Willem Bruls: ‘De mens achter de melodie doet er wel degelijk toe’

Ook de afgelopen week bleef mijn biografie Reinbert de Leeuw: mens of melodie in de belangstelling staan.

Op 29 mei publiceerde het tijdschrift Gonzo een bespreking van Jan Nieuwenhuis, onder de titel ‘Ongeautoriseerd maar gedegen‘. Hij noemt het ‘een goed gedocumenteerd boek waarin niet alleen het leven van De Leeuw wordt besproken maar meerdere facetten uit de (Nederlandse) muziekgeschiedenis worden beschreven’. Naar aanleiding van de Notenkrakersactie in 1969 merkt hij op dat mijn biografie ‘terecht aantoont dat de toenmalige praktijk niet eens zo behoudend was’.

Nieuwenhuis concludeert: ‘De biografie staat vol wetenswaardigheden, boeiende anekdotes en vooral schitterende muziek. Naast dat Derks het leven van De Leeuw gedegen onder handen heeft genomen gaat het boek vooral over muziek. Ze boort de melodie aan die De Leeuw tot mens heeft gemaakt.’

Het kwartaalblad Theatermaker wijdde in het zomernummer een hele pagina aan een bespreking door operakenner Willem Bruls. De ondertitel ‘mens of melodie’ riep aanvankelijk vragen bij hem op, maar al lezende werd hem duidelijk dat ‘die mens achter de kunstenaar er wel degelijk toe deed’, zonder dat ik als auteur verval in ‘psychologie van de koude grond of dramatische conclusies ten aanzien van De Leeuws werkzaamheden’.

Bruls beschrijft hoe gaandeweg een beeld ontstaat van een man die ‘gedreven en koppig, maar ook humoristisch en speels’ is. Hij noemt mijn onderzoek indrukwekkend concludeert: ‘Derks’ boek is een gedetailleerde maar uiterst lezenswaardige reconstructie van De Leeuws leven en werk, maar tegelijkertijd een geschiedenis van de Nederlandse muziek in de tweede helft van de twintigste eeuw.

Theatermaker nr. 3, juni 2014

Adriaan Meij, beheerder van het cultuurcentrum Zael te Meppel wijdde een bespreking aan mijn boek op zijn blogsite. Hij bekijkt Reinbert de Leeuw c.s. vanuit een economisch/maatschappelijk perspectief en werpt interessante vragen op:

‘Zijn [Reinberts] nieuwe muziek speelt aan de overkant van de rivier. Aan deze kant ontwrichtende technologie, falend kapitalisme, politiek nihilisme; aan gene zijde de verklanking, de woordeloze, abstracte  schreeuw om bezinning. Twee werelden die aan elkaar voorbijgaan. […]  Verklankt De Leeuw een tijdsbeeld of verdwaalt hij in de nieuwe tijd?’

Meij noemt mijn boek ‘goed gedocumenteerd en heel feitelijk’. Volgens hem legt het ‘een tijdsbeeld bloot van de muziekwereld uit die tijd dat bijna wetenschappelijk is en gerust vergeleken kan worden met de beste, geautoriseerde biografieën over bijvoorbeeld leden van het Koninklijk huis. […].  Hij concludeert: Reinbert de Leeuw wenste haar biografie na zeven jaar samenwerken niet te autoriseren, wat een affront is.

Op 12 juni verzorg ik een lezing in zijn kunst- en cultuurcentrum Zael in Meppel.

Vanavond, bij het laatste concert van de omroepserie De Vrijdag van Vredenburg brengen het Radio Filharmonisch Orkest en het Groot Omroepkoor de wereldpremière van Requiem Songs van Wim Laman, o.l.v. Antony Hermus. Voor de live uitzending op Radio 4 sprak ik met Laman en Hermus en ik interviewde Laman ook uitvoerig voor Cultuurpers. In de pauze en na afloop van het concert signeer ik mijn biografie. Komt allen!

#AdriaanMeij #AntonyHermus #CultuurcentrumZael #Gonzo #JanNieuwenhuis #LeporelloUitgevers #radio4 #ReinbertDeLeeuwMensOfMelodie #RequiemSongs #TheaDerks #Theatermaker #VrijdagVanVredenburg #WillemBruls #WimLaman

Mathilde Wantenaar on her new opera A Song for the Moon: ‘With music you can achieve anything’

Mahtilde Wantenaar (c) Karen van Gilst

In 2013 Mathilde Wantenaar (Amsterdam, 1993) participated in the project Boom|Amsterdam is an opera, two years later she wrote the mini-opera Personar for the first edition of the Opera Forward Festival. In March her family opera Een lied voor de maan (A Song for the Moon) was to have its world premiere in that very festival. Like all concerts in the Netherlands the performances were cancelled because of the outbreak of Covid-19. Let’s hope the planned performances in Madrid, Munich and Aix-en-Provence in May and June will proceed. Here’s the interview I conducted in February.

Mathilde Wantenaar’s love for music was instilled by her parents. Her mother teaches singing, her father plays the accordion, piano and bandoneon, and as long as she can remember she was surrounded by music at home. She played the guitar and cello herself, accompanied her mother’s students and sometimes sang along with them. She also composed her own pieces early on. – Something she initially considered to be her ‘own crazy little thing’; the idea of becoming a composer only arose when she took part in a composition project by Asko|Schönberg at secondary school.

Human voice

In 2011 she enrolled for the preparatory course at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where she subsequently studied composition, with cello, piano and singing as secondary subjects. Already during her studies she won several prizes, among others in the Alba Rosa Viëtor Composition Competition and the Princess Christina Competition. After graduating in 2016 she applied for a follow-up study in singing at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague.

From early childhood Wantenaar has had a great affinity with the human voice. In recent years this has led to a series of successful vocal works for renowned Dutch musicians and ensembles such as the soprano Johannette Zomer, the quintet Wishful Singing, the Netherlands Chamber Choir and the Dutch Radio Choir. It was obvious that one day there would be a sequel to her 20-minute opera Personar with which she concluded her composition studies.

Opera

‘As a child I regularly went to operas with my parents’, says Wantenaar. ‘I secretly dreamed of composing one myself, even though I initially considered my children’s pieces and rumblings at the piano to be a private thing. In that respect I lived completely in my own fantasy world. – Until I started thinking about what I would become when I grew up. When I auditioned for the Conservatory of Amsterdam, I was asked where I saw myself in ten years’ time. I answered I hoped to write an opera for Dutch National Opera. – For the big stage.’ She smiles furtively, as if she were ashamed of her youthful hubris.

That’s why she immediately accepted when Dutch National Opera offered her to take part in the workshop ‘composing for a youthful audience’ of the European Network of Opera Academies. The idea of creating a fairy-tale opera originated in 2017, during a workshop conducted by dramaturge Willem Bruls at La Monnaie in Brussels. ‘We formed a team, in which this idea bubbled up. But the question was what kind of fairy-tale exactly? So we started reading a lot of books and someone from the team tipped A Song for the Moon by Toon Tellegen, which she had read to her children herself.’

Toon Tellegen

‘I’ve known Toon Tellegen’s work for a long time, my parents used to read his stories to me when I was little. I still enjoy them. – Occasionally I read them to my boyfriend before we go to sleep. During a period when I was out of my depth at the conservatory I read the collection Misschien wisten zij alles (Maybe they knew everything) in one go. The stories are at the same time comforting, uplifting, wonderful and above all very beautiful. They lifted me above my grief and made me calm.’

However, she did not yet know A Song for the Moon when it was proposed. ‘When I read it, I was immediately touched. It appealed to me that Tellegen broaches themes like loneliness, identity, disappointment and friendship. I especially like the fact that music plays a central role in it, ideal for an opera. The Mole, the main character, undergoes a true development. In the beginning he is a bit shy and insecure, but in the end he crawls out of his shell thanks to the music, makes friends and goes out into the wide world.’

Cheering up the Moon

Wantenaar wrote the libretto herself, together with Willem Bruls, keeping as close as possible to the original: ‘Toon Tellegen’s language is already very musical and imitable. There are five singers and six instrumentalists and the opera lasts about an hour.’

‘In the first act, the Mole is on stage alone. He is lonely and seeks contact with the Moon, but when he greets it he gets no response. He wonders why. Can’t the Moon talk, doesn’t he want to talk, or doesn’t he know what to say? All those things of course also concern the Mole himself, but he doesn’t want to face his own loneliness. He decides to write a song to cheer up the Moon. This proves not to be easy, but in the end he succeeds and shows it to the Grasshopper, who is a conductor.’

‘Together they form an orchestra in the second act, with singing mice and Frog, the diva-tenor. This act is a somewhat comical counterpart to the quiet and sad first movement. They rehearse the song and perform it for the Moon, but when they look up expectantly afterwards, it looks rather sad. Everyone is deeply disappointed and the Mole crawls back into his little hole defeated. He wonders if the Moon is angry now, and may come down to shine straight in his face.’

The power of music

‘In the third and final act the Mole receives composition lessons from the wise Cricket. He looks at the song and says: “I know! It’s a beautiful song, but gloomy.” He changes a lowered tone (a flat tone is calles “mol” in Dutch) into a sharp one (a raised tone), upon which the song suddenly becomes cheerful. Yet the Mole doesn’t quite dare to believe in it yet. He needs the courage of the Grasshopper to present the new version to the Moon.’

‘This time the Moon does looks happy afterwards, he even glows! For a moment the Mole still has doubts about himself, but then he realizes he is good as he is: “I am the Mole and I remain the Mole. Sometimes I’m gloomy, but sometimes I’m cheerful.” He finds the courage to step up to the Earthworm and make his first real friendship. So everything turns out all right at the end of the opera.’

‘The great thing is that the story is easy for children to follow, but at the same time has so much philosophical depth that it is also interesting for adults. The Cricket sings: “With music you can achieve anything”. To me, that’s the core of this opera.’

More info and playlist here. 

#ASongForTheMoon #DutchNationalOpera #MathildeWantenaar #ToonTellegen #WillemBruls