ANTHONY O'TOOLE
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Hung Aloft the Night 

for Concert Band (Grade 4)
Hung Aloft the Night was commissioned by a consortium of several schools organized by Dr. Joshua Kearney. The piece’s title and inspiration comes from the poem ‘Bright Star’ by the English poet, John Keats.

The poem expresses the desire for something unattainable and the longing for stability amidst a world in constant flux. The poet uses grandiose imagery of mountains, shores and skies and sensual language to convey this desire to the reader.
​

The piece uses a single theme (with smaller variants and fragments) to portray musically that which is steadfast amongst a world constantly changing. The melody - “Idée fixe” - is heard first with almost no accompaniment and evolves through several reharmonizations, key changes, and contrapuntal contextualization. The music begins and ends contemplatively as if appearing in the night sky among millions of celestial bodies which serve as a canvas for one's own introspection.

Available at FJH Music Company 

 


BRIGHT STAR
By John Keats

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art— 
        Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night 
And watching, with eternal lids apart, 
        Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite, 
The moving waters at their priestlike task 
        Of pure ablution round earth's human shores, 
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask 
        Of snow upon the mountains and the moors— 
No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable, 
        Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast, 
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell, 
        Awake for ever in a sweet unrest, 
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath, 
And so live ever—or else swoon to death.




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  • Home
  • Biography
  • Music
    • Band >
      • Grade 2-3 >
        • Anthracite
        • Industrial Complex
      • Grade 4 >
        • ...As it is in Heaven
        • The Beltway Breakdown
        • Frenetico
        • First Snow
        • Hung Aloft the Night
        • Longing
        • Metamorphosis
        • Once in Royal David's City
        • Pastorale
        • Pro Humanitate
      • Grade 5 >
        • The Battle Cry of Freedom
        • The Crossroads
        • Dash
        • Electrons Dancing
        • Fanfare to "The Hammer"
        • Latin Dance Movements
        • Now is the Time (A Song of Hope)
        • Prelude to Something Big
        • Uncommon Valor
        • Up
        • War Machine
    • Orchestra >
      • String Orchestra >
        • The Gardener
        • Locum Sacrum
        • Pastorale
        • Talcott Notch
      • Chamber Orchestra >
        • Divertimento
        • Fathom
      • Frenetico
      • Light up the Night
      • Now is the Time (A Song of Hope)
    • Brass Ensemble / Brass Band >
      • Brass Band >
        • DoubleThink
        • Frenetico
        • Kingsfold Variations
        • Syzygy
        • Saturnalia
      • A Beauty Untold
      • Concrete Waves
      • Elegy
      • Deep River
      • From Above
      • First Snow
      • The Golden Gate
      • Kingsfold Variations
      • Latin Dance Movements
      • A New Birth of Freedom
      • Phalanx
      • Theme & Variations on A Mighty Fortress
    • Chamber Ensembles >
      • Brass >
        • Brass Quintet >
          • A Christmas Fantasy
          • Quintet No. 1
          • Quintet No. 2
        • Ad Astra
        • Colloquy
        • Jam-Bourrée
        • Introit
        • Iridescence
        • Liturgical Suite
        • Pedal to the Metal
        • Zelienople Suite
      • Low Brass >
        • Quartet >
          • 2011: A Tuba Odyssey
          • Ascend
          • Bittersweet Memories
          • Cantus Firmest
          • FYEWZ
          • Passage to Atlantis
          • Scarborough Variations
          • Shake and Bake
          • The Summit
          • War Machine
          • War Tubas
        • Sextet - Ensemble >
          • Animal Style
          • Big Orange Sky
          • Blowfest
          • BLOWFEST II
          • Celebratio
          • Child's Play
          • DoubleThink
          • Journey Through Space
          • Partita No. 1
          • Preghiera
          • System
      • Strings >
        • Cadgwith Caper
        • Happy Birthday Fugue
        • String Quartet No. 1
      • Woodwinds >
        • The Catacombs of Callixtus
        • Chicken Scratch
        • Finzi's Brain
        • Flea Circus
        • Partita No. 4
        • Quintet No. 1
        • Silva Sanctum
    • Choral - Voice >
      • Our Heart
      • Longing
      • The Road to Twilight
    • Concerti & Solo >
      • Unaccompanied - Duet >
        • 3 Miniatures
        • BOOM!
        • Funky Lumps
        • Krump
        • Stages
        • Topaz
        • Xocotzin
      • Solo with Large Ensemble >
        • Coalescence
        • Concerto for Euphonium
        • Concerto for Marimba
        • Concerto for Tuba No. 1
        • Concerto for Tuba No. 2
        • Double Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Euphonium
        • Full Circle
        • HiJinks
      • Solos and Duos with Piano >
        • Chronicles
        • Full Blast
        • The Immortal Game
        • Partita No. 3
        • Sea Isle Rhapsody
        • Sonata for Euphonium
        • Sonata for Trumpet
  • Arrangements
  • Residencies / Engagements
    • 2015 Young Composer Mentor Project
    • Colorado State University - Pueblo
    • Fort Wayne, Indiana
    • Marywood University
    • Hiram College
    • Irvine Valley College
    • Tampa Metropolitan Youth Orchestra
    • Wabasha-Kellogg School District
    • Wake Forest University
    • 2017 Wisconsin All-State Band
    • Youngstown State University
  • Links
  • Contact