University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

An analysis of two choral compositions with strings by Tarik O'Regan

(USC Thesis Other)

An analysis of two choral compositions with strings by Tarik O'Regan

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content

AN ANALYSIS OF TWO CHORAL COMPOSITIONS WITH STRINGS
BY TARIK O’REGAN

by

Dominic Gregorio

__________________________________________________________

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC THORNTON SCHOOL OF MUSIC
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS
(CHORAL MUSIC)

May 2012

Copyright 2012 Dominic Gregorio
!
ii

Only to the extent that you expose yourself to annihilation, can that which is
indestructible be found within.
–Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart

!
iii

To my parents, José and Ella
!
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I gratefully acknowledge the tremendous support of my committee and my
professors at the University of Southern California: Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe, Dr.
Nick Strimple, Dr. Cristian Grases, Professor Larry Livingston, Dr. William
Dehning, Dr. Sheila Woodward and Dr. Magen Solomon. I am very indebted to
my beloved sister Irene, who painstakingly notated most of the musical examples
throughout this study. A final thank you to Tarik O’Regan for his contribution to
our art, and for his awe-inspiring music.

!
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Epigraph

iii
Dedication

iv
Acknowledgements

v
List of Tables

vi
List of Figures

viii
Abstract

x
Chapter One: Introduction
Purpose of the Study
Need for the Study
Scope of the Study
Methodology

1
1
1
3
4
Chapter Two: Biographical Information

6
Chapter Three: Compositional Influences
The Influence of New York City and America
Tarik O’Regan’s Music Philosophy and Working Method

16
23
27
Chapter Four: Two Compositions for Choir and Strings
Triptych
The Ecstasies Above

34
34
76
Chapter Five: Summary and Conclusion
Summary
Conclusion

111
111
117
Bibliography

119
Appendices
Appendix A: Graphic Analysis- Triptych: Threnody
Appendix B: Graphic Analysis- Triptych: As We Remember Them
Appendix C: Graphic Analysis- Triptych: From Heaven Distilled a
Clemency
Appendix D: Graphic Analysis- The Ecstasies Above
120
120
130
135

143

!
vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Tarik O’Regan – Musical Influences.

16
Table 2: Structure – Triptych: Threnody.

41
Table 3: Tonal Centers – Triptych: Threnody.

48
Table 4: Structure – Triptych: As We Remember Them.

56
Table 5: Tonal Centers – Triptych: As We Remember Them.

61
Table 6: Structure – Triptych: From Heaven Distilled A Clemency.

65
Table 7: Tonal Centers – Triptych: From Heaven Distilled A Clemency.

71
Table 8: Structure – The Ecstasies Above.

81
Table 9: Tonal Centers – The Ecstasies Above.

100

!
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 1 – 10.

43
Figure 2: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 23 – 33.

44
Figure 3: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 69 – 79.

44
Figure 4: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 107 – 121.

45
Figure 5: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 80 – 91.

48
Figure 6: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 13 –16.

49
Figure 7: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 23 –26.

50
Figure 8: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 29 –40.

51
Figure 9: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 80–85.

52
Figure 10a: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 88–92 soprano.

52
Figure 10b: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 91–95 alto.

52
Figure 11: Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 1 – 15.

57
Figure 12: Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 32 – 42.

58
Figure 13: Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 63 – 73.

59
Figure 14: Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 28 – 34.

60
Figure 15: Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 44 – 47.

60
Figure 16a: Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 77 – 81.

62
Figure 16b: Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 84 – 86.

62
Figure 17: Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 9
– 14.

66
!
viii
Figure 18a: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 69 – 79.

68
Figure 18b: Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm.
35 – 39.

68
Figure 19: Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm.
39 – 40.

69
Figure 20: Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm.
43 – 46.

69
Figure 21: Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm.
62 – 65.

70
Figure 22a: Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 13 – 14.

72
Figure 22b: Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 1
– 2.

72
Figure 23: Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 9
– 12.

73
Figure 24: Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 9
– 20.

73
Figure 25: Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm.
40 – 47.

74
Figure 26: Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm.
62 – 69.

75
Figure 27: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 11 – 20.

83
Figure 28: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 24 – 29.

84
Figure 29: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 63 – 68.

86
Figure 30: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 64 – 68.

87
Figure 31: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 71 – 73.

88
Figure 32: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 82 – 85. 89
!
ix

Figure 33: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 82 – 85.

90
Figure 34: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 95 – 98.

91
Figure 35: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 104 – 109.

91
Figure 36: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 118 – 124.

93
Figure 37: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 141 – 142.

94
Figure 38: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 157 – 161.

95
Figure 39: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 189 – 191.

97
Figure 40: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 363 – 366.

98
Figure 41: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 56 – 63.

101
Figure 42: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 82 – 85.

102
Figure 43: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 114 – 120.

103
Figure 44: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 24 – 25.

106
Figure 45:

Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 71 – 77.

106
Figure 46: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 83 – 84, mm.
104 – 105.

107
Figure 47: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 141 –142.

107
Figure 48: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 182 – 183.

108
Figure 49: Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 205 – 208.

109

Score reproductions are used by kind permission of Novello & Co Ltd, © Novello &
Co Ltd.

!
x
ABSTRACT
Tarik O’Regan (b. 1978) is a British born composer with over ninety
published compositions, two Grammy © award nominations, and performances,
commissions and recordings with renowned ensembles. This study includes formal
analysis of two extended compositions for SATB choir and strings. The first of these
compositions is Triptych (2004–5), a seventeen-minute composition in three
sections featuring spiritual texts from many traditions. The second, The Ecstasies
Above (2006), is an eighteen-minute composition featuring the poetry of Edgar
Allan Poe, which was commissioned by Simon Carrington and the Yale Institute of
Sacred Music.
The first chapter discusses the purpose, need, scope and methodology of
the study. The second chapter provides biographical information on Tarik O’Regan
and the third chapter discusses the composer’s compositional influences, musical
philosophy and working methods. Chapter four comprises the analysis of the two
major works including discussions on text, structure, texture, tonal organization,
melody and rhythm. The final chapter provides the summary and conclusion of the
study. Julius Herford style graphic analyses for each composition are included as
appendices.

!
1
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Purpose of the Study

This study is designed to discuss and analyze two compositions for SATB
choir and strings by Tarik O’Regan (b. 1978). These compositions are featured on
the 2008 double Grammy Award nominated album Threshold of Night, a
collaboration between Craig Hella Johnson’s choral ensemble Conspirare:
Company of Voices, and the composer Tarik O’Regan.
1
Triptych (2004–5) and The
Ecstasies Above (2006) will be considered in thorough detail.
Need for the Study
This study is the second known in-depth scholarly study of any music of
Tarik O’Regan. The first, a study by Dr. Cameron LaBarr of O’Regan’s 2006
composition Scattered Rhymes was published in the February 2012 edition of The
Choral Journal.
2
LaBarr feels that one of the major contributions O’Regan’s music
makes to the field of choral music is the “incredible use of rhythmic layering and
rhythmic complexity within the vocal parts. Paired with curious and innovative
harmonies, his music is fresh and incredibly intriguing to the listener. O’Regan’s
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1
Conspirare is an award winning, Grammy nominated arts organization located in Dallas, Texas. Conspirare

2
Cameron F. LaBarr, “Tarik O’Regan’s Scattered Rhymes and its Compositional Relationship to Machaut’s
Messe de Nostre Dame and the Music of ‘The Who’,” Choral Journal 52, no. 7 (2012): 7–21.

!
2
music is here to stay and will only grow in reputation and understanding.
3

Conspirare’s Artistic Director Craig Hella Johnson also feels study of O’Regan’s
music is important “because it brings forward the music of a composer who is one
of our exceptional fresh voices of our time. I think he’s an inspired artist. Just
simply stated, I think it’s one of the most important choral voices writing today and
there’s a beautiful cross Atlantic synthesis that I find interesting. Born in the land of
the Anglican tradition and English choirs and yet here he is merging into the
American scene.”
4

O’Regan’s formal education includes composition studies at London’s Royal
College of Music Junior Department (as a percussionist), a Master of Arts Degree
from Oxford University, and a Master of Philosophy Degree from Cambridge
University, where he also taught. In 2011 the composer was a Director’s Visitor at
Princeton University’s Institute for Advanced Study and previously was held
fellowships at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute, a Fulbright Chester-Schirmer fellowship
at Columbia University, and was a Fellow in Creative Arts at Trinity College,
Cambridge.
O’Regan holds an exclusive publishing contract with Novello & Company
and records with Harmonia Mundi. His commissions are from the highest caliber
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3
Cameron F. LaBarr, email message to author, March 22, 2012.

4
Craig Hella Johnson, phone interview with author, January 3, 2012.

!
3
ensembles: London Sinfonietta, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Yale University Institute
of Sacred Music, Conspirare and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and his
compositions are recorded by: Conspirare, the Orlando Consort, Paul Hillier and
the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Paul Hillier and the National Chamber
Choir of Ireland, and Harry Christophers and The Sixteen. O’Regan’s collaboration
with Craig Hella Johnson for Threshold of Night garnered 2009 Grammy ©
Nominations for “Best Classical Album” and “Best Choral Performance.”
At the age of thirty-four, O’Regan has published over ninety compositions
primarily with Novello & Company and also Oxford University Press and Sulasol.
Though most of O’Regan’s output is for chorus, he is increasingly composing for
large orchestra. In 2011, O’Regan completed his first opera, an operatic adaptation
of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The opera was premiered on November 1,
2011 at the Royal Opera House, Linbury Theatre.
Scope of the Study
This study begins with a biography of the composer, as well as an
examination of his compositional influences and working methods. This
information was gathered over two days of interviews July 14 and 15, 2010, in
New York City. The interview text has been edited for clarity and length. This
study includes formal analysis of two extended compositions for SATB choir and
strings. The first of these compositions is Triptych (2004–5), a seventeen-minute
!
4
composition in three sections featuring spiritual texts from many traditions. The
second, The Ecstasies Above (2006), is an eighteen-minute composition featuring
the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, which was commissioned by Simon Carrington and
the Yale Institute of Sacred Music.
Methodology
In these two extended compositions, structure, texture, tonal organization,
melody, rhythm, dynamics, and text setting will be examined and analyzed. The
composer’s selection of text will be examined, including explorations of recurring
themes and possible interpretations. Comprehensive analysis of the structure of
these compositions will include identification of overall formal structures and
subsections. Texture will be examined carefully to dissect and understand how the
composer constructs rich polyphonic and polyrhythmic soundscapes and will
include an examination of favored vocal and instrumental orchestration
techniques. Analysis of tonal organization will include an examination of key
centers and how the composer transitions between tonal centers. Melody and
rhythm will be considered together, analyzing the types of melodic rhythmic cells
and how these cells combine and interact with other melodic rhythmic motives.
The appendix includes Julius Herford Style Graphic Analyses to aid
conductors in quickly ascertaining structure, phrase lengths, tonal centers,
!
5
dynamics, meter, tempo and the orchestration of each composition.
5
As part of his
compositional process, O’Regan frequently minimizes the score in scroll view,
similar to the look and feel of these graphic analyses.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5
Julius Herford (1901 – 1981) was the director of Graduate Studies for the Choral Conducting Department at
Indiana University and was the teacher of Robert Shaw, Margaret Hillis, Roger Wagner, and Elaine Brown.

!
6
CHAPTER TWO: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Tarik Hamilton O’Regan was born on New Year’s Day, 1978. His full name
reveals three important identities. Tarik, in Arabic means “morning star”, or “the
one who knocks at the door.” This given name reveals his mother’s side, an
Algerian woman born in Morocco. The name O’Regan is an Irish name, though his
father’s family moved to England several generations ago. Hamilton refers to
O’Regan’s famous great-great-grandfather, William Rowan Hamilton, a genius
mathematician known for his work in symplectic geometry.
6

O’Regan’s father was brought up in the Anglican Church tradition, primarily
through schooling, and his mother was born into a Muslim family. Both stopped
practicing religion at a young age and neither pushed O’Regan, their sole child, in
any religious direction. O’Regan’s mother is of Algerian descent, whose immediate
family resides in North Africa. His father’s heritage is Irish, although his great-
grandfather moved to England, making his grandparents English. Belonging to a
family of diplomats, O’Regan’s father was born in Sri Lanka and lived much of his
life in various countries including Uganda, Nigeria and Jamaica.
7

O’Regan’s great-great-grandfather, Sir William Rowan Hamilton, is
increasingly viewed as a major force in a branch of mathematics called symplectic
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

7
Ibid.

!
7
geometry. Hamiltonian mechanics, a reformulation of Newtonian mechanics is
viewed as important with regard to the movement of satellites and the movement of
any object in three-dimensional space.
8

Inheriting his ancestor’s logical-mathematical intelligence, O’Regan is
fascinated by patterns and their permutations and combinations. The composer is
obsessed with non-representational art and particularly, geometric abstraction,
which he attributes to summers as a child spent in Algeria and Morocco: “I just
remember the tiles everywhere, on the floor, tiles on the bath, tiles in the
courtyards, tiles in the room, even the tapestries. It’s a culture of non-
representational art. And what looks so simple, you realize, are these incredibly
complex on-going little games. I just wonder, the way it fits into your brain, you
draw on it later in life.”
9

O’Regan grew up in Croydon, South London, spent summers in Algeria and
Morocco, and was educated at the Whitgift School, a prestigious all-boy’s private
school with a strong music department. Interested in meeting girls, O’Regan knew
that the only way was through participation in the school musical production: “I
begged the director of music to put me in this show, which was West Side Story,
and I started off as a percussionist. By the end of my schooling time, I started
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8
Ibid.

9
Ibid.

!
8
taking proper percussion lessons at the Royal College of Music, the Junior
department…for people that are under seventeen.”
10

As a percussionist at the conservatory, O’Regan found that he could play in
the symphony orchestra immediately because there was always a need for
percussionists. It was in the role of timpanist that O’Regan first gained insight into
the compositional process: “As a percussionist, you spend a lot of time watching
the conductor focus on everyone else. A great conductor re-composes the piece in
a sense… and you see the piece in a different light and you just get it every week
for free by just watching…and to me this just became fascinating, and also I got
tired of counting measures really, so I thought am I going to become a conductor or
a composer?”
11

As a result of his performing experience, O’Regan began composing in his
final years of high school. He wrote compositions for piano, heavily inspired by
the songs of Samuel Barber. Upon request by his classmates, O’Regan wrote
incidental music for plays, 1920s jazz song arrangements, but no choral music,
“which goes back to my point that I was never drawn to choral music, it’s not my
background, and it wasn’t until I went to university that I began writing for choir.”
12

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10
Ibid.

11
Ibid.

12
Ibid.

!
9
After graduating from Whitgift, O’Regan studied at Oxford University, Pembroke
College, a college more famous for Samuel Johnson who invented the dictionary,
James Smithson of the Smithsonian, and J.R.R. Tolkien, than it was for music.
13

O’Regan sang in the Oxford University Pembroke College Choir from age
eighteen to twenty-one. O’Regan was not brought up attending religious services
in the tradition of either of his parents because neither of his parents actively
practiced religion. It was a pivotal experience for the composer living in an
environment steeped in a rich and long choral tradition:
I wasn’t a singer. I didn’t grow up singing. I’m a terrible singer, and
to this day I’m a terrible singer, but it was very good to sing, and
when I write now, dealing with trying to sing through the parts, even
though I don’t recommend listening to it, I do try to sing through the
parts. Even when I write complicated music, I really do think, how
am I going to get to this note? I do really think about it, and that is
very much from my early days, singing in the Pembroke College
choir.
14

!
Instead of studying with a composition teacher at Oxford, O’Regan chose to
study with Jeremy Dale Roberts, the Head of Composition at the Royal College of
Music. Mr. Robert’s opened up O’Regan’s ears to a wide variety of music,
including music from all over the world that he had never heard before.
15
At
Oxford, home of some of the best collegiate choirs in the world, O’Regan had an
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
13
Ibid.

14
Ibid.

15
Ibid.

!
10
extraordinary opportunity hearing his new compositions sung by fine choral
ensembles: “When you’re starting off, if you’ve got great performers doing your
work, it is so clear where your mistakes are. It’s not them. It’s simple, black or
white, and it’s so obvious when you’ve written something that doesn’t work, or you
think you’ve done this, and it sounds like that.”
16

!
O’Regan showed his first compositions, which he describes as “massive
sixteen part responses” to Dr. Edward Higginbottom, the Director of Music at
Oxford’s New College. O’Regan recalls Dr. Higginbottom’s humorous response:
“Oh dear! Very interesting, but totally impractical.” And he gave me
some good advice…he said, “Listen, I think you know what you’re
doing, but why don’t you rework this as an anthem, and then we’ll
do it.” And that was a piece called Confirma Hoc Deus. So I went to
hear this piece, and he performed it, and you know, I suddenly
realized that if I wanted to evolve as a composer while doing my
degree, I had to write for choirs because the performances were all
impeccable, and you just learn so much. It was a great beginning of
my ideas, what I was saying, my influences, and trying to create a
voice. It was all through writing for choir during that time.
17

!
After graduating at Oxford in June of 1999, O’Regan began studies at
Cambridge University with Dr. Robin Holloway, who pointed the composer in the
direction of other art forms: “There was no point in sitting at his piano. He would
say, ‘why don’t you go see this art exhibition? Why don’t you read this book? We
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
16
Ibid.

17
Ibid.

!
11
can talk about that instead.’ And it was suddenly this fact that music doesn’t exist
alone, as regard to anything, but specifically in regards to the other arts.”
18

O’Regan also studied with Robert Saxton, who he describes as the opposite
of Holloway, a very analytical, note-by-note teacher. O’Regan credits his
contrasting teachers with his evolution as a composer. Of all of the compositional
exercises O’Regan completed in his training, he credits the exercises in the
techniques of serial music for expanding his compositional horizons: “You’re free
in terms of rhythm and orchestration. Even though it was just piano, it was all
about the coloration of the piano. I really loved that. In many ways, that opened
my eyes more than anything else. I’m not particularly drawn to writing serial
music, but it freed me up. If your pitch choices are completely governed, but
everything else isn’t, it’s great. You force it into focus on all these different levels of
music that you wouldn’t necessarily do.”
19
In 2002, his final year at Cambridge,
O’Regan was appointed Fellow in Creative Arts at Corpus Christi College.
In terms of musical development, O’Regan summarizes Whitgift as the
period where he discovered an interest in music that “potentially could be more
than a passing interest.” At Oxford he focused on composing, but still without the
idea that it could be a career option. It was at Cambridge, where O’Regan pursued
post-graduate studies and worked for four years as a supervisor (adjunct faculty)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
18
Ibid.

19
Ibid.

!
12
that he realized that he wanted to make composition a career. As a supervisor, he
faced a common challenge for academic composers: “I knew despite the fact that I
came to teaching that I didn’t want to teach. I loved teaching, but it’s the same part
of my brain that’s composing. At Cambridge I began to realize that I just wanted to
write music.”
20

Apart from his academic work, O’Regan also held several jobs that were
seminal learning experiences. At age twenty-one, between degree requirements at
Oxford and Cambridge (June 1998 – January 2000), O’Regan spent two years
working at the investment bank J.P. Morgan. What the composer remembers most
about the experience was the tremendous diversity in terms of social class,
ethnicity, nationality, and age. What stood out for O’Regan was that despite
tremendous differences everyone at the firm cooperated toward common goals:
“By the way that we’ve set up our society, these people would not ordinarily meet,
and here they are, side by side. That totally opened my eyes. I can’t speak for the
corporate attitudes at those firms and all of the bad things that they’ve done, but it
was a genuinely diverse environment… but I wouldn’t have been able to maintain
it as a career.”
21

Overlapping the end of his Master of Arts Degree from Oxford University,
the Master of Philosophy Degree and supervisor work at Cambridge University
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
20
Ibid.

21
Ibid.

!
13
(June 1999 – March 2004), O’Regan worked as a music reviewer at The Observer,
the Sunday paper and sister newspaper to The Guardian in London. The reviewing
eventually became problematic. O’Regan explains: “You can’t play both sides of
the coin, or you can but you get in trouble. If you say something is good, people
start saying it’s only because he wants a commission. If you get a commission,
people say it’s only because he’s a reviewer.”
22

After five years at The Observer, O’Regan quit in order to move to the
United States, and to preserve his integrity as a composer. In 2004, O’Regan was
awarded the Fulbright Chester Schirmer Fellowship, one appointee per year, which
he chose to undertake at Columbia University in New York City. At Columbia,
O’Regan began to suspect that there were departmental tensions over ideological
differences in compositional practice, in particular the divide between tonality and
atonality: “I never think when I’m writing a piece, ‘this is going to be tonal or
atonal.’ I felt I began to sense this subtle divide, and it was also something that no
one ever spoke about directly, but rather intimated. I realized I wanted a more
interdisciplinary environment in which to work - away from the kinds of
discussions restricted solely to music departments and composers in particular."
23

After Columbia, O'Regan went to the Harvard University’s Radcliffe
Institute, which he describes as one of the best years of his life: “I think it’s one of
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
22
Ibid.

23
Ibid.

!
14
the great research institutes ever. You can basically do whatever you want. What I
love about it is there’s no divide between academic work and whether you’re a
novelist or a biochemist, sculptor or a mathematician; it was just great. I just did
my work.”
24

It was at this point that O’Regan achieved a milestone. He was receiving
enough commissions to enable him to stop teaching and devote his life full-time to
composing. At the time of this interview (May 2010), Tarik O’Regan was working
on a documentary for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) about composers
from Europe and England who were profoundly transformed by New York City, a
transformation the composer knows through personal experience: “I’m doing this
documentary to educate myself. I’m educating myself about New York, about the
musical life of New York.”
25

In the next chapter of his life as composer, O’Regan sees himself broadening
out into other genres of music. He is already writing less choral music, more
orchestral music, and as mentioned earlier, his first opera Heart of Darkness was
debuted in November 2011. He is also interested in doing more broadcast and
documentary work.
O’Regan comes across as a very intelligent, witty yet down-to-earth person,
humorous, humble and filled with childlike curiosity, ever exploring the world of
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
24
Ibid.

25
Ibid.

!
15
potential and creative opportunity: “I think in general I’m just much more
comfortable. You know, I always used to be embarrassed saying I was a composer.
It was one of those things I would do my best to avoid ever having to say. I just
never wanted to say I’m a composer, but, now I’m very comfortable saying that and
I’m very happy with that. I think you just get a little more comfortable with your
chosen life.”
26
!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
26
Ibid.

!
16
CHAPTER THREE: COMPOSITIONAL INFLUENCES
Tarik O’Regan’s musical and stylistic aesthetics are inspired by numerous
forces: British rock bands, jazz, North African influence, Renaissance music,
English choral music, Modern classical music, architecture, the art world and New
York City.
27
These influences are summarized in the following table:
Table 1. Tarik O’Regan – Musical Influences.
Influence Description

British Rock Bands 1960s to present, Effects Pedals
Jazz Music
North African Influence Geometric Abstraction, Genre Mixing, Exotic Scales,
Dance Motives
Renaissance Era Music Guillaume de Machaut, Nicolas Gombert
English Choral Music Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Benjamin Britten
Modern Era Influence Arnold Schoenberg, Serialism, Györgi Ligeti, Orchestral
Music Evolution, Minimalism, Steve Reich, Brian Eno,
John Cage
The Art World Non Representational Art, Architecture, Photography,
Film, Literature, Documentary, Cuisine
New York City

O’Regan’s mother’s music collection was deeply influential: British 1960s
and 1970s rock music including Led Zeppelin, The Who and The Rolling Stones.
When asked what album he would take if stranded on a desert island, he
responded that it would be an album by Led Zeppelin:
Not just for personal relevance but musical relevance as well. That’s
the music that my mother listened to, but I’ve always enjoyed their
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
27
Ibid.

!
17
music because I think their level of musicianship is so high. They
really compose their songs very carefully. But I just love the playing,
and I love the rhythmic drive. I love the fact that there is such a
dynamic range, very soft songs, very heavy songs. Jimmy Page was
so interested in production. He’s very interested in layering, and
texture, which feeds very much into my music, but yeah, it would
definitely be Zeppelin.
28

O’Regan listens to rock music and jazz more than classical music, finding it
more visceral. At the time of this interview (July, 2010) the music he was listening
to was: the American rock band LCD Soundsystem and their 2007 album Sound of
Silver, a recording of Russian violinist Viktoria Mullova revisiting Bach solo sonatas
and partitas, minimalist composer Brian Eno’s Music For Airports, and a Portland
singer-songwriter named Peter Broderick.
29
The emergent theme in all of this music
is texture: “I really like what James Murphy [lead singer of LCD Soundsystem] does
with regard to what I perceive as good vocal writing. The song I think is the most
interesting is “All My Friends”, which is very, very influenced by Steve Reich. You
can really feel it. What I love about it is his [Murphy’s] ability to change texturally
in his work… it’s something I very much feel in my own work, which is the way in
which texture can play a dramatic role in the work.
30

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
28
Ibid.

29
LCD Soundsystem, All My Friends, from Sound of Silver, DFAEMI2164cd, 2007, compact disc; Viktoria
Mullova, Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin, ONYX4040, 2009, compact disc; Brian Eno, Music For Airports,
Virgin – 724386649522, 1978, compact disc; Peter Broderick, Home, BELLACD172, 2008, compact disc.

30
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

!
18
The Steve Reich minimalism influence is heard immediately in LCD
Soundsystem’s song All My Friends. The music begins with a synthesizer playing
an A major chord which functions as a pedal tone throughout the song. This chord
slowly transforms throughout the song with various effects, while percussive and
guitar elements seamlessly enter and exit. Similarly, Brian Eno’s Music For Airports
features pedal tones and slow evolving textures and loops. O’Regan also refers to
The Who’s song Baba O’Riley, named after the minimalist composer Terry O’Riley.
Baba O’Riley is similar to All My Friends, featuring a synthesized pattern that
repeats and transforms throughout the entire song, sometimes in the foreground,
sometimes buried by the various instruments and voice. In the analyses sections
below we will see how O’Regan incorporates these pedal tones, evolving textures
and repeating patterns in his music.
In Viktoria Mullova’s interpretation of Bach Solo sonatas and partitas,
O’Regan is fascinated by the decisions the performer must make that are
compositional, “the way you’re placing every chord begins to have melodic,
rhythmic, and even harmonic implications.”
31
In Peter Broderick’s quiet singer-
songwriter compositions, O’Regan is attracted to the way he overlays his vocals up
to ten times to create a type of recorded choral music.
O’Regan’s choral music is rich with sounds that are a translation of rock
music delay, reverb, resonance and recording production effects: “If you listen to
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
31
Ibid.

!
19
U2, and you actually listen to what the Edge [David Howell Evans] is playing, he’ll
just play two chords, but what he’s using is such a range of effects pedals that
you’re getting such an interesting palette of sound and texture. And it’s that that
I’m interested in. It’s that processing that those pedals are doing.”
32
LaBarr, in his
study of Scattered Rhymes aptly notes that O’Regan’s interest in translating rock
music elements demonstrates a unique “willingness to explore influences outside
the norm.”
33

O’Regan sees a direct parallel to rock music effects and what listeners in the
Renaissance might have heard in giant cathedrals: “It’s not chord A or chord B that
interests me so much, but it’s the massive blur between them.”
34
Texture is so
primary to O’Regan, who effortlessly hears relationships across disparate genres:
I was listening to the Stravinsky Symphony in C and it sounds like
early scratching. You’ve got this beat that they keep screwing up,
and that becomes the interest. It’s the fact that you’re pulling it back
to get a scratching sound, and then releasing forwards. So you’ve got
this permanent beat, but you’re skewing it slightly, and it was just like
hearing early hip-hop. I don’t think Stravinsky was looking forward
to hip-hop. It reminds me of Violin Phase by Steve Reich where the
interest is not on what’s written down. The interest is on what’s in
between.
35

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
32
Ibid.

33
Cameron F. LaBarr, “Tarik O’Regan’s Scattered Rhymes and its Compositional Relationship to Machaut’s
Messe de Nostre Dame and the Music of ‘The Who’,” Choral Journal 52, no. 7 (2012): 19.

34
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

35
Ibid.

!
20
The composer credits the ability to recognize and re-compose correlations between
genres to spending summers in North Africa with his mother’s side of the family:
“A lot of the songs and melodies: Spanish Music, Andalusian, North African music
is so highly intertwined, and very much what I like about that is there’s not so
much a divide in North Africa between what I would call concert music, pop
music and folk music. It’s much more closely put together, much in the same way
that I think jazz is today.”
36

O’Regan loves 1950s and 1960s east coast jazz, a love inspired by his
father’s album collection. This love finds its way naturally into his music in the
form of added tones and use of modal scales. His 2007 composition Doulce Dame
Jolie is explicitly in a jazz style.
Within Western classical music, O’Regan is most inspired by Renaissance
period and modern era music. His most influential Renaissance period composers
are Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Guillaume de Machaut, Orlando di Lasso and
Nicolas Gombert. O’Regan is particularly fond of Gombert’s Magnificat: “It
opened my eyes to dissonance, opened my ears to dissonance. His shaping and
use of dissonance is unbelievable. It makes my heart stop.”
37

With the exception of Johann Sebastian Bach, O’Regan’s main influences
then jump from the Renaissance period to the Second Viennese School, particularly
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
36
Ibid.

37
Ibid.

!
21
Arnold Schoenberg. O’Regan is also very interested in Johannes Brahms, Jean
Sibelius, Benjamin Britten and Samuel Barber, who for O’Regan are curious
because they are “arriving slightly late, considering what else is going on.”
38
Steve
Reich’s minimalism influences are easily heard in O’Regan’s compositions, like
violin phasing, and the composer is aligned with the philosophy that everything is
music:
I didn’t see much of a division between the music of a Tallis motet
being sung, and the music of people whispering in prayer. The thing
that fascinated me about these Evensong services in these chapels,
wasn’t so much the music, which I loved, but I could hear that also
on a CD, particularly this sixteenth century material that gets done all
the time, but it was just the sound of stuff that you hear. Shuffling,
whispering, hymn singing, the songs and the sound of the service, to
me, were hugely amazing. And also, I was thinking, what the
average member of the congregation listens to and sings. It’s actually
rather complicated when you think about it. They’re singing songs,
they’re congregationally singing four-part harmony at the rhythm of
speech, all together, without conducting. That’s pretty complicated.
They’re whispering, they’re singing together, they’re getting up and
down, they’re singing unison, they’re singing plainchant, then they’re
listening to some anthem, and you just think, this is actually pretty
complicated stuff, and that’s what influenced things like the
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis.
39

When asked what scores he would take if stranded on a desert island,
O’Regan responded: “I think I would take something by Britten, so I would
probably take something big. If I was on the island, I’d take like Peter Grimes. I’d
probably take something by Stravinsky, and that would probably be operatic, and
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
38
Ibid.

39
Ibid.

!
22
I’d take the book of the eight Magnificats, by Nicolas Gombert. I’d probably take
Erwartung by Schoenberg, which is a modern drama, not very long, but I just think
it’s a stunning work. If all the Barber songs were published in one book, I’d take it
too.”
40

O’Regan is fascinated by what he calls the “orchestration for voices.”
41
In
Györgi Ligeti’s St. John Passion he notices that what is captivating in the work is not
harmonic development, but textural development: “That piece opened my eyes.
The choral music world is so divided up, because for me, it’s actually ignoring a
huge development that happened in twentieth century music, which is the role of
orchestration, which is no longer just harmonies on a rhythm, but actually the
choice of instruments. I don’t see how the choral world managed to ignore that,
and the result of that is that it’s locked into this environment only focusing on the
harmony and counterpoint, missing out on a massive part of the evolution of
music: texture.”
42

O’Regan is deeply interested and inspired by the world of art, photography,
film, literature, documentaries, and fine cuisine. Above all, however, O’Regan is
passionate about architecture and finds ecumenical beauty in the great temples of
the world:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
40
Ibid.

41
Ibid.

42
Ibid.

!
23
Whether it’s new architecture or historic architecture, there’s
something about them…something about these buildings that speaks
to people both within the walls, and those outside, and we can all
take great inspiration looking at a cathedral or a mosque. Beautiful.
I don’t feel alienated by that, because I’m not of that faith, or a
Buddhist temple, or a Hindu temple, or the secular temples that we
have like Grand Central Station. I don’t feel alienated by those
buildings. I see beauty in those buildings, and I think that’s very
important: beauty, regardless of the function. I just feel like it goes
back to an earlier time. It goes back to the world of composers and
musicians being craftspeople. I think we’ve lost that.
43

The Influence of New York City and America
Tarik O’Regan has a great love for New York City. His visa status is
permanent resident based on “extraordinary ability,” a fact he chuckles at in slight
disbelief. O’Regan is heavily influenced by the world around him and moving to
New York was an epiphany for him. The constant buzz of the city, the voices,
subways, buskers and traffic he finds “addictive.”
44
In his BBC Radio documentary
on composers transformed by New York City, he is inspired by the city’s white
noise, “a music of its own with its own rhythms and textures. As a result, much of
the work that I’ve written here has been influenced by the city itself. When I
arrived I was in the middle of composing a very “English” sounding piece called
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
43
Ibid.

44
Tarik O’Regan, “Composing New York,” radio documentary, BBC Radio 4, July 20, 2010.

!
24
the Dorchester Canticles. You can hear the moment I began working on it again in
New York because the music suddenly gets three times faster.
45

Residing on the Upper West Side, O’Regan found that nearby West 84th
street was also Edgar Allan Poe Street. The poet lived there in the 1840s. In order
to understand his new home better, O’Regan began reading Poe’s work and wrote
The Ecstasies Above based on his poem Israfel: “It was my own homage to the city
as a new New Yorker.”
46

The exotic sounding violin motives in The Ecstasies Above are also inspired
by characteristic North African rhythm and melody. Furthermore, New York City’s
proud immigrant culture inspired him to re-explore his own mixed heritage: “I
began exploring North African music and wrote a chamber piece, Rai, based on a
sort of Algerian folk tradition of the same name.“
47

O’Regan can easily list what he loves and finds special about New York
City. That New York City is both a financial and artistic capital, but not the federal
political-administrative capital is rare. In this way, New York City is like Berlin, but
unlike Paris or London. The result is a lack of federal government buildings and a
critical mass of people involved in public administration. The result, he concludes,
is that there is more space for artists: “So in London, if you say I’m a composer,
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
45
Ibid.

46
Ibid.

47
Ibid.

!
25
more than likely the response will be, ‘but how do you make your living?’ You
don’t get that here, because there are just way, way more people, and there’s just a
greater percentage of interaction. You’re going to meet more artists. It’s just the
way it is. And it’s simple statistics basically. I think all creative artists in some way
are self-doubting, and so it’s a huge relief in some way to be in an environment that
decreases that self-doubt.”
48

New York City is special to O’Regan for the great numbers of people who
come to the city as a safe haven. Minority groups of every variety come to New
York City and find that they are not alone, but surrounded by many people who
share the same interests or belong to the same group. This is contrasted sharply
with his experience of Europe especially, and many other American cities.
Fittingly, O’Regan is enamored by the New York City Subway system, a symbol he
considers a massive equalizer: “It doesn’t matter what your background is, what
your ethnicity, nationality, social background, sexuality, whatever it is. You have
to sit next to someone on the subway…whether you think you’re going to like them
or not, you can’t escape it. I’m not saying that New York is a huge haven without
bias or bigotry or race issues, of course it is, it’s a city. But I just feel that there’s a
greater understanding of people simply by sitting next to them. I think it’s so
powerful.”
49
O’Regan also notes the importance of the subway system running
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
48
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

49
Ibid.
!
26
twenty-four hours a day meaning that many businesses stay open: “So if you’re like
me, a composer, and you work odd hours, as I do, I like to finish work sometimes
at ten o’clock at night, and then I like to go have dinner. It’s not that I want to go
out drinking all night, but sometimes you’re working until midnight, maybe it
would be nice to have a quick, quiet drink. You can’t do that anywhere else. You
cannot do that. Things close. You can’t even do it in Paris!”
50

O’Regan also finds English and American ideological differences refreshing.
He describes the default modus operandi for American’s as earnestness and
honesty, but the default for Brits as irony and sarcasm:
The general demeanor in the UK is one of slight cynicism, perhaps
born of being an older nation, ‘been there, done that,’ sort of sense,
but it’s a very ironic sense. I always think America is quite positive,
in terms of running with an idea. You don’t really get that in
England. If someone comes up with an idea, it would be more likely
to be presented in problems, as to why the idea won’t work, whereas
here where you tend to be presented with reasons as to why it might
work. I think Americans are more positive.
51

Tarik O’Regan’s Music Philosophy and Working Method

O’Regan’s definition of what music is wide-ranging, the sounds of the
world, including the ubiquitous white noise, from the moment of birth and even
before, the sounds in utero: “I think it’s a very fine line between music and noise,
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

50
Ibid.

51
Ibid.

!
27
I’m not sure if there is a difference particularly. Some people think of it, I suppose,
as organized noise, but I love the randomness of sounds that I hear.”
52

O’Regan considers his role as composer as an organizer of these worldly
sounds and asks himself: “What do I want to do with regard to that level of
organization?” In choral music, O’Regan is drawn to uncharted territories. In
choral music, he views texture and rhythm as the uncharted, underexplored area.
I started writing choral music for the evensongs services, and I felt
that there was this middle ground that was completely blank. I felt
there was very complicated work for choirs, with music like BBC
Singers could do, and very, very simplistic, large, sort of semi-
congregational music. So I started writing middle-ground music,
trying not to alienate, and not to pander at the same time. A lot of
music I feel does one or the other, and that’s not a stylistic issue. I’m
not talking about dissonance or tonality. You can have a very
complicated tonal piece or an easy dissonant piece. There’s a sense
of neither dumbing down nor making it so elite. I like to find a
middle ground and to try to make that the territory.
53

O’Regan jokes that his role as a composer is “the Clintonian third way, but possibly
without the intern.”
54
He demonstrates his point in his thoughts about Latent
Manifest, an orchestral work that was his BBC Proms Debut on August 14, 2010:
It’s for prime time TV in England. Now that is a strange audience,
seven-thirty PM on a Saturday night. And I suddenly thought, I’m
thinking about all the same things as when I was writing my early
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
52
Ibid.

53
Ibid.

54
Ibid.

!
28
choral music, which was using the liturgical texts. I want these
pieces to have a life, outside of this premier.

Here I’m thinking: all of these people are at home, and they can just
watch the sport, or film; what’s keeping them watching? I could
write some major pop thing, but that to me is the equivalent of
pandering. Or I could write something horribly complicated,
showing off in a different way.

I find myself going back to this middle ground, which I think is a very
dangerous route to take, actually. I think that many people have had
their fingers burned doing that, and you can rapidly lose sight of the
compositional voice. But it was just odd to me, here I’m writing a
piece for orchestra, thinking about all of the same things that I was
thinking about when I first started writing for choirs.
55

O’Regan prefers to work on multiple compositions at once and works erratic
hours. He does his emails, errands and meetings in the morning and composes in
the afternoon or evening: “Sometimes pieces come easily. Threshold of Night just
wrote itself in about two days. Other pieces…just really didn’t. The Ecstasies
Above was a real struggle.”
56

O’Regan credits the role of intuition and flow in his compositional process.
He does not use the piano to compose and works on pieces mentally:
I start writing it down when I’m beginning to forget things, but I try to
keep as much of it in my head, which is often. If I had to say how
the whole thing begins, it’s blocks of text. Big blocks of text, and
there’s no pitch or anything, just clumps of sound.

It’s like being a sculptor, when they still have a big load of clay or
granite. You source the granite that you want, you source the size of
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
55
Ibid.

56
Ibid.

!
29
that granite, and that may be an element of your own choice. It may
have something to do with the commission. It’s the same with me.
We have the size of the piece maybe determined by the commission,
the force maybe determined by the commission, but I might choose
the granite.

I might start thinking that this is like the texture of the piece. By
texture I mean orchestration, speed, layers, and things like that. And
then it begins to filter in, but all of that is just sort of intuitive thought,
I’m not sort of thinking about it. I was always in trouble as a
composition student because I never sketched. I’m a terrible
sketcher. It’s all a jumble, but I try to keep it in my head, and refine
it, and refine it.
57

After this mental compositional construction, and before he begins to forget,
he inputs the music using the music notation software Sibelius ©. He does not play
the music back through the software program, however, due to the inability for the
program to accurately capture vocal or instrumental texture: “I never listen to a
thing, and if I do, I put it onto my piano, but even then it just really annoys me.”
58

After inputting the notes, O’Regan manipulates the file graphically by zooming in
and out of the scores: “So instead of seeing the pitch, I’ll push it down so you just
see the clumps, you just see the clumps of texture. You zoom it down on a
widescreen thing, so you’ve got like ten pages, and then each page is very small,
and you just have black clumps of stuff, and you can see the flow of it moving,
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
57
Ibid.

58
Ibid.

!
30
almost like a skyline. And I find that really useful, and really interesting. There’s a
lot of things I do with it, but I don’t really pre-plan.”
59

The composer’s reliance on intuition in the moment, composing in the
mental space and not sketching or planning in advance means that forms reveal
themselves through the process, and not before:
Things often end up taking a form, and some things are much more
conventional than others, partly because of the nature of the
commission. Bernstein always felt that there was no beginning or
end to a piece of music. The way he started a new piece of music
was the last piece of music. And when he ended a piece of music, it
was really the beginning of the next piece of music, and I very much
feel like that.

As you get into my work, you will see all kinds of my thematic
sections of pieces that I use in other pieces. Melodies, reworked
ideas, re-orchestrated things.
60

The complaint the composer says he receives most frequently is that
audience members cannot understand the text. And if they cannot understand the
text, then why bother selecting that text in the first place? O’Regan counters
explaining that the text and interpretation of the textual meaning is essential to how
the music comes into being; “the piece has evolved from thinking about these
words, not just musically, but in my soul.”
61

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
59
Ibid.

60
Ibid.

61
Ibid.

!
31
O’Regan had a major realization regarding text while writing Care
Charminge Sleepe, the classic struggle between the primacy of the music itself or
comprehension of the text:
I realized that you don’t need to hear the words, to comprehend
them, that they could be musical devices, just the sound of the
words. It has an intrinsic musicality.

It goes back to hearing music in that sort of whispering sounds of the
evensong in England. It wasn’t so much the exact words they were
saying. There’s nothing like hearing a whole group of people not
quite say an S sound together, so you get that ‘ssss’…and even if it’s a
repeated set of phrases, you’re often getting this ‘ssss.’ That really
opened my eyes, because as soon as you’re not restrained by
comprehensibility of the words, then you’re open.
62

O’Regan looks to orchestral music and its development and evolution for
inspiration for his choral music. He views the modern choral world’s fixation on
homophony too restrictive: “Imagine if that had been applied to the orchestral
world, and there was a strict code as to how instruments were meant to align
themselves. There’d be no development.”
63

The composer sees the comparable absence of texture in modern choral
music as an opening, an uncharted area that his music is fulfilling. If audience
members need to understand the words, he counters that they can read the
program notes: “As a result of this realization, to fill the void of what I call
incomprehensibility, I started playing with texture. That was absolutely the
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
62
Ibid.

63
Ibid.

!
32
developmental move that happened; it was understanding that you didn’t have to
hear the words.”
64

This direction is naturally expressed in the composers love of twentieth-
century orchestral music, and seventeenth, sixteenth-century choral music: “That’s
where I see the evolution, the strongest evolution of music happening in the areas
that interest me, which are textural areas.”
65

In the future, O’Regan is interested in writing for instruments and voices on
equal footing, or using voices in the orchestral pit, like an instrument. Having now
completed and debuted his first opera, Heart of Darkness, the composer still has
one unexplored genre of interest, musical theatre: “I have a hankering to write
musical theater, I just don’t really have the talent for it! I think it’s a real skill. It’s a
real skill, and even people that are on the cusp of opera music, like Sondheim, I
mean, that kind of genius, you just need to work a lot more. I would also like to
write for acting and singing performances, integrated stage works, perhaps
involving new media. That would interest me.”
66

On hearing Tarik O’Regan’s music, one is struck at once by both simplicity
and complexity. One hears the seemingly effortless balance of the influences from
Renaissance and English vocal music, slow evolving minimalist rhythmic patterns,
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
64
Ibid.

65
Ibid.

66
Ibid.

!
33
the influence of rock music delay effects written into the vocal and instrumental
lines, exotic scales and motives inspired by North African music and jazz extended
tones. What O’Regan calls finding a “middle ground” is in fact a skillful balance
between the apparent complexity and the immediate appeal of textural elements
and accessible melodic and rhythmic motives influenced by rock and roll,
minimalism and North African music.

!
34
CHAPTER FOUR: TWO COMPOSITIONS FOR CHOIR AND STRINGS

Triptych
Triptych is a three-movement composition based on various spiritual poem
fragments selected by the composer. The composition takes approximately
seventeen minutes to perform and is written for SATB choir, soprano soloist and
string orchestra. The score calls for a minimum string orchestra of 2.2.2.2.1. For
the Threshold of Night recording, Conspirare adds one more player to the top four
string instruments: 3.3.3.3.1. The composer’s note in the edition explains the
commissioning and first performances of the composition:
Triptych represents the concatenation of two commissions.
Movement I was commissioned with funds from The RVW [Ralph
Vaughan Williams] Trust for the inaugural concert of the Choir of
London conducted by Jeremy Summerly in Christ Church, Spitalfields
on 18th December, 2004; the work, premièred as Threnody, was
subsequently toured by the Choir to Jerusalem and the West Bank
from 19th December to 26th December, 2004. Movements II and III,
commissioned by Portsmouth Grammar School with financial
support from the PRS Foundation [Performing Rights Society], were
premièred as And There Was a Great Calm in a contiguous version
for lower strings and upper voices by the Portsmouth Grammar
School Chamber Choir and the London Mozart Players in a concert
at Portsmouth Anglican Cathedral on 13th November, 2005
conducted by Nicolae Moldoveanu.
67

O’Regan also acknowledges Cantor Bruce Ruben and his choral conductor wife
Judith Clurman in finding the Roland B. Gittelsohn poem for the second movement,
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
67
Tarik O’Regan, Triptych (Chester: Novello, 2004-5).

!
35
and his parents, particularly his mother, in finding the Egyptian Muhammad Rajab
Al-Bayoumi text.
Triptych: Threnody
Text
In selecting his own poetic texts for Triptych, O’Regan joins Brahms and
Britten in choosing text to convey a personal philosophical and spiritual stance.
The poem fragments are by William Penn, devout Quaker and British absolute
proprietor of Pennsylvania; renowned English poets William Blake, John Milton,
William Wordsworth and Thomas Hardy; Muslim poet Mohammad Rajab Al-
Bayoumi, Jewish poet Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, Hindu poet Bundahis- Bahman
Yast, and Sufi poet Jalalu-‘d’Din Rumi. The composer’s text selection demonstrates
a personal belief in the inherent unity at the heart of all faiths and philosophies.
The composite poetic narrative tells a story focusing on themes of life and
death and the fundamental sameness of all humans beyond the outer form.

When death takes off the mask, [we] will know one another,
Though diverse liveries [we] wear here make [us] strangers.
–William Penn (1644–1718)
68

O’Regan’s approach to William Penn’s poem fragment is that who and what
we are goes beyond our bodily forms.
69
The “mask” and “diverse liveries [we]
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
68
Tarik O’Regan, Triptych (Chester: Novello, 2004-5).

!
36
wear” are our bodies, including our systems of beliefs based on nationality, race,
ethnicity, language, geography and religion. Death erases all of these differences
and leaves what many believe is the soul, spirit, or pure consciousness. This
consciousness is no longer separate, aware of its interconnection with all things.
Penn is encouraging the reader to realize this fundamental connection before death
takes place, and in the realization, naturally choose to treat others with respect,
kindness and dignity.
O’Regan sets this music in a slow C minor with the voices passing the text
from one voice to another. Reflecting on the meaning the text, passing the text
from voice to voice might be considered a musical representation of the equality of
each of our differing voices.

Tremblest thou when my face appears
To thee? Wherefore thy dreadful fears?
Be easy, friend; ‘tis thy truest gain
To be far away from the sons of men.
I offer a couch to give thee ease:
Shall dreamless slumber so much displease?
–Muhammad Rajab Al-Bayoumi (dates unknown)
70

In the second poem from the Muslim poet Muhammad Rajab Al-Bayoumi,
death is personified, asking the reader why their “dreadful fears?” Death states that
their gift of “dreamless slumber” is the “truest gain.” This gain contrasts all of the
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
69
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

70
Ibid.

!
37
“gains” in our lives we feel we lose in death: family, loved ones, material wealth,
health, career, and knowledge. Death says that it is our “truest gain to be far away
from the sons of men”, the domain of conflict and war. Death is saying that there
is something much greater that lies beyond the gates of life. By asking “Shall
dreamless slumber so much displease?” death is also asserting that the opposite of
“dreamless slumber” is our usual state. That is, the usual state of our lives is a
waking nightmare of obsessive thoughts, striving, struggle and pain. In this
fragment, death is in essence saying, “come, release your fears, a greater state of
ease and grace awaits you.” The music for this section of text is full of rhythmic
activity at a Prestissimo tempo. The F-pedal tone throughout this movement might
represent eternity, a constant ever present in life and in the afterlife.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.
–William Blake (1757–1827)
71

In this poem fragment, William Blake compares expansive objects like the
“World” and “Heaven” to comparably tiny objects like a “Grain of Sand” or a
“Wild Flower.” He invites the reader to hold concepts of time, “Infinity” and
“Eternity” in the “palm of your hand” or to somehow reduce these boundless
concepts into an hour. In the first instance, Blake is asking us to see the macro in
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
71
Ibid.

!
38
the micro, and the micro in the macro. To capture limitless concepts such as
“Infinity” or “Eternity” requires a shift in consciousness away from pure logic to the
experience of these states. Time disappears when we experience flow states, of
being in the “zone”, for example, when engaged fully in music, sport or
meditation. “Time flies when you’re having fun” because the concept of linear
time disappears in the full absorption and enjoyment of an activity. “Eternity” and
“Infinity” are no longer durations of linear time but a state of consciousness. Big
and small, heaven and earth, or one second and eternity, all become one in a
transcendent state of consciousness.
The violin duet and soprano and alto duet music following the Al-Bayoumi
text answers Al-Bayoumi’s final question: “Shall dreamless slumber so much
displease?” The answer comes wordlessly as the strings in low range, representing
earth, ascend in pitch until only a high C in the violin remains, representing an
ascent to a celestial state. The violins duet in their highest range, pulsating a
sixteenth-note C-pedal tone. Angelic voices in the soprano and alto sing [a] in
rapture, answering Al-Bayoumi’s question.
O’Regan represents “Infinity” and “Eternity” with motives that circle around
each other and non-traditional chained suspensions which move down from
soprano to alto, to tenor and bass, the alpha and omega of the vocal range.

!
39
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for [people] to dwell together in
unity.
–Psalm 133, From the Bible (King James Version, 1611)
72

The final line, Psalm 133 from the King James Bible, describes the joy in
living together without division and summarizes the themes of this movement: our
inherent sameness beyond superficial differences and releasing the fear of death.
The music for this final text is joyful and triumphant, based in the same music as
was set for the Al-Bayoumi text.
Though the overarching theme is death, the music is not somber, a
purposeful choice on the part of the composer: “I was interested in the idea that in
many cultures passing from life is not always a sad, slow event. It’s actually
present in our culture as well. Sometimes it’s a wake where people are getting
blindingly drunk after funerals. There’s a need for release. Some cultures dance,
some cultures have music, some cultures celebrate and throw a party. The idea is
that the music needn’t be slow and funereal, so Threnody is fast all the way
through, and has that sort of sixteenth-note movement carrying all the way
through.”
73

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
72
Ibid.

73
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

!
40
Structure

Threnody is an embellished ternary form:
Introduction – A – B – Introduction
1
– A
1
– Coda. There are seven major sections
delineated in the following table by section and subsection(s), measure numbers,
and the corresponding section of text.

!
41
Table 2. Structure – Triptych: Threnody.
Measures Section Text

1 – 10 Introduction

Penn “When death”
11 – 79 A

11 – 24 A Intro

Instrumental
25 – 72 A Theme

Al-Bayoumi “Tremblest thou”
73 – 79 A Coda

Instrumental
80 – 149 B

80 – 106 B Intro

“Ah”
107 – 149 B Theme

Blake “To see a World in a Grain”
150 – 187 Introduction
1
Penn “When death”

188 – 231 A
1

188 – 199 A

Intro
1
Instrumental

200 – 231 A
1

Same as B, mm. 25- 59
Al-Bayoumi “Tremblest thou”

232 – 260 Coda

232 – 247 B
1
Theme from mm. 88 – 91
“Ah”

248 – 260 Coda Theme Psalm 133 “Behold, how good”

!
42
Texture
Threnody uses the SATB choir and string orchestra in various ensemble
groupings. The voices build homophonic, polyphonic and polyrhythmic structures
based in canonic imitation with a rhythmic underpinning by the strings.
The introductory texture (mm. 1 – 10), marked Maestoso, is set for
a cappella voices and demonstrates a unique modified type of homophony. In
measure 1, soprano, alto and tenor voices each enter on “When.” The tenors hold
the vowel while the sopranos and altos move to the word “death.” The sopranos
hold the vowel, while the altos move forward on the text “takes off.” The alto
voice holds the vowel along with the sopranos, and the tenor voice finishes the
sentence moving into measure two with the text “the mask” (see Figure 1 below). It
can be considered a modified form of homophony because the voices move or are
held momentarily in stasis while the text moves forward in one or two other voice
parts, homophonically. The effect is extraordinary since some words are
emphasized in two or more voices, with the text and composite melody being
passed and moved forward throughout all of the vocal ranges.

!
43

Figure 1. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 1 – 10.
The texture shifts dramatically in the A section of the composition where the
strings are given driving detached and accented sixteenth-note rhythms (mm. 11 –
79) at Prestissimo tempo. Like The Ecstasies Above, the rich string texture is built
upon repeated melodic rhythmic motives. The overall affect is one of agitation,
matching the anxiety of the text, “Tremblest thou when my face appears to thee?”
The string texture is reminiscent of minimalistic music with repeating
rhythmic patterns using a limited set of pitches. The double basses simple two-
measure pattern uses just F and C in holding the F Dorian key center (see Figure 2
below). Reminiscent of Steve Reich’s Violin Phase, the violins phase in and out of
unison with each other. O’Regan achieves the violin phase effect by having one
violin hold a pitch on a repeating sixteenth-note while the other violin moves
stepwise away and vice versa. The effect is like an auditory trailer of sound, the
melody falling away and rising toward itself.

!
44

Figure 2. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 23 – 33.
The choral vocal line at measure 25 is set in unison homophonic relief in
sharp contrast to the churning strings below (see Figure 4 below). The A section
ends (mm. 69– 79) with the string orchestra thinning out from low to high, until
only the violins remain playing high C’s.

Figure 3. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 69 – 79.

!
45
The B section (mm. 80 – 149) is discussed below in terms of textural
building blocks. The first building block is the duet for violin I and violin II (mm.
80 – 141), in the highest tessitura for violins. The second building block is the
soprano motive at measure 88, and the third building block is the alto motive
beginning at measure 91. In measure 110, the soprano building block motive is
passed down to the altos (mm. 110), then to the tenors (mm. 118). The alto motive
is passed down to the tenors in measure 109. The fourth textural building block is
the chained suspensions presented by the sopranos (mm. 107 – 117) and are
passed down to the altos (mm. 115), then the tenors (mm. 124) and finally to the
basses (mm. 131).

Figure 4. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 107 – 121.
!
46
The sopranos and altos return to their original building block motives
beginning at measure 126 while the strings return incrementally with the agitated
sixteenth-note rhythm from section A. The mixing, matching and passing of each
building block create rich polyphonic and polyrhythmic textures in this section of
music.
The return of the introductory vocal material (Introduction
1
: mm. 150 – 187)
is given a new texture with the rhythmic sixteenth-note accompaniment by the
cellos, who play the same rhythmic dance pattern heard first in section A. The
section A material returns at measure 188 (A
1
: 188 – 231), presenting the first two
lines of the section A music exactly (mm. 25 – 59), using the identical vocal/
instrumental texture. The final section (Coda: mm. 232 – 260) sixteen measures are
the vocal material from B
1
(mm. 80) modified where the soprano and tenor, and
alto and bass sing their respective parts in octave unison. This vocal texture is
newly paired with the agitated string accompaniment from section A infusing this
ending with tremendous energy.
Because O’Regan uses many static harmonies on pedal tones, motives can
be mixed in a modular fashion. This modular permutation is yet another way that
the composer increases excitement and drama in the music.

!
47
Tonal Organization
Threnody is organized tonally around C (both minor and major) and F
Dorian, which is in dominant relationship to C. Like The Ecstasies Above, Triptych
favors the use of static harmony, demonstrated by the frequent use of pedal tones,
inspired from rock music and minimal music. Static harmony allows the composer
to build the music using rhythmic melodic motives that can be combined in myriad
creative ways. The A section (mm. 11 – 79) begins with an F-pedal in the double
bass and continues for forty-nine measures outlining F and C, the defining open
fifth of F Dorian. The lower cello part, moves between F and G in its rhythmic
sixteenth-note motive for forty-three measures before moving to a repeated
sixteenth-note F-pedal for another sixteen measures (mm. 57 – 72). This covers
almost the entirety of the A section, the remaining eight measures dedicated to the
transition to C Major.
Like The Ecstasies Above, tonal and sectional shifts are often accomplished
by thinning out the vocal and instrumental texture to one or two sonorities. These
sonorities are then used as pivot pitches or chords to the new key. This is the case
moving into the B section (mm. 80). The preceding instrumental texture has
thinned out to only the violins playing a high C. This high C is the new key, C
major. Violin I repeats this high C on sixteenth-notes as a high C-pedal tone that
persists throughout the B section for sixty-one measures, also dovetailing an F-
pedal in the double bass and cello beginning at measure 134.
!
48

Figure 5. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 80 – 91.
The instruments begin reducing forces beginning at measure 146, until only
an F-pedal remains in the cello. The voices above recapitulate the introductory
vocal music, still in C minor with the F-pedal in cello providing a subdominant
foundation. With the F-pedal still in place, the transition to F Dorian for the A
section recapitulation is seamless at measure 188. The cellos and double bass
continue the F-pedal to the end of the composition, culminating with a ♭VI–♭VII–I
cadential figure. The tonal organization is summarized in the following chart:
Table 3. Tonal Centers – Triptych: Threnody.
Measures Section Tonal Center

1 – 10 Introduction C minor

11 – 79 A F Dorian

80 – 149 B C major

150 – 187 Introduction
1
C minor

188 – 231 A
1
F Dorian

232 – 260 Coda

!
49
Melody and Rhythm
As discussed above, rhythmic melodic musical motives and their interplay
form the foundation in Tarik O’Regan’s music. The primary motives, or building
blocks are presented below, with a description of how they are used in the
composition. Craig Hella Johnson explains the source of the rhythmic melodic
elements:
In the first and third movements, there are a lot of these North African
rhythms. It took awhile to get the string players to get into the fact
that these parts are percussive, they have a percussion function.
They need to be vigorously in the dance and they’re tough string
parts. Tarik wants something very specific, which is challenging for
string players, especially modern string players who are used to
longer lines with the bow. The accents in the first movement that are
very clearly going after these North African dance gestures need to be
very exaggerated. It’s a very beautiful aspect, a refreshing part of this.
The multiple layers of rhythmic activity were fantastic fun.
74

Like The Ecstasies Above, the initial interval, the open fifth, can be
considered the first musical motive heard throughout the movement, particularly in
in the cello and double bass. The cello part’s four measure detached and accented
sixteenth-note pattern is a repeated rhythmic cell, inspired by North African music,
whose accent markings divide the rhythms into duple or triple feel.

Figure 6. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 13 –16.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
74
Craig Hella Johnson, phone interview with author, January 3, 2012.

!
50
The violas join the cellos in measure 24 in a two measure repeated ostinato
that fits rhythmically with the cello motive, and the double bass part, in pizzicato,
plays an F-C motive in longer eighths and dotted quarters.

Figure 7. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 23 –26.
To the listener’s ear, the violin parts are phasing, a technique inspired from
rock effects pedals or the blurring of sound in reverberant spaces. Since the violins
are playing fast sixteenth-notes at a Prestissimo tempo, the composer achieves the
phasing effect by having one part repeat the same note, while the other part moves
stepwise toward or away. In measure 29 the violin I part is repeating E♭. Violin II,
who was repeating A♭, jumps up to F, blurring the E♭ at the interval of the major
second, and conveying the aural impression that the part is moving toward F.
Violin I now leaps up to B♭ in the same measure and on the downbeat of the
following measure (mm. 30), violin II leaps up to A♭, blurring the B♭ momentarily
before moving to F, G, and finally joining Violin I on the high B♭ for the following
!
51
measure. The two violin parts play B♭ together for two sixteenth-notes before
violin II moves down to A, again producing the auditory trailing effect of phasing.

Figure 8. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 29 –40.
Above this stirring string texture the vocal line, spanning the range of an
octave and a half, sweeps from low to high in large leaps in the antecedent phrase,
and from high to low in the consequent (mm. 25 – 38). The first antecedent phrase
ends with a hemiola (mm. 29 – 30). Each new period uses differing methods of
arranging the alto, tenor and bass voices against the soprano melody, sometimes
harmonizing, sometimes singing unison or the octave unison.
The texture of the following B section was presented in the section on
texture above, and the building block motives are presented below. The first
rhythmic melodic building block is the violin parts in duet, whose flitting parts are
evocative of the fluttering of angel’s wings.
!
52

Figure 9. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 80–85.
The second and third building block motives are the soprano and alto motives
introduced at measure 88 and measure 91 respectively.

Figure 10a. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 88–92 soprano.

Figure 10b. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 91–95 alto.
The fourth building block motive is the sopranos chain of non-traditional
falling suspensions (mm. 107 – 117). In traditional falling chained suspensions, the
suspended voice sounds the same note from consonance to dissonance, finally
falling to a consonant resolution on the following beat. O’Regan’s unique
!
53
suspensions here begin their consonance as a third between soprano and alto. In
the next move, the dissonance, the lower soprano moves up, instead of the
traditional downward move, to be in dissonance at the minor second with the
upper soprano. The dissonance is not resolved stepwise in the lower soprano
dissonant voice, but by a leap of a minor third. This creates a new third to
continue the chain of non-traditional suspensions. Further added to the uniqueness
and distinctiveness of this motive is their rhythmic formulation: highly syncopated
with hemiola (see Figure 4).
The varying combinations of all of these motives, made possible through
static pedal tone harmony, create rich polyphonic, polyrhythmic textures
throughout the composition. Craig Hella Johnson explains some of the challenges
his singers experienced through the recording process: “These are not easy vocal
lines to sing. So part of it is hearing and then having confidence with the
individual vocal lines. I think it’s a balancing of the details of the individual vocal
line with this emotional crescendo, this grand quasi-fugue that comes from a single
pitch. It’s sort of being willing to ‘stick to your knitting’ on the details and also
allow yourself to open into this very intense and emotive crescendo. We really
worked hard on it. It was one of the tougher things that we did on the recording.”
75

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
75
Ibid.

!
54
Triptych: As We Remember Them
Text

In the rising of the sun and at its going down, we remember them.
In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter, we remember them.
In the opening buds and in the rebirth of spring, we remember them.
In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer, we remember them.
In the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn, we remember them.
When [we’re] weary and in need of strength, we remember them.
When [we’re] lost and sick at heart, we remember them.
So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are part of us,
As we remember them.
–Roland B. Gittelsohn (1910–1995)
76

And the Heav’nly Quire stood mute,
And silence was in Heav’n.
–John Milton (1608—1684)
77

This poetry selection for the second movement speaks of experiencing nature
and seeing passed loved ones reflected in the beauty and strength of nature. The
first poem is by Roland B. Gittelssohn, a Jewish Rabbi, and the second poem is by
John Milton from Paradise Lost. The penultimate line “So long as we live, they too
shall live, for they are part of us,” is a reminder that even those that pass on remain
alive in our thoughts and memories. The final couplet by Milton speaks to a
moment of still silence, appropriate to the commission of the work: “The second
and third movements were written as a piece called, And There Was a Great Calm.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
76
Tarik O’Regan, Triptych (Chester: Novello, 2004-5).

77
Ibid.

!
55
The commission was linked to Veteran’s Day, because that commission was for the
eleventh of November, which is when you celebrate those who have fallen. Again,
it was originally scored for children, so I felt it was a very complicated issue to get
across.”
78

Structure
The structure of As We Remember Them contains aspects of various forms.
Overall it is a large ternary form, with the middle B section mimicking strophic
variation form. The A Introduction and A
1
Coda are the same string music and
each line of the poem is a variation of the theme presented in the violin II solo
(mm. 28 –34) at the end of the string introduction. The vocal lines can be
considered strophic because the antecedent and consequent phrase are based on
the first iteration (mm. 34 – 41), with variations throughout. The following table
outlines the overall structure and the corresponding usage of text.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
78
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

!
56
Table 4. Structure – Triptych: As We Remember Them.
Measures Section Text

1 – 33 A Introduction Instrumental

28 – 33 B Theme introduced

34 – 62 B

34 – 42 Gittelsohn line 1

42 – 50 line 2

50 – 54 line 3

54 – 62 line 4

62 – 101 B
1

62 – 76

line 5

77 – 83 line 6

84 – 90 line 7

90 – 97 line 8

97 – 101 Instrumental

102 – 142 A
1
Coda

102 – 137 mm. 104 – 137, same as
mm. 1 – 33

Instrumental

138 – 142 B
2
Milton “And the Heav’nly”

!
57
Texture
Fitting with the text, and in contrast to the energetic first and third
movements, the second movement retains a slow and solemn atmosphere marked
Moderato. The opening texture (mm. 1 – 33) features the string orchestra in thirty-
three measures of sustained sonorities. The viola and cello both hold an F-pedal
for the entire duration, strengthened twice by the double bass (mm. 13, mm. 24).
The sustained open sonorities create an ethereal string texture.

Figure 11. Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 1 – 15.
The first B section texture is sparse, featuring the soprano soloist in relief
against violins sustaining an F-pedal, harmonized with a B♭ string harmonic. Craig
Hella Johnson describes the string harmonics as “very tough, but very effective.”
79

The choir sopranos and altos answer the soloist’s antecedent phrase
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
79
Craig Hella Johnson, phone interview with author, January 3, 2012.

!
58
homophonically, doubled by the viola and cello (mm. 38 – 62) with the double
bass confirming the end of each phrase with a low F.

Figure 12. Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 32 – 42.
By combining all voices, instruments and fortissimo dynamic, the
composition reaches its first brief climax at measure 60. The sopranos and altos
are now doubled by violin II and viola, and the tenors are doubled by the cello
(mm. 59 – 62). The second B
1
section (mm. 62 – 101) begins with the tenors and
basses in unison in the solo role, doubled by violin I beginning at measure 66.
!
59

Figure 13. Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 63 – 73.
The apex of this second movement occurs at measure 91 where the choral voices
are doubled by the strings. The final line from Milton, proceeds the string sustain,
and is accompanied by an F-pedal in the violin doubled-stopped with a B♭ string
harmonic.
Tonal Organization
Both the A Introduction and A
1
Coda for As We Remember Them are in F
Dorian. The composition begins with the violins in a clear open fifth sonority (F-C)
joined by the viola on the same pitches and the cello contributing a B♭ to form
stacked fifths (B♭-F-C). These three pitches are ever present in this string
introduction forming a spacious aural canvas to which other pitch colors are added
and subtracted. In measure 4, violin I moves up to a high G and E, completing a C-
E-G-B♭ dominant 7th chord flavor with an F root in the cello. In measures 11 and
22, the pitches form an F minor 7th chord with an added 11th. The D♭-E♭-F ascent
in the violin I (mm. 20 – 24) can be considered a ♭VI-♭VII-I type cadence, a modal
!
60
mixture used at the end of movement I and also used in several instances in
movement II (mm. 39, mm. 42).
At the end of the introduction (mm. 28), violin I presents the main theme of
the movement in F Mixolydian, differing from F Dorian by the raised third degree
of the scale.

Figure 14. Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 28 – 34.
Almost the entire B section is blanketed by an F-pedal in violin I and II. This F-
pedal is unique, incorporating a perfect fourth B♭ string harmonic above F. Violin
II also plays an F-C open fifth on top of the violin I perfect fourth creating an open
and expansive harmonic foundation (mm. 46 –58).

Figure 15. Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 44 – 47.
!
61
The final four measures of the first B section move abruptly to a brief
tonicization of E♭ Dorian. E♭ is in leading-tone relationship to the F centered
tonality of the second movement. Since the remainder of the composition is based
on material already presented, the tonal plan is identical and summarized in the
following table.

Table 5. Tonal Centers – Triptych: As We Remember Them.
Measures Section Tonal Center

1 – 33 A (Introduction) F Dorian

28 – 33 F Mixolydian

34 – 62 B F Mixolydian

39, 47 modal mixture ♭VI- ♭VII- I

59 – 62 E♭ Dorian

62 – 101 B
1
F Mixolydian

91– 97 E♭ Dorian

102 – 142 A
1
(Coda) (mm. 104-
137, same as mm. 1-33)

F Dorian

138 – 142 B
2
F Mixolydian

!
62
Melody and Rhythm
The B section main theme melody, presented first in measure 28 by violin II,
is the melodic motive upon which the entire movement rests. Since this sustained
movement offsets the first and third movements, its intention is not to be overly
rhythmically active. The middle B sections contains some mixed meters, cases
where the composer is elongating the lengths of phrases to achieve a declaimed
text effect and to accommodate for word repetitions. One effect favored by the
composer is an echo effect between the soprano and alto voices (mm. 77 – 81,
mm. 84 – 86).

Figure 16a. Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 77 – 81.

Figure 16b. Tarik O’Regan, As We Remember Them, mm. 84 – 86.

!
63
Triptych: From Heaven Distilled A Clemency
Text
Each shall arise in the place where their life [spirit] departs.
–‘Bundahis- Bahman yast’; Indian Bundahishn (ninth century)
80

[So] Why then should I be afraid? I shall die once again to rise an angel
blest.
–‘Masnavi i ma’navi’; Mathwani of Jalalu’d’Din Rumi (thirteenth century)
81

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting.
And cometh from afar.
–William Wordsworth (1770—1850)
82

Calm fell. From heaven distilled a clemency;
There was peace on earth, and silence in the sky.
–Thomas Hardy (1840—1928)
83

The third movement of Triptych returns to a major theme set forth in the
poetry selections of the first movement: life after death. The first two poem
fragments come from Hinduism and Islam, and each speak of a spiritual existence
beyond death’s door.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
80
Tarik O’Regan, Triptych (Chester: Novello, 2004-5).

81
Ibid.

82
Ibid.

83
Ibid.

!
64
Rumi’s poem fragment relates back to Al-Bayoumi’s in the first movement,
comforting the listener in the assurance that there is nothing to fear in the death of
the body, that when the body is laid aside, one arises as an “angel blest”.
Wordsworth’s poem fragment confirms these first two poets, explaining that the
“Soul” that arises with us is our life’s “Star” and comes from a place beyond our
understanding. Wordsworth states: our birth “is but a sleep and a forgetting” of
who we really are beyond name and form. This is similar to William Penn’s words
that O’Regan chooses for the opening movement.
Finally, Thomas Hardy’s words close the work as a benediction of peace.
Tarik O’Regan’s choice of texts points to his deeply personal feelings about the
fundamental unity of mankind. Born of Irish Catholic and Algerian Muslim parents,
O’Regan’s very name and existence represents a unity. O’Regan purposefully
chooses texts from each important religion and philosophy to highlight universal
and timeless wisdom that cuts through sectarian disagreements and dogmatic
differences.
Structure
From Heaven Distilled A Clemency does not fit directly into a standard form
but contains elements of both ternary and rondo form:
Intro – ABCB
1
DA
1
B
1
– Coda. The ternary element is that the composition begins
and ends with the AB section music, with the CBD sections considered the middle
section of the ternary form. The B section returns three times, creating a rondo
!
65
element. Also of structural note is the D section music that the composer borrows
from the second movement, modifying the string orchestra and soloist music and
inserting it before the final recapitulation to the AB section music. The following
table outlines the structural sections of the third movement and the associated text
usage.

Table 6. Structure – Triptych: From Heaven Distilled A Clemency.
Measures Section Text

1 – 8 Intro Instrumental

9 – 39 A Bahman Yast “Each shall arise”

35 – 39 transition (based on Mvt. I 72 – 77) Instrumental

40 – 61 B Rumi “So why then should I”

62 – 85 C Wordsworth “Our birth”

86 – 105 B
1
(same as mm. 40 – 55) Rumi “So why then should I”

102 – 105 transition (based on Mvt I mm. 72
– 77)

Instrumental

106 – 135 D

106 – 122 (same as Mvt II, mm. 2 – 15) Instrumental

123 – 135 (based on Mvt II, mm. 138 – 142) Hardy “Calm fell”

136 – 174 A
1
(same as mm. 1 – 39) Bahman Yast “Each shall arise”

175 – 190 B
2
(same as mm. 44 – 55) Rumi “So why then should I”

191 – 209 Coda Rumi “So why then should I”
!
66
Texture
The string orchestra’s Prestissimo eighth-note pattern is the basic textural
building block of the third movement, and modeled after the first movement. At
the introduction of the third movement, cellos and violas use the same pitches and
rhythmic pattern as the first movement, measure 13 and forward. The rhythm is
only modified slightly to fit the new time signature, from 3/8 in movement I to 4/4
in the second movement. The voices in this first A section soar above the surging
detached and accented eighth-note string texture in contrasting homophonic whole
note and half note values.

Figure 17. Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 9 – 14.
!
67
This agitated string texture continues into the B section music, with a
notable textural intensification provided by the cellos and bass. This short melodic
rhythmic motive outlines parallel fifths and octaves and is inspired by rock music
power chords. The next change of texture for section D is dramatic, borrowing the
second movement’s ethereal string orchestra and sparsely accompanied solo
music, modified slightly. The remainder of the score is a restating of the opening
AB section material followed by a short coda based on the same music (mm. 136 –
209).
Tonal Organization
The introduction and A section music are in F Mixolydian, contrasting the F
Dorian dominated first movement. This raising of the third from minor to major
provides this final movement an energy of excitement and optimism. The
harmonic foundation of the entire A section, until measure 35, is an F-pedal played
by the cello and double bass. The end of the A section (mm. 31 – 35) returns to the
same music as the second movement (mm. 91 – 93), transposed up one whole step
and representing the same type of modal mixture.
The A section transitions from F Mixolydian to D Dorian (mm. 35 – 39)
using the same pitches and general rhythm as measure 72 – 79 of movement I; the
rhythms are modified only to accommodate the differing time signatures of 3/8 and
4/4, respectively.
!
68

Figure 18a. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 69 – 79.

Figure 18b. Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 35 – 39.
!
69
In the first movement, this above decreasing of the texture to the high C’s in
the violin led to a tonal shift to C major. In this third movement the same music
leads to D Mixolydian, where the high C becomes the leadingtone and the first
note of the new unison melody (mm. 39 – 40).

Figure 19. Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 39 – 40.
In section B, violas play an eighth-note repeated D-pedal tone, while the
cellos and basses punctuate a percussive motive on C-D to emphasize the D
Mixolydian centered tonality.

Figure 20. Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 43 – 46.
!
70
The next tonal shift takes place at measure 62, from D Mixolydian to G Lydian, a
subdominant relationship. A repeated G-D to A-E parallel fifth harmonic
underpinning is provided by the tenors and basses, who are unison with the cello
and double bass (mm. 62 – 65).

Figure 21. Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 62 – 65.
The final harmonic transition worth noting is the transition to the D section,
in which music is borrowed from the second movement. The string music (mm.
102 – 105) leading to the second movement music (mm. 106) is the same music as
the first movement (mm. 72 – 77) also used previous in this third movement (mm.
35 – 39), discussed above. In this instance, violins ascend to the high C, which is
the same high C in the first chord of the second movement. This time the high C
leads to the new key of F Dorian. Thus we see the composer using the same string
material three times to lead to three different and new sections of music,
ingeniously borrowing, mixing and matching sections of music from the first and
!
71
second movement to recall to the listener’s ear in this third movement. The tonal
centers of the third movement, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, are
summarized in the following table:
Table 7. Tonal Centers – Triptych: From Heaven Distilled A Clemency.
Measures Section Tonal Center

1 – 8 Intro F Mixolydian

9 – 39 A F Mixolydian (mm. 31 – 34,
modal mixture)

35 – 39 transition (based on Mvt. I 72 – 77) C major

40 – 61 B D Mixolydian

62 – 85 C G Lydian

86 – 105 B
1
(same as mm. 40 – 55) D Mixolydian

102 – 105 transition (based on Mvt I mm. 72 – 77) C major

106 – 135 D F Dorian

106 – 122 (same as Mvt II, mm. 2 – 15) F Dorian

123 – 135 (based on Mvt II, mm. 138 – 142) F Mixolydian

136 – 174 A
1
(same as mm. 1 – 39) F Mixolydian (mm. 166
modal mixture)

175 – 190 B
2
(same as mm. 44 – 55) D Mixolydian

191 – 209 Coda D Mixolydian

!
72
Melody and Rhythm
The melodic and rhythmic building blocks of this movement have been
considered briefly in the section above discussing texture. They are examined
more closely in this section. The introductory two-measure repeated string motive
presented in the viola and cello comes from the first movement, Threnody, and can
be compared side by side in the following examples:

Figure 22a. Tarik O’Regan, Threnody, mm. 13- 14.

Figure 22b. Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 1 – 2.
Double bass plays a repeated four measure syncopated pizzicato ostinato,
supporting the F-pedal figuration in the cello part (mm. 9 – 12).

!
73

Figure 23. Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 9 – 12.
The sustained vocal line ascends above this rhythmic texture, appropriately
painting the text “Each shall arise.”

Figure 24. Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 9 – 20.
The B section D Mixolydian vocal theme is a direct inspiration from
O’Regan’s love of rock music, with the cello and bass providing a quasi rock guitar
rhythmic power chord accompaniment. When asked if the theme was inspired
!
74
from synth-pop music, O’Regan replied: “Yeah, definitely. I wanted the kids to
bounce!”
84

Figure 25. Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 40 – 47.
The last new melodic motive in this movement (Section D material is from
movement II), is the C section G Lydian theme (mm. 62 – 69). This melody again
demonstrates O’Regan’s novel vocal writing. To the listener, it might sound as if
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
84
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

!
75
one voice were singing the melody while the other provides a harmonic
counterpoint. In fact, what the listener hears is the melody is being exchanged
between the voices from measure to measure.

Figure 26. Tarik O’Regan, From Heaven Distilled A Clemency, mm. 62 – 69.

!
76
The Ecstasies Above
The Ecstasies Above is a one-movement work based on the poem Israfel by
Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1849), first published in 1831 in The Southern
Messenger.
85
The work takes approximately eighteen minutes to perform and is
written for SATB choir, string quartet and two solo SATB quartets. Commissioned
by Simon Carrington through the Robert Baker Commissioning Fund for Sacred
Music by Yale Institute of Sacred Music, the work was premiered by the Yale
Schola Cantorum under Carrington’s direction on March 4, 2007 at Yale
University’s Woolsey Hall. Three days later, the ensemble presented The Ecstasies
Above at the National Association of Choral Directors of America (ACDA) Miami
Conference. These conference performances were where this author first heard
and was inspired to study and write on O’Regan’s music, and were the same
performances Craig Hella Johnson heard which ignited the spark to collaborate
with the composer to create the album Threshold of Night.
Carrington notes that the work “creates a very special and captivating
atmosphere which may not be immediately obvious from a look at the score,”
recalling the “astonishing” amount of positive feedback from the ACDA
performances.
86
The compositional process, however, was not easy.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
85
Tarik O’Regan, Liner Notes, Threshold of Night. Conspirare: Company of Voices, conducted by Craig Hella
Johnson, HMU 807490, 2008, compact disc.

86
Simon Carrington, email message to author, December 1, 2011.

!
77
O’Regan remembers vividly the experience writing The Ecstasies Above:
“It was a real, horrible, nasty, vicious struggle to write that piece! It wasn’t
fitting together. It’s the equivalent of when you ask a painter, ‘when do you
take the brush away and say it’s done?’ With composing, it’s not quite like
that, because you do have to arrange it into a score with a beginning and
end. But when does your integrity let you stop working?”
87

Craig Hella Johnson shares his thoughts on the challenges of
performing the work:
It takes awhile for people to come into knowing what the style is.
The string parts for example are very character-full. These are not
accompanimental parts where there’s a stepping back. Each of them
needs to be a character. I think there’s a needing to bring that
awareness to the string players and to know what their part was in
the texture and to find an equal personality with the vocal parts. A
lot of this music is coloristic. He’s got both very strongly delineated
vocal lines that have character and an idea, shape and profile, that
are very clear and individual and then in contrast he has so many of
these textures that serve a coloristic effect. He often used voices like
strings and actually that’s quite difficult.

I remember speaking with some of the singers, particularly the basses
who have long held notes and repeated notes at the same pitch. So
there’s a way in which a singer needs to be really willing and adept
at doing what’s necessary to support the texture even though there
may not always be a great melody for them to sing. You kind of need
to be willing to be a string orchestra. It really depends on deeply
shared pulse for the texture to really work.
88

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
87
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

88
Craig Hella Johnson, phone interview with author, January 3, 2012.

!
78
Text
Israfel, by Edgar Allen Poe is a lyric poem in eight stanzas of varying lengths.
The lines are in various meters, the greater portion being iambic. The poem uses
end rhyme where various lines in a stanza rhyme together, as well as internal
rhyme such as “imbued with beauty” or “the angel Israfel.” The fifth stanza
containing the line “Therefore thou art not wrong,/ Israfeli, who despisest / An
unimpassioned song”, is omitted from O’Regan’s setting.
The poem is about Israfel, an archangel of Islam, “Whose heart-strings are a
lute”, who like the mythological Orpheus, plays the lute so beautifully as to still the
entire heavenly host. Poe had a personal interest in Islam as an oriental religion
and focused on its humanist currents.
89
The poet uses personification to heighten
the emotion of the poem, such as “the giddy stars” or “The enamored moon
Blushes with love”. Poe also uses exotic feminine references such as the Pleiades,
the seven daughters of Atlas in the second stanza, and in the fifth stanza the
“Houri”, referring to the beautiful virgins in Islam who attend to men attaining
paradise.
Israfel’s music induces extreme emotional states in the listener: ecstasies,
grief, joy, hate, and love. In the final stanza, the poet imagines trading places with
Israfel, postulating that Israfel “might not sing so well/ A mortal melody” while
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
89
Steinberg, Jeffrey, “The Purloined Life Of Edgar Allan Poe,” The Schiller Institute, accessed March 5, 2012,
http://www.schillerinstitute.org/educ/hist/e_a_poe.html.

!
79
proudly propping themselves up in Israfel’s place: “a bolder note than this might
swell/ From my lyre within the sky.” The composer explains his understanding of
Poe’s poem: “Through his creative description of the angel, Israfel, and the
heavens, Poe creates a virtuous image of the supernatural. Poe compares this
heavenly vision to the harsh reality of human existence. Whilst the beauty of
Israfel’s voice and lyre can silence even the moon and the stars in the heavens, Poe
suggests that if Israfel were placed in an earthly environment, he would not sing
with such zest. From the Koranic source of the name for the protagonist, the story
is refashioned by Poe into an homage of ecumenicity to an all-encompassing angel
of music.”
90
a
O’Regan selected the text and took a universal application of its meaning:
“Is there a sense of sacred music that is non-Christian, or non-Muslim, but the
sacredness of music itself?”
91
Similarly, Craig Hella Johnson finds deep meaning in
the poetry and O’Regan’s setting:
I always felt such compassion in the piece. There’s a tenderness in
the experience of being human as we compare one’s fantasy of a
supernatural realm with what it is to walk on the earth. And
sometimes the gap between the vision that we have and the suffering
that we experience as humans when we imagine that gap, rather than
embodying the fact that we are also alive in spirit here as we walk
the planet. I find that aspect of the piece incredibly moving, very
understanding on a human level… the depth of understanding in
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
90
Tarik O’Regan, Liner Notes, Threshold of Night. Conspirare: Company of Voices, conducted by Craig Hella
Johnson, HMU 807490, 2008, compact disc.

91
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

!
80
being human, and how does one do that in music? That’s really
something of a mystery, that’s part of the gift, that resonance.
92

Structure
The overall structure of the work does not fit neatly into any definitive form,
but can be thought of broadly as a large embellished or modified ternary form:
Introduction – AB – CDC
1
– A
1
B
1
– Coda.
There are nine major sections that are delineated in the following table by
each section and subsection(s), measure numbers, and the corresponding section of
text.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
92
Craig Hella Johnson, phone interview with author, January 3, 2012.

!
81
Table 8. Structure – The Ecstasies Above.
Measures Section Text

1 – 62 Introduction

1 – 23 a

Stanza 1, line 1 – 2
24 – 46 b

Stanza 1, line 3 – 4
47 – 62 c

“Israfel”
63 – 117 A

63 – 94

Stanza 1, line 5 – 7, Stanza 2
95 – 103 Musical Point of Arrival

Stanza 3, line 1 – 4
104 – 117 A Section Coda

Stanza 3, line 5 – 7
118 – 140 B

Stanza 4
141 – 181 C

141 – 153 a

Stanza 5
154 – 167 b

Stanza 5 repeated
168 – 181 c

Stanza 5 repeated
182 – 211 D

Stanza 6
212 – 215 Transition

Stanza 6, line 7
216 – 241 C(a)
1
, C(b)
1
Stanza 5 repeated

242 – 256 Transition

257 – 311 A
1

Stanza 1, line 3 – 4
312 – 337 B
1
Stanza 7

338 – 380 Coda Stanza 7 repeated

!
82
The B section can also be thought of as an ABACA rondo form where the A
sections are the returning string interludes and the B and C section are the choir
phrases.
Texture
The Ecstasies Above is scored for string quartet, two solo SATB quartets and
SATB choir, which O’Regan uses to maximum effect, effortlessly weaving intricate
aural tapestries that Craig Hella Johnson describes as “mind-stopping.”
93
In the
liner notes to the album Threshold of Night, the composer describes his musical
intentions regarding texture: “Musically the score makes much use of textural
variation between the three groups (full chorus, solo octet and string quartet). The
tug of war between material that is almost childlike in its playfulness and sections
that seem more somber reflect my own thoughts on Poe’s oeuvre.”
94

The three-part introduction begins featuring the three teams of sopranos and
altos (mm. 1 – 23). The entrances are imitative and irregularly staggered, giving the
aural effect that the music is somehow unmetered and random. Taken together
with the movement from major seconds to open fifth harmonies, the music sounds
otherworldly. The voices also sprout from one another. Of the last two notes that
one group sings, at least one note is carried forward by another, usually F, which
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
93
Ibid.

94
Tarik O’Regan, Liner Notes, Threshold of Night. Conspirare: Company of Voices, conducted by Craig Hella
Johnson, HMU 807490, 2008, compact disc.

!
83
acts as a pedal tone passed through the voices. The listener, thus, cannot tell
where one group begins and one ends because the phrases have no clear ending,
nor beginning (see Figure 27 below). Like the passing of a baton in a relay race,
this solution solves the inherent problem that singers need to breathe. Due to the
irregularly scattered entrances and the inability to hear where phrases begin and
end, the echo effect is seamlessly pronounced. This is a unique technique taken
from minimal instrumental writing, and/or the natural reverb effect of a choir in a
cathedral.

Figure 27. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 11 – 20.
!
84
The second part of the introduction (mm. 24 – 46) takes the exact music
from the three groups of sopranos and altos and transposes it to the three teams of
tenors and basses. The texture not only shifts downward, but the strings replace the
upper tessitura that the sopranos and altos have vacated. The first and second
violin introduce a lively double-dotted dance motive to the texture, while the viola
intones an F- C open fifth, adding to the F pedal being passed throughout the tenor
and bass voices.

Figure 28. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 24 – 29.
In the third and final section of the introduction (mm. 47 – 62), the solo
sopranos intensify the texture, reproducing the energetic theme from the violins.
The polyphonic equal treatment between the voices and strings is exactly what the
composer intended: “I wanted the string quartet to be equal with the soloists in the
choir. It’s definitely not a piece for chorus and string quartet. I mean it is in terms
of the score, but that’s not the composition of the piece. There are all kinds of
!
85
combinations of instruments, and sometimes the string quartet is accompanied, and
sometimes it’s a solo line. Sometimes the most rhythmic parts are not given to the
strings.”
95

The intensifying of the previous section explodes into the first portion of the
A section of the work (mm. 63 – 94). The solo sopranos, tenors and basses now
carry transposed versions of the violin theme, which they carry until measure 84.
The lively, intricate texture carried by the solo voices at measure 63 is
structured in eight measure phrases: solo soprano I and solo alto I sing the same
material as solo soprano II and solo alto II but displaced by one beat. Similarly,
solo tenor I and solo bass I share the same musical material as solo tenor II and
solo bass II, but entering one beat apart from one another; neither are aligned
rhythmically with the soprano and alto. The second solo alto voice enhances the
texture with highly syncopated rhythms contrasting the first solo alto voice.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
95
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

!
86

Figure 29. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 63 – 68.
Underneath, the viola sustains a pedal D, while violin I pulsates a detached
upper pedal D, announcing the shift to D Dorian. Violin II and cello assert the new
A section theme beginning in measure 68. Violin II and cello have the same
pitches, an octave apart, but violin II is playing the pitches at an eighth-note
duration. The texture between these two instruments is similar to the texture
!
87
between the two alto parts, namely, that one part sustains longer notes while the
other punctuates the space. Solo alto II hits the offbeat of solo alto I, creating an
echo effect texture with the words.
Figure 30. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 64 – 68.
The interplay between violin I and violin II also creates a phasing effect
texture seen beginning at measure 72. The parts begin in unison at measure 71,
but in measure 72 the violin I part moves to B one eighth-note before violin II.
Aurally, the effect is that B becomes louder in gradation. In the same measure,
violin I moves to an A-natural for the last two eighth-notes while violin II’s melody
plays a B and G, both a major second apart, creating a sense of blurring of the
melody. On the downbeat of the following measure (mm. 73), violin I moves to an
F, then E and A, all pitches that are in major 2nd relationship to the violin II/ cello
melody.
!
88

Figure 31. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 71 – 73.
In unison, the choir seizes the second A section theme (mm. 70); this theme
was introduced three measures earlier in the violin II and cello. This six-measure
theme is repeated thrice, but spun out into variations for each new iteration. Each
new repetition increases the vocal polyphony and adds to the already very
complex melodic and rhythmic texture. The first iteration was unison (mm. 70). In
the second iteration (mm. 77), the basses and altos duplicate the theme while
sopranos and tenors sing a harmonizing melody whose rhythm fills in the spaces in
the alto and bass part. In the third (mm. 83) and fourth iteration (mm. 89), the
musical material is replicated from the second, except that the entrances are
staggered: altos begin on beat 1, basses on beat 2, sopranos on beat 3 and tenors
on beat 4.

!
89

Figure 32. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 82 – 85.
While the texture of the choir is becoming more intense through measure
83, both solo quartets reduce forces to solo sopranos and altos, ending in measure
84. The violins and viola explode into an exotic sounding second section A theme
at fortissimo (mm. 83). This is one of the motives inspired by North African dance
melody (see Figure 33 below). An unembellished version of this theme will
reappear at the climax (mm. 95) in the voices, following the trend of themes being
introduced in the instruments and carried shortly after into the vocal parts. Below,
the cello enhances the rhythmic texture with accents on the downbeat and eighth-
note before beat three, and the eighth-note before the downbeat.
!
90

Figure 33. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 82 – 85.
The A section reaches its climax in measure 95 with all singers and players
at a fortissimo dynamic. The aforementioned second A section theme is powerfully
proclaimed by all sopranos and altos in unison octaves. All tenors and basses sing
a four part accompanying harmony on long held note-values, where the solo
quartet tenors and basses intensify and punctuate the texture on mostly quarter-
note values. The violas and cellos contribute to this texture with the identical
pitches, but playing detached eighth notes with intermittent accents.

!
91

Figure 34. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 95 – 98.
The A section coda (mm. 104) features the two solo sopranos singing a third
variation of the second A section theme in canon. Solo soprano II’s canonic
repetition follows first after solo soprano I completes their entire phrase. The canon
texture tightens in measure 106 where solo soprano II follows solo soprano I
spaced only by one beat.

Figure 35. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 104 – 109.
!
92
Contrasting the richly textured polyphony of the introduction and A section,
the B section (mm. 118 – 140) is homophonic in both strings and voices and at a
much slower tempo, quarter-note equaling fifty four. The solo quartets are tacet,
and the two remaining forces, SATB choir and strings function separately. The
string interludes are solo, and when the choir sings, it functions in the role of pedal
tone (mm. 121 – 127) or in very light accompaniment (mm. 132 – 136).

!
93

Figure 36. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 118 – 124.
The following sections C (mm. 141 – 181), D (mm. 182 – 211) and C(a)
1
/
C(b)
1
(mm. 216 – 241) are set for both solo quartets and strings in varying solo
formations. The a-subsection of C (mm. 141 – 153) features a quartet of solo
!
94
soprano I and II and violin I and II. The other voices and strings play an
accompanying role in the texture, sustaining long held pitches, the voices singing a
neutral syllable [a]. The string parts add an ethereal dimension with frequent string
harmonics, and the violin I and II motive contain double-stopped chords with
harmonics.

Figure 37. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 141 – 142.
In the previous a-subsection of C, the solo sopranos and violin parts rarely
overlap, each functioning soloistically. In the b-subsection of C, the solo textures
by the solo sopranos, violin and now viola, overlap each other, intensifying the
overall texture. The solo sopranos begin their phrase together, but soon come out
of sync by one quarter-note, allowing for a tight canonic echo effect. This echo
spreads down to the violins and viola for a five-part canon texture. This b-
subsection is also enhanced by more movement in the other solo voices and by
increasing double-stopped textures in the strings.

!
95

Figure 38. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 157 – 161.
!
96
The third and final c-subsection of C (mm. 168) begins with the violins in
tight canon while the solo tenors and basses enter and provide a harmonic
underpinning for the solo sopranos. This is the first a cappella section since the
beginning of the composition. The strings re-enter in measure 179 in agitated
sixteenth-notes as a final climax to the C section where the solos voices join in a
homophonic texture. The new texture in section D (mm. 182 – 211) is
characterized by the strings in detached and irregularly accented sixteenth note
while the solo voices sing longer duration half-note triplet figures in three-octave
unison.

!
97

Figure 39. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 189 – 191.
In the short four-measure transition out of section D (mm. 212 – 215) and
into the recapitulation of the C section, the solo voices join in a homophonic
texture, except for the altos, who sustain and carry forward an open fifth with the
violin II and viola.
Measure 216 to 337 are repeated music from section C, A and B, and thus
contain the same texture. The final section of the work, Coda (mm. 338 – 380), is
!
98
a cappella, the strings only reentering for the final chord. The SATB choir and solo
basses provide up to nine part cluster chord harmonies on long sustained pitches
on the vowel [a]. Solo sopranos begin with a canonic imitation familiar to the
listener’s ear due to its widespread use throughout the work. Solo altos and solo
tenors join into this texture creating six-part canonic imitation where the
characteristic falling sixteenth-note motive is heard on each beat of the bar.

Figure 40. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 363 – 366.
!
99
With the rest of the choir and solo voices diminishing and disappearing, the
two solo sopranos are left high in their tessitura sustaining a high F and high A as
the choir, then strings, join for the final F major chord. Simon Carrington
summarizes the vocal challenges he faced in premiering the composition: “Tarik’s
wide spread voicing demands superlative balancing from the choir. We worked a
great deal on vocal color as the piece is repetitive in a positive sense and needs a
variety of colors to mark out each section.”
96

Tonal Organization
The Ecstasies Above features modal harmony in a pandiatonic setting.
Composers writing in a pandiatonic style neither avoid nor actively create triads,
but strong rhythmic textures where voices pursue their own independent parts
while maintaining a desired independence between voices.
97
The following table
summarizes the tonal centers in The Ecstasies Above.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
96
Simon Carrington, email message to author, December 1, 2011.

97
R. Evan Copley, Harmony: Baroque to Contemporary, Part Two (Illinois: Stipes Publishing Company, 1991),
136.

!
100
Table 9. Tonal Centers – The Ecstasies Above.

Measures Section Tonal Center

1 – 62 Introduction F Dorian

63 – 117 A D Dorian

118 – 140 B E♭ major

141 – 181 C G Dorian, G Lydian

182 – 211 D G Lydian

212 – 215 Transition G Dorian

216 – 241 C
1
G Dorian

242 – 256 Transition G Dorian

257 – 311 A
1
D Dorian

312 – 337 B
1
E♭ major

338 – 380 Coda F major

The harmonic rhythm is slow in this composition. Frequent usage of
canonic material in tight rhythmic iteration necessitates a more static harmony.
Pedal tones are used throughout the composition in both low and high instruments
and voices. The introduction, which spans sixty-two measures contains an F-pedal
almost throughout, passed through the voices in the a-subsection, and shared into
the viola throughout the b-subsection. The introduction contains all of the pitches
of F Dorian.
!
101
The transition to the submediant D Dorian (mm. 61 – 63) is characteristic of
the composer’s technique of shifting tonal centers. By measure 61, the texture has
thinned to solo soprano II and solo alto II who sing the pitches D and B♭,
respectively. In the following measure, to A-natural, forming a D open fifth when
placed in inversion with solo soprano II, preparing the shift to D Dorian taking
place at measure 63.

Figure 41. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 56 – 63.
The following A section in D Dorian begins with the viola holding a
sustained D-pedal tone, and violin I playing a high D-pedal punctuated with an
eighth-note rhythm which continues until measure 71. At measure 71, an overt
pedal tone cannot be heard, but is insinuated in the D-A leap of the first section A
theme which spins out canonically through to measure 83, where the D-pedal
returns in the cello, punctuated in percussive eighth-notes.

!
102

Figure 42. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 82 – 85.
The shift to E♭ major for section B takes place in a similar fashion to the shift
from the Introduction to section A. The string texture thins out to the lone viola
sustaining a D in measure 117. On the downbeat of the following measure, the
beginning of section B, the viola D is part of the chord B♭-D- F, or V of E♭. Also
notable in this musical example is the A-natural in measure 120, forming a
diminished sonority for added color at the end of each of the string interludes in the
B section.
!
103

Figure 43. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 114 – 120.
It should also be stated that a semi-tone shift from D Dorian to E♭ major is a
unique and atypical harmonic shift made doubly unusual for its leading-tone
relationship with F Dorian, the initial tonal center of the work. The transition from
the B section to C (mm. 141) takes place in the same style as the first two tonal
center transitions. The cello and violin II sustain a G in measure 139, while the
viola sustains D, an open fifth relationship enabling a seamless transition to G
Dorian. G Dorian is in mediant relationship to E♭ major. G-pedal tones are heard
!
104
in the a and b-subsection of C in the bass voice, violin II, viola. At measure 168,
the c-subsection of C, the violin parts move between C-sharp and C-natural and B♭
becomes B-natural, indicating the new G Lydian tonal center.
At measure 210, the next tonal shift from G Lydian back to G Dorian takes
place in identical manner to the previous tonal shifts. This time, viola sustains G,
and violin II sustains the fifth D. In the next section (mm. 212), the key signature
with one flat indicates the return back to G Dorian. G Dorian continues in the
following transition section (mm. 242 – 256), the recapitulation of section C
material. A G-pedal tone is heard sustained between the two solo bass voices.
The shift back to D Dorian takes place in measure 256 where the strings
play stacked perfect fourth intervals A-D-G, with the violin I pulsing eighth-notes
on D. This open fourth quartal harmony easily allows for D Dorian since it
contains the pitches D and A, an open fifth. The shift from section A
1
to B
1
(mm.
311 – 312) takes place identically to its original counterpart (mm. 117 – 118). The
final shift from E♭ major to F major takes place in measure 337. The choir
sopranos sustain a B♭ as the pivot pitch to F major at measure 338.
In summary, the tonal transitions in this work are all based on the technique
of clearing the texture to one or few voices and using pivot pitches or chords,
usually open fifths. Open fifths are advantageous for shifting tonal center since
there is no quality of major or minor associated with it. Because of the spinning
out of motivic canonic structures, pedal tones are used throughout the work. It is
!
105
notable and unique that the tonal centers are all within mediant distance and in
two cases at the distance of a minor (D Dorian to E♭ major) and major second (E♭
major to F major).
Melody and Rhythm
Rhythmic melodic musical motives shape the foundation of The Ecstasies
Above. These motives form the imitative canonic structures that create the intricate
polyphonic and polyrhythmic textures found throughout the work. The primary
rhythmic melodic motives are presented below, with an explanation of how they
are used throughout the work.
The first musical motive is the open fifth presented by the sopranos in the
introduction. The open fifth is the primary musical interval heard throughout the
work. Similarly, we hear in The Ecstasies Above what LaBarr hears in Scattered
Rhymes, “music that jumps from pure fifths and octaves to unique clusters of
sound.”
98

The second melodic motive is the double-dotted motive introduced in the
violin I and II at measure 24. This motive leaps up at the interval of a perfect
fourth, moves stepwise down a major second, and leaps down a perfect fourth.
This lively motive moves from the violins to the solo soprano parts at the final c-
section of the introduction (mm. 47), and then to all of the soloists (except altos) at
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
98
Cameron F. LaBarr, “Tarik O’Regan’s Scattered Rhymes and its Compositional Relationship to Machaut’s
Messe de Nostre Dame and the Music of ‘The Who’,” Choral Journal 52, no. 7 (2012): 12.

!
106
the beginning of the A section (mm. 63). Because the soloists sing the motive to
Israfel’s name, the motive is called the “Israfel” motive (see Figure 43 below). The
canonic texture created from this one rhythmic melodic motive provides the
musical and rhythmic foundation of section A.

Figure 44. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 24 – 25.
The syncopated three-measure melody presented by the choir at measure 71
is the second rhythmic melodic motive of section A. This motive’s primary interval
is the open fifth and contains four syncopated beats.

Figure 45. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 71 – 77.
Set above the eight part “Israfel” polyphonic texture and the rhythmic string
parts creates a captivatingly complex polyrhythmic structure. The violins and viola
!
107
present the A section’s third melodic motive at measure 83, a rhythmically active
dance melody inspired by O’Regan’s exposure to North African music. In its
unembellished form, this motive provides the melody for the sopranos at measure
104.

Figure 46. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 83 – 84, mm. 104 – 105.
Similarly, the rhythmically active motive in violin I at measure 141 is an
embellished and slightly modified form of the melodic motive presented in the solo
soprano I one measure later.

Figure 47. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 141 –142.
!
108
As discussed in the section above on structure, this motive is passed in tight
imitative pattern between the solo sopranos and violins, particularly in the b-
subsection of C (mm. 154 – 167).
At Section D (mm. 182) an exotic five-note scale pattern is introduced by
violin I: G-B-C-E-F, which the viola echoes back two measures later. The solo
sopranos use only these notes in their canonic melodic motive until measure 188.

Figure 48. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 182 – 183.
The rhythmic string texture keeps the G-B-C-E-F scale for all but four measures of
section D (mm. 182 – 208) pulsing in a sixteenth-note rhythmic motive with
accents irregularly spread through the string parts.
!
109

Figure 49. Tarik O’Regan, The Ecstasies Above, mm. 205 – 208.
The ending Coda section, at a slower tempo, provides the final rhythmic
melodic motive introduced by the sopranos (mm. 343 –346). This motive spreads
to the solo altos and tenors to create a canonic polyrhythmic tapestry.
Examination of the use of meter throughout The Ecstasies Above reveals
standard meters in most of the work except for sections B and C. The string
interludes in section B are metered in 7/4. Taken with the slower tempo, however,
a free unmetered feeling is conveyed. The voice parts move between different
meters to emulate a spoken, declaimed text delivery.
Section C changes meter frequently, twenty-one times in forty measures.
The meter changes take place mainly in the a and c-subsections of C, with the b-
subsection keeping a regular 3/2 meter. Subsections a and c change meter
!
110
frequently to accommodate text and convey a sense of freely metered, improvised
sounding music.

!
111
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Summary
Analysis of Tarik O’Regan’s Triptych and The Ecstasies Above provide us
with tremendous understanding of the compositional methods of a rising star in the
world of composition, one who would like to make a significant contribution to
music: “What I’d like to have done is open up a door for a whole new repertoire of
music. If it starts with opening up a door for people to write different kinds of
music for voice… that would be wonderful. When I’m old and looking back, if
there’s an area of music that has come out work that I’ve done, I’d feel very
privileged.”
99

Examination of these two compositions reveals a composer well on his way
to achieving his goal, genuinely adding a fresh dimension to the age-old art of
choral composition through unique structures, impressive sonic textures, novel use
of modal harmony, and ear-grabbing rhythm and melody.
Text
Tarik O’Regan uses several novel text setting techniques. The first is
connected to the composer’s use of canonic imitation between two voices: the
echo effect. Two voices in duet will begin together, but one voice will eventually
trail behind at differing degrees of rhythmic space. Passing the text and melody
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
99
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

!
112
between voice parts is another attractive effect that the composer uses, enabling a
wide vocal range to express the text, as is demonstrated in the introduction to
Triptych: Threnody.
O’Regan’s selection of texts belies deep spiritual beliefs that the composer
seems somewhat hesitant to discuss, very likely out of modesty and a sensitivity not
to offend anyone else’s personal beliefs. Yet the composer’s choice of texts and
musical setting speak for themselves. In these two compositions, and indeed in all
of the compositions on the album Threshold of Night, the composer is interested in
exploring core beliefs of varying religious traditions in order to find common
ground. In an age of wildly disparate and polarizing beliefs, especially in the
United States, the composer makes a clear statement highly relevant to this day and
age: there is an underlying and unseen unity of all humans beyond what the eye
can see. Furthermore, what is unseen does not die, is eternal and is to be
celebrated. This is very clear in O’Regan’s setting of text. In every moment where
the text could be interpreted as a point of sadness, the composer writes music that
transmutes the meaning to one of inherent joy and celebration.
Structure
Traditional forms such as ternary, strophic variation, and rondo inspire both
Triptych and The Ecstasies Above. The composer, however, blurs these traditional
structures by blending aspects of other forms to create wholly new structures that
are unique and customized for the text and composition. For example, the third
!
113
movement of Triptych (From Heaven Distilled A Clemency) possesses both ternary
and rondo characteristics, though the overall form of Triptych is symphonic; the
final movement directly references both the first and second movements. Similarly,
The Ecstasies Above was written where the composer began composing from
measure 1, allowing the structure to unfold and reveal itself through the process of
composition. Tradition holds that composers plan and sketch out intentions first,
especially with large forms. O’Regan is able to succeed without sketching because
he possesses the extraordinary ability to carry large blocks of ideas in his head,
consciously and unconsciously organizing and reorganizing music, only notating
when the ideas begin to fade out of consciousness.
Texture
Inspired by the evolution of texture in orchestral music, O’Regan
successfully translates his textural ideas into vocal lines that Craig Hella Johnson
feels is unique to O’Regan: “There’s a textural sensibility that is his own. It feels
very unaffected to me and utterly natural. This is just what he’s hearing. There is
something about his approach… that he can write textures that are merging
different coloristic elements and yet it feels like there’s space in it.”
100

Though imitative and canonic textures are certainly not new to choral
music, O’Regan’s novel formulations of these techniques surely are. The composer
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
100
Craig Hella Johnson, phone interview with author, January 3, 2012.

!
114
augments and diminishes canonic motives so that the echo effect is constantly
shifting. The distance between imitative motivic fragments is sometimes long and
sometimes short, surprising the ear of the listener. The composer seems to have
worked out every mathematical permutation of each melodic rhythmic cell, in
order to spin them out in various polyphonic structures. Like a sonic architect,
O’Regan introduces new building blocks, evolving them in the course of the music
and combining contrasting musical blocks seamlessly to increase the richness of
the aural tapestry. In both compositions, the composer uses the strings to their
fullest effect, with challenging articulations, double-stops and use of ethereal string
harmonics. These textures are directly inspired by O’Regan’s love of the evolving
loops of minimalism, and minimalism’s intersection with British rock and roll
music’s reverb, chorus, resonance and phasing pedal effects.
Tonal Organization
Writing in a modal pandiatonic style, the composer favors Dorian, Lydian
and Mixolydian modes, an influence both from early music and from 1960s modal
jazz. Also inspired from Renaissance and English choral school harmony is the
high degree of open sonorities of fifth’s and fourth’s. In order for the rhythmic
melodic building blocks to fit together, the composer uses static harmonies via
pedal tones in both high and low tessituras. This represents another nod to
minimalism where evolving texture is the main attraction, and not changing
progressions of harmony. Use of pedal tones also allows the composer to use
!
115
pitches pandiatonically, mixing and matching any pitch from the modal scale in
use, creating aurally appealing cluster chords.
Cluster chords are not new to choral music, however, the rhythmic
application of cluster chords where voices rhythmically come in and out of cluster
chords, is. This is especially evident in the introduction and A section of The
Ecstasies Above. In the B section of Triptych: Threnody, the non-traditional chain
of suspensions passed from soprano down to bass is another example of the
composer taking a traditional musical element and modifying it creatively to invent
a unique and new expression.
The composer maintains harmonic interest by changing between modal
harmonic centers for new sections of music. Shifts of mode between sections are
almost always achieved by the thinning of orchestration to one or two voices or
instruments, where the held pitch is the pivot to the new key. This enables
tremendous flexibility because the pivoting pitches can find their way into almost
any new key center. This also enables non-traditional tonal center relationships,
for example where transitioning key centers are only one whole tone apart.
Due to the relative harmonic stasis, there are no traditional cadences in
either of these two works. This fact creates a special aura of modernity to his
music, music in higher service to texture than it is to traditional harmonic
progression. The composer favors the ♭VI-♭VII-I type cadential figure, which the
composer confirms is a direct inspiration from rock music. These cadential figures
!
116
are well disguised by the texture and the listener is left curious as to how phrases
came to an end harmonically. The complexity of the structures are so creatively
crafted and so seamlessly integrated that the mind of the listener cannot
successfully discern the techniques and deconstruct the composition in the act of
listening. The effect is what Craig Hella Johnson describes as “mind-stopping” and
the spacious quality of the music.
101
This author posits that it is the mind-stopping
effect that creates the sensation of spaciousness within the listener. The mind stops
thinking because the music is beyond immediate comprehension. In the absence
of thinking, the listener becomes fully engaged and involved in the music. The
listener becomes playfully curious as to how the attractive textures and harmonies
are all taking place. Listening to Tarik O’Regan’s music becomes an experience of
flow state.
Melody and Rhythm
The rhythmic melodic motives are the basic building blocks for Tarik
O’Regan’s music. Since the harmony is essentially static within each section, the
rhythmic melodic motives can use any pitch and any rhythm, a fact that the
logical-mathematically inclined composer uses to full effect in spinning out of
motivic permutations. This can be viewed as an influence of serialism, which the
composer credits with freeing up his compositional style. Similarly, O’Regan often
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
101
Craig Hella Johnson, phone interview with author, January 3, 2012.

!
117
limits the choice of pitches, as in the A section coda of The Ecstasies Above. The
rhythmic melodic motives are often inspired by dance motives the composer heard
as a child in summers spent with his mother’s side of the family in North Africa.
Melody and rhythm is also inspired by the composer’s love of minimalism, and
rock and roll music, 1960s to present. Certain solo lines, like the soprano solo of
the second movement sound like vocal lines that could have been written by
fellow English composer Benjamin Britten.
Conclusion
Reflecting on his success, the composer is humble and grateful for his good
fortunes: “I do work quite hard, but luck plays into it. Luck plays into it because
there are so many good composers out there who don’t get heard… it probably
counts for more than any inherent talent and work.”
102

O’Regan explains that he actively creates work for himself by often being
the first to approach potential commissioners, as was the case with Simon
Carrington. The up-and-coming composer wonders out loud if he has already
reached the peak of his career and his way of dealing with that pressure is to
broaden to other genres and areas of creativity, like his first opera or the
documentary work for the BBC. O’Regan feels content with his accomplishments
and toys with the idea of taking a few years off before the age of forty: “I think I’ve
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
102
Tarik O’Regan, interview with author, July 14–15, 2010.

!
118
covered some ground, and what I’d like to do is let that settle and see what
works… look back at the repertoire in a couple of years and see what’s working, or
isn’t working, see what has stood the test of time.”
103

Finally, the composer gives advice to conductors performing his works,
revealing a comparably differing approach from many composers: “My advice to
conductors is always, please, don’t try to think about how I would want it
performed. My only interest there would be if it were for a recording that I’m
involved in, because that would be a permanent record. If I’m involved in any
capacity of assisting in a production, it’s my vision. Beyond that, I love different
interpretations and different speeds. I love it. I find it endlessly fascinating.”
104

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
103
Ibid.

104
Ibid.
!
119
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Broderick, Peter. Home. BELLACD172. 2008, compact disc.

Copley, R. Evan. Harmony: Baroque to Contemporary, Part Two. Champaign, IL:
Stipes Publishing Company, 1991.

Eno, Brian. Music For Airports. Virgin – 724386649522. 1978, compact disc.

LaBarr, Cameron F. “Tarik O’Regan’s Scattered Rhymes and its Compositional
Relationship to Machaut’s Messe de Nostre Dame and the Music of ‘The
Who’.” Choral Journal 52, no. 7 (2012): 7–21.

LCD Soundsystem. All My Friends. From Sound of Silver. DFAEMI2164cd, 2007,
compact disc.

Mullova, Viktoria. Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin. ONYX4040. 2009, compact
disc.

O’Regan, Tarik. Interview by author. New York, NY, July 14–15, 2010.

O’Regan, Tarik. Liner Notes. Threshold of Night. Conspirare: Company of Voices,
conducted by Craig Hella Johnson, HMU 807490, 2008, compact disc.

O’Regan, Tarik. The Ecstasies Above. Chester: Novello, 2006.

O’Regan, Tarik. Threshold of Night. Conspirare: Company of Voices, conducted by
Craig Hella Johnson, HMU 807490, 2008, compact disc.

O’Regan, Tarik. Triptych. Chester: Novello, 2004–5.

Steinberg, Jeffrey. “The Purloined Life Of Edgar Allan Poe.” The Schiller Institute.
accessed March 5, 2012.
http://www.schillerinstitute.org/educ/hist/e_a_poe.html.

!
APPENDIX A: GRAPHIC ANALYSIS- TRIPTYCH: THRENODY
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Soprano x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Alto x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Tenor x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Bass x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Violin I x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Violin II x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Viola x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Cello x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Contrabass x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Tempo Maestoso, Quarter Note = 52 Prestissimo, Eighth-Note = 192
Meter 4 2 4 3
4 4 4 8
Dynamics f ff p mp
Harmony C minor g f F Dorian
v iv
A
Form 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
10 14
B Intro
A
Text When death takes off the mask
120
Appendix A (Continued)
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
mf f p
F
(IV
B
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63
15 19
B 48
Tremblest thou when my face appears to thee?
121
Appendix A (Continued)
64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
sfp mf mp p pp
C C major D
-7
F (C)
_
I)
C D
64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95
13 9 8
Ah
B Coda
122
Appendix A (Continued)
96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
mp mf
F(A) D
-7
F (C) F(A) F D
-7
E
96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123
19 19
C 72
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
123
Appendix A (Continued)
124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150
x x
x x
x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
f ff pp p
F (C) F(A) F D
-7
F
F G
124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150
26
124
Appendix A (Continued)
151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
mp mf f
C minor
151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177
A
1
49
When death takes off the mask
125
Appendix A (Continued)
178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
ff p mp
F Dorian
H
178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204
B

Intro
1
12
126
Appendix A (Continued)
205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
mf f
D♭ E
♭
♭
VI
♭
VII
205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231
B
1
32
Same as B, mm. 25- 59
Tremblest thou when my face appears to thee?
127
Appendix A (Continued)
232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
p mp mf f ff
F Dorian D
♭
I
♭
VI
I
232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258
C
1
17 13
Theme from m. 88-91
Coda
Ah Behold how good and how pleasant
128
Appendix A (Continued)
259 260
x x
x x
x x
x x
x x
x x
x x
x x
x x
E
♭
F
♭
VII I
259 260
129
APPENDIX B: GRAPHIC ANALYSIS- TRIPTYCH: AS WE REMEMBER THEM
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
Solo
Soprano
Alto
Tenor
Bass
Violin I x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Violin II x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Viola x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Cello x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Contrabass x x x x x x x
Tempo Moderato, Quarter = 88
Meter 4
4
Dynamics ppp pp p mp ppp pp p mp mf f p
Harmony F Dorian
C-F-B♭

open 4ths
Variations of F
7
chords, usually with 9 and 11
Form 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
34
A Introduction
Text
130
Appendix B (Continued)
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x
x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x
6 4 6 4 5 6 4 6 4 6
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
pp ppp p mp p mf p
F Mixolydian modal mixture E♭ Dorian
J K
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62
9 9 6 8
line 1 line 2 line 3 line 4
28
B
In the rising of the sun In the blowing of the wind In the opening buds In the blueness of
131
Appendix B (Continued)
63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
4 5 4 6 4 6 4 6 4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
mf p mp p mp mf f ff ff
F Mixolydian E♭ Dorian
L M
63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95
14 5 7 8
line 5 line 6 line 7 line 8
39
B
1
In the rising of the sun When we're weary When we're lost So long as we live
132
Appendix B (Continued)
96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123
x x
x x
x x
x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
6 4 6 4
4 4 4 4
p pp ppp pp p mp ppp pp
F Dorian
O
96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123
5 36
A
1
Coda
mm. 104- 137, same as mm. 1-33
133
Appendix B (Continued)
124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142
x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x
p mp mf f ppp pp ppp p
F Mixolydian
P
124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142
5
B
2
And the Heav'nly Quire
134
APPENDIX C: GRAPHIC ANALYSIS- TRIPTYCH: FROM HEAVEN DISTILLED A CLEMENCY
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Solo
Soprano x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Alto x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Tenor x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Bass x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Violin I x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Violin II x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Viola x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Cello x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Contrabass x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Tempo Prestissimo, Quarter = 192
Meter 4
4
Dynamics mp p mp mf f mf
Harmony F Mixolydian
Q
Form 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
8 12 + 2
Intro
31
A
Text Each shall arise
135
Appendix C (Continued)
28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
f mf mp p f mf
modal mixture D Mixolydian
R
28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59
13 + 4 8 8 7
23
B
Why then should I be afraid
136
Appendix C (Continued)
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
mp p pp ff
G Lydian D Mixolydian
S T
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91
8 + 12 4 8
24
C
Our birth is but a sleep When then should I be afraid
137
Appendix C (Continued)
92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119
x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Moderato, Quarter = 88
mf mp p ppp pp p mp
C major F Dorian
U
92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119
8 4 17
same as Mvt I same as Mvt II, m. 2-15
16 m. 72-77
B
1
same as m. 40-55
138
Appendix C (Continued)
120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x
x x x
x x x
x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Meno mosso, Quarter = 76 Prestissimo, Quarter = 192
6 4
4 4
ppp pp mp p mp mf
F Mixolydian
V W X
120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146
13
based on Mvt II m. 138-142
Calm fell. From heav'n distilled a clemency Each shall arise
139
Appendix C (Continued)
147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
f mf f mf mp
modal mixture
147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173
39
A
1
same as M. 1-39
140
Appendix C (Continued)
174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
f ff
D Mixolydian
Y Z
174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200
16 19
B
2
Coda
same as m. 44- 55
Why then should I be afraid
141
Appendix C (Continued)
201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
sfz
201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209
142
APPENDIX D: GRAPHIC ANALYSIS- THE ECSTASIES ABOVE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Soprano x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Alto x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Tenor x x x x
Bass x x x x
Solo Soprano I x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Solo Alto I x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Solo Tenor I x x x
Solo Bass I x x x
Solo Soprano II x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Solo Alto II x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Solo Tenor II x x
Solo Bass II x x
Violin I x x x x
Violin II x x x x
Viola x x x x x
Cello x x
Tempo Steadily, Half Note = 63
Meter 2
2
Dynamics f p pp
Tonal Center F Dorian
A
Form 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
24
Intro a
Text
In Heaven a Spirit doth dwell
143
Appendix D (Continued)
28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x
mf f
B
28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59
25 17
Intro b Intro c
62
Introduction
None sing so wildly well Israfel
144
Appendix D (Continued)
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Quarter = Quarter, Quarter = 126
4
4
mf f mf f mf ff
D Dorian
C
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91
9 13 12
54
A
And the giddy stars so legends tell The enamoured moon Blushes
145
Appendix D (Continued)
92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
2 4 7
2 4 4
mf ff mf mp p f pp mf
E♭ Major
D E
92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119
9 14 4
the starry choir and the other listening By which he sits and sings
146
Appendix D (Continued)
120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146
x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x
x x x x x x
x x x x x x
x x x x x x
x x x
x x x x x x
x x x x x x
x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Slow, Quarter = 54 Gently moving, Half Note = 63
3 4 7 3 7 4 7 4 5 4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 2
f p mp mf mp mf f mp mf p pp ppp p
G Dorian
F
120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146
8 5 6
22
B
But the skies that angel trod Where the Houri glances are Imbued The ecstasies above
147
Appendix D (Continued)
147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Rit. Slower A Tempo (rhythmic)
Half Note = 54 Half Note = 63
2 4 2 4 2 4 3 2 3 4
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
p mf p mf mp mf f ff mp pp p
G Lydian
G H
147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173
10 4 15 5
13 C (b)
C(a)
40
C
Well may the stars be mute
148
Appendix D (Continued)
174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
3 4 3 4 3 4 3 2
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
mf f pp mp
I
174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200
12 7 7 8
13
C (c)
29
D
Yes, Heaven is thine But this is a world of sweets
149
Appendix D (Continued)
201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Slower, Half = 54 A tempo, Half Note = 63 Rit. Slower, Half=54
4 5 4 2 4 2 4
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
mf f ff pp p
G Dorian
J
201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227
10 4 6 10
Transition
And the shadow of thy perfect bliss The ecstasies above
150
Appendix D (Continued)
228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x
A tempo (rhythmic), Half Note = 60 Meno mosso, Half Note = 54 Quarter = 126
2 4 3 4 2 4 2 4
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4
mf mp mf f ff pp p pp
K
228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254
4 13 14
Transition
25
C(a)1, C(b)1
The ecstasies above Yes Heaven is thine
151
Appendix D (Continued)
255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
p f mf f mf ff
D Dorian
L
255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281
12 13
Israfel And the giddy stars The enamoured moon
152
Appendix D (Continued)
282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
2 4
4 4
mf f ff mf mp p
M
282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308
12 9 18
54
A
1
the starry choir
153
Appendix D (Continued)
309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335
x x x x x x x x x
x x x
x x x
x x x
x x x x x x
x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x
x x x x x x
x x x x x x
x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Slow, Quarter = 50
7 3 4 7 3 7 4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4
f pp mf f p mp mf p mf f mp p pp
E♭ Major
N
309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335
7 5 8
25
B
1
If I could dwell He might not sing so wildly well
154
Appendix D (Continued)
336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x
x x x x x x
x x x x x x
x x x x x x
x x x x x x
Quarter = Half, Quarter = 100
F Major
O
336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362
7 6 38
42
Coda
If I could dwell Where Israfel Hath dwelt
155
Appendix D (Continued)
363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
x
x
x
x
Rit. Slower, Quarter = 76
ppp
F
363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380
156

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Tarik O’Regan (b. 1978) is a British born composer with over ninety published compositions, two Grammy © award nominations, and performances, commissions and recordings with renowned ensembles. This study includes formal analysis of two extended compositions for SATB choir and strings. The first of these compositions is Triptych (2004–5), a seventeen-minute composition in three sections featuring spiritual texts from many traditions. The second, The Ecstasies Above (2006), is an eighteen-minute composition featuring the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, which was commissioned by Simon Carrington and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. ❧ The first chapter discusses the purpose, need, scope and methodology of the study. The second chapter provides biographical information on Tarik O’Regan and the third chapter discusses the composer’s compositional influences, musical philosophy and working methods. Chapter four comprises the analysis of the two major works including discussions on text, structure, texture, tonal organization, melody and rhythm. The final chapter provides the summary and conclusion of the study. Julius Herford style graphic analyses for each composition are included as appendices.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

The romantic loner: a conductor’s guide to the choral-orchestral works of Sir William Walton

PDF

A survey of the unaccompanied choral music of Wolfram Buchenberg

PDF

The influence of the Australian landscape and indigenous Aboriginal music and traditions on Australian choral music: a study of choral works by nine Australian composers

PDF

A companion guide to Nick Strimple’s Choral Music in the Nineteenth Century: a research and repertoire guide for nineteenth century small form choral works for mixed voices

PDF

Music in worship in the Churches of Christ and choral music performance in Church of Christ affiliated colleges and universities

PDF

The sacred choral works of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

PDF

The Antiochian Orthodox Church of North America: vocal music and choral practice

PDF

Fortuna desperata: a study of symbolism

PDF

Refined gold from along the Royal Highway: musical training at the California Missions as a model for present-day pedagogy

PDF

Karol Szymanowski and his Stabat Mater

PDF

Surmounting oppression in the choral music of Petr Eben: an analysis of the Missa adventus et quadragesimae

PDF

The influence of African-American harmonizing on the 'American' choral works of Frederick Delius

PDF

Synagogue choral music of nineteenth-century Vienna, Paris, and Berlin: its repertoire and history

PDF

Theology as a basis for golden section analysis: a model of construction for Johann Sebastian Bach's St. John Passion

PDF

Musical landscape in Northern Germany in the early seventeenth century: musica poetica and its application in the settings of Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott by Heinrich Schütz, Johann Hermann S...

PDF

The motets of Georg Philipp Telemann: a study of their sources, musical style, and performance practice

PDF

Choral music in film

PDF

Frank Martin's Le vin herbé: a critical analysis and guide to performance

PDF

Troisieme Magnificat a 4 voix avec instruments, H. 79 by Marc-Antoine Charpentier: a modern urtext edition with commentary

PDF

Music of reformed worship: a guide and resource for organists, choirs, and congregations

Asset Metadata

Creator Gregorio, Dominic (author)

Core Title An analysis of two choral compositions with strings by Tarik O'Regan

School Thornton School of Music

Degree Doctor of Musical Arts

Degree Program Choral Music

Publication Date 05/04/2012

Defense Date 05/04/2012

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag choral analysis,Ecstasies above,OAI-PMH Harvest,Tarik O'Regan,Triptych

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Scheibe, Jo-Michael (committee chair), Grases, Cristian F. (committee member), Strimple, Nick L. (committee member)

Creator Email dgregori@usc.edu,livelifewell@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-30054

Unique identifier UC11288735

Identifier usctheses-c3-30054 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-GregorioDo-762-0.pdf

Dmrecord 30054

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Gregorio, Dominic

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA