composer
Kees Arntzen was born on 5 September 1957 in Amsterdam.
After finishing his degree in music education and guitar at the Amsterdam Conservatorium, Kees Arntzen studied theory and composition at ...
related works
24 Arie Antiche : for voice and guitar / Kees Arntzen (arr.)
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
zang gtr
Deux mélodies : voix haute, piano, opus 72 / [texte] (Charles Baudelaire), Léon Orthel
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and piano
Scoring:
high pf
Hongaarse liederen : sopraan en piano, 1979, I / op teksten van Sándor Weöres, Henk Nieland
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and piano
Scoring:
sopr pf
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and piano; Female choir and piano
Scoring:
low/medium (VK2 ad lib.) pf
composition
Five Insect Songs (Das Lied von der kleinen Erde) : for mezzo-soprano or baritone and piano / Kees Arntzen; on words by Walter de la Mare, William Oldys, William Blake and Emily Dickinson
Description:
For the exhibition 'Bestiary' in the Viennese 'Villa Wertheimstein' I composed the following 'Five Insect Songs’. I wrote them at the request of the artist couple Robert Crow and Verena Unger. Coincidentally, I just had finished some etches with insects as subject matter for the exhibition 'Dierkens' (little critters) at the 'Oosterkerk' in Amsterdam, so I could use them once again to accompany the songs in Vienna.
The texts are written by several English poets with varying perspectives: that of a fly, a drunkard, an ant, a dying person and 'eternity itself'. Soprano Ingrid Haselberger and pianist Barbara Rektenwald premiered the songs on September 26, 2019. They were recorded for the CD '...dejar abajo...’ . A video titled 'Bestiary' at the YouTube channel gives a taste of the formal exhibition opening. The subtitle 'Das Lied von der kleinen Erde' seemed quite appropriate, as the songs were first performed in the city of Mahler.
Kees Arntzen, June 2020