A theatrical ritual about the decline of the ideal of ‘Bildung’, that shaped European culture for the past two centuries. While being a genuine Requiem in the form of a tragic song cycle, based on last words by famous artists, it also is a political piece, written as a reaction to the scandalous budget cuts in the arts, as executed by deputy minister Halbe Zijlstra in 2011.
Intsrumentation: tenor, actor, piano, flute/picc/afl/bfl, sopr/altosax, bassoon, trombone/tenor tuba, vl, kemençe or viola, 1perc, harp/portable harp, church organ.
Texts by: Gertrude Stein, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Heinrich Heine, Errol Flynn, Florenz Ziegfeld, Giordano Bruno, Victor Hugo, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, John Keats, Pierre-Simon Laplace, Camille Corot, Mata Hari, William Somerset Maugham, Hugo de Groot, Isaac Newton, Karl Marx, Karl Heinz Stockhausen. E. Th. A. Hoffmann, George Eliot, C.S. Lewis, Jakob Böhme, Alban Berg, Emily Dickinson, François Rabelais, Franz Schubert and Micha Hamel.
Duration: 100 minutes.
Written on request of Godelieve Schrama.
Commissioned by the Holland Festival.
Published by Donemus.
Creative team
Music and staging: Micha Hamel
Lighting design: Desirée van Gelderen
Dramaturgy: Jos van Kan
Performers
Tenor: Marcel Beekman
Actor: Porgy Franssen
Piano: Hans Eijsackers
Harp: Godelieve Schrama
Organ: Leo van Doeselaar
Violin: Peter Brunt
Kemençe: Neva Özgen/Elena Emelianova
Flutes: Ingrid Geerlings
Saxophones: Femke IJlstra
Bassoon: Bram van Sambeek
Trombone: Koen Kaptijn
Percussion: Bart de Vrees.
Texts
1. Introitus
What is the answer? In that case: what is the question? (Gertrude Stein)
2. Shock
The issue now is clear: it is between light and darkness and everyone must choose his side. (Gilbert Keith Chesterton)
3. Kyrie
Gott wird mir verzeihen, das is sein Beruf! (Heinrich Heine)
4. Denial
I’ve had a heluva lot of fun, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. (Errol Flynn)
Curtain! Fast music! Light! Ready for the last finale! Great! The show looks good, the show looks good! (Florenz Ziegfeld)
5. Dies Irae
Forse tremate più voi nel pronunciare questa sentenza che io nell’ascoltaria. (Giordano Bruno)
6. Anger
Ceci est le combat du jour et de la nuit… Je vois de la lumière noire. (Victor Hugo)
7. Libera me
Ich möchte den Sonnenuntergang sehen. (Carl Jung)
Das ist jetzt nur noch Quälerei und hat keinen Sinn mehr (Sigmund Freud)
Lift me up, for I am dying. I shall die easy. Don’t be frightened. Thank God it has come. (John Keats)
8. Bargaining
Ce que nous connaissons est peu de chose, ce que nous ignorons est immense (Pierre-Simon Laplace)
9. In paradisum
J’espère de tout cœur que l’on peut peindre au ciel. (Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot)
10. Depression
Dood is niets. Leven trouwens ook niet. Sterven, slapen, overgaan in niets, wat maakt het uit. Alles is een illusie. (Mata Hari)
Dying is a very dull and dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it (William Somerset Maugham)
Door veel te begrijpen heb ik niets bereikt (Hugo de Groot)
11.Sanctus
I don’t know what I may seem to the world. But as to myself, I seem to have been only a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than the ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. (Isaac Newton)
12. Testing
Hinaus! Letzte Worte sind für Narren, die noch nicht genug gesagt haben (Karl Marx)
Ich habe eine ganz neue Art von atmen erfunden (Karl Heinz Stockhausen)
13. Agnus Dei
Es ist jetzt Zeit ein wenig an Gott zu denken (E. T. A. Hoffmann)
Tell them I have great pain in the left side. (George Eliot/ Mary Ann Evans)
14. Acceptance
I have done all that I was sent into the world to do, and I am ready to go. (C.S. Lewis)
Hört ihr die Musik? Dorthin gehe ich jetzt (Jakob Böhme)
Ein Auftakt! Ein Auftakt! (Alban Berg)15. Lux aeterna
I must go in, the fog is rising (Emily Dickinson)
Je m’en vais chercher un grand peut-être; tirez le rideau, la farce est jouée (Francois Rabelais)
Hier, hier ist mein Ende (Franz Schubert)
