related works
Movements : for orchestra, (1981) / Tristan Keuris
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
2fl fl(pic) 2ob ob(eh) 3cl cl-b 2fg fg(cfg) 4h 3trp 3trb tb timp 4perc hp str
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and orchestra
Scoring:
sopr 4322 4330 timp 4-6perc hp str
Four Songs : for mezzo-soprano and orchestra / Erik Lotichius; texts: Native American poetry
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and orchestra
Scoring:
Mezzo-soprano and Orchestra: 2 Flutes; 2 Oboes; Cor Anglais; 2 Clarinets in B-flat; 2 Bassoons; 3 Horns in F; 3 Trumpets in C; 2 Trombones; Bass-trombone; Timpani; Cymbals; Bell; Strings
Drie gedichten van Jan Luyken : (1649-1712), voor sopraan en orkest / Alexander Voormolen
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and orchestra
Scoring:
sopr 2122 2000 perc cel pf str
composition
Three Michelangelo songs : for mezzo-soprano and orchestra / Tristan Keuris
Author(s):
Michelangelo
(Text writer/Librettist)
Keuris, Tristan
(Composer)
Contains:
O notte, dolce tempo
Sulla morte di Cecchino Bracci
Di morte certo
Description:
Program note (English): A reviewer of the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad rewarded me in December 1990 with two almost jubilant reviews. The first referred to To Brooklyn Bridge, for choir and 15 instruments; the second to Intermezzi, for nine winds. I was especially struck by the end of the second review: "Keuris' Intermezzi are smothered in the French horns a bit too rapidly (...) but, at any rate, they turned out as sketches of a large capacity".
I was amazed, how could this man guess that these were indeed sketches, especially the first part and the end which is "smothered in the French horns a bit too rapidly"? It had indeed been my intention, right from the start, to do more with this material, but I had kept this to myself. At the time I composed the Intermezzi, agreements had been made for a work for mezzo-soprano and orchestra. Although a text had not yet been found, my intention was to write a piece in which rather melancholic farewell gestures would play an important role. When I chanced upon the Michelangelo sonnets, I immediately saw in the sonnet "O notte dolce tempo" the possibility to use the Intermezzi as a basis.
A nice working method: there was a fixed direction in the music, my task was to interweave the vocal part in music that partly already existed, make a completely new instrumentation and create new connections. This working method had also proven to be satisfactory for me when I composed To Brooklyn Bridge (my first vocal work).
In my opinion, one of the great dangers of working with texts is that the poet imposes a rhythmic structure on the composer. This is why I tried, when writing a fragment, to first write the music I felt would have the most appropriate atmosphere, and only after that work on the exact timing and placing of the text. In the second movement: "Sulla morte de Cecchino Bracci", the opening rhythm of the text was an impulse, but no more than that. Otherwise I used the same method.
In the last sonnet, I sensed a disruption between the poet's complaint and his exceptionally religious attitude. It seemed to me that apparently he puts himself above all those poor sinners; he seems unconcerned with this world that is no good anyway, apparently feeling that he himself was already safe. However this may be, it didn't make a completely honest impression on me. Nevertheless, it was musically very attractive; and I went along with the moods of the sonnet unhesitatingly. - TRISTAN KEURIS