Elegy I – Jealousy

This composition is named after a poem by John Donne, an English poet who lived from 1572 to 1631. Jealousy can be felt in many different ways. It can give rise to different emotions, such as disappointment, sorrow, and grief, but also anger and insanity. Jacob de Haan incorporated all these emotions in the composition.

Donne’s poem was not the only source of inspiration for this work. Two other sources about jealousy also inspired de Haan. One was a painting, Jealousy in the Garden by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1862-1944) . Jacob de Haan incorporated this painting Jealousy after he visited an exhibition of Munch’s artwork in the city of Emden. “You can see the emotionally-vexed face of a rejected lover in the foreground, while a deeply passionate couple can be seen embracing in the background,” de Haan said about this painting.

The second work of art was a 16th-century French Chanson about jealousy, Je ne l’ose dire, by  the French composer Pierre Certon.  Thematically this Chanson is frequently referenced. The introduction of the composition is a mingling of different themes as various emotions swell-up and fade away again.The feelings that Munch’s work conveys are most prominent in the lamentoso theme. The same theme – this time appearing as a hallucination – leads to the climax near the end, in the allegro vivace, which mirrors anger and insanity. This leads to the departing allargando, which brings back all the emotions and feelings of the chanson.