Frank Corcoran

Aha, “an ancient stone with the Ogham inscription Corcrain !!! FOG” – a basis for a new tone row perhaps? In Danish aa = ‘oh’ sound, so maybe: Your Corcrain row followed by three unpitched beats, followed by F-A-A-G? My gift to you, happy Christmas.

More and more Corcorans , a slew, swarm, shoal, school, team, band, swoon,

According to archelogical records an ancient stone with the Ogham inscription Corcrain !!! FOG was present on White island in 1879 but has since disappeared by 1949. Ogham script dates from pre christian Ireland. This may suggest that the Corcorans, were active in this area from the 4th – 6th Century. The O’Corcorans sank into obscurity at the period of the Anglo-Norman Invasion, and several branches of the sept removed into the counties of Cork, Kilkenny, and Waterford. In Kilkenny they obtained a settlement from the FitzWalters (or Butlers), who were in possession of their ancient patrimony. And a senior branch of these settlers was represented by the late Most Rev. Michael Corcoran, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, in the commencement of the 19th century; and by the Corcorans of Enniscorthy, in co. Wexford.
The Co. Cork branch of the family settled in Carbery, and are now (1887) represented by Jeremiah (Dan) O’Corcoran, of Bengowe, Parish of Murragh, who has a son, the Rev. Daniel O’Corcoran, a Catholic clergyman in the city of Cork
The first mention found to date of the Corcoran family in Irish historical records is reference to the O’Corcrain Sept, a division of the Clan, living in county Fermanagh near the shores of Lough Erne. In 1014-1022 AD, Mael Sechnaill II reigned as High-King of Ireland after Brian Boruma’s death. For twenty years after the death in 1022 of Mael Secnaill II, many claimants sought the throne and during this period the Chief Government of Ireland was vested in the persons of two men: Cuán O Lóchán, the King’s chief poet, and Corcran of Lismore, an Erenagh. Corcran the Cleric was Abbot of Inis Cealtra. It is recorded that Chief Corcran was killed in battle in 1090 in County Fermanagh. His son, Felimidh, who married Maeve O’Brien daughter of the King of Thomond in 1130, succeeded him. In the Annals of the Four Masters, there is mention of thirty Chiefs of the Corcoran family from 1250 to 1480. In 1140, Maelinmum O’Corcrain was Bishop of Armagh and in 1373, John O’Corcrain was Bishop of Clogher. Three of the learned and respected Erenachs, lay ecclesiastics, of County Fermanagh are recorded as Daire O’Corcrain, Padraig O’Corcrain and Conn O’Corcrain.
The O’Corcrain territory was invaded by the Normans in 1170 AD. It was not until 1590 that the Normans gained control over Fermanagh.
The ruins of a castle, once occupied by the Corcorans, are located west of Lough Erne near Crom Castle, family seat of the Earl of Erne. The Corcoran castle was erected in 1611 AD and destroyed in 1764 AD.
During the Plantations of Ulster in 1610 A. D. and the invasion of Ireland by Cromwell in 1649 AD, the Corcorans were finally scattered. Many settled on lands in Counties Mayo and Sligo and throughout the Counties of the South, principally Offaly, Tipperary and Galway where the MacCorcorans had settled previously.
By (1847-1864), according to Griffiths Valuation, there were 1336 Corcoran households in Ireland with Cork (179), Mayo (128), Kilkenny (128), Tipperary (124), Offaly (102), Roscommon (82), Laois (79) and Galway (60).
By 1911, accourng to the Irish Census, there were 4736 individuals with the Corcoran surname in Ireland, with Cork (736), Mayo (602), Dublin (547), Offaly (343), Loais (343), Tipperary (318), Roscommon (290), Galway (279), Kerry (248) and Kilkenny (231).
It is recorded that the Sept of MacCorcrain, son of Corcran, was prominent in Counties Offaly and Tipperary until the end of the 16th century when this branch of the family was scattered and settled in Counties throughout the South and West of Ireland. The topographical poem written by O Heerin in 1470 and commented by John O’Donoven in 1862 places the Corcorans in the territory of Ely O Carroll in Offaly and Tipperary in proximity to Kilenaule in the Plains of Birr.
The head of this family of Corcorans was Chief of Clann Ruainne in Ely O’Carroll country. It is of interest to note that the shield of the Family Coat of Arms of the Corcorans is described in heraldic language as: “On a silver shield (argent) is a sword between two lions rampant”, that of the O’Carrolls of Ely as: “Sable two lions rampant combatant or armed and langued gules supporting a sword point upwards proper pommel and hilt of the first”, and that of the O’Meaghar family of O’Carrolls of Ely as: “Azure two lions rampant combatant or supporting a sword argent”. The shields of the family Coats of Arms of Corcoran, O’Carroll and O’Meaghar are of such similarity as to indicate a single clan since all clansmen would readily recognize the shields.
The Corcorans were famous in Irish history as ecclesiastics, writers, chroniclers, bards and warriors and this historic fame is recorded in the motto on the Family Coat of Arms, “In Fide et in Bello Fortis” (Strong in Faith and in War). The Crest is a sea bird in flight. It is to be noted that the Corcoran territory was around Lough Erne and the noun Erne is defined in English as “Sea Eagle”. Brian O Corcrain, Vicar of Cleenish and Bard to the Maguires wrote the Celtic Arthurian Romance, Eachtra Mhacaoimh-an-Iolair “The Story of the Eagle Boy”.
People

Ann Corcoran (born 1951), Australian politician
Brian Corcoran (born 1973), former Irish sportsman
Captain Corcoran, character from Gilbert & Sullivan’s (1878) English opera, “H.M.S. Pinafore”
Danny Corcoran (1916 – 1938), Newfoundland Ranger (Game Warden)
James Desmond “Des” Corcoran (1929–2004), Australian politician
Farrel Corcoran, author and academic
Fred Corcoran, (1905 – 1977), World Golf Hall of Famer
Frank Corcoran (born 1944), Irish composer
Jim Corcoran (born 1949), Canadian musician
John Corcoran (logician) American philosopher and logician, University of Buffalo (SUNY)
Kevin Corcoran (born 1949), American director, producer and former child actor
Lawrence J. Corcoran (1859 – 1891), American pitcher in Major League Baseball
Michael Corcoran (1827 – 1863), American general and close confidant of Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War
Thomas E. Corcoran (1838 – 1904), United States Navy sailor and a recipient of the Medal of Honor
Thomas Gardiner Corcoran, a member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s brain trust
Timothy Hugh Corcoran (born 1978), American baseball player
Tommy Corcoran (1869 – 1960), American baseball player
William Corcoran Eustis (1862 – 1921), wealthy inhabitant of Washington, D.C. and grandson of William Wilson Corcoran.Notable for being the chairman of the inauguration committee for the first inauguration of Woodrow Wilson in 1913.
William Wilson Corcoran (1798–1888), American banker, philanthropist and art collector
Paul Corcoran – famous printer of Corcoran t-shirts
Etaoin Corcoran – famous Corcoran and lover of Corcoran t-shirts

Corcoran may also refer to:
Places

Corcoran, California, United States
Corcoran, Minnesota, United States
Corcoran, Minneapolis, Minnesota, a neighborhood in Minneapolis, United States
Corcoran Woods, 210 acres (0.85 km2) donated by Edward S. Corcoran to the State of Maryland, United States

Education

The Corcoran College of Art and Design, art school located in Washington, DC, United States
Corcoran Departments of History and Philosophy, University of Virginia, United States
Corcoran Hall, The George Washington University, historic site in Washington, DC, United States
The Corcoran Memorial Lectures, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Corcoran High School, Syracuse, NY, United States

Other

The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, United States
Fort Corcoran in northern Virginia, American Civil War structure
California State Prison, Corcoran, located in California, United States
Corcoran Memorial Prize, award for outstanding work by graduate students in statistics at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom

See also

Cochrane, some people who were originally surnamed Ó Corcráin today bear the surname Cochrane.

References

^ “Corcoran Name Meaning and History”. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
^ “Corkery Name Meaning and History”. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
^ Grenham, John: “Clans and Families of Ireland: The Heritage and Heraldry of Irish Clans and Families”, Gill & Macmillan Ltd
^ Neafsey, Edward (2002). The Surnames of Ireland: Origins and Numbers of Selected Irish Surnames. Irish Root Cafe. p. 36. ISBN 0-94013-497-7.

Categories: Surnames

NTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR CHORAL COMPOSITION

The International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM) will host the IFCM International Competition for Choral Composition from time to time. The chief aim of which is to promote the creation and wide distribution of new and innovative choral repertoire.

The date of the next IFCM Competition for Choral Composition is yet to be announced.

Winner 2013
Francis Corcoran (Ireland) “Eight Haikus”

JURY 2013

Graham Lack (Germany)
John A. Pamintuan (The Philippines)
Libby Larsen (USA)
Olli Kortekangas (Finland)
Paul Stanhope (Australia)

Philip Casey: Born in London 1950, grew up in Co.Wexford. Poet and novelist and disseminator of Irish culture. Member of Aosdàna.

Frank Corcoran: Composer and author. He has made innumerable radio-programmes over the years on modern music and contemporary culture, including with: RTÉ, R.A.I. Rome, S.F.B, DLF, UWFM, NDR, Radio Bremen, RIAS Berlin, WDR Köln, HR Frankfurt, BR München, Lyric FM. His over thirty years co-operation with NDR still continues with his radiophonic analyses of classical masterpieces (“Prisma-Musik” with NDR Kultur)

Benjamin Dwyer: Irish composer, guitarist, author. Professor at Middlesex University, UK.

Niksa Gligo: Born in Split in 1946. Croatian musicologist; professor at the Musical Academy of Zagreb University. Many years of working with the Zagreb Biennale, including Artistic Director in 1979.

Hans-Dieter Grünefeld: Born in Leer 1955 (Germany). Studied at Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg. Journalist (Music & Literature), innumerable publications in books (co-author) and special interest magazines. Also busy as lecturer, moderator, teacher.

Georg Hajdu: Born 1960 in Goettingen of Hungarian parents. Studied in Germany and the U.S.A. Since 2004 Professor of Multimedia Music at Hamburg Hochschule fuer Musik und Theater. Composer. Researcher at the cutting edge of new musical technology.

Axel Klein: Born 1962 in Muenster, Westphalia. Musicologist and expert on Irish contemporary scene. Among his studies of frank Corcoran and Others, see his contributions to Dictionary of Irish Biography 2009 and Encyklopedia of Music in Ireland 2013.

Ulrich Leyendecker: German composer. Born 1946 in Wuppertal. Professor of theory and composition at Hamburg and, since 1994 at Heidelberg-Mannheim.

James Liddy: 1934-2008. Irish poet and novelist. Lived and taught at Milwaukee University for many years. Member of Aosdana.

Jane O’Leary: Born in Hartford, Connecticut. In Ireland since 1972. Composer and pianist. Founded Concorde, the renowned Irish ensemble to perform and disseminate contemporary Irish composers. Member of Aosdana, the Irish Academy of the Arts.

Colman Pearce: Born in Dublin in 1938. Conductor, pianist and composer. Until some years ago Principal Conductor and Musical Director of the Missippi Symphony Orchestra. Premiered several Frank Corcoran symphonic works over the years.

Hans-Heinrich Raab: German radio producer of contemporary music and modern culture. Born near Greifswald, workek with Radio DDR II and, since 1990 NDR 3 (hamburg). His programme series “Prisma-Musik” since 2004 is an important series for modern music, national and international.

Gabriel Rosenstock: renowned poet working in the Irish Language, haikuist and translator. Author of over 100 books.

Alan Smale: Born in Devon in 1943. Studied violin from an early age. Led the RTE Concert Orchestra,the Irish Film Orchestra and then the National Symphony Orchestra until his retirement last year. Founder and director of the Degani Ensemble.

Wolfgang Tolk: German artist and designer. Studied in Braunschweig and Duesseldorf. Invented the halogen lamp minimum. Since the early nineties he works with minimalist, linear objects mostly out of wood and steelin cooperation with e.g. allglass, boffi, cappelini, living divani, porro etc.

Guido Zaccagnini: Roman musician, pianist, composer, radio and television music producer (translated Charles Rosen “The Classical Style”). Professor at “Santa Cecilia” National Music Conservatory, Rome.

Auch die gerade am 14. März 2011 in der Church Of Christ, New York, vom North / South Consonance Ensemble unter der Leitung von Max Lifchitz erfolgreich uraufgeführten “Songs Of Terror And Love” (zu Texten von Jacopone Da Todi) haben schon im Titel stärkste emotionale Spannungen.

“Mein neues Werk ist für Basso, sehr schwierig und fürs so genannte Pierrot-Ensemble, also Violine oder Viola, Cello, Klavier, Klarinette oder Bassklarinette und Flöte. Da haben wir nach dem Modell von Arnold Schönberg sehr viele Möglichkeiten fürs Kolorit. Das interessiert mich sehr. Und diese Instrumente bei meinen Songs Of Terror And Love begleiten oder illustrieren, negieren oder addieren die Bass-Stimme.”

Eher untergeordnet sind Bearbeitungen, genauer: zwei Fugen von Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 876 und BWV 878) hat Frank Corcoran fünfstimmig für Kammerensemble (Flöte, Oboe, Klarinette, Horn, Perkussion, Klavier, Violine, Viola, Cello und Kontrabass) arrangiert, “eine Huldigung und Spaß und Spiele. Wir haben von Kolorit gesprochen. Am Anfang der einen Fuge hatte ich als Kolorit eine Jazztrommel und dadurch einen gewissen Swing. Das war gut gemeint, aber stilistisch falsch. Bach ist zu gut, deshalb Hände weg von seinen Originalen.”

In conclusio ist Kammermusik für den kleinen Raum bestimmt, wo “Flexibilität des Denkens und der Realisation möglich sind. Man braucht für Kammermusik eine andere Sensibilität als bei Opern oder Sinfonik”, eine Bereitschaft zum intensiven Zuhören. Doch Frank Corcoran beobachtet auch, “dass wir jetzt kein oder kaum echtes Publikum für zeitgenössische Musik haben. Seit dem Tod von Claude Debussy 1918, sind mehrere komplizierende Faktoren in die Gleichung gekommen: Rezeption und Vermarktung, Globalisierung und Internet. Richtig ist: Kammermusik ist voces intimae, Tagebuch, bis heute.”

Hans-Dieter Grünefeld

www.frankcorcoran.com

Diskographie

Kammermusik von Frank Corcoran

Music For The Book Of Kells (1990)
Frank Corcoran, Klavier; Percussion Modern (Hamburg), Ltg.: Dieter Cichiewicz

Wind Quintet (1992)
Stuttgart Wind Quintet, Ltg.: Willy Freivogel

auf:
Frank Corcoran
Mad Sweeny
Black Box 1026
(Vertrieb: www.cmc.ie)

Sweeneys Smithereens (2000)
Ensemble für Neue Musik München, Ltg.: Dieter Cichewiecz

5 Trauerfelder / Goirt an Bhróin (1996)
Perkussion Ensemble München, Ltg.: Dieter Cichewiecz

Fünf Lieder ohne Worte (1984)
für Oboe, Englisch Horn, Posaune, drei tiefe Streicher, Klavier und Schlagzeug
Das Neue Werk NDR, Ltg.: Dieter Cichwiecz

auf: Frank Corcoran
Zeitklang / Composers’ Art Label 13017
(Vertrieb: Klassik Center Kassel)

Piano Trio (1978)
Hesketh Trio

Rosenstock Lieder (1980)
Sabine Sommerfeld, Sopran; Hamburg Trio

The Wind Quintet “Sweeney’s Wind Cries” (1999)
Daedalus Quintet

auf:
Frank Corcoran
Mad Sweeney’s Shadow
Col legno WWE 20214
(Vertrieb: Harmonia Mundi)

Quasi Un Pizzicato (2004)
für Sprecher, Flöte, Harfe, Klavier und Perkussion

auf:
Frank Corcoran
Quasi Una Musica
Zeitklang / Composers’ Art Label 13021
(Vertrieb: Klassik Center Kassel

The Light Gleams (2006)
(nach Samuel Beckett)
für Sopran, Bassklarinette,Cello und Violine
Concorde, Ltg.: Jane O’Leary

auf: Contemporary Music From Ireland (Volume 6)
CMC 06
(Vertrieb: www.cmc.ie)

QUASI UNA STORIA for 13 Strings Frank Corcoran

In the nineties I composed a series of ” Quasi ” works for several different music- genres , eg. QUASI UNA FUGA, QUASI UN LAMENTO, QUASI UN CONCERTO, and so on.
It was thus clear that the composer today is no longer innocent; she knows too much music of the Western past written in the various forms. Thus ” Quasi Una Storia” is
quasi telling a story about this composer’s self-consciousness in dealing with music for strings.
Music in common with the other arts ( if a little less so ) has always striven to imitate, to tell a story, to narrate a tale . But this need not result in merely telling a story about a storm ( see Beethoven’s “Pastoral ” ) , about the composer’s love-lorn heart ( see Tchaikowsky’s ” Pathetique” ) or the hero’s derring – do ( see Strauss’ “Till Eulensgiegel ” ) etc.
The highest , most “abstract” music tells a story about its own musical nature ( see so many Mozart symphonies ) , about its very own tones and their vicissitudes within the musical work itself. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is a story ” about ” its first four well-known and – worn tones.
So my one movement ” QUASI UNA STORIA ” tells, sings and recounts, refers to its opening musical statement for the solo first violin; it soon appears also for solo cello and even for solo bass.
My “Quasi” Story pits constantly the one and the many , the soli and the tutti. It revels in the string colours of great compositions of the past which were composed fo rthe sonorous richness that a string orchestra posesses, from the sheen of a Henry Purcell or a Johann Sebastian Bach right up to great works of the 20 th. c. by a Bartok , a Ligeti or a Lutoslawsky . My opening building block expands its nervous tic idea untill all 13 strings are busy with their stringiness, their string thing. In the middle of my story about these string tones, the colour grows darker, then brighter again. ( As in so many recent Corcoran compositions, I use once again my Corcoran’s Seven Tones, my scale comprising of G A flat C sharp D E flat F sharp and A, my beloved ABC . )
At the end an impassioned plea on the double-bass brings back my story’s opening music. We have come the full cycle. My “Quasi” story is ended.

FRANK CORCORAN

VIOLIN CONCERTO Frank Corcoran

( Premiere in Dublin, Nov. 2 . 2012 . National Symphony Orchestra, Cond. Christopher Warren-Green, Soloist: Alan Smale )

When tonight´s soloist, Alan Smale, approached me about composing yet another, my new Violin Concerto, he said one
thing: ” Sing it ! ”

To write a concerto for the ( tiny ) violin and (enormous) orchestra nowadays is not as easy as to cross a field. Yes, I have my three movements, – roughly Moderate / Slow / Fast – and they must ” sing it ! ” Beethoven´s, Mendelssohn´s, Brahms´s do. – Sing what ?

After the orchestral explosion of fortissimo brass and percussion at the beginning of My Very Own Orchestral Story, the soloist gives the game away ; it sings the opening exposition, theme, idea, melody,
really a scale of seven tones : G A flat C sharp D E flat F sharp A. I´ve often used them as my A B C in other, very different works. Why these ? Who knows ?

Here is ” melody” , but also, as
stacked or squashed or collected or heaped – up tones, ” harmony ” . Building-blocks as song .I have to write as melodically as Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms. Alban Berg and György Ligeti, too. My ” collection” comes in a million guises, up , down, oblique, backwards,forwards transposed, invertd and so on.
Sing it. I use the ( not over- heavy – I´ve no tuba, not too much percussion, a harp, yes, in the lyrical Slow Movement ) orchestra as discrete accompaniment, as a foil to the leaping, darting, climbing , descending, singing human voice of the solo instrument, its joy and radiance and despair and roughness and cantability as my violin threads its line and lovely trellis-work up from the open G string to the highest regions of the E string.

String joy. Great energy ! Great . Sing it ! In this opening movement the short brass and wind chorales punctuate the violin´s Amhrán Mór, Great Song. Always my opening melodic idea and a second little ” lusingando” playfulness is the spiel . In the middle of this movement the
cadenza is ( – well, as it always is ) the soloist´s show-off acrobatics, the violinist painting his canvas with his sparkle of ideas, but they are all won from the opening tones ( as in Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms… ) , all woven into the orchestral canvas.

The Second Movement is all melody ( But can we in this 21.st c. still compose a Lied ? Yes, we can ! ), lovely and ravishing . Four times comes this Lied ( built again from my seven building-blocks of that First Movement opening ) . In German ” Lied” ( “Song” ) is close to ” Leid” ( ” Suffering” ) . The central Cadenza distills the
very essence of both. Then, near the close, the violins have the singing before the soloist´s final lovely pizz. and sigh.

The final Third Movement has a Mozartian last movement energy with its forward movement of fast ( string ) semiquavers, it´s racing towards its end. ” In my end is my beginning” – it sums up, it quotes the First and Second Mov.s before
pitting itself again against strong orchestral forces, tiny David against his Goliathic orchestra, light and shadow and gossamer explosions and clouds and heavenly regions, the hole thing . The solo instrument has the last say, its last sigh rudely cut off by low celli and basses.

FRANK CORCORAN

Hi Frank,

jetzt habe ich etwas Ordnung ins Buch gebracht. Ich schicke Dir den
Ordner, wo die meisten Texte in der von uns verabredeten Reihenfolge
zusammen gestellt sind. Mir fehlen noch folgende Texte: “It’s a Cold
Wind Blowing”, “Looking Back”, “Composer’s Note On The Piano Trio”,
“Eight Haikus”, alle von Dir, und der Epilog “Farewell Haiku”. Hast Du
die Texte noch in Deinem Computer? Dann bitte schicken.

Die Diskographie und Biographischen Anmerkungen zu den Autoren und
auch das Gedicht “To Frank” von Liddy muss ich noch (ab-)schreiben.
Den Bildteil mache ich demnächst.

Den Ordner kannst Du durch Anklicken aufmachen, und dann die einzelnen
Texte auch anklicken.

Schau mal bitte, ob ich etwas vergessen habe, ergänzen muss etc.

Subject: De Senectudine

Mihi placet latine ?

( Lingua Latinorum erat alienatio secunda ; prima erat naturaliter : Teanga na nGael – etiam lingua linguarum atque lingua hebreorum et Dei )

Exemplum : ” Nocteque puellas ”

– sed verum est timor mortis ( conturbantis me ) et timor puellarum et,eheu timor inferorum et timor matris meae et timor patriset timor

ceterorum apud Scholam Borrisokanensem

et ceterorum et linguarum et

mundi sonorum.

Cras tantae syllabae et sonorum .

De urbe urbarum et confusionis . Stercorum . Lucris lucrarum. De Inferis inferorum Romanorum.

Here’s a delightful piece of zany music critic’s hogwash which
hilariously conceals the vapidity of its utterance and
the non-profundity of the thought,
all wrapped and served up with
envious seriousness!

Franks Werk inszeniert das Scheitern, das sich unmittelbar an oder jenseits der Grenzen dessen einstellt, was wir hören und physisch umsetzen können, und das als Scheitern selbst stets spürbar ist. Die Klänge seiner Musik sind abwechselnd dicht, körperlich spürbar, fieberhaft; und wie sie dem Interpreten in der Aufführung entgleiten, überträgt sich auf das Hörerlebnis.

2016 RTE “CROSSCURRENTS”

We just spoke on the phone — as promised, here are the two interviews I heard:

1.) http://www.crosscurrents.ie/frank-corcoran
2.) https://soundcloud.com/cmcireland/cross-currents-episode-1