Song of Songs - References in Art, Literature and Music

References in Art, Literature and Music

• Nobel Laureate Sinclair Lewis' novel 'Elmer Gantry' references the Song of Solomon on at least seven pages, including the title character Elmer sonorously reading explicit versus from it aloud to seduce the virtuous Sharon, who like Elmer is an American evangelist and who is of course named for the 'Rose of Sharon' (Song of Songs 2:1) of the early erroneous yet enduringly poetic translations of the Old Testament.
• Benjamin Britten's opera "Albert Herring" (page 15, ed. Boosey and Hawkes)
• Instrumental progressive metal band Animals as Leaders has a song titled Song of Solomon on their self-titled release. Their second album concluded with the a song titled "David", possibly referencing Song of Songs as well.
• Song of Solomon - 1977 novel by Toni Morrison, published 1978.
• J.S. Bach's Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, while mainly based on the Parable of the Ten Virgins, also uses words and imagery from Song of Songs.
• La Sulamite by Emmanuel Chabrier, with words by Jean Richepin is based on Song of Songs.
• Karen Young made an album, with the Latin title of this book, Canticum Canticorum (also known as Oratorio), with twenty songs drawn from the whole book.
• In the Jehovah's Witness song book, song number eleven is entitled "The Shullamite Remnant" and is based on Song of Songs, quoting some of the verses verbatim, including Song of Songs 8:6, 7.
• Israeli pop superstar Ofra Haza recorded the song entitled "שיר אהבה" (Love Song) on her 1988 album "Shaday". The song, sung a cappella, is a direct quotation of Song of Songs 8:6-7.
• Kate Bush wrote a song called The Song Of Solomon, containing lines from the book, which appears on her 1993 album The Red Shoes. A reworking of the song appears on the 2011 album Director's Cut as Song of Solomon.
• Flos Campi by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams is based on the book.
• Sinéad O'Connor's "Dark I Am Yet Lovely" on Theology (2007) is a treatment of the Song.
• Brion Gysin used the King James translation of the Songs of Songs in the cut-up poem The Poem of Poems (1958–1961)
• In Geoffrey Chaucer's, 'The Canterbury Tales', there are numerous references. The most notable of these is in The Miller's Tale in Absolon's attempted wooing of Alisoun.
• John Zorn's "Shir Ha-Shirim" premiered in February 2008. The piece is inspired by Song of Songs and is performed by an amplified quintet of female singers with female and male narrators performing the "Song of Solomon". A performance at the Guggenheim Museum in November 2008 featured choreography for paired dancers from the Khmer Arts Ensemble by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro.
• In 2009, Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church authored a book, "Have You Seen the One I Love" on Song of Songs.
• In 1975, the German Krautrock band Popol Vuh released the album Das Hohelied Salomos.
• Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina used Song of Songs as the text setting for his Fourth Book of Motets in Five Voices.
• Alexander Goldscheider set the entire text to music and recorded it with Jaroslava Maxová, Jaroslav Březina and Romantic Robot Orchestra on a CD released by Romantic Robot, London.
• Henry Purcell incorporated portions of Song of Songs into his anthem "My Beloved Spake" (z28).
• Edward Bairstow, "I Sat Down Under His Shadow."
• The title of mewithoutYou's second album, Catch for Us the Foxes, is a reference to Song of Songs 2:15.
• The indie folk band Dry The River mentions the "Songs of Solomon" in their song "Shaker Hymns".