related works
24 capriccio's voor viool solo
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Violin
Scoring:
vl
Suite 1967 : voor altblokfluit en cembalo / Wim Thijsse
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players); Recorder and keyboard instrument
Scoring:
rec-a cemb
There was nothing nobody could say : for small ensemble, 1991 / Micha Hamel
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
eh perc cel pf vc
zacht & licht lacht t maangezicht : for clarinet, basset horn and accordion / Max Knigge
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
cl bh acc
composition
Serendipity : for Indian violin, tabla and string quartet / JacobTV - Jacob Ter Veldhuis
Other authors:
Veldhuis, Jacob ter
(Composer)
Description:
Serendipity means a "fortunate happenstance" or "pleasant surprise". It was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to a friend Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made by reference to a Persian fairy tale: The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”. The name stems from Serendip, an old name for Sri Lanka (Ceylon), from Tamil Ceralamdivu, Sanskrit Simhaladvipa and Arabic Sarandīp. Parts of Sri Lanka were under the rule of Tamil kings for extended periods of time in history. Kings of Kerala, India (Cheranadu), were called Ceran Kings and divu, tivu or dheep, which means island. The island belonging to the Chera King was called Cherandeep, hence Sarandib by Arab traders.
Serendipity is not just a matter of a random event, nor can it be taken simply as a synonym for "a happy accident" (Ferguson, 1999; Khan, 1999), "finding out things without being searching for them" (Austin, 2003), or "a pleasant surprise" (Tolson, 2004).
The New Oxford Dictionary of English defines serendipity as the occurrence and development of events by chance in a satisfactory or beneficial way, understanding the chance as any event that takes place in the absence of any obvious project (randomly or accidentally), which is not relevant to any present need, or in which the cause is unknown. Innovations presented as examples of serendipity have an important characteristic: they were made by individuals able to "see bridges where others saw holes" and connect events creatively, based on the perception of a significant link. The chance is an event, serendipity a capacity.