composer
Marijn Simons was born in The Netherlands on December 25, 1982. He studied violin with Prof. Saschko Gawriloff, composition with Daan Manneke and James MacMillan and conducting with Ed Spanjaard, ...
related works
Fire Column (Piano Concerto Nº 2) : for piano and string orchestra / Marijn Simons
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Piano and string orchestra
Scoring:
pf str
Modi-fications : for large marimba and tape, 1990 / David Little
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Percussion; Electronics with different instruments; Percussion with electronics
Scoring:
mar tape
Trasformazioni : for four marimbas, 1990 / Kees Schoonenbeek
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Percussion
Scoring:
4mar
Vibrafoonsolo : 1979 / Meeuwis Rebel
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Percussion
Scoring:
vibr
composition
The fifth sun : for percussion quartet, opus 20, 2001 / Marijn Simons
Contains:
Humans made of ash
Giants eaten by jaguars
Converted into turkeys
Monkeys in the mountains
Silhouette of a rabbit
Description:
The Aztec mythology tells about the collaboration of the gods to create a new, fifth world; the Fifth Sun -the Sun of Movement- the world we live in today.
The gods could only achieve this re-creation by sacrificing themselves in a sacrificial fire. A rich and arrogant god lost his courage when he had to throw himself into the fire. But a modest and sick god showed great decisiveness by jumping into the furnace with a big leap. Ashamed the rich god still threw himself into the fire and both gods appeared as sparkling stars in the sky. Outraged about such audacity the gods beat the rich god with a rabbit of which the silhouette is still visible on the moon.
In the eras before the Sun of Movement there were four other suns and worlds according to the Aztec mythology. These suns were dominated by the four elements: water, earth, fire and wind. Every time a total destruction made an end to these suns and every time the sun and the world were recreated identically with the remainders of the previous one. Every new cycle produced an improved form of life.
Humans were made of ash in the era of the first sun; the Sun of Water. A catastrophe took place. Water covered the earth (Noah’s Ark!). Humans were destroyed and changed into fish. In the second era -the Sun of Earth- people were giants, but actually they had a weak constitution. During the destruction of this sun the giants were eaten by jaguars. The end of the third sun -the Sun of Fire- was not less dramatic. It rained fire and the people were converted into turkeys. The people who approached their fate in the fourth era -the Sun of Wind- were banished to live as monkeys in the mountains. - MARIJN SIMONS