Madrigal (2002 / 2004) 15’
ob, bn, SATB; text: Novalis - Hymns to the Night
arranged for: Calefax Rietkwintet & Cappella Amsterdam, Daniel Reuss, cond.
(Version of the 2002 piece for four singers, expanded for full choir and 2 woodwinds. I had to sacrifice the overtone textures, but gained depth by the bigger orchestration.)
Despite my non-classical musical background, I have always been fascinated by the beauty of medieval music. In particular the genre of madrigals offers great creative esthetical and musical freedom for a composer, if compared to later and stricter forms of counterpoint - a fact that can make this form attractive to contemporary composers as well.
The text of Novalis I chose for this piece, in its ethereal rapture, almost asks to be set to such a “timeless” kind of music. It is a love song for death, and this combination of instruments and voices seemed appropriate to capture the extatic longing for transcendence, leaving this world behind.
This piece is my hommage to the beauty of this music, and to the longing for death found in both baroque and romantic poetry.
listen: Madrigal Clip!
