Mikrokosmos and micrologos are fancy names for a little world which an art-work creates. With aura, of course; we are here granting irreproduceability, our Hapax Legomenon ( or should we ? ), the epiphany , a fumble in time, the split in the grainy film. Time seems to stop with and for the masterpiece ( but, of course , it doesn´t ). What´s all this about Barnett Newman´s 1948 “THE SUBLIME IS NOW” ? What does his death – or that of CyTwombly – do with all this ? A huge picture, just standing there, trumpeting forth just what? It´s all very fine and sublime to maintain that here “Being” ( but beware all bull-shit metaphyics, singer ! ) is bursting out o´ its skin , leppin´onto the stage in order to confound and astonish and remind and confuse and heal and rattle and medicate me by shock.
P.S. I cracked The Ciccadas´Song: ” Don´t be going out in that thermonuclear sun shining and roaring but seek quietly the shade.”
THE COMPOSER WAITS TO GET PREGNANT
Certainly, I am ” the insect which waits” ( Stravinsky). Wait for impetus, for impulses, for nod and jog, the agglutinative tic. For the next opus,
straining to be born. And all of this in a world with ever less chances ( or sympathy ) for composed new music. The faith is gone; it was never strong…. Faith in crafty art-works sounding in shaped time. It´s no longer there or here in “the West”. Have not illusions.
So pare that quill. Spare not the five-lined paper. Seeing is hearing. Sigh, Twombly is dead. Ars est celare artem.
IT IS NOW FOUR IN THE MORNING
As yet not rosy-fingered, my day dawns. I greet myself in this friendly dark, cautiously, not quite effusively. I am somebody. This is a, this is my text, an aubade, a salute to what will soon appear as my morning. I write this early prose on water and yet. O light of what´s coming soon on these hills, my new day, fáinne geal an lae, bright ring of my Tuesday. It´s coming down the mountain, created not only by me here, my matutinal now. Sing, Lauds; bawl your head off, loud Laudes. Keep it going, day one of my new creation! Blow , warm bugles! Take a deep breath! He who sings need not scream! To whisper is also okay! Hey!
” THIS IS LIVIN´ ” SONG
I have forbidden all flying ants to nest in my white hair. So a diet of lashings of raspberries can beat cancer. Wouldn´t that beat Banagher ! The cat, Pángur Liath, brought in just now a baby bird plus another field-mouse – she´s living it up. Keep the little composer´s flame alive with various mental training techniques, fugal and other. Water before dawn. What about all-interval rows ? Fortuitousness ? Sean agus Nua ? Listen to your entrails ? Make provision for the unheard, unseen ? Topophonics? The raw and the cooked in music?
We´ll tread softly tomorrow, orchestrating ” This Is Livin´ “….
CATCHES THE WORM
The sun also rises; water the tomatoes and peppers quick. Waken with the lizards. Use the morning for mental training with Bach fugues is best before thunder, stretti stretched and final organ point prepared. Pare down the counterpoint, they all say. If you can´t beat ´em , etc. It´s called paring your pencil. I hear the four voices loud and clear.
TO WRITE IS TO SURVIVE
To survive what ? Ciccadas late off the mark this hot year; they can pall. The snake frightened by the cat. Great temperatures soar by night also. But dry. Flit from shadow to tree-shadow. Avoid fights.
The cat today brought a dead ferret for approval. She would. Anything which moves near the house ( she´d catch its shadow if she could) . At precisely four every afternoon comes our cooling breeze, venticello. Not bad.
Write very early. Best.
THIS JUNE 25 WILL NEVER COME AGAIN
What does it mean ? ” Will never come again ” ? – Pseudo-profound misuse of tense or thought reality or what ?
Rosy fingered dawn purple alright. My recent work revolves around ” QUIS SUM ? “, hoary chestnut. eg. the newest ” Variations On Myself” for Chamber Orchestra; also my Violin Concerto ( Dublin 2012 ), Clarinet Quintet and “Rhapsodic Bowing” for 8 Celli ( RTE 2011 ) and my “Eight Haikus” for SS AA TT BB Choir. Also “Songs Of Terror And Love” for Bass and “Pierrot ” Ensemble ( New York 2011 ) . In the sense that ” F R A n Cis Es C orcor A n” is ” Frank Corcoran” ( are those tone-names him, i.e. me ? ) and where peeps ” Próinsias ´O Corcoráin ” , my pre -19th. c. Englished Gaelic-Irish “real” named
me ? See what ” I” mean ? And that´s only a linguistic start on my Holy Name, pre-Cartesian ! Oh dear ! Oh I !
SOME 1998 HOT FRANK CORCORAN PERFORMANCES
17. 5. 2008 ICE-ETCHINGS Nr. 2 ( Solo Cello ) Kunst-Raum ( Drochtersen – Hull )
11.12. QUASI UN DUO ( Bass u. Klavier ) Festival Mondaine , Bucharest
23. 8. QUASI UNA MISSA ( elektro-akustisch ) Futura Festival , Crest, France
18.5. 3. Streichquartett Rai Tre Rom
7. 5 QUASI UNA FUGA ( erste Fassung für 18 Streicher) LyricFm/ Irish Radio
19.4. ICE-ETCHINGS Nr. 2 Hamburg Kulturzentrum
1.07 KLAVIERTRIO ( Fidelio Trio ) The Ware-house, London , England
17.03 Concertzender Holland sendet: QUASI UNA MISSA, KLAVIERTRIO, 5 ROSENSTOCKLIEDER, 3. BLÄSERQUINTETT, SWEENEY´S FAREWELL ( elektro-akustisch )
27.04 THE LIGHT GLEAMS ( Beckett ) . Concorde Ensemble, Hugh Lane Gallery Dublin .
10.05 ” ” ” Cerkin Castle , Llubljana, Slovenien.
30.03 ICE-ETCHINGS Nr. 2 Klopstock Kirche Hamburg
18.02 Text und DVD of “Acoustic Turn ” mit ICE-ETCHINGS Nr. 2 ( Schloß Salzau Muthesius Kunst-
Hochschule Kiel Symposium ” Acoustic Turn ” vom 4.05.2006 )
13.01 3. STREICHQUARTETT ( Calino Qtet. ) Hugh Lane Dublin U.A.
NDR. ( bei “PrismaMusik gesendet )
NDR. ”
21.01. RTE 1 ( ? ) Dublin (“Blue Of The Night” ) IRISCHE MIKROKOSMOI für Streichorch.
21.05 bei “Dokumenta” Kassel : www.documenta-dock.net/#p59 Interview Frank Corcoran
KAMMERMUSIK VON FRANK CORCORAN, KOMPONIST AUS IRLAND
Please see:
www.staccato-verlag.de Also:
www.ensemble-magazin.de
LATIN LIVES LIVE ON
Nunc nemo clamat per telephonam. ” Clamor ergo sum? ” non verum. Si nemo existimat “per me”, nunc nemo concipit conceptum mei, nemo mihi benevolat, nemo laudat symphonias meas hodie, verum autem est quod existo hac nocte felix et sobrius et vigilans et creans novum opus ” VARIATIONS ON MYSELF” ( sed non modo Narcissi ).
Scribo ergo sum ? Sum ergo scribo ? Nego.
Ut negaret Augustinus nigrus ? ( Magna lux, magnam umbram ponebat super mundum cogitantium. Et amantium. Coloravit sanctus Africanus amorem eroticam et agapeicam et copulationem corporum et mentorum et Ying et Yang cosmicum globi. Africanus damnavit tantos, tantas.
Sufficit. Ego ergo bibo scrivens, scribo bibulans. Ubi mater? ( Fuit ) Ubi mater santi Augustini ( Fuit. Santa fuit.Cur ? ) Quanta qalia sunt tristia ? Cur tristia, Deus meus ? Respondit Africanus sine ira :
” Bhí bean ann fadó!”
Silentium, nigrissime Africane ! Si mundus merda est, excrementa sund opera sancta santi merdae…. Si
fossa est hortus meus, ego manduco excrementa. Et ego sum excrementa – priusquam excrementa mea apparuerunt. Ergo ego sum aliquid quod est priusquam sit. Quod impossibile est. Quomodo praeexistentia mea ?
e.g. Sancus Augustinus excrementa est Sancti Augustini priusquam merda emergit ex
visceribus sanctissimis sancti Africanorum . Quod est impossibile.
Quid est verum ? Quid adjuvat nos adjuvantes juventutem et hilaritatem nostram ?
“Bhí bean ann fadó ” . Nomen mulieris Hebreorum Eva, creata ex nihilo vel ex Adamo. Bene sit. Sic creavit Deus Adam, Evam, nihil cosmicum, excrementum hominis et pulchritudinem feminae.
Deus est. Non est. Super est. Cur creavit? ex otio divino ?
Ego cogito bibens et scribens et nunc scribo cogitans:
Deum, calamum, copulationis culpam secundum Augustinum et mortem mortis secundum Paulinum e plenitatem vitrorum et vinorum et Theorema Magnum Magni Corcorani:
Ego sum. Ergo ego sum excrementum. Cogito mundum ut excrementum ( Cur ? ) . Ego sum excrementum priusquam hanc merdam produco.
Ergo ego sum priusquam ego sum…. Quod est impossibile . (Timeo praeexistentiam meam. ) Ergo bibemus.
—–Original Message—–
From: FBCorcoran@aol.com
Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2011 02:10:33 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Frank to Phrank ( Latine )
To: FBCorcoran@aol.com
PRATOLEVA 4. 6.2011
Nunc nemo clamat me per telephonam. Si nemo existimat “ad me”, nemo concipit conceptum mei, nemo mihi benevolat, nemo laudat symphonias meas hodie, verum autem est quod existo hac nocte felix et sobrius et vigilans et creans novum opus ” VARIATIONS ON MYSELF” ( sed non modo Narcissi ).
Scribo ergo sum ? Sum ergo scribo ? Nego.
Ut negaret Augustinus nigrus ? Magna lux, magnam umbram ponebat super mundum cogitantium. Coloravit sanctus Africanus amorem eroticam et agapeicam et copulationem corporum et mentorum et Ying et Yang globi. Africanus damnavit tantos, tantas.
Sufficit. Ego ergo bibo scrivens, scribo bibens. Ubi mater mea ? Ubi mater santi Augustini ( Fuit. Santa fuit. Cur ? ) Quanta qalia sunt tristia ? Cur tristia, Deus meus ? Respondit Africanus :
” Bhí bean ann fadó!”
Silentium, nigrissime Africane ! Si mundus merda est, excrementa sund opera sancta santi merdae…. Si
fossa est hortus meus, ego manduco excrementa. Et ego sum excrementa – priusquam excrementa mea appareunt. Ergo ego sum quod quod est priusquam sit. Quod impossibile est. Quomodo ?
eg. Sancus Augustinus est excrementa Sancti Augustini priusquam merda et stercus emergunt ex
visceribus sanctissimis sancti Africanorum et Europeorum. Quod est impossibile.
Quid est verum ? Quid est justum ? Quid adjuvat nos adjuvantes juventutem nostram ?
“Bhí bean ann fadó ” . Nomen mulieris Hebreorum Eva. Creata ex nihilo vel e lato Adami. Bene sit. Sic creavit Deus: Adam, latum, Evam, nihil, nihil cosmicum,excrementum hominis et pulchritudinem feminae.
Deus est. Non est. Super est. Cur creavit? – ex otio divino ?
Ego cogito bibens et scribens et nunc scribo cogitans:
Deum, calamum, copulationis culpam secundum Augustinum et mortem mortis secundum Paulinum e plenitatem vitrorum et Theorema Magnum Magni Corcorani:
Ego sum. Ergo ego sum excrementum. Cogito mundum ut excrementum ( Cur ? ) Ego sum excrementum priusquam merdam produco.
Ergo ego sum priusquam ego sum…. Quod est impossibile . Ergo bibemus.