programme
Josquin des Prez (1450/55-1521) Nymphes des Bois
Louis Andriessen (1939-2021) May
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Requiem
performers
Cappella Amsterdam
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
Daniel Reuss conductor
Carolyn Sampson soprano
Marianne Beate Kielland mezzo-soprano
Thomas Walker tenor
Tobias Berndt baritone
background
On December 5, 2020, the world premiere of May took place, commissioned by the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and composed by the late Louis Andriessen, who passed away last year. May became Andriessen’s swan song and is a tribute to his friend Frans Brüggen, the “founding father” of the orchestra, who died in 2013. May is based on fragments from Herman Gorter’s famous poem Mei. With May , Louis Andriessen made an impressive contribution to the Orchestra’s repertoire: not a “new spring,” but a “new sound.
A distant predecessor of Andriessen is the French composer Josquin des Prez, who mourned the death of his colleague Johannes Ockeghem with his work Nymphes des Bois. Finally, Mozart’s Requiem from 1791 is performed, the year in which he felt his own death approaching. The unfinished Requiem was completed a year later by Mozart’s former student, friend, and colleague Franz Xaver Süßmayr.
In the expert hands of the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Cappella Amsterdam, conductor Daniel Reuss, and four great soloists, this program can traditionally be expected to receive a memorable performance!
The campaign image is a still from the music video Nymphes des Bois by video director and photographer Martin Sweers.
About the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century was founded in 1981 by Frans Brüggen, Lucy van Dael and a number of friends. The orchestra consists of about 50 members from around the world, 20 nationalities.
Six or more times a year, the orchestra meets for international tours. The musicians, individually known as specialists in eighteenth and early nineteenth century music, play on authentic instruments or copies.
The extensive repertoire of works by Purcell, Bach, Rameau, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Chopin, among others, was initially released on CD by Philips Classics, now on Glossa/The Grand Tour. Many of these recordings received international awards.
In August 2014, the orchestra had to say goodbye to Frans Brüggen. His death brought an end to the cooperation of the orchestra and its Founding Father. Orchestra members have decided to continue the tradition of six or more tours a year with guests and guest conductors.