related works
Nacht : voor sopraan, fluit, mandoline, gitaar en harp, 1997 / Gerard Beljon
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
sopr fl man g hp
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir
Scoring:
GK
Three Tang Poems : for mixed choir a cappella / Man-Ching Yu Donald
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir
Scoring:
GK
Pomogi mne, Bozhe Gospodi! : for soprano solo and choir a cappella / Olga Victorova
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir
Scoring:
sopr GK4
composition
The cry of the peacocks : for mixed choir, 2005 / poem by Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), Gerard Beljon
Other authors:
Stevens, Wallace
(Text writer/Librettist)
Beljon, Gerard
(Composer)
Description:
Program note (English): [Première: 1 december 2005 - Philharmonie, Haarlem - Nederlands Kamerkoor o.l.v. Klaas Stok] - The poetry of Wallace Stevens (who made a living as a lawyer) has two remarkable sides; on the one hand dark, anxious, philosophical, on the other side a youthful, colorful and strongly rhythmical. These aspects frequently come together in one poem. For composer this poetry offers a number of starting points.In 'The cry of the Peacocks' Stevens' fear for the night, and actually his fear for death is fully expressed. The crying of the peacocks is the core sound for me, which represents that fear. For this reason I have chosen a stanza from the poem as a title for my work. The poem has an anxious, imminent tone typical to the time in which Stevens lived, in which a fear dominated for war and economic crisis. - GERARD BELJON