Graham Waterhouse, cellist and composer especially of chamber music, has written a number of song cycles. As a cellist, he has used string instruments or a Pierrot ensemble instead of the typical piano to accompany a singer. In 2003 he composed a first cycle of songs based on late poems by Friedrich Hölderlin. In 2016, he set nursery rhymes, excerpts from James Joyce, and texts by Shakespeare. In 2017, he wrote settings of poems by Irish female writers, and in 2022 a cycle of Buddhist texts for mezzo-soprano, cello and piano.
The following table contains for every song cycle the title with translation, the year of composition, the text source and its language(s), voice type (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor) and instrument or ensemble, and the number of movements. When ensemble is mentioned, it is always the Pierrot ensemble which Arnold Schoenberg introduced in his Pierrot Lunaire of 1912: flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion.
| Title | Translation | Year | Text source | Language | Voice | Instrument(s) | Movements |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| German: [[#Sechs späteste Lieder|Sechs späteste Lieder]] | Six latest songs | 2003 | Hölderlin | German | mezzo-soprano | cello | 7 |
| Moonbass | 2014 | medieval poems | soprano | cello | 3 | ||
| De Natura | Of nature | 2015 | poems about nature | English | tenor | string quartet | 5 |
| Hinx Minx | 2016 | nursery rhymes | English | mezzo-soprano | cello | 6 | |
| Music of Sighs | 2016 | James Joyce | English | mezzo-soprano | ensemble | 3 | |
| German: [[#Drei Lieder nach Shakespeare|Drei Lieder nach Shakespeare]] | Three Songs After Shakespeare | 2016 | Shakespeare | English | soprano | string quartet | 3 |
| Irish Phoenix | 2017 | Irish female writers | English | soprano | ensemble | 7 | |
| Shravana | 2022 | Buddhist texts | Sanskrit | mezzo-soprano | cello and piano | 5 | |
| Sechs späteste Lieder | |
| Based On: | Poems by Hölderlin |
| Movements: | 7 |
The cycle, composed in 2003, sets six of the late poems by Hölderlin for mezzo-soprano voice and cello in seven movements, with a prelude by the cello, and the final poem spoken as a melodrama:
It was performed and live recorded at the Gasteig in Munich by Martina Koppelstetter and the composer on 11 April 2010, in a composer's portrait concert, along with chamber music, early songs and the premiere of the setting of the poem Im Gebirg (On the Mountains) by Hans Krieger, scored for mezzo-soprano, alto flute and piano.
| Moonbass | |
| Text: | Medieval poems |
| Movements: | 3 |
The cycle is a setting of three medieval poems in different languages, for soprano and cello. It was composed for a colloquium at the University of Oldenburg with Violeta Dinescu.
It was premiered on 28 November 2014 by Stephanie Kühne and the composer.
| De Natura | |
| Text: | Poems about nature |
| Movements: | 5 |
De Natura (Of Nature) is a song cycle for tenor and string quartet. The texts have in common that they deal with phenomena of nature.
It was premiered at the Gasteig on 1 November 2015 by tenor Colin Howard and a string quartet formed by Joe Rappaport, Lorenz Chen, Dorothea Galler and the composer.
| Hinx Minx | |
| Based On: | Nursery rhymes |
| Movements: | 6 |
The cycle of settings of six nursery rhymes from the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes was composed for a concert for children on the Museumsinsel Hombroich, performed on 28 February 2016 by Eva Vogel, mezzo-soprano, and the composer as the cellist.
| Music of Sighs | |
| Text: | by James Joyce |
| Movements: | 3 |
The texts for the cycle are all by James Joyce; Arise from Chamber Music (No. 14) is framed by two excerpt from Finnegans Wake:
Scored for mezzo-soprano and ensemble, the cycle was first performed at the Gasteig on 24 April 2016 by Julia Kraushaar and the Ensemble Blauer Reiter.
| Drei Lieder nach Shakespeare | |
| Text: | Songs from Shakespeare's The Tempest |
| Movements: | 3 |
Waterhouse set three songs by Shakespeare from his play The Tempest for soprano and string quartet, to be first performed in an homage concert for Shakespeare, ... play fast and loose ..., at the Gasteig on 9 October 2016 by Anna Karmasin and the Pelaar Quartet:
| Irish Phoenix | |
| Text: | poems by Irish women |
| Movements: | 8 |
The cycle is based on poems by Irish women writers from the 8th to the 21st century. It is scored for soprano and an instrumental ensemble matching Anton Webern's arrangement of Schoenberg's first Chamber Symphony, Op. 9: flute (doubling piccolo), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), violin, cello, piano and percussion. Settings of seven poems and an interlude form the cycle:
It was first performed by Anna Karmasin and the ensemble Blauer Reiter at the Gasteig on 1 April 2017.
| Shravana | |
| Image Upright: | 1.2 |
| Based On: | Buddhist texts |
| Movements: | 5 |
The cycle Shravana for mezzo-soprano, cello and piano is music in five movements for different combinations of the three performers, all with Buddhist overtones.
It was first performed at the Gasteig on 12 March 2022 by Anna-Doris Capitelli, the composer and Miku Nishimoto-Neubert.