composer
Robert Heppener was born in Amsterdam in 1925. He died on August 25, 2009 in Bergen.
He studied piano with Jan Odé and Johan van den Boogert at the Conservatory of ...
related works
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Piano; Violin and keyboard instrument
Scoring:
pf pf4h 2pf vl and pf
Aspetti d'amore : for choir a cappella / Mark van Platen
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir
Scoring:
GK4
Motet : for chamber choir / Maximiliano Amici
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir
Scoring:
SATB
Feierliche Abendmusik : Konzert für Chor, 2002 / tekst: Hermann Hesse (1877-1962), Daan Manneke
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir
Scoring:
GK4
composition
Del iubilo del core che esce in voce : 16 voci, 1974 / poesia da Iacopone da Todi, Robert Heppener
Other authors:
Jacopone da Todi
(librettist)
Description:
Program note (English): "Of the heart's rejoicing which comes forth in the voice" - this ecstatic poem by the 13th century Italian mystical poet Jacopone da Todi is the key to the rather exuberant musical language which I have used in this work for 16 solo voices. The jubilation comes by fits and starts, whispering or yelling, crooning or singing full out, and sometimes in a confused stammering of all the voices simultaneously. "When rejoicing warms, it makes man sing; and the tongue babbles and does not know what to say". At a certain moment this babbling gains the upper hand to such an extent that the greater part of the poem is repeated, but now in reverse, recited like a counting-up rhyme. The central note is 'A' , which is first heard after the title has been sung at the beginning of the poem, and which is heard again at fixed times; starting from this note a chord is built up which is always the same one: an ecstatic fanning out of the sound. 'A' is also the note on which the piece ends. In
between, the voice is used in all kinds of ways, from calling to yelling to hissing, crooning, falsetto or singing through the nose. "He who has no acquaintance with this considers you mad, seeing your distractedness, like that of a man out of his senses". After the last climax there is a sudden lull at the words 'd'amore'. "O rejoicing of the heart that makes us sing from love". This brings to an end this song of praise. - ROBERT HEPPENER