related works
Litany of our time : television play / by Ton de Leeuw
Genre:
Opera, musical theatre
Subgenre:
Music theatre
Scoring:
sopr MK3 fl 2perc hp pf cb tape electronics
De Marsyas et Apollo : for mixed choir a cappella / Aleksandra Chmielewska; text by Hyginus
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir
Scoring:
GK
Pas de Quatre : for four vocal quartets / Bernard van Beurden
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir
Scoring:
GK4
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir
Scoring:
GK8
composition
Car nos vignes sont en fleurs : pour 12 voix mixtes, 1981 / texte: extraits du Cantique des Cantiques, Ton de Leeuw
Other authors:
Leeuw, Ton de
(Composer)
Contains:
Très lent
Presque lent, hésitant
Modéré, sans rigueur
Grave
Calme, détendu
Rapide, sans presser
Grave et soutenu
Description:
Program note (English): The texts of 'Car nos vignes sont en fleur' are derived from the 'Song of Songs'. They not only depict love, but also the fear of losing it, the search for it, swung between hope and despair, and the sublimation of love in a tendency towards unification with the divine.
The deep human longing for love in these millennia-old texts has a special dimension in this age of induration and isolation. The introvert character of the music - which should also lead the singers - is in sharp contrast with the exuberance of the old texts. The antithesis of the consecutive, sometimes conflicting moods expressed in the text is realised by sober contours: the hesitating, seeking first movements, the determination to find the beloved and the ode to the beloved in the third and fourth part, the pastoral-like quietness and satisfaction of the fifth and the renewed search in the strong driving sixth part and finally the seventh part, a hymn to the superterrestrial love, with almost liturgical rigidity. The singers are standing in a semi-circle: 3 sopranos, 3 tenors, 3 contraltos and 3 basses, which also has a spatial effect in relation to one another. - TON DE LEEUW