Thaleia
July 2019. Thaleia is a heroic, festive and tender composition for Wind Orchestra. This composition has been written for the composing course at the ‘Bayerische Musikakademie Marktoberdorf‘ with Stephen Melillo (composer/conductor). It will was played for study purposes during the course by ‘Wind-richtung ’19.
Thaleia is the muse of comedy. Her name means ‘festive’ and ‘blossoming’. According to Diodorus Siculus, Hesoid named her Thaleia, because “men whose praises have been sung in poems flourish (thallein) through long periods of time”. (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.7.1. C1st B.C.)
‘Thalia’ opens festive with trombones and bassoons. This composition is lovely for orchestra’s with full (double) reed sections and a deep low brass register, further extended by the contra-bassoon.
Download a part of ‘Thaleia’ for your instrument.
Sergeant Stubby
May 2019. Written for Wind Orchestra “Rotterdam aan Zee” and Brass Band “Tendring Brass Band” for their joined music holiday in Britain. The composition premiered with both orchestras in England the 2nd of June 2019 during their “Bands across the Sea’ – concert.
Sergeant Stubby can be played by Wind Orchestra, by Brass Band and both Wind Orchestra and Brassband together.
Download the combined score for Wind Orchestra and Brassband:
Download the parts and scores for Wind Orchestra and Brassband:
Sergeant Stubby Scores and Parts
Lorelei
April 2019 Written for the WASBE international composition Contest. The composition is based on the mythical story of nymph Lorelei.
Duration of the composition: approximately 6:30 min. Grade: 3
Storyline in the music:
A – C: Nymph Lorelei lives on a hill by the riverside of the Rhine, near a dangerous current in the river. Lorei has beautiful golden hair, that sparkles in the sun.
D – G: When shippers approach the hill, Lorelei brushes her hair and sings, distracting the shippers from the dangerous rocks and current. Their ships hit the rocks and sink, they drown in agony.
H – K: The baron of a nearby village sends his son to conquer Lorelei. But instead of fighting her, he falls in love and drowns confused between Loreleis’ seductive songs and his fear of death.
L : The baron mourns his son and decides to take revence on Lorelei. He sends an army of knights, who conquer the hill and meet Lorelei on the top of the hill.
M : When they are about to slay her, she mocks them and a wave of water lifts her from the ground and rescues her.
N : Lorelei leaves the way she came, unchanged and seductive as ever. The orchestration:
The orchestration is a dialogue between Lorelei and her adversaries. The composer represents this dialogue by orchestrating a dialogue between ensembles. The percussion starts bringing an enchanting atmosphere. The woodwinds and tambourine represent Lorelei and her seductive nature. The brass section represents the shippers, the baron and his son.
The structure of the composition is based on the story structure as explained in ‘The anatomy of story‘ by John Truby. The composer combined this with the theory on songs as described in ‘The addiction formula: a holistic approach to writing cativating, memorable hit songs’ by F. Findeisen. You recognize these structures by the opening with the enchanting story world, two struggles ending in one big climax, followed by a more reflective part. The piece finishes with a short definitive battle and, in this particular case, an unchanged story world.
Weihnachtswolf
August 2018. Written for International Summerschool at the Musikakademie Marktoberdorf. The opening pictures a quiet landscape covered with snow. Then a joyful Christmas party starts. But on the way home, people get chased by the Christmas wolf.
The ‘Weihnachtswolf’ is a fun and disruptive piece full of surprises and beautiful choir combinations.
Download the score:
Download the parts:
Zerschmetterling
April 2018 An experimental potpourri of ideas written for learning purposes during the Summerschool 2018 with classes by Thomas Trachsel.
Download the score:
Trombones playing the lullaby at the end failed in this recording. But we tried that part again:
Gulden Sporen
Januari 2017. My second piece (“Golden Tracks”) is a study of music developed around 3 characters: a waterfox, a tree of life and fire butterflies. There is an enchanting story behind the piece, which results in a potpourri of characters and scenes. The composition has many themes (characters) and abrupt switches between the scenes.
Thuis
December 2017. My first piece ‘at home’ was written to prove myself that I would write all the dynamics, line etc. for all the voices. I decided that only when I did that and liked doing it, I could have private lessons to learn more. Also I decided to take a boring subject like ‘at home’ to see if there was enough material to work with.
