Frank Corcoran

Irish Composer

Music Current Music Festival April 2025

PROJECT ARTS CENTRE
Friday 25/4/25, 8pm
Duration: 75 mins (including interval)

PROGRAMME
Frank Corcoran, Quasi Una Missa (1999) for recorded voices, 20′
[Interval]
Maximilian Marcoll, Amproprification #6: Missa Papae Marcelli, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (2016/2020), 35′

PERFORMERS
Tonnta

This unique programme brings together two settings of the Catholic Mass: Frank Corcoran’s visceral Quasi Una Missa (for recorded voices), and Maximilian Marcoll’s Amproprification VI (after Palestrina’s iconic Missa Papae Marcelli). Corcoran’s setting, originally for radio, is presented in concert format and is replayed here on loudspeakers in near darkness. In Marcoll’s setting (or should that be resetting) Palestrina’s mass is heard in full, sung by seven voices of Tonnta vocal ensemble, while Marcoll overlays a rapidly cut amplified version of the same performance, such that we can perceive and appreciate the original material (Palestrina’s Missa) and Marcoll’s new intervening electronically mediated layer.

“Amproprification”, a portmanteau of the words “appropriation” and “amplification”, is a series of works for performers and automated amplification. In short, all Amproprifications are elaborate amplification layers for preexisting pieces by other composers. For each Amproprification, one specific score is being performed as intended by the original’s composer, except that it is picked up by microphones and played back through loudspeakers. It is this point, the amplification between the microphone and the speaker, that is subject to the composition.

The electronic extension is comprised exclusively of a layer of amplification, which is meticulously and thoroughly designed to be superimposed onto the original work. The possibilities of interference span a large variety of movements, from almost imperceptibly slow fader movements to extremely rapid chopping. In a figure of speech, all Amproprifications are “silent” pieces. They themselves do not contain or produce any sound. They do, however, constitute filters, readings, processings of the original pieces.

The originals are being superimposed with additional layers of musical content. In this sense the Amproprifications could be considered “counter compositions”. They can temporarily serve as interpretations, comments, support, as a means of magnifying aspects not necessarily playing significant roles in the originals, and they can transform them into something new. The selection of a piece for an Amproprification requires love and respect for the original, otherwise the process would be utterly pointless. The Amproprifications are not about destruction. And yet, by “chopping them up”, the respective original’s context is being broken to allow for the emergence of the new.

The concept for the development of the amplification layer is very different for each piece. It is always built on aspects of the respective original’s structure and content. Hence, the originals are being superimposed with layers that are external, yet based on the works themselves. The general aim of the series is to excavate musical realities, hidden within the originals, to address the historic distance we might have towards them, to transform the old acoustic pieces into new electroacoustic ones and the paradox of listening to something that is both well known and entirely new at the same time.

“It is not about the material, but about the access to it. In the «Amproprifications» the composer and performer Maximilian Marcoll uses existing works from very different eras and has them recorded. With the help of his own software, he applies composed volume controls to the pieces found, thus directing the focus and transforming the pieces into something else.” (Neue Zeitschrift für Musik)

Led by vocalist and composer Robbie Blake, Tonnta champions the interdisciplinary creation and performance of music. Tonnta’s sound is vibrant and dynamic – the work references the worlds of live art, contemporary dance and theatre while being rooted in sound. Tonnta believes in creating experiences for all, and where possible ensures all events are accessible to those with reduced mobility, wheelchair users and are delivered in a relaxed-performance style. If you have any concerns about upcoming events, please get in touch with us to discuss your needs. Tonnta prioritises performances and events that are invigorating, boundary-pushing and accessible for all. tonnta.ie

“Tonnta is superb” “capturing everything that is humorous, direct and thought-provoking” (Opera Journal) “The variety within their performance was magical” (icareifyoulisten.com)

Maximilian Marcoll studied percussion, instrumental and electronic composition in Lübeck and Essen, Germany. His work centres on media-reflective aspects of music, as well as the social and political potential of music and sound. His most recent works include pieces of the series ‘NUT | LAC’, which deal with the paradox of the simultaneity of interruption and flow in the form of slowly progressing pulse shifts; the series the ‘Amproprifications’ series, in which he superimposes layers of amplification on works by other composers; a series of monodic electronic canons and “Control Issues”, a series of works for control devices with motorised faders. Since 2021, he has been teaching as Professor of Electroacoustic Composition and Sound Art at the the University of Music and the Bauhaus University Weimar. He lives in Weimar and Berlin. www.marcoll.de

Frank Corcoran was born in Tipperary and studied in Dublin, Maynooth, Rome and Berlin (with Boris Blacher). He was the first Irish composer to have his ‘Symphony No. 1’ (1980) premiered in Vienna. He was a music inspector for the Department of Education in Ireland from 1971 to 1979. He was awarded a composer fellowship by the Berlin Künstlerprogramm in 1980, a guest professorship in West Berlin in 1981, and was professor of music in Stuttgart in 1982. Since 1983 he has been professor of composition and theory in the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Hamburg. During 1989-90 he was visiting professor and Fulbright Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and he has been a guest lecturer at Princeton University, CalArts, Harvard University, Boston College, New York University and Indiana University. www.frankcorcoran.com

” I´ll give in Dublin two special soundscapes …. “

I´ll give in Dublin two special soundscapes ,

My Percussion Concert ´s one ( – see what it takes …. ) ,

Then James Joyce Evening , words and tones and my

Reciting voice , reJoycing him and I .



Words and tones can sound and bend and cry:

” Verbum caro , carmen factum est …. “

Joyce rhapsodic , soaring rhythmic zest .

” Kinetic ” , synaesthetic tone-words fly .



This foam at the mouth in mad March air

Swirls and twirls my whitening hair ….

( But In another sense , there´s nothing there ,



´Cept air all singing plus a certain flair )

It´s a break from singed songs of Death and War

And Drones ( Atone ! ) and winter-bombs afar.



” I´ve known Frank Corcoran over eighty years …. “

I´ ve known Frank Corcoran over eighty years ,

I´ve forgiven his rhymings , fiddling ” fears ” with ” tears” ….

And rhapsodic verses , aerophonic thinking ,

The sheen of strings he loves , the brass all glinting



In a tutti blazing . ( There is nothing wrong

With orchestral tearing ; blaring your own song . )

Flying butresses there were in Frank´s long life ,

Sorrows also twisted the keen knife .



” He sought the right note ” , ” An Nóta Ceart ! “

We´ll chisel in stone ( – is also nearly art . )

Long before decline will wish to start .



Over eighty years his rambling grumbles

At time´s now hoary , gory rough -and -tumble .

But it behoves be proud , yet also humble .

” Astronomy in Mesolithic Time …. “

Astronomy in Mesolithic Times

Knew their winter-solstice had to rhyme

With future hope of food and of bear-hunt

Success ( apologize ! ) He bore the brunt



Of spears and sharpened dagger ( ” Sorry , bear ! ” )

Within , the desperate killing in its lair ,

Bear- steaks and fatty food for little child-

– Ren running bare-foot , tripping , cold and wild .



They knew the earth , their globe, it had to turn

Around again , or else they´d fully burn ,

While flirring , whirring , whizzing towards the sun ,



Or lost in outer space , full freezing done ,

Their mesolithic winter , shivering , fun ,

All glaciers gleaming like a nuclear gun.


” Sebastian Bach came by to quaff a glass …. “

Sebastian Bach came by to quaff a glass

At Cafe Zimmermann , Rhenish , fast ,

The score uncopied , soprano wobble dast-

-Ardly , Bach was hardly friendly …. Yet I asked :



” Music and suffering , Cantor ? Or the ” Pass-

-Us Duriusculus ? I´d like to ask …. “

” Get back to your counterpoint ! ” ( I was young and callow …. )

” Bend it to your will ! And stop being fallow ! “



Nearly blind, a son was leading , Friedemann .

” Will no one find me better weed in Zimmermann ´s ? “

Bach´s pipe gone out , his temper was not everyman´s ….



They left again , into the Leipzig dusk ,

Tobacco and wine – a little …. Well , es muss

Sein . That great forehead . long gone to dust .

” I love a first performance of a work …. “

I love a first performance of a work

Of mine , its sounding tones becoming time ,

And massed motifs and densities and lines

Of thought – the very air will wish to rhyme



With trellised themes , an ” idea ” gone berserk .

Sound´s made flesh , it births there one more time ,

Aerial architecture , points and lines

Of joy or horror ( Mozart´s in his lime …. ) .



It is a birth , a sonic celebration .

It sings ( or bows or plucks ) a ” story ” plain ,

Contorted , ornamented , performed pain..



There is a mystery going on , a gong

Being stroked or choked , a harp bass strong ,

The mystery of all this is very long .

” The seeds of conflict long are ripe, are rotten …. “

The seeds of conflict long are ripe , are rotten .

None foresees the future , not those who make it .

Sykes and Picot should not be forgotten….

Genocide ! We no more can fake it !



I´m reading ” PALESTINE PAPERS ” , desert capers

On donkey and on camel , drawing frontiers

After the Great War ( do not lose those papers ! ) .

Now it´s rotting children , ceased all black tears .



A sonnet can but warn . Carpentry squeaks

Its Caoine while the juice of dead lads leaks .

A bomb-dumb -or -deaf hero ´s spittle speaks



These seeds of conflict , germinating long

Their Phrygian song of bitter , ancient wrong ,

Is this now Armageddon ? ( Ding , dong , gong …. )

Lutoslawski’s ” LIVRE



Lutoslawski’s ” LIVRE ” – my heart is on my sleeve !

Those sound- bits and bites , his ” BOOK ” gives reprieve

To me who’ ve bathed in masterworks galore ….

( They oft transported me to the other shore …. )




But his work goes much further with my heart ,

So fully rent by high orchestral art ,

His lines and fragments lived , a suffered store

Of human ( few men’s ) ” joy” ecstatic . More .



Of course great music hides the little self .

Lutoslawski’s LIVRE ignores the shelf

On which I sit too long , a patient Guelph



Who waits for new prevailing winds to show

My music’s language , ( how the winds did blow

In works of my fickle past , Nono . Oh , NO ! )

” Grave and gravestone planning , oh what fun ! “

from Frank Corcoran A THOUSAND TERRIBLE SONNETS


Grave and gravestone planning , oh what fun !

Chisel , hammer , peperino stone ,

” He sought the right note ” , ” an no´ta ceart ” .

Even the seeking , is that too , not art ?



Peperino stone´s quite friendly , fights

” The goodly fight ” ( And here St. Paul was right …. ) .

The chisel chips a jolly script in stone .

It dares to say my pilgrim´s prayer is one



With all our proud taunting of friend , Time ,

( The chisel´s wiggle , faint heart , Mozart´s lime ….

Memento mori , clay and humus , slime …. )



The tombstone chiseller ´s dancing with The Leveller ,

No place here for mourner , any sniveller .

Each cut word is precious for the traveller .


MONDAY MARCH 3, 2025 ,7.30 James Joyce Centre Dublin FRANK CORCORAN / JAMES JOYCE

MONDAY MARCH 3 . 7.30 James Joyce Centre Dublin FRANK CORCORAN / JAMES JOYCE

Frank Corcoran: Three Pieces for Guitar (1975)

Frank Corcoran: Joycespeak Musik (for tape, 1995)

Frank Corcoran: Seven Points about Joyce as an irish Composer (a text narrated by Frank Corcoran)

Frank Corcoran:Joyceana (2015, for cello)

Frank Corcoran:Snap-shot (2010, for cello)

Georg Hajdu: To Market Music (2024, for guitar & narrator; text by Frank Corcoran) Frank Corcoran narrating. Irish Premiere.

Frank Corcoran: ‘Agnus Dei’ from Quasi Una Missa (1999, for tape)

Benjamin Dwyer: Sing the Word Only (2024, for guitar & narrator; text by Frank Corcoran) Frank Corcoran narrating. Irish Premiere.

Benjamin Dwyer: Guitar

Paul Grennan: Cello

Frank Corcoran: Narration

James Joyce Centre: 7.30pm, Monday 3 March 2025. 

Free entry, with complimentary wine/soft drinks afterwards.