Head
Contact: quail(at)shipwrecklibrary(dot)com