related works
Midare : for marimba, (1972) / Ton de Leeuw
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Percussion
Scoring:
mar
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir and instruments
Scoring:
bar 4sopr 4alt 4ten 4bas rec-a
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir and instruments
Scoring:
4soloists GK4-6 sax-s eh bh cl-b fg
Nonsense Songs : for mixed choir and string quintet / William Knight; text: Edward Lear
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir and instruments
Scoring:
GK 2vn vla vc db
composition
Invocations : for mezzo-soprano, mixed choir and instrumental ensemble, 1983 / Ton de Leeuw
Other authors:
Leeuw, Ton de
(Composer)
Description:
Program note (English): The Latin texts used have been mainly borrowed from Psalms. Given the texts we can make the following classification: - in the first two parts the choir sings a text from Psalm 129: The profundis clamavi ate at (from the depths I call to thee); - in the third and fourth part the choir sings: Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna (deliver me, Lord, from eternal death), borrowed from the Missa pro defunctis; - the fifth part is instrumental interlude; the sixth part continues on the same text, now linked to the original Gregorian melody, whereupon the parts seven and eight further to develop. Here, in addition to the choir the singer also makes her entrance; - the parts nine, ten and eleven introduce a new text, borrowed from the Psalms 4 and 90, beginning with: Miserere mei, et exaudi orationem meam (Protect me Lord and hear my prayer); - the twelfth part finally comes to a close with an Amen. Although this composition can be performed independently, the music has been conceived
as a third part to a trilogy, with two earlier, also independent compositions. The first movement is therefore formed by the choral piece Car nos vignes sont en fleur, the second by And they shall reign for ever for mezzo-soprano and instrumental ensemble, both dating from 1981.
The texts of the all three works are lent from the Bible. Car nos vignes sont en fleur (taken from the ed from the Song of Songs) describes the exaltations and the entanglements of love, with at the background the theme of human communication. And they shall reign for ever depicts the visions of devastation and end of time, as described in the Apocalypse. The texts in the third movement can be summarized as callings and pleas. As such they are a continuation of the texts in the previous parts, which describe respectively inner and external defencelessness of man. Also in other respects the third part is linked to previous parts.
The instrumentation is a somewhat enlarged combination of the instrumentation of previous works. Additionally, motives are more or less derived from earlier works can be observed. But it is especially the use of what I would want call 'widened modality' that link the three compositions of this trilogy with each other. Summarizing this shows a hierarchical number of elements which grant a specific character to the composition: tonal ranges, rhythmic and melodic formulas, a strict, cyclical time structure which emphasizes the entity of the great symbolic a context. Much of this is determined by the form and expression of music. The context refers to secular Asian models such as raga (India), maqaam (Arabia), Patet (Indonesia), with the associated conception that music in the end is not without aesthetic engagement, but expression in sound of a deeper link to the cosmos. Certain aspects of all this emerge, in strongly modified form, in the contemporary Western idiom of this composition. -
TON DE LEEUW