Songcircle Concert 11 April 2015: Tim Ellis: tsuyu yo no (a world of dew) (songs 1 4 only)

First performance, 11 April 2015
Felicity Hayward, soprano
St Mary Magdalene Parish Church, Munster Square, London, NW1 3PL
Although the final fifth song is not available, the cycle also has a completeness ending as it does here. I would like to provide the translations but as they are copyright all I can do is to refer you to the excellent book where I found these haiku, Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death. Charles E. Tuttle Company: USA, Rutland, Vermont. ISBN 0-8048-1505-4.
Whilst idling my time in a London bookshop I came across a collection of jisei, or Japanese death poems collected and translated by Yoel Hoffmann. As a musical miniaturist, it is not surprising I have an interest in the concision of the haiku as a form containing more than one layer of meaning.
One recurring image of these haiku is that of dew (tsuyu), human life as fleeting as the morning dew. These five haiku use the image of dew. The word tsuyu is set as a bright ringing sound except in the fourth song, the words of which echo my sentiments about my partner’s cancer, when even the brightness of glistening dew cannot enliven the viewer.
We journey into life and into death alone, which made me decide on setting for voice alone. The set opens and closes with the word tsuyu (dew). My starting point for the settings is the sound of the words and their overall meaning. If my setting offends ethnic Japanese or Japanese language purists, I apologise in advance.
The first poem implies waking from sleep is death or an afterlife. The second is like the passage from the Book of Common Prayer, “earth to earth, dust to dust” The third is about the end of life, of pain relieved as a joyous moment, an ecstasy we, the living will never know. The fourth haiku has a sense of resignation. Finally a sad adieu rises into the joy of being bright like dew. The short cycle of songs ends as it began.
0.15
1. retsuzan (1789 - 1826)
tsuyu no yo to
satoru sono yo o
nezame kana
1.17
2. shikaku (1714? - 1767)
kusa ni kite
kusa ni kaeru ya
tsuyu no tama
3.05
3. koraku (1780? - 1837)
moto no mizu ni
kaeru zo ureshi
kusa no tsuyu
4.19
4. tojun (1622? - 1695)
shish ̄o ni wa
chikusa no tsuyu no
gen mo nashi
5 banzan (1619-1691)
mame di iyo
mi wa narawashi no
kusa no tsuyu