Rimas de Bécquer

ByWillem van Merwijk

Happy to tell you that I sent out my ‘Rimas de Bécquer’, (five rhymes by the romantic Andalusian poet Gustavo Bécquer (1836-1870)) to Fokko Oldenhuis, conductor of the Utrechtse Studenten Cantorij. Five songs for choir (SATB + soloists SATBar) and soprano saxophone, in all some 16 minutes of music. Thus fulfilling one of the promises I made to my friend Ties Mellema when I heard he was ill (he is now recovering and gave his comeback concert a few days ago) and I am quite pleased with the outcome. Premiere concerts will be on Thursday 31st of March and Saturday 2nd of April in Utrecht and Friday 1st of April in Leiden (all in the Netherlands).
The five poems I chose are Rimas LIII (Volverán), Rima IX (El sauce), Rima LXXXVI (La Pureza), Rima XCVI (El Candil) and Rima XCIII (A Elisa). I am not the first to use Bécquer’s work as inspiration: Turina wrote songs on his poetry and so did Mompou. What a fantastic poet…
images

Similar Posts

  • Present from the Melisma Quartet

    ByWillem van Merwijk Hours

    On the doormat today a very nice present: the new CD by the Melisma Saxophone Quartet with music by Bach, Grieg, Ligeti and Lago. The Melisma is a very international group (Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland) and they all graduated from the Amsterdam Conservatory with Arno Bornkamp (and a bit with me as I take over…

  • Rimas and Bosquejos on SoundCloud Channel

    ByWillem van Merwijk Hours

    I just posted the LIVE recording of both Bosquejos del Bosco (Sketches of Hieronymus Bosch) for solo clarinet, LIVE recording of the world premiere! by Arno Piters (amazing performance!) and three of my “Rimas” for choir SATB and soprano saxophone, another LIVE performance; by Ties Mellema – soprano saxophone and the Utrechtse Studenten Cantorij conducted…

  • Bosquejos del Bosco (sketches of Bosch) Premiere

    ByWillem van Merwijk Hours

    Yesterday saw the premiere of ‘Bosquejos Del Bosco’ (sketches of Hieronymus Bosch; schetsen van Jeroen Bosch) for solo clarinet at the Dutch Clarinet Festival 2016 ‘Royal Clarinets’ concert. Royal because the full clarinet section of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra were the featured soloists at this concert. My piece was performed by Arno Piters (who also happens to…

  • Premieres premieres premieres

    ByWillem van Merwijk Hours

    Too much happening lately; so busy that I did not have time to write on it… Just pre-informing you – so to say – that my ‘Charlas’ were premiered by the Mirasol Duo at the NASA Biennial in Lubbock, TX, USA, March 12, 2016; that ‘Consecuencias’ for clarinet and string quartet were premiered by Harmen…

  • Tief!

    ByWillem van Merwijk Hours

    So many things happening lately that I sort of forgot to post stuff… Exciting premieres coming up and the first by Marijn Migchielsen en Rommert Groenhof at Marijn’s Master Exam at Codarts Rotterdam,27th of June 2016, 20.30 at Rotterdam Codarts. (recommended…) A duet for two contrabass trombones called TIEF (deep) and it is gloomy, poetic…

  • Wind Quintet, BOST

    ByWillem van Merwijk Hours

    One of the finest musicians I ever worked with is hornplayer Ron Schaaper (Residentie Orchestra The Hague; Netherlands Wind Ensemble). He also plays some lovely guitar and sings wonderfully, a typical specimen of a very handy and naturally gifted musician. (with a good sense of humor) Always wanted to write something for him and two…