Sta op en Schitter (Arise and Shine) was inspired by several Georgian legends about heroes, like Mindia, The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, St. George and Amirani. Georgia was one of the first countries in the world to become a Christian nation, as long ago as in the 4th century. I spent the summer holidays of 2013 in Georgia, together with my family, and we camped for one week in the wild in the Caucasus. To Arise and Shine is precisely what the gorgeous Georgian nature inspires one to do.
Sta op en Schitter is a famous quote from Isaiah 60: 1. It was the motto of my mother-in-law, who was able to fight cancer during 14½ years, before she finally succumbed to it, one month after my family’s holiday in Georgia.
All in all, Sta op en Schitter is first of all an ode to the beautiful country of Georgia and its wonderful people. While it doesn’t actually quote any Georgian traditional melody, it does make extensive use of the characteristics of Georgian harmony and polyphony and Caucasian rhythms. However, there is a broader context as well, in the sense of my mother-in-law’s motto: to rise up and shine is always a heroic thing to do, regardless of one’s circumstances.
Sta op en Schitter (Arise and Shine) was inspired by several Georgian legends about heroes, like Mindia, The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, St. George and Amirani. Georgia was one of the first countries in the world to become a Christian nation, as long ago as in the 4th century. I spent the summer holidays of 2013 in Georgia, together with my family, and we camped for one week in the wild in the Caucasus. To Arise and Shine is precisely what the gorgeous Georgian nature inspires one to do.
Sta op en Schitter is a famous quote from Isaiah 60: 1. It was the motto of my mother-in-law, who was able to fight cancer during 14½ years, before she finally succumbed to it, one month after my family’s holiday in Georgia.
All in all, Sta op en Schitter is first of all an ode to the beautiful country of Georgia and its wonderful people. While it doesn’t actually quote any Georgian traditional melody, it does make extensive use of the characteristics of Georgian harmony and polyphony and Caucasian rhythms. However, there is a broader context as well, in the sense of my mother-in-law’s motto: to rise up and shine is always a heroic thing to do, regardless of one’s circumstances.
Sta op en Schitter (Arise and Shine) was inspired by several Georgian legends about heroes, like Mindia, The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, St. George and Amirani. Georgia was one of the first countries in the world to become a Christian nation, as long ago as in the 4th century. I spent the summer holidays of 2013 in Georgia, together with my family, and we camped for one week in the wild in the Caucasus. To Arise and Shine is precisely what the gorgeous Georgian nature inspires one to do.
Sta op en Schitter is a famous quote from Isaiah 60: 1. It was the motto of my mother-in-law, who was able to fight cancer during 14½ years, before she finally succumbed to it, one month after my family’s holiday in Georgia.
All in all, Sta op en Schitter is first of all an ode to the beautiful country of Georgia and its wonderful people. While it doesn’t actually quote any Georgian traditional melody, it does make extensive use of the characteristics of Georgian harmony and polyphony and Caucasian rhythms. However, there is a broader context as well, in the sense of my mother-in-law’s motto: to rise up and shine is always a heroic thing to do, regardless of one’s circumstances.
Partly commissioned by the Dutch Fund for the Podium Arts NFPK
The first six movements of a planned ballet on Vazha Pshavela’s epic poem ‘Mindia’, preceded by an Introduction. Electronic sounds of the version for symphonic wind orchestra. The sixth movement: Dance of Celebration was performed live as an independent piece, with a concert ending, and can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xACOIyrFqyk. A version of this dance for symphony orchestra can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPVSub-ANy0&list=PLFphAvDeWM1SYb6nzli66-3s3BuZUttEH&index=4
During the summer holidays of 2013, while in Georgia for the first time, I chanced upon a number of poems of Vazha Pshavela, an outstanding Georgian poet, born in the second half of the nineteenth century in the Northern Caucasus. I felt immediately attracted to a poem called The Snake Eater (1901), about the tragic fate of its hero Mindia, in the Northern mountainous region of Khevsureti. I started investigating and transcribing Khevsur folk music, which I found to possess the same stark beauty as Pshavela’s poem.
After the summer holidays, I approached the wind orchestra Koninlijke Harmonie Mheer and their conductor Fried Dobbelstein with the ideas to write a composition, inspired by the Mindia story, for symphonic wind orchestra. Just before the holidays, this orchestra had given an outstanding performance of my Caucasian Epode, during the World Music Contest WMC that takes place every four years in the Dutch town of Kerkrade. Fried and the orchestra reacted positively to the idea and eventually, in the spring of 2014, our combined efforts resulted in a grant from the Dutch Fund for the Podium Arts NFPK, which enabled me to start with the actual composing.
This composition deals with the first section of the poem, starting with Mindia in captivity and ending when he has returned to his people. It is subdivided in seven continuous movements:
I. Captive For twelve years Mindia has been held captive by the Kajis, a tribe consisting of evil sorcerers. He feels sad and lonely, missing his parents, kin and cherished friends and his beloved land of Khevsureti with its snow-capped mountains, its winding paths and murmuring streams. With time he has lost all faith and hope of ever seeing his homeland again. He longs to find relief in death from his miseries and pain.
II. The Cauldron A cauldron full of serpent’s meat, the Kajis’ favourite dish, now attracts his attention. Mindia believes that if he will eat of it, it will turn to poison in his veins and by killing him free him from his captivity. Finally he picks up enough courage to eat a piece of the loathsome meat.
III. Voices of Nature But instead of dying something entirely different happens to him. He finds that he can suddenly understand the language of all nature’s creatures: of birds, plants, trees, animals, streams and rocks.
IV. The Kajis’ Fury The Kajis are furious that Mindia has discovered the secret of their magical skills. But they know they now have lost their power over him.
V. Return Home Being now skilled in the Kajis’ magic, Mindia can simply leave them. He returns to his tribe in Khevsureti, where his family and friends are overjoyed to see him back.
VI. Feast A festive Khevsur dance in honour of Mindia’s return.
Youtube:
With Introduction:
My eventual aim is to cover the whole of Pshavela’s great poem by writing four more Mindia compositions.
I. Satan ist schon lang’ ins Fabelbuch geschrieben (Satan has long ago been written off to fable-books) II. Niedertracht (Baseness) III. Kommt, ihr Geister (Come, you spirits) IV. Sie hat mich beleidigt V. Verleumdung (Defamation) VI. Ausbruch (Outburst) VII. Nichts ist gewonnen, alles ist dahin (Nought’s had, all’s spent) VIII. Wanderers Gemütsruhe (The traveller’s peace of mind)
The texts of the songs (German / English) can be viewed and downloaded here.
The topic of this song cycle is baseness, which in the end does nothing but raise some dust – at least according to the great master of literature Goethe in the closing lines of his poem Wanderers Gemütsruhe (The traveller’s peace of mind), with which the cycle ends. There is a little story underlying the choice of texts of Goethe and Shakespeare and their order; a story about evil forces intent on bringing about the downfall of the person that is the protagonist of song number VI and whom we will duly call Miranda.
The opening song: Satan ist schon lang’ ins Fabelbuch geschrieben (Satan has long ago been written off to fable-books), on texts by Goethe, is a general introduction, as sung by the chorus of a classical Greek drama.
Niedertracht (Baseness). Iago pretends to be nice to Miranda, while in fact he is only secretly looking for possibilities to bring her down.
Kommt, ihr Geister (Come, you spirits). Lady Macbeth invokes evil spirits to assist her in her intent.
Sie hat mich beleidigt (She hath wronged me). Gerald-John Shallow, Esquire, has a very delicate nature which is all too easily offended. Initially sympathizing with Miranda, he decides to join forces with Lady Macbeth and Iago while whimpering about a supposed insult.
Verleumdung (Defamation). Eventually, the evil forces bring Miranda to court, where their lawyer Lucio presents his list of accusations.
Ausbruch (Outburst). Gentle Miranda can’t take it any longer. She erupts into anger, in plain but eloquent Shakespearian terms.
Nichts ist gewonnen, alles ist dahin (Nought’s had, all’s spent). This text is an example that shows the depth of Shakespeare’s insight in universal laws: a desired result never brings satisfaction, when obtained by ill-gotten means.
Wanderers Gemütsruhe (The traveller’s peace of mind). The Greek chorus closes the cycle, again with words of a general nature by Goethe.
The musical themes of the songs have been derived from medieval melodies to songs texts from the 13th century CodexBuranus, mostly in a way similar to how I used them in my choral song cycle Cantica Aviditatis (Songs of Greed).
This song cycle is as it were a prequel to my instrumental composition Via ad Veniam (The Way to Forgiveness), with which it shares the same opus number and the starting point of freely using melodies from the medieval Carmina Burana.
The sheet music of this composition can be purchased either at sonolize.com or by contacting me directly.
More about this composition can be read here.
With this contrabass concerto a wish dating from my student years has become reality. Henk Guldemond, at the time leader of the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s contrabass section, invited me to discuss with him the possibilities of the contrabass and of a concerto for this instrument. In the end, this didn’t amount to anything, but the idea remained in the back of my head; together with the intention to start a future contrabass concerto with a piccolo solo.
More than 25 years after this conversation, the idea was realized after all. I suggested writing a concerto for contrabass and wind orchestra to contrabassist Peter Leerdam – at the time a fellow student of mine – and to conductor Josef Suilen and wind orchestra ‘Sint Jan’ from the Dutch town of Wierden. The idea was received so favourably, that a commission could be realized, owing to great efforts on the part of Sint Jan’s and to benevolent grants from the Rabobank Noord-West Twente, the foundation for amateur music ‘De Kunstfactor – Unisono’ and the foundation ‘De Noaber van Wierden’.
The composition is in one movement and largely monothematic. The music has been cast into a sonata form, with a short Adagio inserted between the exposition and the development and a cadenza for the solo instrument halfway the recapitulation. I made grateful use of a number of ideas and suggestions of Peter Leerdam.
In 2019, I transcribed the concerto for contrabass and small symphony orchestra, partly because my son Benjamin expressed the wish to perform it as part of his Master test examination. He did so June 27th, 2019, in the Witte de With Theatre in Rotterdam, having assembled orchestra of students all by himself, conducted by Leonard Kwon.
The sheet music of a n number of my compositions is now available at sonolize.com, click ‘Componist’, upper left corner. This number will gradually grow during the coming months.
In opdracht van Stichting Frysk Fanfare Festival voor de Open Nederlandse Fanfare Kampioenschappen 2020
Opgedragen aan iedereen die de weg naar vergeving heeft ingeslagen of nog gaat inslaan
Gedeelten uit de partituur kunnen hier worden bekeken en gedownload. Partituur en partijen kunnen als pdf materiaal worden verkregen bij Opus 33 Music, door een e-mail te sturen naar eduard.menno.de.boer@gmail.com.
De prijzen zijn, incl. 9% BTW: € 174,40 voor partituur + partijen; € 40,33 voor alleen de partituur.
Inleiding
Nadat de Stichting Frysk Fanfare Festival me had gepolst of ik voor de Open Nederlandse Fanfare Kampioenschappen 2020 het verplichte werk wilde componeren, had ik al vrij snel een idee waar het werk over zou gaan: over het proces van vergeving en diverse stadia op weg daar naartoe. Maar het duurde een tijd voordat ik ‘op een rijtje’ had, welke stadia ik muzikaal wilde uitbeelden. Dat gebeurde opeens, toen ik op een ochtend mijn vrouw in de tuin bezig zag met het verbranden van stapels paperassen die verbonden waren met onverkwikkelijke en voor haar schadelijke gebeurtenissen.
Dat was de ontbrekende schakel die ik zocht!
Niet alleen de ervaringen van mijn vrouw vormden de inspiratiebron voor het werk, ook de spreuk in forgiveness lies the stoppage of the wheel of karma uit de boekenreeks The Law of One vond en vind ik inspirerend. In die zin is deze compositie een vervolg op mijn compositie Vita Aeterna Variaties, die een rondgang van het wiel van karma als onderwerp heeft.
Via ad Veniam betekent: de weg naar vergeving. De compositie is gebaseerd op twee middeleeuwse melodieën uit de Carmina Burana Codex, te weten Procurans Odium
en Stabilitas.
De eerste liedtekst gaat er over dat aangedaan onrecht uiteindelijk en achteraf vaak een blessing in disguise blijkt te zijn, de tweede dat stabilitas, standvastigheid, zich niet van z’n pad laat afbrengen, ongeacht wat er gebeurt. Met dit als uitgangspunt verklankt deze compositie allerlei stadia, vanaf de duisternis die aangedaan onrecht met zich meebrengt tot aan het uiteindelijke accepteren en loslaten ervan. De in totaal acht delen gaan allemaal in elkaar over. Hier is een beknopt overzicht:
Tenebrae (Duisternis). Een ‘donderslag bij heldere hemel’ wordt gevolgd door een versie van Procurans Odium in een tweedelige maatsoort.
Incubo (Nachtmerrie). Een variatie op het Procurans Odium thema, met flarden van onrustige snelle passages en vervreemdende klanken.
Turbinis oculus (Het oog van de orkaan). Midden in de nachtmerrie kondigt het Stabilitas thema zich aan. Onder invloed hiervan trekt de nachtmerrie muziek zich geleidelijk terug.
Desperatio (Wanhoop). Een variant van het begin keert terug, met een variatie op het begin van het Procurans Odium thema. Dit is hier getransformeerd tot een versie in een driedelige maatsoort, hetgeen een sterker gevoel van welbevinden geeft, al komt dat in deze variatie nog niet tot uiting: hier klinkt het te midden van verwarring en chaos, en gedachten die in een kringetje blijven ronddraaien.
Dolor (Smart). Het Stabilitas thema wordt hier afgewisseld met de driedelige maatsoort versie van het Procurans Odium thema.
Ira (Woede). Opnieuw een variatie op het Procurans Odium thema, nu weer in een tweedelige maatsoort, hier afgewisseld met het bekende Gregoriaanse Dies Irae thema.
Ritu ardoris (Rituele verbranding). Niet alleen de tweedelige versie van het Procurans Odium thema gaat in louterende vlammen op, ook allerlei motieven, verbonden met negatieve gevoelens, uit de vorige delen worden aan de elementen prijsgegeven.
Acceptio (Acceptatie). De Stabilitas melodie wordt afgewisseld met de driedelige versie van de Procurans Odium melodie. Van het vlammen-motief is hier en daar nog een rustige triolenbeweging overgebleven.
At last, score and parts of my Vita Aeterna Variations, version for symphonic wind orchestra, have become available for purchase as pdf material. The prices are, incl. 9% VAT: € 233 for a score and a complete set of parts, and € 44 for only the score.
First recording of the version for symphonic wind orchestra of my Vita Aeterna Variations, performed the 11th of November, 2018, in the St. Valentine Church of the Swiss town of Rüthi, by the Sinfonisches Blasorchester Vorarlberg, conducted by Thomas Ludescher:
Please note the following:
– this recording was made with a simple device.
– the acoustics of the church necessitated slower tempi than indicated.
– it was very cold in the church, as a result of which the first oboist had water in the keyholes of his instrument in the fugue.
In spite of this, the performance certainly has its merits, and this recording gives a good overall impression of the composition.
Sunday the 2nd of December, during the Concierto Extraordinario de Santa Cecilia, the Asociación de Amigos de la Música de Yecla awarded me with the Premio Santa Cecilia 2018.
This award is given annually since 2005 and recognizes the work of any person, group or entity promoting knowledge and enjoyment of Music.
The following video, made by the Department of Communication and Press of the Association of Friends of Music of Yecla, provides information about my relationship with Yecla:
I wasn’t told beforehand, so for me this was a huge sur-prize!
This song cycle could be composed thanks to a contribution called Werkbijdrage Muziekauteur (Work Contribution Music Author) of the Dutch Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten (Fund for the Podium Arts).
Dedicated to Wind Orchestra Concordia Obbicht and their conductor Alex Schillings, and to Sabine McNeill
The first performance should have taken place March 27, 2020 in the Sint Willibrorduskerk, Obbicht, The Netherlands. Unfortunately, the pandemic situation has caused the premiere to be postponed.
I. Die Verhaftung (The Arrest)
II. Gruppenverhalten (Group Behaviour)
III. Erlösung in einem Traum (Salvation in a Dream)
IV. Weg von hier! (Away from here!)
V. Nach dem Gewitter (After the Thunderstorm)
Many stories of the famous writer Franz Kafka deal with the anxiety, alienation and powerlessness of an individual against a nonsensical, blind authority. His surreal stories have even resulted in the emergence of the word Kafkaesque, to describe the absurdity of what happens to such an individual and the hopelessness of his situation. For this song cycle, I searched Kafka’s oeuvre for texts fitting the situation of a so-called whistleblower: an informant who exposes wrongdoing, mostly within the organisation where he or she is working, in the hope of stopping it.
I know what it feels like to be a whistleblower, as I have been one myself, in the 90s of the previous century. This had to do with the predecessor of the Dutch state fund which enabled me to write this composition. It was called Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst, which roughly translates as Fund for the Creation of Music. Research and analysis of this fund’s annual reports led me to the conclusion that the composers who received most of the (public) funding were largely the same ones as could be found in the management board and / or in the advisory committees. And on top this, the composers in the board had a say in which composer would be asked to take part in the advisory committee to decide about the next round of applications. When my findings went public, I went through the ordeal that whistleblowers usually go through, and this isn’t the place to go into detail about this. Suffice it to say that this experience resulted in compositions like the secular oratorio Der Förderverein, the third part of my choral song cycle Cantica Aviditatis and my ‘conceptual experiment’ Bubbles.
This story pales into insignificance compared to what happened to one of the dedicatees of this composition and the dedicatee of its version for baritone and piano: the 74 year old German / British mathematician and human rights campaigner Sabine McNeill, who at this moment is imprisoned for exposing systemic child abuse within the U.K. She can be viewed on Youtube, speaking in the EU Parliament about this theme.
That systemic child abuse and child trafficking is rampant, not just in the U.K., but all over the globe, especially within circles of the highest power, is something that few people want to know or even think about. Most people prefer to look the other way. A few years ago, I came to the conclusion that, being a composer, I can contribute to spreading awareness of this phenomenon by writing compositions about it. So far, however, such compositions have hardly been performed or not at all. But never mind, this composition is the next one in the series. And helping spread awareness about these abhorrent practices is necessary in order to make them stop.
In the preface to the score of Coming to Light, one of these earlier compositions, I added a number of Youtube links to prove my point. However, more and more of the Youtube films in question are now being taken down – only to be replaced by more and more new ones, by the way – rendering the links I provided useless. All the more happy am I with the foundation in 2015 of the International Tribunal for Natural Justice I.T.N.J., a judicial commission of inquiry into human trafficking and child sex abuse. I invite everyone who wants to know more about (the depth of) this rabbit hole simply to search for ITNJ on Youtube and experience the cumulative effect of the large and growing number of testimonies.
To return to this song cycle, it describes various occurrences that may happen to a whistleblower and his / her ensuing states of mind:
I: Die Verhaftung (The Arrest). A whistleblower may be arrested, on sometimes trumped-up charges. The text is from the beginning of Kafka’s famous novel Der Prozess (The Trail) and the absurdity of the conversation is underlined by the bizarre waltz that follows it.
II: Gruppenverhalten (Group Behaviour). In many cases, a whistleblower is fired, while his / her colleagues prefer to look the other way. I took the liberty to ‘borrow’ the Leitmotiv of the ‘small evil’ from Prokofiev’s opera The Fiery Angel to depict the usurper helmsman.
III. Erlösung in einem Traum (Salvation in a Dream) is about yearning for death, under the pressure of the circumstances.
IV: Weg von hier! (Away from here!) in this musical setting is about the urge to fly from the circumstances that blowing a whistle can bring about. This song is followed by a postlude depicting a thunderstorm, not unlike the one that Shakespeare described so beautifully in his play King Lear.
V: Nach dem Gewitter (After the Thunderstorm). I couldn’t resist the temptation to end this cycle on a positive note, with a musical setting of the only positive and self-asserting text that I could find in Kafka’s oeuvre – admittedly the short story where this text has been taken from ends with the collapse of the protagonist’s exuberant feeling, but Kafka did write these lines nonetheless – as I feel that we are living in times of transformation, where human consciousness is gradually growing and ever more is coming to light. May the endeavours of Sabine McNeill and many others contribute to this expansion, and may also this little musical offering help with this.
This song cycle could be composed thanks to a contribution called Werkbijdrage Muziekauteur (Work Contribution Music Author) of the Dutch Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten (Fund for the Podium Arts).
Dedicated to Sabine McNeill
I. Die Verhaftung (The Arrest)
II. Gruppenverhalten (Group Behaviour)
III. Erlösung in einem Traum (Salvation in a Dream)
IV. Weg von hier! (Away from here!)
V. Nach dem Gewitter (After the Thunderstorm)
Many stories of the famous writer Franz Kafka deal with the anxiety, alienation and powerlessness of an individual against a nonsensical, blind authority. His surreal stories have even resulted in the emergence of the word Kafkaesque, to describe the absurdity of what happens to such an individual and the hopelessness of his situation. For this song cycle, I searched Kafka’s oeuvre for texts fitting the situation of a so-called whistleblower: an informant who exposes wrongdoing, mostly within the organisation where he or she is working, in the hope of stopping it.
I know what it feels like to be a whistleblower, as I have been one myself, in the 90s of the previous century. This had to do with the predecessor of the Dutch state fund which enabled me to write this composition. It was called Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst, which roughly translates as Fund for the Creation of Music. Research and analysis of this fund’s annual reports led me to the conclusion that the composers who received most of the (public) funding were largely the same ones as could be found in the management board and / or in the advisory committees. And on top this, the composers in the board had a say in which composer would be asked to take part in the advisory committee to decide about the next round of applications. When my findings went public, I went through the ordeal that whistleblowers usually go through, and this isn’t the place to go into detail about this. Suffice it to say that this experience resulted in compositions like the secular oratorio Der Förderverein, the third part of my choral song cycle Cantica Aviditatis and my ‘conceptual experiment’ Bubbles.
This story pales into insignificance compared to what happened to the dedicatee of this composition: the 74 year old German / British mathematician and human rights campaigner Sabine McNeill, who at this moment is imprisoned for exposing systemic child abuse within the U.K. She can be viewed on Youtube, speaking in the EU Parliament about this theme.
That systemic child abuse and child trafficking is rampant, not just in the U.K., but all over the globe, especially within circles of the highest power, is something that few people want to know or even think about. Most people prefer to look the other way. A few years ago, I came to the conclusion that, being a composer, I can contribute to spreading awareness of this phenomenon by writing compositions about it. So far, however, such compositions have hardly been performed or not at all. But never mind, this composition is the next one in the series. And helping spread awareness about these abhorrent practices is necessary in order to make them stop.
In the preface to the score of Coming to Light, one of these earlier compositions, I added a number of Youtube links to prove my point. However, more and more of the Youtube films in question are now being taken down – only to be replaced by more and more new ones, by the way – rendering the links I provided useless. All the more happy am I with the foundation in 2015 of the International Tribunal for Natural Justice I.T.N.J., a judicial commission of inquiry into human trafficking and child sex abuse. I invite everyone who wants to know more about (the depth of) this rabbit hole simply to search for ITNJ on Youtube and experience the cumulative effect of the large and growing number of testimonies.
To return to this song cycle, it describes various occurrences that may happen to a whistleblower and his / her ensuing states of mind:
I: Die Verhaftung (The Arrest). A whistleblower may be arrested, on sometimes trumped-up charges. The text is from the beginning of Kafka’s famous novel Der Prozess (The Trail) and the absurdity of the conversation is underlined by the bizarre waltz that follows it.
II: Gruppenverhalten (Group Behaviour). In many cases, a whistleblower is fired, while his / her colleagues prefer to look the other way. I took the liberty to ‘borrow’ the Leitmotiv of the ‘small evil’ from Prokofiev’s opera The Fiery Angel to depict the usurper helmsman.
III. Erlösung in einem Traum (Salvation in a Dream) is about yearning for death, under the pressure of the circumstances.
IV: Weg von hier! (Away from here!) in this musical setting is about the urge to fly from the circumstances that blowing a whistle can bring about. This song is followed by a postlude depicting a thunderstorm, not unlike the one that Shakespeare described so beautifully in his play King Lear.
V: Nach dem Gewitter (After the Thunderstorm). I couldn’t resist the temptation to end this cycle on a positive note, with a musical setting of the only positive and self-asserting text that I could find in Kafka’s oeuvre – admittedly the short story where this text has been taken from ends with the collapse of the protagonist’s exuberant feeling, but Kafka did write these lines nonetheless – as I feel that we are living in times of transformation, where human consciousness is gradually growing and ever more is coming to light. May the endeavours of Sabine McNeill and many others contribute to this expansion, and may also this little musical offering help with this.
The beginning of the score, including the texts I selected and set to music, can be viewed here.
I first composed the songs for baritone and piano, after which I arranged them for baritone and large wind orchestra, especially for the large range of instruments of the symphonic wind orchestra Concordia from the Dutch town Obbicht, whose conductor Alex Schillings proved to be enthusiastic about the idea. With his help, I could obtain a contribution called Werkbijdrage Muziekauteur (Work Contribution Music Author) from the Dutch Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten (Fund for the Podium Arts), which enabled me to write both versions of this song cycle.
On October 13, 2018, the IVth open competition of composers “Peter and the Wolf-2018” reached its conclusion with a gala concert, during which the works that reached the final were performed by the Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by maestro Enkhe, with Irina Nesterova as a narrator:
An international jury headed by Alexander Tchaikovsky awarded the first prize to my composition The Symphonic Colour Factory:
Thank you very much, dear members of the Ural Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, and Mr. Enkhe, for your beautiful performance! Thank you, dear Irina Nesterova, for your beautiful rendering of the story! And thank you, jury, and all organizers of and other participants at the competition!
Dedicated to Kees Kramer
Duration: ca. 20 minutes without narrator; a few minutes more with narrator
First performance: October 13, 2018, as part of the final concert of the Peter and the Wolf composition competition for music for children 2018 in Yekaterinburg. Performers: the Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra conducted by maestro Enkhe; narrator: Irina Nesterova. With subtitles.
To my great joy, this composition won the first prize, out of more than 50 entries from all over the world!
It was performed again in February 2019, in the same hall, with the same youth orchestra, this time conducted by Alexei Dvorkin:
The first pages of the score can be viewed and downloaded here:
INTRODUCTION
There are wonderful compositions for children, where, each in turn, the various instruments of the symphony orchestra are highlighted, Benjamin Britten’s A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra being the most well-known. But, as far as I know, no composition for children existed so far, where instead of the various instruments the most usual modes of playing – apart from ‘normal’ playing – are highlighted, like for instance pizzicato, tremolo or sul ponticello for strings, flatterzunge for wind instruments, playing with or without mute, etc. All these and similar modes of playing evoke each their own specific atmospheres. For years, it had been a wish of mine to devote a piece of music for children – and their (grand)parents – to this subject. This composition is the result of this wish.
The person who started the chain of events that made it possible to realize this idea is Kees Kramer. artistic coordinator of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. The idea appealed to him and so he presented it to the orchestra’s coordinator education Katinka Reinders, who also liked it. This eventually resulted in a commission by the Dutch Fund for the Podium Arts to compose music for a children’s show. The composition The Symphonic Colour Factory has been derived from the music for this show.
Like Britten’s A Young Person’s Guide, this piece can be performed with or without a narrator. The difference is that my composition illustrates a story (see below), implying that it can be seen as programme music, when performed without narrator.
As can be seen below, the narrator’s text doesn’t explain complex terms like harmonics or sul ponticello. All these effects can either be explained beforehand in school classes as a preparation for a concert where this piece is on the programme, or they can be demonstrated during a concert, just before the composition is performed, or both. Here I would like to add that to me, the cognitive side (like knowing what col legno means) is far less important than experiencing how certain ways of playing sound and what kind of atmospheres can be evoked by them.
Obviously, I had to make choices which modes of playing I would use. One could easily compose a substantial piece for string orchestra alone, in which all kinds of modes of playing are highlighted. Or a piece for brass alone, focussing solely on the many types of mutes that are available. I also had to make choices in what way to introduce things. For instance: the pizzicato effect is introduced in combination with loud chords. Had I presented it with soft single notes, this would have resulted in a very different atmosphere. I made this choice, because I felt the need to have something that would contrast effects that are soft by nature, like sul ponticello or col legno.
CONTENTS AND SUBJECT OF EACH OF THE MOVEMENTS
Introduction
Theme I. Introduction of the orchestra’s basic groups: woodwind, brass, strings and percussion
Variation 1. Harmonics (strings) and mutes (brass)
Variation 2. Tremolo (strings) and flutter tongue (flutes, horns and trumpets)
Theme II. Con sordino (solo strings and string orchestra)
Introduction to Variation 3.
VII. Variation 3. Pizzicato (strings), triple tonguing (flutes, horns and trumpets) and fast repeated notes (strings) in piano
VIII. Variation 4. Glissando (strings, harp, xylophone and several wind instruments), double tonguing and fast repeated notes (strings) in forte
Variation 5. Everything from Variations 3 and 4 mixed together
Variation 6. Tremolo sul ponticello (strings)
Theme II. Tremolo con sordino (solo strings and string orchestra)
Variation 7. Col legno (strings) and stopped horns
Theme II. Ultra high harmonics combined with con sordino (solo strings)
Fugue. All of the above one more time in a nutshell, in reversed order
THE STORY
Narrator: Katinka was a lively girl, with a keen interest in many things.
[I. Introduction.] One day, while she was playing in the attic of her grandfather’s house, her attention was attracted by a book. In fact, it was a magical book, but she didn’t know this, of course. She took it into her hands to look at the cover. It read: Guide to Symphonic Colours. Fascinated, she opened the book, and suddenly everything around her changed. She seemed to be falling, down and down…
Fortunately, she landed softly. She looked around. Where was she? Apparently, in some sort of strange-looking building. She could feel it was a place full of magic. Tentatively, she took a few steps, and then she saw a door, with a shield that read: MATERIAL: WOOD, BRASS, STRINGS, MISCELLANEOUS. She cautiously opened the door and entered a large hall.
[II. Theme I.] She slowly walked through it. Indeed, there was the wood… and there the brass. And there were the strings… and there were indeed all kind of miscellaneous things.
On the other end of the hall she found another door, also with a shield on it. It read: HARMONICS AND MUTES. CAREFUL. TEMPERATURE BELOW ZERO. She curiously opened the door and entered a large white hall.
[III. Variation 1.] Indeed, there were lots of harmonics, and they emitted an icy cold. And there were a number of mutes as well. As she walked through the hall, Katinka became colder and colder. She became so cold, that she started running toward the exit door and quickly went out.
[IV. Variation 2.] Where was she now? It seemed like a corridor, and it was definitely spooky. Then she saw a screen on the wall, flashing the word TREMOLO. She became a little bit frightened. Suddenly, another word appeared on the screen: FLUTTER TONGUE. Now Katinka became really afraid. But then…
[V. Theme II.] … there appeared a friendly-looking man. ‘Don’t be afraid’, he said. ‘You are in the Symphonic Colour Factory, and I am your guide. At this particular moment, I am accompanied by solo strings with mutes. Sounds lovely, don’t you think so? Now please listen. Here, behind this door…’
[VI. Introduction to Variation 3.] ‘Did you hear that? It’s called triple tonguing. The flutes, trumpets and horns are particularly good at it. Would you like to go inside?’ ‘Oh yes, very much!’, Katinka replied. ‘There is a lot of activity going on there’, the guide continued. ‘Please also notice that the strings are being plucked. This is called pizzicato. All right, here we go!’ And he pushed open the door.
[VII. Variation 3.] ‘As you can hear, the strings can play equally fast repeated notes as the flutes and trumpets, and softly, too, if necessary, the guide added.
By now, everyone in the hall had noticed Katinka and her guide. More and more people stopped playing. ‘What are you doing here?’, asked their leader. You are not allowed in here. ‘We are at work and we don’t want to be disturbed. Please be so kind as to leave.’
Conductor to the orchestra: ‘Attention please! It’s time for our Patented Crazy Glissandi and Fast Repeating Notes! One Two Three Go!’
[VIII. Variation 4.] Conductor to the orchestra: ‘Good. And now all of these ingredients mixed together. (While giving an upbeat) AND –’
[IX. Variation 5.] Narrator: The leader now became aware that Katinka was still there, spellbound as she was by the spectacle. ‘I told you to leave!’ he shouted at her. Dragging her to the exit door, he pushed her out, slamming the door behind her.
[X. Variation 6.] Where was she now? It was really dark and eerie here. Again she noticed a screen. This one read, in ghostly letters: SUL PONTICELLO. Again, Katinka started to feel really frightened…
[XI. Theme II.] …but then, to her relief, she again saw her guide. ‘Ah, finally you can see me again’, he said. ‘Yes, some of the sounds from our Factory do sound scary, but there is nothing to be afraid of. Do you now hear the solo strings with mutes, moving the bow rapidly back and forth? This is called tremolo? Isn’t it beautiful? And now, all the other strings join in. This sounds a bit scary again.
Now I would like you to be very quiet for a minute. So you can feel the sound of strings playing with the wooden side of the bow instead of with the hair. This is called col legno.
[XII. Variation 7.]
[XIII. Theme II.] ‘And now it’s time for you to return, Katinka’, resumed the guide. ‘I will take you back to the exit point, along the same route back. I hope you liked like this sight-seeing tour, despite the scary moments?’ ‘O yes, very much so!’ Katinka cried. ‘Thank you so much!’ ‘I’m happy to hear that. All right, let’s go then.’ And off they went.
[XIV. Fugue.] Having returned to the exit point, they were suddenly engulfed by magic, and the next moment, Katinka found herself in her grandfather’s attic again. Her guide waved to her from inside the open book: ‘Bye-bye.’
I am very happy to announce the Japanese premiere of my third symphony: A Tribute to Komitas. The Osaka University Wind Orchestra, conducted by Yoshinori Kubota, will perform the composition on December 27th, 2018, in the Archaic Hall of the Amagasaki Cultural Center.
Here is a link to the recording of the premiere performance by the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy, conducted by Jan Cober, with some information about the piece in the description box:
My composition Coming to Light was originally written for symphonic wind orchestra. A performance of the piece can be heard here, together with information about it in the desciption box. In 2015, I transcribed the piece for brass band. Since the piece is too long to be usable as a test piece, I then searched for a way to abrigde it without making musical concessions. I found a section that could be cut, if I made some changes in the music right before and after the cut. This recording gives a first impression of this shortened version. I made a cut in the recording for wind band at 13:01. Please keep in mind that the music around the cut has been altered somewhat.
Recently, I transcribed my brass band composition Vita Aeterna Variations for symphonic wind band. During the process, I found some mistakes in the brass band version (in addition to the mistakes I discovered when I transcribed the composition for symphony orchestra in 2014). Here is a list of the new errata, whereby the errata marked in yellow are the important ones. And here are the pages from the score where I discovered and corrected something that was wrong.
De ballade van de gehangenen (The ballad of the hanged men) (after François Villon) (Soprano and Tenor)
De zieke roos (O rose, thou art sick) (after William Blake) (Tenor)
De gestolen teddybeer (The stolen teddybear) (Soprano)
De hel (Hell) (Soprano and Tenor)
Voorspoken (Pre-ghosts / Pre-haunting)* (Tenor)
Het stervende kind (The dying child) (after H.C. Andersen) (Soprano)
Zingende doden (Singing dead) (Soprano and Tenor)
*) ‘Voorspoken’ is a compound of voor and spoken and doesn’t exist as such in Dutch. Voor means before or pre-, and spoken means either ghosts or to haunt, depending on whether it is seen as a noun or a verb.
Commissioned by Muziekvereniging “Wilhelmina” Glanerbrug, with financial support of the Dutch Fund for the Podium Arts
Dedicated to Muziekvereniging “Wilhelmina” Glanerbrug and their conductor Fried Dobbelsteen
Duration: ca. 33 min.
Text: Willem Wilmink / Franz K. Custos, after Peire Cardenal (1180 – 1278)
Dedicated to Maaike Deckers
Inspired by the novella Unter dem Oberschichtlichen Lack from the collection Ungereimte Bilder by Franz K. Custos
An incident in the life of my wife prompted me to set Wilmink’s poem ‘De Gekkenstad’ (The City of Fools to music. Because what is described in this poem is very much related to this incident, I took the liberty of having the well-known satirist Franz K. Custos adapt the poem ever so slightly. Wobke Wilmink, Willem’s widow, has given her approval to this variation, albeit exclusively in combination with the music of this song. Here follows first the version by Franz K. Custos, as set to music, followed by the text of Wilmink’s original poem.
Er was een stad, ik weet niet waar,
daar viel een regenbui, zo zwaar,
wie daarin liep, werd niet slechts nat,
maar ook krankzinnig, in die stad.
De mensen werden kierewiet, maar eentje trof dit noodlot niet. Zij werd gespaard voor ’t grote leed
omdat ze thuis een dutje deed.
’t Was met de regenbui gedaan
toen deze vrouw is opgestaan.
Ze kwam op straat
en zag meteen
veel soorten gekken om zich heen:
één piemelnaakt, één zonder hemd,
één spoog ten hemel, vroom gestemd,
een ander sloeg wat met zijn stok,
één die zijn jas aan stukken trok.
’t Was een gegooi, geduw, getrek…
Ik ben de koning, dacht een gek
en keek misprijzend naar ’t gemeen.
Eén sprong er over banken heen.
There was a town, I don’t know where,
there fell a rain so heavy,
whoever walked in it, not only got wet,
but also insane, in that city.
The people went mad,
but one did not suffer this fate.
She was spared great distress
because she was taking a nap at home.
The rainstorm was over
when this woman got up.
She came out onto the street
and immediately saw
many kinds of madmen around him:
one cock-naked, one shirtless,
one was spitting at the sky, pious,
another beating with his stick,
One pulling his coat to pieces.
It was a tossing, pushing, pulling …
I am the king, thought a madman
And looked down on the mean.
One of them jumped over benches.
Men vloekte en dreigde op die dag
of huilde met een schaterlach,
sprak woorden zonder samenhang
of trok gezichten, vreemd en bang.
Zij die gespaard was, stond perplex
bij ’t zien van zo veel knettergeks.
Tussen de dwazen die zij vond,
keek ze wanhopig in het rond,
zocht in de massa om zich heen
verstandigen, maar vond er geen
en dat verwonderde haar zeer,
maar zij verbaasden zich nog meer,
geloofden allen stellig dat
zíj haar verstand verloren had:
zo anders als zij zich gedroeg,
dat was voor hen bewijs genoeg
dat elk voor zich verstand bezat
en zij alleen de gekte had.
Ze wordt geslagen in gezicht
en nek, verliest haar evenwicht,
ze wordt gemept, gesleurd, getrapt
en twijfelt of ze ooit ontsnapt.
Ze duwen, scheuren haar haar zijn jas.
Nadat ze nog gevallen was,
rent ze met grote sprongen naar
haar veilig huis, dan zit ze daar,
beslijkt, geslagen en verwond,
maar blij dat ze een uitweg vond.
One cursed and threatened that day
Or cried with laughter,
spoke words without coherence
or made faces, strange and frightened.
The one who was spared was perplexed
At the sight of so much madness.
Among the fools she found,
she looked around in despair,
searched the crowd around him
sensible ones, but found none
And that amazed her greatly,
but she puzzled them even more,
All of them firmly believed that
She was the one who had had lost her mind:
As different as he was from them,
was proof enough for them
That each had a mind of his own
and she alone had the madness.
She is beaten in face
and neck, losing her balance,
she is slapped, dragged, kicked
and doubts whether he will ever escape.
They push her, tear her coat.
After she has fallen,
she runs in leaps and bounds to
her safe house, then she sits there,
besieged, beaten and wounded,
but happy to have found a way out.
In dit verhaal werd u verteld
hoe ‘t met de wereld is gesteld.
Een mens die zijn moraal vergeet,
op macht belust, is trots en wreed
Maar iemand met een normale aard
wordt door de anderen gek verklaard.
En men doet haar veel pijn daarbij,
omdat ze niet zo is als zij,
omdat ze niet zo is als zij.
In this story you were told
what the world is like,
A human who forgets his morals,
bent on power, is proud and cruel.
But someone with a normal nature
is declared mad by the others.
And in doing so, they cause her a lot of pain,
because she is not like them,
because she is not like them.
Original poem:
Er was een stad, ik weet niet waar,
daar viel een regenbui, zo zwaar,
wie daarin liep, werd niet slechts nat,
maar ook krankzinnig, in die stad.
De mensen werden kierewiet,
maar eentje trof dit noodlot niet.
Hij werd gespaard voor ’t grote leed
omdat hij thuis een dutje deed.
’t Was met de regenbui gedaan
toen deze man is opgestaan.
Hij kwam op straat en zag meteen
veel soorten gekken om zich heen:
één piemelnaakt, één zonder hemd,
één spoog ten hemel, vroom gestemd,
een ander sloeg wat met zijn stok,
één die zijn jas aan stukken trok.
’t Was een gegooi, geduw, getrek…
Ik ben de koning, dacht een gek
en keek misprijzend naar ’t gemeen.
Eén sprong er over banken heen.
Men vloekte en dreigde op die dag
of huilde met een schaterlach,
sprak woorden zonder samenhang
of trok gezichten, vreemd en bang.
Hij die gespaard was, stond perplex
bij ’t zien van zo veel knettergeks.
Tussen de dwazen die hij vond,
keek hij wanhopig in het rond,
zocht in de massa om zich heen
verstandigen, maar vond er geen
en dat verwonderde hem zeer,
maar zij verbaasden zich nog meer,
geloofden allen stellig dat
híj zijn verstand verloren had:
zo anders als hij zich gedroeg,
dat was voor hen bewijs genoeg
dat elk voor zich verstand bezat
en hij alleen de gekte had.
Hij wordt geslagen in gezicht
en nek, verliest zijn evenwicht,
hij wordt gemept, gesleurd, getrapt
en twijfelt of hij ooit ontsnapt.
Ze duwen, scheuren hem zijn jas.
Nadat hij nog gevallen was,
rent hij met grote sprongen naar
zijn veilig huis, dan zit hij daar,
beslijkt, geslagen en verwond,
maar blij dat hij een uitweg vond.
In dit verhaal werd u verteld
hoe ‘t met de wereld is gesteld,
want onze tijd, dat is is die stad:
de wijsheid ligt er op z’n gat.
‘t Is goed dat je daar niet op bouwt,
maar God eerbiedigt, van Hem houdt
en dan naar Zijn geboden leeft,
waaraan haast geen een boodschap heeft
na wat dat noodweer hier eens deed:
die slagregen, die hebzucht heet.
Een mensheid die zijn God vergeet,
op macht belust, is trots en wreed.
Heeft God iemand dit lot bespaard,
die wordt door de anderen gek verklaard
en men beledigt hem daarbij,
omdat hij niet zo is als zij.
Gods wijsheid lijkt hun dwaasheid toe.
Maar wie Gods vriend is, weet wel hoe
het werkelijk zit met wijs en zot
en wie is losgeraakt van God.
Hij wordt voor warhoofd uitgemaakt
omdat hij ‘s werelds waan verzaakt.
Text: Willem Wilmink / Franz K. Custos, after Peire Cardenal (1180 – 1278)
Dedicated to Maaike Deckers
Inspired by the novella Unter dem Oberschichtlichen Lack from the collection Ungereimte Bilder by Franz K. Custos
An incident in the life of my wife prompted me to set Wilmink’s poem ‘De Gekkenstad’ (The City of Fools to music. Because what is described in this poem is very much related to this incident, I took the liberty of having the well-known satirist Franz K. Custos adapt the poem ever so slightly. Wobke Wilmink, Willem’s widow, has given her approval to this variation, albeit exclusively in combination with the music of this song. Here follows first the version by Franz K. Custos, as set to music, followed by the text of Wilmink’s original poem.
Er was een stad, ik weet niet waar,
daar viel een regenbui, zo zwaar,
wie daarin liep, werd niet slechts nat,
maar ook krankzinnig, in die stad.
De mensen werden kierewiet, maar eentje trof dit noodlot niet. Zij werd gespaard voor ’t grote leed
omdat ze thuis een dutje deed.
’t Was met de regenbui gedaan
toen deze vrouw is opgestaan.
Ze kwam op straat
en zag meteen
veel soorten gekken om zich heen:
één piemelnaakt, één zonder hemd,
één spoog ten hemel, vroom gestemd,
een ander sloeg wat met zijn stok,
één die zijn jas aan stukken trok.
’t Was een gegooi, geduw, getrek…
Ik ben de koning, dacht een gek
en keek misprijzend naar ’t gemeen.
Eén sprong er over banken heen.
There was a town, I don’t know where,
there fell a rain so heavy,
whoever walked in it, not only got wet,
but also insane, in that city.
The people went mad,
but one did not suffer this fate.
She was spared great distress
because she was taking a nap at home.
The rainstorm was over
when this woman got up.
She came out onto the street
and immediately saw
many kinds of madmen around him:
one cock-naked, one shirtless,
one was spitting at the sky, pious,
another beating with his stick,
One pulling his coat to pieces.
It was a tossing, pushing, pulling …
I am the king, thought a madman
And looked down on the mean.
One of them jumped over benches.
Men vloekte en dreigde op die dag
of huilde met een schaterlach,
sprak woorden zonder samenhang
of trok gezichten, vreemd en bang.
Zij die gespaard was, stond perplex
bij ’t zien van zo veel knettergeks.
Tussen de dwazen die zij vond,
keek ze wanhopig in het rond,
zocht in de massa om zich heen
verstandigen, maar vond er geen
en dat verwonderde haar zeer,
maar zij verbaasden zich nog meer,
geloofden allen stellig dat
zíj haar verstand verloren had:
zo anders als zij zich gedroeg,
dat was voor hen bewijs genoeg
dat elk voor zich verstand bezat
en zij alleen de gekte had.
Ze wordt geslagen in gezicht
en nek, verliest haar evenwicht,
ze wordt gemept, gesleurd, getrapt
en twijfelt of ze ooit ontsnapt.
Ze duwen, scheuren haar haar zijn jas.
Nadat ze nog gevallen was,
rent ze met grote sprongen naar
haar veilig huis, dan zit ze daar,
beslijkt, geslagen en verwond,
maar blij dat ze een uitweg vond.
One cursed and threatened that day
Or cried with laughter,
spoke words without coherence
or made faces, strange and frightened.
The one who was spared was perplexed
At the sight of so much madness.
Among the fools she found,
she looked around in despair,
searched the crowd around him
sensible ones, but found none
And that amazed her greatly,
but she puzzled them even more,
All of them firmly believed that
She was the one who had had lost her mind:
As different as he was from them,
was proof enough for them
That each had a mind of his own
and she alone had the madness.
She is beaten in face
and neck, losing her balance,
she is slapped, dragged, kicked
and doubts whether he will ever escape.
They push her, tear her coat.
After she has fallen,
she runs in leaps and bounds to
her safe house, then she sits there,
besieged, beaten and wounded,
but happy to have found a way out.
In dit verhaal werd u verteld
hoe ‘t met de wereld is gesteld.
Een mens die zijn moraal vergeet,
op macht belust, is trots en wreed
Maar iemand met een normale aard
wordt door de anderen gek verklaard.
En men doet haar veel pijn daarbij,
omdat ze niet zo is als zij,
omdat ze niet zo is als zij.
In this story you were told
what the world is like,
A human who forgets his morals,
bent on power, is proud and cruel.
But someone with a normal nature
is declared mad by the others.
And in doing so, they cause her a lot of pain,
because she is not like them,
because she is not like them.
Original poem:
Er was een stad, ik weet niet waar,
daar viel een regenbui, zo zwaar,
wie daarin liep, werd niet slechts nat,
maar ook krankzinnig, in die stad.
De mensen werden kierewiet,
maar eentje trof dit noodlot niet.
Hij werd gespaard voor ’t grote leed
omdat hij thuis een dutje deed.
’t Was met de regenbui gedaan
toen deze man is opgestaan.
Hij kwam op straat en zag meteen
veel soorten gekken om zich heen:
één piemelnaakt, één zonder hemd,
één spoog ten hemel, vroom gestemd,
een ander sloeg wat met zijn stok,
één die zijn jas aan stukken trok.
’t Was een gegooi, geduw, getrek…
Ik ben de koning, dacht een gek
en keek misprijzend naar ’t gemeen.
Eén sprong er over banken heen.
Men vloekte en dreigde op die dag
of huilde met een schaterlach,
sprak woorden zonder samenhang
of trok gezichten, vreemd en bang.
Hij die gespaard was, stond perplex
bij ’t zien van zo veel knettergeks.
Tussen de dwazen die hij vond,
keek hij wanhopig in het rond,
zocht in de massa om zich heen
verstandigen, maar vond er geen
en dat verwonderde hem zeer,
maar zij verbaasden zich nog meer,
geloofden allen stellig dat
híj zijn verstand verloren had:
zo anders als hij zich gedroeg,
dat was voor hen bewijs genoeg
dat elk voor zich verstand bezat
en hij alleen de gekte had.
Hij wordt geslagen in gezicht
en nek, verliest zijn evenwicht,
hij wordt gemept, gesleurd, getrapt
en twijfelt of hij ooit ontsnapt.
Ze duwen, scheuren hem zijn jas.
Nadat hij nog gevallen was,
rent hij met grote sprongen naar
zijn veilig huis, dan zit hij daar,
beslijkt, geslagen en verwond,
maar blij dat hij een uitweg vond.
In dit verhaal werd u verteld
hoe ‘t met de wereld is gesteld,
want onze tijd, dat is is die stad:
de wijsheid ligt er op z’n gat.
‘t Is goed dat je daar niet op bouwt,
maar God eerbiedigt, van Hem houdt
en dan naar Zijn geboden leeft,
waaraan haast geen een boodschap heeft
na wat dat noodweer hier eens deed:
die slagregen, die hebzucht heet.
Een mensheid die zijn God vergeet,
op macht belust, is trots en wreed.
Heeft God iemand dit lot bespaard,
die wordt door de anderen gek verklaard
en men beledigt hem daarbij,
omdat hij niet zo is als zij.
Gods wijsheid lijkt hun dwaasheid toe.
Maar wie Gods vriend is, weet wel hoe
het werkelijk zit met wijs en zot
en wie is losgeraakt van God.
Hij wordt voor warhoofd uitgemaakt
omdat hij ‘s werelds waan verzaakt.
Going through the information on this website, you will find a lot of links to recordings, mostly on Youtube, of my compositions, be it with my pseudonym Alexander Comitas or my actual name. For convenience, here are some links nicely brought together. Wherever there is a piano part, I play it myself.
According to Plato’s Allegory of the Charioteer, the Good, the True and the Beautiful are to be found outside of the earthly atmosphere. The gods can go there and thus behold these phenomena as they truly are, whereas we mortals can as a rule only perceive them through a mist of our views and dogmas, our taste, the Zeitgeist, etc. Plato’s words, however, imply (among many other things outside the field of music) that the quality of a given composition is determined by elements that transcend our subjective perception. This in turn implies that the Good, the True and the Beautiful ought to be the central issue in studying composition.
When we limit ourselves to the classical music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, we have material at our disposal that helps us understand in concrete terms why their music is simply better than the music of for instance Johann Christian Bach or Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, and enables us to pinpoint the difference in level of quality in their scores. Charles Rosen’s brilliant book The Classical Style and Edward Lowinsky’s eminent article On Mozart Rhythm deserve special mention here.
An interesting question now emerges: to what extent could it be possible to pinpoint similar concrete things in music from other times? A problem here is that the more we progress in time, the less we can apply rules about things like harmony, counterpoint, form, etc., because at some point such things were found to be too limiting. While abandoning more and more any clearly demarcated ‘rules’ has greatly expanded our possibilities and our fantasy, the downside of this is, that we have lost what consensus there was about elements that were ultimately meant to help us steer a composition toward the Good, the True and Beautiful. Composers are more and more on their own, in this respect. The absence of clearly defined rules, however, does not imply that anything goes. The ultimate goal of composing has always been and will always be that each and every note is at the right place.
Although I cannot pretend to have any definitive answers to the abovementioned fascinating question, as I am no Greek god myself, raising the question itself is thought-provoking, and I do derive some conclusions from what Plato wants to make us clear.
I think, in composing there are two basic categories of quality criterions. There is a level where everything simply needs to be right; like a carpenter needs to be able to make skilful use of his tools and other materials, and what he produces should reflect this. When a composer has reached this level, ideally speaking he can then function in society like a Salieri or a Dittersdorf could function in their time. Beyond this, there is a higher level with less tangible criterions, where not everything needs to be perfect, but whatever is good helps to enhance the impact of the composer’s music.
Things that belong to the first category are for instance: notation, basic writing for the instruments; and in traditional music: harmony / counterpoint, voicing, etc. In the second category we encounter things like phrasing, harmonic rhythm, alternation between sections with and without chords, etc. I will here give some examples, taken from my own music, to demonstrate how a change in this field can improve the overall musical impact.
With all this in mind, in my lecture I compare a few fugues of Czerny (fugues, because these belong to his output of what he himself called his ‘serious’ music) with fugues by Bach and Mozart. My conclusion is that Czerny isn’t just ‘all right’ at level one, he is absolutely brilliant – and much underrated. However, when you look beyond this, you can perhaps pinpoint a few things where he maybe doesn’t quite reach the level of Bach or Mozart.
I also compare the second symphony of Ernst Krenek with the second and fourth of Dmitri Shostakovich; two compositions that were written in an idiom where seemingly anything goes. This comparison also reveals some interesting differences in impact.
I also present a number of excerpts – in condensed score – from recent compositions for wind orchestra. I demonstrate where things appear to go wrong and, where possible, I show how to correct such errors. This proves to be easier than looking at the music of Krenek vs. Shoatakovich, because here the general musical idiom is much more traditional, which implies that the rules belonging to such an idiom can to be applied here, at least to a certain degree.
The nearer we approach the present time, the more difficult it seems to pinpoint what is objectively good or not so good in a composition. Therefore, when dealing with music from the 20th and 21 st century, I limit myself to looking just at fftutti orchestration of orchestral scores. There are several reasons for this. One: the orchestra as it is today has developed in the course of several centuries. The difference in loudness between especially brass and percussion on the hand and strings on the other has become something a composer needs to deal with in a correct way. And it is relatively easy to see what is correct in this regard and what isn’t. Two: fftutti sections tend to be high-points in a composition, so it is all the more important that they sound well. Investigating this, it appears that there is a relation between orchestration as such and the notes chosen to orchestrate.
What is the ultimate goal of (composing) music? In his Republic, Plato states: what should be the end of music if not the love of beauty? (Book III, verse 403) A dangerous thing to state, these days, and if you are of the opinion that this is still valid today, you will have to explain this (I do so in my article Music and Spirituality). Plato also makes it clear that, according to him, music is nourishment for the soul. Also here I agree with him, to the extent that we humans indeed have an immortal soul, and that therefore composing good nourishment for the soul has nothing to do with trivialities like Zeitgeist or personal taste and everything with the pursuit of the timeless phenomenon beauty.
So far co-commissioned by[1]:
– The Banda “Asociación Amigos de la Música” de Yecla
– The Dutch Koninklijke Militaire Kapel Johan Willem Friso
– Harmonie Sint Gregorius, Haaren
Dedicated to Ángel Hernández Azorín and the Banda “Asociación Amigos de la Música” de Yecla
[1] This composition is a crowd funding project. I also wrote a version of it for fanfare orchestra, and for € 250, you and / or your orchestra can become one of the commissioners of either version: you will then be mentioned in this preface to the score as a co-commissioner. If you feel like participating, please contact me at hallo[at]eduarddeboer.org.
Youtube:
Premiere performance by the Banda Asociación Amigos de la Música de Yecla, conducted by Ángel Hernández Azorín, Sunday April 8, 2018 in the Auditorio Victor Villegas, Murcia.
INTRODUCTION
The point of departure for this composition has been Uzbek traditional music. Before starting composing, I immersed myself in the book Ocherki po istorii muzyki narodov SSSR (Essays about the music history of the peoples of the U.S.S.R) by Viktor Beliaev, edited by Mark Slobin. In this book’s chapter about Uzbekistan, I encountered the following fascinating march theme:
In folk tradition, this march was called March of Iskahdar-Khan. In Central Asia, Iskahdar-Khan was the name given to Alexander the Great. This somehow inspired me. In addition, I transcribed a few traditional Uzbek dances from recordings on YouTube. Here is an excerpt from one of them:
The total of these musical ‘ingredients’ led me to write a composition with a rather simple, but at the same time dark and menacing atmosphere. After a relatively slow introduction, the music becomes ever fiercer in a series of successive waves, until a climax is reached, culminating in a few bars of solo percussion. This is followed by a lamenting variant of the march theme, after which the composition reaches a stark conclusion.
The Homage to Johan Wagenaar is a concert overture—a genre in which Johan Wagenaar himself composed some of his most successful pieces—cast into a sonata form mould with a slow introduction, making use of themes that have been derived from various compositions by Wagenaar himself. In the score, these pieces are mentioned next to the various themes. Simultaneously, the composition has been modelled on the life story of this important Dutch composer, who lived from 1862 till 1941. A Note Performer recording of the music can be heard here:
YouTube:
Analysis of the structure:
00:00 Introduction. The composition starts with an atmospheric slow introduction, immediately introducing the primary and secondary themes of the ensuing Exposition.
00:41 The fairytale-like atmosphere is reinforced by a theme in the horns, derived from Wagenaar’s symphonic poem Elverhoï (number 1).
00:56 Johan was an extramarital child from a patrician and a housemaid, which caused him a lifelong struggle with inferiority feelings. The themes of respectively the aristocracy and the common people from the first act finale of Mozart’s Don Giovanni musically express the class difference between his parents (number 2).
01:17 In number 3 finally, the music gradually becomes more turbulent.
01:44 Exposition. The turbulence leads to the exposition of the primary theme (number 4), not without reason derived from Wagenaar’s overture The Taming of the Shrew: As a child, Johan has a vehement nature and he is difficult to handle.
02:45 However, once his musical talents have been discovered by a musician from the Utrecht City Orchestra, he receives a thorough musical education, into which he submerges himself with his inborn vehemence. This is being expressed by a fiery fugato, starting at number 9.
03:36 Soon the music quiets down, leading to the
04:05 secondary theme (number 12). This has been derived from the love theme from Wagenaar’s overture Cyrano de Bergerac: Johan meets Dina, the love of his life, and they start a relationship.
06:00 Development. Suddenly, a furious variant of the aristocracy’s theme appears (number 17): Dina’s parents are vehemently against a marriage between their daughter and Johan, who not only is a bastard child, but on top of that also a mere musician. This theme starts a musical conflict with the Taming of the Shrew theme.
06:49 When Dina’s parents finally force their daughter to return to the paternal house, far away from Johan, a time of sadness and loneliness follows. In number 21 we hear a lamenting variant of the common-people theme from Don Giovanni,
08:37 in number 23 followed by motives from the Taming of the Shrew theme.
09:34 (Inverted) Recapitulation. Years later, Johan encounters Dina again (number 25). In the meantime, her father has died and Johan has acquired some status, so this time it turns out that it is possible for them to marry. 10:58 Both are unified in marriage (number 29),
11:47 and for Johan a time of musical triumphs follows (number 33),
12:22 during which he finds support in a happy marriage (number 35).
The Dutch Fund for the Podium Arts has enabled me to compose this overture. I feel honoured to have been able to write this musical homage to what I consider one of the most important composers the Netherlands has produced.
Sta op en Schitter (Arise and Shine) was inspired by several Georgian legends about heroes, like Mindia, The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, St. George and Amirani. Georgia was one of the first countries in the world to become a Christian nation, as long ago as in the 4th century. I spent the summer holidays of 2013 in Georgia, together with my family, and we camped for one week in the wild in the Caucasus. To Arise and Shine is precisely what the gorgeous Georgian nature inspires one to do.
Partly commissioned by the Dutch Fund for the Podium Arts NFPK
I. Satan ist schon lang’ ins Fabelbuch geschrieben (Satan has long ago been written off to fable-books)
In opdracht van Stichting Frysk Fanfare Festival voor de Open Nederlandse Fanfare Kampioenschappen 2020
This song cycle could be composed thanks to a contribution called Werkbijdrage Muziekauteur (Work Contribution Music Author) of the Dutch Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten (Fund for the Podium Arts).
