related works

Athena Keramitis : for contrabass flute and bass clarinet, 1985 / Jan Vriend

Genre: Chamber music
Subgenre: Woodwind ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring: fl-cb cl-b

In terra viventium : = (In het land der levenden), gemengd koor, klein symfonieorkest, 1977 / muziek: Piet Kingma, tekst: Jan Derix

Genre: Vocal music
Subgenre: Mixed choir and orchestra
Scoring: GK4 3222 2200 timp 2perc str

Nenia / Pablo Escande

Genre: Vocal music
Subgenre: Mixed choir and orchestra

Tre aspetti d'amore : per coro misto ed orchestra, 1967-'68 / Hans Henkemans

Genre: Vocal music
Subgenre: Mixed choir and orchestra
Scoring: GK4 3333 4331 timp perc cel 2hp pf str

 

composition

La Guerra : for mezzo-soprano and baritone, mixed choir and symphony orchestra / Jan Vriend

Publisher's number: 17544
Genre: Vocal music
Subgenre: Mixed choir and orchestra
Scoring: GK4 2fl(picc) 2ob eh 2cl cl-b 2fg cfg 4h 2tpt 2trb trb-b tb perc hp str
Duration: 16'00"
Year of composition: 2016
Status: fully digitized (real-time delivery)

Other authors:
Vriend, Jan (Composer)
Description:
La Guerra combines 5 different poems in 4 different European languages. As it is designed to commemorate the centenary of Armistice Day in 2018 – the day after my 80th birthday – and with BREXIT looming, I was determined to give it an uncompromising European slant, up to and including a reference to the European International Hymn, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
"La Guerra", by the contemporary Spanish poet Antonia Álvarez Álvarez, is the central text of the work and holds the composition together. It laments the misery of (any) war in a short litany of woes that characterise its inhumanity, futile suffering and ignominious degradation of life. The other poems, interspersed between the verses of La Guerra, were chosen to highlight other aspects of life or relate to war and peace in other ways.
"Violeta", also by Antonia Álvarez Álvarez, contemplates the beauty of a single violet; in all its simplicity the sort of thing wars trample on regardless. "Hinter Bäumen", by the German (Jewish) poet Elsa Lasker-Schüler (1869-1945) and written during the First World War, expresses an outpouring of love, its rejection and consequent sense of hopelessness. "Strange Meeting" (extract), by Wilfred Owen who, with Siegfried Sassoon, is probably the best-known war poet of all and served in the First World War, talks about a dream in which he meets an enemy soldier whom he recognises as a fellow human being he killed, drawn into the same madness as he himself. I only used the first ten and the concluding five lines of the poem, leaving out the long middle section. "La Paix", by Lauer Christine, a pupil at the Lycée de Garçons in Luxemburg, may have been written as an entry in a competition. It is a very simple but straightforward statement about peace in Europe and the price paid for it.
La Guerra can be preceded by my overture Tombeau des Vies Manquées, written in 2015 to commemorate Armistice Day and lasting 6 minutes.
Jan Vriend

Sheet Music
If you are going to perform this composition, you can enter your concert information here. We will publish this information at the Donemus Facebook page and in the Donemus Concert Agenda.
You can buy the parts or other related products on-line. If you choose a downloadable product you will receive the product in digital form. In all other cases the product is sent to you physically. Please note that you require a copy of this product for every user.
Product Description Price/piece Count
Score Download to Newzik (A3), 62 pages EUR 36.97
Download as PDF (A3), 62 pages EUR 44.36
Hardcopy, normal size (A3), 62 pages EUR 73.94
Hardcopy, study size (A4), 62 pages EUR 49.96