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
Sunbeams : for orchestra, 1986-1998 / Michael Fahres
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
2pic 2fl 2ob eh 3cl cl-b 2fg cfg 2sax 4h 3trp 2trb tb timp 8perc hp g-b pf str
Calumnia : for orchestra, 1999 / Juan Felipe Waller
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3333 4431 timp 3perc hp pf(cel) str
Knight Games : Symphonic poem for orchestra / Christian Blaha
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
2fl 2ob 2cl 2fg 4h 2tpt 3trb tb 2perc hp 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