7 DIRTY SONNETS

Dirty Tricks, from 1997, was an opera inspired to director Chris Newell by the acrimonious Virgin Atlantic vs British Airways dispute. Stephen Chance wrote a libretto in iambic pentameter to underline the mock-heroic tone. The music was predominantly a cappella for six male voices alongside a single soprano. The only instrument in the opera was an electric bass guitar, which played Interludes in the form of Sonnets. 7 Dirty Sonnets is a recomposition of them for piano. 

Each sonnet is in the musical structure of the poetic form. For instance, each has fourteen musical phrases (either 4+4+4+2, or 8+6) which explore rhythms which explore iambic pentameter in different ways.

Paul Barker, June 2000 rev. September 2023

Seven Dirty Sonnets

Dirty Sonnet 7

Dirty Sonnet 6

Dirty Sonnet 5

Dirty Sonnet 4

Dirty Sonnet 3

Dirty Sonnet 2

Dirty Sonnet 1

Composer, pianist, conductor, theatre director, teacher

Seven Dirty Sonnets

Paul Alan Barker