Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Tarik O'Regan
The Appointment (for countertenor) (1999)
(Recitative for voice and guitar)- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
Commissioned by James Bowman
Programme Note
The Appointment
Ruth Padel
Flamingo silk. New ruff,
the ivory ghost
of a halter. Chestnut curls,
commas behind the ear.
‘Taller, by half a head,
than my lord Walsingham.’
His Devon-cream brogue,
malt eyes. New cloak
mussed in her mud.
The Queen leans forward,
a rosy envelope of civet:
a cleavage
whispering seed-pearls.
Her own sleeve
rubs that speck of dirt
on his cheek. Three thousand
ornamental fruit baskets
swing in the smoke
‘It is our pleasure
to have our servant trained
some longer time
in Ireland.’ Stamp out
marks of the Irish.
Their saffron smocks.
All carroughs, bards
and ryhmers. Desmonds
and Fitzgeralds
stuck on low spikes,
an avenue of heads
to the war tent.
Kerry timber
sold to the Canaries.
Pregnant girls
hung in their own hair
on city walls. Plague
crumpling gargoyles
through Munster. ‘They spoke
like ghosts crying
out of their graves.’
Ruth Padel
Flamingo silk. New ruff,
the ivory ghost
of a halter. Chestnut curls,
commas behind the ear.
‘Taller, by half a head,
than my lord Walsingham.’
His Devon-cream brogue,
malt eyes. New cloak
mussed in her mud.
The Queen leans forward,
a rosy envelope of civet:
a cleavage
whispering seed-pearls.
Her own sleeve
rubs that speck of dirt
on his cheek. Three thousand
ornamental fruit baskets
swing in the smoke
‘It is our pleasure
to have our servant trained
some longer time
in Ireland.’ Stamp out
marks of the Irish.
Their saffron smocks.
All carroughs, bards
and ryhmers. Desmonds
and Fitzgeralds
stuck on low spikes,
an avenue of heads
to the war tent.
Kerry timber
sold to the Canaries.
Pregnant girls
hung in their own hair
on city walls. Plague
crumpling gargoyles
through Munster. ‘They spoke
like ghosts crying
out of their graves.’