Gerald Barry
La Jalousie Taciturn (1996)
“Exuberant and brilliantly monstrous” is how Rachel Beaumont of The Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden describes Gerald Barry’s music. La Jalousie Taciturn for string orchestra was
commissioned by The Irish Chamber Orchestra and first performed by them in Enniskillen
directed by Fionnuala Hunt. The title is taken from Francois Couperin’s 13th Ordre, one of
the “folies francoises” which describe costumes worn by guests at a masked ball – in this
case “taciturn jealousy in a dove-grey costume”. Barry’s work juxtaposes sections
contrasting sharply in dynamics, register, timbre and texture. Each section is defined by
direct, bold rhythms and well-defined melodic lines, which seem to echo fragments of
melody from music of past centuries.