related works
Marsyas : Concertsuite (Balthazar Verhagen) / Alphons Diepenbrock; samengesteld door Eduard Reeser
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
fl(picc) 2ob(eh) 2cl cl-b 2fg 3h timp perc hp str
Ritmische studies : voor kamerorkest, opus 58 / Géza Frid
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
1212 1000 timp pf str
Symphonie no. 1 : (1929) / Piet Ketting
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3343 sax-a 4431 timp 4perc hp cel str
Hora : voor orkest / Wim Petersma
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
4444 4431 str(12.12.10.8.6.)
composition
Lydische Nacht / als symfonisch gedicht bewerkt door = arranged as a symphonic poem by Eduard Reeser 1983-rev. 1992, Alphons Diepenbrock
Other authors:
Reeser, Eduard
(Orchestrator)
Diepenbrock, Alphons
(Composer)
Description:
Program note (English): (Première: arrangement 1983: 29-2-1984 - Concertgebouw, Amsterdam - Concertgebouworkest Hans Vonk, conducting):
In the series of symphonic songs which Alphons Diepenbrock composed between 1899 and 1913 Lydische Nacht forms the last link. Possibly one could better call this work a dramatic solo cantata is able call, because in contrast to the more lyrical character of the Hymnen an die Nacht and Die Nacht, in contrast also to the storytelling of Vondel's Vaart naar Agrippine and the contemplative of Im grossen Schweigen, Diepenbrock has found here the ancient spirit in the words of his student and friend Balthazar Verhagen, the substance for a dramatic conflict, which spoke personally to his heart, namely the contrasts between the cold majesty of the moon and the built up spirit of the shepherd, who in the silence of the night feels his own Sehnsucht rise ', as the poet wrote. This dramatic display is reinforced, because the first seven strophes of the text are treated in declamatory way, according to the desires of the composer put in his music of Marsyas (1910) and Gijsbreght van Aemstel (1912), and also through the usage of 'leitmotivs', which are the main spheres and ideas on which the poem has been built, and which complements the entire work. Some of those motives have already been exposed in the orchestral introduction, but the listener gets a literary meaning firstly as soon as the word is illustrated. And so the meditative sensitivity of the quietly flowing melodic line, which alternates in the alto oboe and the oboe d'amore through the whole first strophe, it 'in the loneliness' of Lydian shepherd, in the sonorous three chords of the horns, with which the second strophe begins, ' the long summer day', and in the restless double basses at the start of the third strophe, with which already the prelude began, swelling into darkness. Artemis, the goddess of the moon, is symbolised continuously in a theme of four-four and five-four meter measures with cool gleaming colouring (flageolet tones of solo violin, piccolo, harp, trombones), and of which the melody in its further course from originally - is based on a harmony of a major second series.
In the seventh strophe the double basses and the wind instruments, reflecting disorder, which, following a nocturnal vision into the quiet soul of the shepherd is brought about. After this last episode the passage from speaking to singing when calling to Artemis gives a suggestive impression, also by the concise melody, concentrated here in the vocal part. A swaying music joins in, which later by the words 'the fiery life reveals this vigil' the sentence is exposed and then appears at the end of the ninth strophe in the oboe a sharply profiled motive that at the 'oppressive riddle ' is related and that moreover has a greater meaning following the interlude after the gets fourteenth strophe, where the shepherd feels himself at prey to the god-driven ' who know no mildness'. In this interlude - one of the most violently moving pieces by Diepenbrock - following the turbulent motive of Darkness the wide drawn out theme of Artemis (maestoso, appassionato) becomes central; then however the riddle motive takes over and conducts in artificial canonical combinations building up in tension until these two measures long unloads themselves in the passion of 'burning life', whereupon a slow anticlimax arises introducing the dawn. The Day motive in the horns brings sunshine and warmth in music and the last two strophes is accompanied by the pastoral begin melody, canonically imitated in the flute and full of bird songs. (...). - EDUARD REESER (1949)