related works
Circe : prelude for orchestra, (1972) / Willem Frederik Bon
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
2fl 2ob 2cl 2fg 4h 2trp 2trb timp 4perc hp pf str
Ayre of Solace : for orchestra / Giel Vleggaar
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
pic fl ob eh cl cl-b fg cfg 4h 2trp 2trb trb-b tb 3perc pf/cel cemb hp str
Symphony II : for orchestra, 1958, (revised version 1980) / Rudolf Escher
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
pic 2fl 2ob eh 2cl cl-b 2sax 4h 2trp tb timp 4perc 2hp pf str(14.14.12.10.8.)
Night Setting : for orchestra / Walter Hekster
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
6fl ob 2cl perc g pf str
composition
Circe : prelude for orchestra, (1972) / Willem Frederik Bon
Other authors:
Bon, Willem Frederik
(Composer)
Description:
Program note (English): The piece is based on the tenth book of Homerus' Odyssey and symbolises the episode of Odysseuss' travels, when reaches the island of Circe. After transforming his crew into pigs Circe uses her charms to chain Odysseus to her bed for two years. The curse in which Odysseus is caught is symbolised in the piece in harp, vibraphone, celesta and piano, and in the middle movement in the first and second violins and oboes. The tranquillity disappears shortly afterwards as Odysseus' feelings of homesickness and military lust arise. Brass and percussion illustrate this phase in the tale. Following a large climax, which introduces the eventual departure from Circes' island, the scale passages in harp and wind instruments from the beginning return once more, but now descending, and the work concludes with a vague recollection to the beginning chords full of a southern warmth, with which the piece opened, as the drawing of the setting against which this history takes place. - WILLEM
FREDERIK BON