{"id":3492,"date":"2025-08-23T14:40:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T14:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/?page_id=3492"},"modified":"2025-08-30T14:06:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T14:06:53","slug":"chamber-music-1907","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/james-joyce\/joyces-works\/chamber-music-1907\/","title":{"rendered":"Chamber Music (1907)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>First published: <\/strong>Some of the poems were previously published in various periodicals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Book publication:<\/strong> London: Elkin Matthews, 1907<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>by Natascha Mendoza and Martin M\u00fchlheim<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Kammermusik<\/em> was Joyce\u2019s first book publication and, as such, a crucial step in his career as a writer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to Get Published?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For years, Joyce had struggled to get his poetry into print. While some of the poems made it into periodicals such as the short-lived Dublin-based magazine <em>Dana <\/em>or the British weekly <em>The<\/em> S<em>peaker<\/em>, other verses submitted by the fledgling author were flatly rejected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly \u2013 and despite the support of Arthur Symons, a highly regarded poet and critic \u2013 Joyce\u00a0failed to convince the publisher Grant Richards to take up the collection <em>Kammermusik<\/em> (though he did later publish Joyce&#8217;s <em><a href=\"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/james-joyce\/joyces-works\/dubliners-1914\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"3104\">Dubliner<\/a><\/em>). The publisher who did eventually accept Joyce\u2019s first book was Elkin Matthews, and\u00a0<em>Kammermusik<\/em> finally appeared in May 1907.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Of Love and Music<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joyce\u2019s collection had originally been titled <em>A Book of Thirty Songs for Lovers<\/em>. Why exactly the title was changed to <em>Kammermusik<\/em> remains unknown. We do know, however, that both the title as well as the order of the poems were chosen by Joyce\u2019s brother Stanislaus, to whom James entrusted the final arrangements for the book publication (Witen 86).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its final form, <em>Kammermusik<\/em> comprises 36 poems. Most of the poems revolve around the twin themes of love and music \u2013 like \u201cStrings in the earth and air,\u201d for example, the poem that opens the collection: \u201cThere\u2019s music along the river \/ For Love wanders there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is fair to say that <em>Kammermusik<\/em> has not become one of Joyce\u2019s best-known or frequently discussed works. However, Joyce \u2013 who was an accomplished amateur tenor \u2013 himself described the collection as \u201cpretty enough to be put to music\u201d (letter by Joyce to Stanislaus, March 1, 1907). And indeed, since its publication, <em>Kammermusik<\/em> has inspired countless musical adaptations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreover, in different ways, music would remain important in all of Joyce\u2019s future works, from the songs in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/james-joyce\/joyces-works\/dubliners-1914\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"3104\">Dubliner<\/a> <\/em>to the \u201cSirens\u201d chapter of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/james-joyce\/joyces-works\/james-joyces-ulysses\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1739\">Ulysses<\/a> <\/em>to the multivocal language of <em>Finnegans Wake.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><sup><strong>Sources: <\/strong>Joyce, James. <em>Letters of James Joyce Vol. II. <\/em>Edited by Richard Ellmann, The Viking Press, 1966.\uff5cWiten, Michelle<em>.James Joyce and Absolute Music<\/em>. Bloomsbury, 2018.<\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><a id=\"_msocom_1\"><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"262\" height=\"413\" src=\"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ChamberMusicJoyce.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3495\" style=\"width:266px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ChamberMusicJoyce.jpg 262w, https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ChamberMusicJoyce-190x300.jpg 190w, https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ChamberMusicJoyce-8x12.jpg 8w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The first edition of <em>Kammermusik<\/em> (London: Elkin Matthews, 1907).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>The opening poem of <em>Kammermusik<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Strings in the earth and air<br>Make music sweet;<br>Strings by the river where<br>The willows meet.<br><br>There&#8217;s music along the river<br>For Love wanders there,<br>Pale flowers on his mantle,<br>Dark leaves on his hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">All softly playing,<br>With head to the music bent,<br>And fingers straying<br>Upon an instrument.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Natascha Mendoza and Martin M\u00fchlheim Chamber Music was Joyce\u2019s first book publication and, as such, a crucial step in his career as a writer. How to Get Published? For years, Joyce had struggled to get his poetry into print. While some of the poems made it into periodicals such as the short-lived Dublin-based magazine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":1718,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"wp-custom-template-one-column","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3492","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3492"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3540,"href":"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3492\/revisions\/3540"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joycefoundation.ch\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}