Speaking of alternative tunings, it should be noted that thirty-two of the thirty-six songs in this cycle were initially composed using a non-standard guitar tuning named (after its retuned strings) DADGAD. Two were composed in standard tuning [EADGBE], and two in open G. Many of the initial arrangements were changed when the songs were transposed to suit Esther’s voice. David Mowat’s Comprivations, performed at Saint Stephen’s Church on Bloomsday, combines musical improvisation and readings of Joyce. David Leo Diamond composes an arrangement of“Brigid’s Song”, from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. (see Joyce, 1916) Celebrated composer Donald Martino writes Three Songs, a setting of Joyce’s poems “Alone”, “Tutto e sciolto”, and “A Memory of the Players in a Mirror at Midnight”. (see 1951) New Zealand free improv trio Sandoz Lab Technican’s album “ Unhemmed As It Is Uneven” takes its title from a line in Finnegans Wake. (see Tim Cornelius, 2017)

William Averitt composes “ From Dreams” for choir with piano and viola. The piece has three movements, each incorporating text from Joyce’s poems: “Gentle lady, do not sing Sad songs”; “Sleep now, O sleep now”; and “O cool is the valley”.Alanna Takes a Solo record a wonderful piece, “ Song Celebrating My Genealogical Connection to James Joyce“. Choreographer Jean Erdman’s The Coach with the Six Insides is a musical play based on Finnegans Wake, with music by Teiji Ito.

Amber’s song “ Yes!” was number one on the US Dance charts. The song was based on Molly Bloom’s soliloquy in Ulysses and the lead single to Amber’s 2002 album Naked. John Wolf Brennan’s Text, Context, Co-Text & Co-Co-Textfor solo piano is inspired by Finnegans Wake and to a lesser extent, Ulysses. (see 1994, 2005) Stephen Gardner’s Ulysses Extended is performed at the James Joyce Centre in Dublin. The extended score includes opportunityies for improvisation. In an interview, musician Trey Gunn remarked, “I don’t know exactly how [Joyce] influenced me, but I’ve found it some of the most striking things I’ve encountered.” Composer Victoria Bond premieres “Cyclops” scored for speakers, choir, violin, clarinet and piano, at Symphony Space as part of the opening event of the Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival in New York City.Joanna Newsom’s song “ Time, a Symptom” on her Divers album contains reference to the closing passage of the Wake:“Joy! Again, around–a pause, a sound–a song: a way a lone a last a loved a long“. Ted Leo and The Pharmacists song “ M¥ Vien iLin“, on their album The Tyranny of Distance, includes two verses referencing Joyce: “We make our days as they make us/ As I must as Odysseus/ Make myself my own Telemachus/ ‘Bous Stephanos, Stephanoumenos Dedalus!'” followed by “And if it hasn’t been a bust/ Then land-ho, Ulysseus/ And all of us like Dedalus/ Dead, dead all of us”.

James Joyce’s The Dead, a musical by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey, based on Joyce’s short story “The Dead”. Premiered on Broadway in 2000, winning a Tony for “Best Book of a Musical”. (see Davey, 2015) Composer and conductor Martin Pearlman debuts his Finnegans Wake: An Operoar with the Boston Baroque, with readings and recitation from Adam Harvey. (see Harvey, 2017) Samuel Barber’s Opus 45, “ Three Songs,” includes Joyce’s translation of “Now I Have Fed and Eaten Up the Rose”, a poem first written in German by Gottfried Keller. (see 1935, 1936, 1937, 1947, 1968) As part of his “ Separate Songs”, celebrated composer Donald Martino set to music Joyce’s poem “All day I hear the noise of waters”. (see 1955) Irish singer-songwriter Barry Moore dons the new performance name of Luka Bloom in 1987, releasing his eponymous album in 1988. “Luka” is said to be a reference to the Suzanne Vega song, “Bloom” a reference to Ulysses‘s Leopold Bloom. (In recent years, Suzanne Vega also told The Guardian that she enjoys reading James Joyce.)All editions of Joyce’s works published during his lifetime entered the public domain as of the end of 1991.

Chris Rael’s song cycle “Araby” retells the stories of Dubliners. Produced twice Off-Broadway, “Araby” won the New York International Fringe Festival’s Excellence in Music Composition Award in 2011. Some of the performances are available online here; the original demos for the song cycle can be heard here. (see 2017)Creating an album from texts of Finnegans Wake, Phil Minton releases his Mouthfull of Ecstasy. (see 2017; also Vladimir Estragon, 1989) Indie pop band Trevor Sensitive and the Locals include the song “I’ve read Finnegans Wake” on their album Sensitive. The North American version of The Pogues’ If I Should Fall from Grace with God includes a picture of James Joyce on the album cover. (see Fearnley, 2012)