Patrick Zuk Raymond Deane

2 Patrick Zuk Raymond Deane Field Day Music This study of the career and creative achievement of Raymond General Editors: Séamas de Barra and Patrick Zuk Patrick Zuk Deane (b. 1953) is the first comprehensive study of an Irish composer to appear in print in his lifetime. Illustrated with 1. Aloys Fleischmann (2006), Séamas de Barra musical examples, it combines a lucid survey of Deane’s 2. Raymond Deane (2006), Patrick Zuk principal compositions with a highly informative commentary on technical features of his work. Among forthcoming volumes are studies of Ina Boyle, Seóirse Bodley, Michele Esposito and James Wilson. Raymond Patrick Zuk is Lecturer in Music at the University of Durham, England. He is completing a new history of the Irish art-music Deane tradition. Music/Contemporary Ireland FIELD DAY PUBLICATIONS MUSIC 2 Patrick Zuk Raymond Deane Field Day Music This study of the career and creative achievement of Raymond General Editors: Séamas de Barra and Patrick Zuk Patrick Zuk Deane (b. 1953) is the first comprehensive study of an Irish composer to appear in print in his lifetime. Illustrated with 1. Aloys Fleischmann (2006), Séamas de Barra musical examples, it combines a lucid survey of Deane’s 2. Raymond Deane (2006), Patrick Zuk principal compositions with a highly informative commentary on technical features of his work. Among forthcoming volumes are studies of Ina Boyle, Seóirse Bodley, Michele Esposito and James Wilson. Raymond Patrick Zuk is Lecturer in Music at the University of Durham, England. He is completing a new history of the Irish art-music Deane tradition. Music/Contemporary Ireland FIELD DAY PUBLICATIONS MUSIC Raymond Deane Raymond Deane Raymond Deane Raymond Deane Raymond Deane Patrck Zuk Feld Day Musc 2 Seres Edtors: Séamas de Barra and Patrck Zuk Feld Day Publcatons Dubln, 2006 Patrck Zuk has asserted hs rght under the Copyrght and Related Rghts Act, 2000, to be dentfed as the author of ths work. Copyrght © Patrck Zuk 2006 ISBN-10 0-946755-29-9 ISBN-13 978-0-946755-29-5 Publshed by Feld Day Publcatons n assocaton wth the Keough-Naughton Insttute for Irsh Studes at the Unversty of Notre Dame. Feld Day Publcatons Newman House 86 St. Stephen’s Green Dubln 2 Ireland www.felddaybooks.com Contents Preface viii Acknowledgements ix Introducton 1 1 Keyboard Works 13 2 Chamber Works 31 3 Works for Chamber and Symphony Orchestra 63 4 Concertante Works 78 5 Vocal and Dramatc Works 99 Appendces I. Catalogue of Compostons 121 II. Dscography of Compostons 124 III. Publshed Wrtngs 124 Bblography 126 Index 127 Preface Ths book surveys the career and creatve achevement of Raymond Deane, one of the most promnent fgures n contemporary Irsh composton. Gven the paucty of secondary lterature dealng wth any aspect of Deane’s output, I was almost completely relant on the composer to furnsh detaled nformaton about the course of hs career and about hs compostons. Deane asssted me to an extent that surpassed any reasonable expectatons. In addton to allowng me to ntervew hm on over a dozen occasons, he responded (sometmes at great length) to some three hundred communcatons and offered detaled comments on the drafts of each chapter as they were wrtten, often supplyng correctons or drawng attenton to oversghts. I would lke to take ths opportunty to express my apprecaton of hs help, snce the book would undoubtedly have been much the poorer had I not enjoyed the beneft of hs actve cooperaton. I have not attempted a crtcal evaluaton of Deane’s work and have vewed my prmary task as provdng a sympathetc ntroducton that reflects as closely as possble the composer’s own understandng of hs creatve enterprse. My dscusson of hs compostons nevtably had to be selectve and t was clearly mpossble to consder every work n the same depth; nonetheless, the selecton s a representatve one. Although the accounts of ndvdual works are sometmes qute nvolved, I have conscously sought to keep techncal language to a mnmum and have largely refraned from provdng detaled structural analyses n the hope that the book mght prove more accessble to a non-specalst readershp. Patrck Zuk Durham, July 2006 Acknowledgements I am deeply ndebted to a number of people who have asssted me durng the preparaton of ths book. Séamas de Barra and Mary Shorten asssted wth translatons from Irsh and offered advce on ponts of lngustc detal. Jors de Henau, Fabrce Ftch, Ruth Fleschmann, Luca Luck and Maranna Taymanova checked translatons from other languages. All translatons, unless otherwse credted, are my own. Andy Nercessan, Max Paddson and Kenneth Smth answered varous muscal queres. Jors de Henau, John Hals and Los Ftch were a source of constant encouragement, readng portons of the text n draft and makng many valuable suggestons for mprovement. Arthur Sealy kndly permtted me to consult a chapter from hs forthcomng textbook Soundscapes 2 (whch dscusses Deane’s Seachanges (with danse macabre)) whle t was stll n manuscrpt. I would also lke to thank the staff of the Contemporary Musc Centre, Dubln, for makng avalable scores and recordngs of Deane’s work, Gerald Mangan for permsson to reproduce a carcature of Raymond Deane, Carán Deane for copy-edtng the book and Seamus Deane and Breandán Mac Subhne for facltatng ts publcaton. Fnally, I would lke to express my partcular grattude to Séamas de Barra, not only for hs unfalng personal support, but also for readng the manuscrpt n draft and offerng constructve crtcsms. Hs metculous scholarshp and hs enthusasm for research on the Irsh art-musc tradton have been an nspraton. Introducton Raymond Deane was born n 1953 n Tuam, County Galway. For much of hs chldhood, hs famly lved n Bunacurry, a small vllage on Achll Island off the coast of County Mayo, where hs mother taught n a grls’ prmary school and hs father worked as manager of the local Labour Exchange. Hs mother began to nstruct hm n the rudments of musc when he was about sx years of age (meetng ntally, he recalls, wth a consderable degree of resstance on hs part) and he subsequently took pano lessons n a local convent. Muscal lfe n ths remote place durng the early 1950s was very restrcted n scope and whatever exposure Deane had to classcal musc came solely from lstenng to the few gramophone records hs parents possessed. In 1963, when he was ten, the famly moved to Dubln, a change that proved proptous for hs future muscal development. Deane enrolled as a student at the Dubln College of Musc, where he was assgned to Fonn Ó Lochlann, a pano teacher whom he found very sympathetc and remembers as exertng a benefcal nfluence. Ó Lochlann was a muscan of qute broad culture who encouraged Deane to lsten wdely and deepen hs knowledge of the muscal lterature. Somewhat unusually, he had a keen nterest n modern musc, readly enterng nto protracted dscussons wth hs pupl about the Second Vennese School, Bartók and Stravnsky. As a teenager, Deane started to pay frequent vsts to hs local musc lbrary and attend concerts, eager to broaden hs muscal knowledge. He made rapd progress n hs studes and became a profcent panst, wnnng przes n natonal compettons. In hs md-teens, Deane’s parents wthdrew hm from secondary school to educate hm prvately at home, a decson prompted by a combnaton of health problems and by hs resstance to the regmentaton of hs school envronment. Wthdrawal from school allowed hm to devote hmself more fully to hs muscal studes. Hs adolescence was a farly soltary one; Deane occuped hmself readng, playng the pano or lstenng to musc. As a chld he had tred hs hand at wrtng short peces and he contnued to compose steadly through hs teens, producng a large quantty of musc, most of whch he later destroyed. Hs earlest efforts reflected heterogeneous nfluences. Subsequently, hs nterest n contemporary musc ntensfed steadly and he began to experment wth a wde varety of avant-garde compostonal approaches ncludng seralsm and mnmalsm wth whch he had become famlar through hs voracous lstenng. Lookng back, Deane descrbes hmself wryly as havng turned nto ‘a total freak’ by the tme he was seventeen, wholly obsessed wth the ‘most outré 2 Raymond Deane knds of avant-garde musc’.1 European art musc occuped a rather margnalzed place n the cultural lfe of Dubln; the captal of a small, poor country could scarcely offer the rch dversty of muscal fare avalable n major metropoltan centres such as London or Pars, partcularly as far as new musc was concerned. Nonetheless, opportuntes to hear ths repertore n lve or broadcast performances were not completely lackng and Rado Telefís Éreann, the Irsh natonal broadcastng staton, dsplayed consderable enterprse n programmng, despte ts farly lmted resources. There was also a small, but sgnfcant group of muscans who had an enthusastc nterest n modern musc and made consderable efforts to enlven the Dubln muscal scene by puttng on concerts featurng a modern repertore, many of them organzed n conjuncton wth the Musc Assocaton of Ireland. Deane frst came to wder publc attenton n the context of one of the most mportant of these ventures, the frst Dubln Festval of Twenteth Century Musc, whch was held n January 1969. Although ths ntatve was comparatvely short-lved, t ntroduced the work of a cross-spectrum of lvng composers to Irsh audences. Amongst younger muscans, t generated consderable exctement, partcularly when emnent composers wth nternatonal reputatons such as Olver Messaen, Peter Maxwell Daves and Wtold Lutosławsk came to the festval to attend performances of ther work. In addton to the major events, the festval organzed concerts to showcase the work of younger composers and Deane appeared n the very frst of these, playng a pano pece enttled ‘Format 1’.

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