''Strugnell's Haiku'' is a collection of three songs for voice and piano by the composer
Colin Matthews, set to
haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...
poems by Jason Strugnell, an
alter ego
An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...
of the poet
Wendy Cope.
Texts
The texts cover the angst of living in South London, the abode of the fictional Strugnell, who lived in
Tulse Hill
Tulse Hill is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London that sits on Brockwell Park. It is approximately five miles from Charing Cross and is bordered by Brixton, Dulwich, Herne Hill, Streatham and West Norwood.
History
The ar ...
and worked at Norwood library, and whose work shows the influence of a number of poets, including
Ted Hughes
Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...
,
Craig Raine and
James Elroy Flecker
James Elroy Flecker (5 November 1884 – 3 January 1915) was a British novelist and playwright. As a poet, he was most influenced by the Parnassian poets.
Biography
Herman Elroy Flecker was born on 5 November 1884 in Lewisham, London, to Willia ...
. The poems were originally published in Cope's collection ''Making Cocoa for
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social an ...
.'' The haiku touch on various experiences in the poet's life. The first of Strugnell's ''Three Haiku'' is a eulogy to
cherry blossom
A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...
, which the poet thinks "looks really nice". In the second haiku, the poet laments his imminent
baldness
Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarrin ...
, comparing it to the seasonal fallen leaves and snow. In the last haiku, describing a November evening, the poet notes that "the
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
s are open".
Music
Matthews's settings of the first two haiku are essentially
pentatonic in melody and harmony. The first haiku is marked by Matthews as "with fervour, but soon becoming gentle and introspective"; the second as "delicate: like
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
." In the second haiku the
time signature
The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...
of the bars moves twice sequentially from to and then down to again. The third haiku, (marked "sombre but visceral"), in , is set against cavernous
perfect fifth
In music theory, a perfect fifth is the Interval (music), musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitch (music), pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so.
In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is the interval fro ...
s in the bass.
Performances
The songs were first publicly performed by Linda Hirst, accompanied by Julian Jacobson, on 14 December 1989 at the
British Music Information Centre
Sound and Music is the UK's national agency for new music, established on 1 October 2008 from the merger of four existing bodies working in the contemporary music field: the Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM), the British Music Informa ...
, London. It had been previously broadcast by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
on 15 September, the accompanist then being John Lenehan. The work also exists in an alternative arrangement for voice and ensemble of
E-flat clarinet
The E-flat (E) clarinet is a member of the clarinet family, smaller than the more common B clarinet and pitched a perfect fourth higher. It is typically considered the sopranino or piccolo member of the clarinet family and is a transposing inst ...
(doubling
bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...
),
viola
The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...
(doubling three
tam-tams ''
ad lib.''),
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
and
double bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
. In this latter form, it was recorded as part of ''
Mary Wiegold's Songbook'' by The Composers Ensemble conducted by
Dominic Muldowney
Dominic Muldowney (born 19 July 1952 in Southampton) is a British composer.
Biography
Dominic Muldowney studied at the University of Southampton with Jonathan Harvey, at the University of York (with Bernard Rands and David Blake), and private ...
, with Wiegold herself taking the voice part; a complete performance takes approximately 3 minutes 30 seconds.
"Mary Wiegold's Songbook"
NMC Records (1990), NMC D003.
References
Notes
Sources
*Cope, Wendy (1986). ''Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis''. London: Faber and Faber.
*Matthews, Colin (1990). ''Strugnell's Haiku''. London: Faber Music.
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1990 in British music
1990 songs
British songs
Songs based on poems
Haiku