related works
Symphony Nº 2 : for orchestra / Marijn Simons
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
2fl 2fl(pic) 3ob ob(eh) 3cl cl(cl-b) 7h 4trp 3trb tb hp 8perc str
Musique de fer : for solo percussion / Maxim Shalygin
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Percussion
Scoring:
perc
Gigantomania : for tamtam / Valery Voronov
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Percussion
Scoring:
perc
Torso : for 6 percussion players, 1989 / Jan Bus
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Percussion
Scoring:
6perc
composition
The Fifth Sun : for percussion quartet / Marijn Simons
Other authors:
Simons, Marijn
(Composer)
Contains:
Humans made of ash
Giants eaten by jaguars
Converted into turkeys
Monkeys in the mountains
Silhouette of a rabbit
Description:
Aztec mythology tells about the gods collaborating to create a new fifth world—the Fifth Sun—the Sun of Movement—the world we live in today.
In a dramatic act of self-sacrifice, the gods collaborated to create a new world- the Fifth Sun. A god, once rich and arrogant, lost his nerve when faced with the fire. In stark contrast, a modest and sick god displayed remarkable courage, leaping into the furnace. Overcome with shame, the prosperous god also threw himself into the fire, and both gods emerged as shimmering stars in the sky. Enraged by this audacity, the gods punished the rich god, leaving his silhouette on the moon in the form of a rabbit.
According to Aztec mythology, the Sun of Movement was not the first. Before it, there were four other suns and worlds, each dominated by one of the four elements: water, earth, fire, and wind. In a cycle of destruction and rebirth, each sun and world was recreated identically with the remains of the previous one, producing an improved form of life with each new cycle.
Humans were made of ash in the era of the first sun, the Sun of Water. A catastrophe took place. Water covered the earth. Humans were destroyed and changed into fish. In the second era -the Sun of Earth- people were giants but 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