''De Materie'' (''Matter'') is a four-part vocal and orchestral work by
Dutch composer
Louis Andriessen, written over the period 1984 to 1988.
[Arnold Whittall, "CD Reviews: Material Issues" (June 1997). ''The Musical Times'', 138 (1852): pp. 38–39.] Robert Wilson directed the first staging of the work on 1 June 1989 at the Muziektheater, Amsterdam, with James Doing, Wendy Hill, Beppie Blankert and Marjon Brandsma as the soloists at the premiere. In the US, Part II of the work, "Hadewijch", was performed at the Tanglewood Festival in 1994. The complete work received its first US performance in 2004 at Lincoln Center,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. "Hadewijch" received its UK premiere at the 1993
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. The UK premiere of the full work was at the Meltdown Festival in 1994.
The work incorporates eclectic musical influences, ranging from
Johann Sebastian Bach and
Igor Stravinsky to the old Netherlands chanson "L'homme armé" and 20th-century
boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pian ...
.
The work opens with 144 iterations of the same chord played fortissimo (very loud) and features an extended solo for two large metal boxes played with hammers. The texts are both sung and spoken. The four sections of the work incorporate various texts, with the dates of composition of each section in parentheses:
* Part I ("De Materie", 1986–1987): the 1581 ''Plakkaat van Verlatinge'' (
Act of Abjuration
The Act of Abjuration ( nl, Plakkaat van Verlatinghe; es, Acta de Abjuración, lit=placard of abjuration) is the declaration of independence by many of the provinces of the Netherlands from the allegiance to Philip II of Spain, during the Du ...
), with a text on shipbuilding by
Nicolaes Witsen
Nicolaes Witsen (8 May 1641 – 10 August 1717; modern Dutch: ''Nicolaas Witsen'') was a Dutch statesman who was mayor of Amsterdam thirteen times, between 1682 and 1706. In 1693 he became administrator of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). I ...
and the ''Idea Physicæ'' of
David van Goorle -
* Part II ("Hadewijch", 1987–1988): ''Zevende Visioen'' (Seventh Vision) by
Hadewijch -
* Part III ("'De Stijl", 1984–1985): text from ''The Principles of Plastic Mathematics'' by
M. H. J. Schoenmaekers, along with quotes by M. van Domselaer-Middelkoop about his friend, the Dutch painter
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being o ...
-
* Part IV (untitled): excerpts from two sonnets by
Willem Kloos
Willem Johannes Theodorus Kloos (; 6 May 1859 – 31 March 1938) was a nineteenth-century Dutch poet and literary critic. He was one of the prominent figures of the Movement of Eighty and became editor in chief of ''De Nieuwe Gids'' after the ed ...
, along with a passage from the diary of
Marie Curie and her
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
speech -
(Timings in minutes and seconds, from the Nonesuch CD listed below)
Recording
* Nonesuch 7559-79367-2: Susan Narucki, James Doing, Cindy Oswin, Gertrude Thoma; Members of the Netherlands Chamber Choir; Schönberg Ensemble; Asko Ensemble; Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor
References
External links
Boosey & Hawkes publisher page on ''De Materie''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Materie, De
Compositions by Louis Andriessen
Choral compositions
1988 compositions