Audio recording: A Pӕan
A Pӕan
"A Pӕan", for tenor, mixed choir, two clarinets, two bassoons and two horns. Text by Edgar Allen Poe.
Performed by the Nijmeegs Universitair Kamerkoor "Audite Nova," directed by Klaas Stok.
The tenor solo is Johan Martin.
You can order the score at the Lulu online bookshop: 
Edgar Allen Poe
In 1996 I read an article in the newspaper about a composition contest called "Gemengd Koor +" (mixed choir plus).
I always preferred to write for human voice; this preference, plus the promise of the advertisement saying that the piece would be performed in front of a real audience, wow!
So I started thinking of what kind of music I would like to write, what kind of text and what kind of "+" I would use.
At that time I was crazy about Edgar Allen Poe, I read his collected work over and over again and had already used some of his poems for solo songs. I was working on an short opera, based on his story "The facts in the case of M. Valdemar," and it was for me more than normal to keep on going with his work: so I got deeply into his book again and found the perfect poem: A Paean. It's about a man, standing at his wife's grave. He mourns as anyone else who just lost his loved one would, and he is thinking about her death.
After reading it a couple of times, and looking up in a dictionary the words I couldn't understand, I started to feel what it was about and I just loved it! I knew immediately what the "+" would be: dark wind instruments, nml. two clarinets, two bassoons and two horns. A choir was required, but I added a little extra to it: a tenor solo singer. With this combination I started to work out my idea.
The result is a piece in which the choir is commenting on the inner thoughts of the main character, represented by the tenor solo. The choir repeats the same sentence, "How shall the burial rite be read?
The solemn song be sung? The requiem for the loveliest dead, That ever died so young?" over and over again, while the tenor solo sings the rest of the story.
To my excitement the piece was very well received. One year later, I got a letter in the mail saying that it had made to the half-finals, meaning that it would be performed together with the pieces of the other composers.
The concert took place on the 22nd. November, 1997. Listening to it at the concert, for the first time, was a beautiful but at the same time a scary experience. It felt as if everybody had had a peek in my inner heart, hearing something that was not heard by anybody else but myself. After the concert, the three winners were called out; "A Paean" became number one. I was thrilled and nervous. The concert concluded performing it one more time and the price was the promise for publication.
Please write me an e-mail if you are planning of using it. Even though you can perform my music for free, for me as an composer it is nice to know if it is performed. See the Contact Me page for details.
Here is the complete text of the poem:
A PAEAN
by Edgar Allen Poe
I.
How shall the burial rite be read?
The solemn song be sung ?
The requiem for the loveliest dead,
That ever died so young?
II.
Her friends are gazing on her,
And on her gaudy bier,
And weep ! — oh! to dishonor
Dead beauty with a tear!
III.
They loved her for her wealth —
And they hated her for her pride —
But she grew in feeble health,
And they love her — that she died.
IV.
They tell me (while they speak
Of her "costly broider'd pall")
That my voice is growing weak —
That I should not sing at all —
V.
Or that my tone should be
Tun'd to such solemn song
So mournfully — so mournfully,
That the dead may feel no wrong.
VI.
But she is gone above,
With young Hope at her side,
And I am drunk with love
Of the dead, who is my bride. —
VII.
Of the dead — dead who lies
All perfum'd there,
With the death upon her eyes,
And the life upon her hair.
VIII.
Thus on the coffin loud and long
I strike — the murmur sent
Through the grey chambers to my song,
Shall be the accompaniment.
IX.
Thou died'st in thy life's June —
But thou did'st not die too fair:
Thou did'st not die too soon,
Nor with too calm an air.
X.
From more than fiends on earth,
Thy life and love are riven,
To join the untainted mirth
Of more than thrones in heaven —
XII.
Therefore, to thee this night
I will no requiem raise,
But waft thee on thy flight,
With a Pæan of old days.
by Edgar Allen Poe
I.
How shall the burial rite be read?
The solemn song be sung ?
The requiem for the loveliest dead,
That ever died so young?
II.
Her friends are gazing on her,
And on her gaudy bier,
And weep ! — oh! to dishonor
Dead beauty with a tear!
III.
They loved her for her wealth —
And they hated her for her pride —
But she grew in feeble health,
And they love her — that she died.
IV.
They tell me (while they speak
Of her "costly broider'd pall")
That my voice is growing weak —
That I should not sing at all —
V.
Or that my tone should be
Tun'd to such solemn song
So mournfully — so mournfully,
That the dead may feel no wrong.
VI.
But she is gone above,
With young Hope at her side,
And I am drunk with love
Of the dead, who is my bride. —
VII.
Of the dead — dead who lies
All perfum'd there,
With the death upon her eyes,
And the life upon her hair.
VIII.
Thus on the coffin loud and long
I strike — the murmur sent
Through the grey chambers to my song,
Shall be the accompaniment.
IX.
Thou died'st in thy life's June —
But thou did'st not die too fair:
Thou did'st not die too soon,
Nor with too calm an air.
X.
From more than fiends on earth,
Thy life and love are riven,
To join the untainted mirth
Of more than thrones in heaven —
XII.
Therefore, to thee this night
I will no requiem raise,
But waft thee on thy flight,
With a Pæan of old days.
Choir Songs
Choir Songs is a song collection of five songs, for mixed choir and piano. I wrote them between 1994 and 1998.
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You can order the sheet music at the Lulu online bookshop. Click on the button below and you will be transferred to their shop:
What follows is the complete text of the poems I used.
The first song is based on the famous Ave Maria text, the author is anonymous.
1: Ave Maria
The first song is based on the famous Ave Maria text, the author is anonymous.
1: Ave Maria
Ave Maria,gratia plena Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus, Jesus Christus.
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis,
Nuncet in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.
The second and the fifth songs are based on poems by Edgar Allen Poe. He was born on the 19th of January 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, died on the 7th of October 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Edgar Allen Poe
2: Hymn
At morn, at noon, at twilight dim,
Maria!, thou hast heard my hymn!
In joy and woe, in good and ill,
Mother of God, be with me still!
When the hours flew brightly by,
and not a cloud obscured the sky,
my soul, lest it should truant be,
thy Grace did guide to thine and thee.
Now, when storms of fate overcast,
darkly my present and my past,
let my future radiant shine,
with sweet hopes, of thee and thine!
5: Alone
From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were - I have not seen
As others saw - I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I lov'd, I lov'd alone.
Then - in my childhood - in the dawn
Of a most stormy life - was drawn
From ev'ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that 'round me roll'd
In its autumn tint of gold -
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass'd me flying by -
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a Demon in my view.
The third song is based on a poem by Kahlil Gibran. He was born on the 6th of January 1883 in Bsharri, Libanon, died on the 10th of April 1931 in New York City, USA.
Kahlil Gibran
3: Giving and Rewarding
Maria!, thou hast heard my hymn!
In joy and woe, in good and ill,
Mother of God, be with me still!
When the hours flew brightly by,
and not a cloud obscured the sky,
my soul, lest it should truant be,
thy Grace did guide to thine and thee.
Now, when storms of fate overcast,
darkly my present and my past,
let my future radiant shine,
with sweet hopes, of thee and thine!
5: Alone
From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were - I have not seen
As others saw - I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I lov'd, I lov'd alone.
Then - in my childhood - in the dawn
Of a most stormy life - was drawn
From ev'ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that 'round me roll'd
In its autumn tint of gold -
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass'd me flying by -
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a Demon in my view.
The third song is based on a poem by Kahlil Gibran. He was born on the 6th of January 1883 in Bsharri, Libanon, died on the 10th of April 1931 in New York City, USA.
Kahlil Gibran
3: Giving and Rewarding
And their are those, who have little, and give it all.
These are the believers in life, and the bounty of life.
And their coffer, is never empty.
There are those who give with joy,
and that joy is their reward!
Giving, rewarding.
And there are those,
who give with pain,
and that pain is their baptism.
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna!
And their are those, who give and know not pain in their giving.
Nor do they seek joy, nor give mindfulness of virtue;
They give, as in younder valley,
the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space,
through the hands of suchs as these,
God speaks;
And from behind their eyes,
He smiles, upon the Earth.
The fourth song is based on a poem by Oscar Wilde. He was born on the 16th of October 1854 in Dublin, Irland, died on the 30th of November 1900 in Paris, France.
Oscar Wilde
4: Requiescat
Tread lightly,
she is near,
under the snow.
Speak gently,
she can hear,
the daisies grow.
All her bright golden hair,
tarnished with rust.
She that was young and fair,
fallen to dust.
Lilylike, white as snow,
she hardly knew
She was a woman, so
sweetly she grew.
Coffin-board, heavy stone,
Lie on her breast,
I vex my heart alone,
She is at rest.
Peace, peace, she cannot hear,
Lyre or sonnet,
All my life's buried here,
Heap earth upon it.
The Next Millennium
The Next Millennium is a work for mixed choir and piano. I wrote it in 1999 for the school-choir on the school where I was working at that moment as a pianist. The text is by Krishnamurti, M. L. King and André van Haren.
The Next Millennium
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You can order the sheet music at the Lulu online bookshop. Click on the button below and you will be transferred to their shop:
Jiddu Krishnamurti was born on the 11th of May, 1895 in Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh in India, died in 1986 in Ojai, California. USA.
Krishnamurti
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on the 15th of January 1929, died on the 4th of April 1968.
Martin Luther King
André van Haren was born on the 16th of May, 1963 in Zevenaar, The Netherlands.
André van Haren
The Next Millennium
Ze zeggen dat vorig millennium
een tijdperk was van strijd,
en hopen dat huidig millennium
er een worden zal van vrede.
Wat brengt dit nieuwe millennium,
buiten technologieen en geld?
Wat brengt dit nieuwe millennium,
minder vrede of minder geweld.
Grote geesten gaven visies,
theorieen, hoe het moet.
Wat de oorzaak is van onrust,
van verlangen, en van strijd.
Want daar buiten is de wereld,
en de wereld, dat ben jij!
I have a Dream!
that one day every valley shall be exalted,
every hill and every mountain shall be made low,
the rough places will be made plain,
and the crooked places will be made straight,
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together.
Wat brengt dit nieuwe millennium,
minder vrede of minder geweld.
Zij vertelden te gaan zoeken,
niet daar buiten,
maar hier binnen.
Man, in order to escape his conflicts,
has invented many forms of meditation,
these have been based on desire,
and the urge for achievement
and imply conflict
and a struggle to arrive.
This conscious, deliberate striving
is always within the limits of a conditioned mind
and in this there is no freedom.
Meditation is the ending of thought.
It is only then that there is a different dimension
which is beyond time.
Ze zeggen dat vorig millennium
een tijdperk was van strijd,
en hopen dat huidig millennium
er een worden zal van vrede.
Wat brengt dit nieuwe millennium,
buiten technologieen en geld?
Grote geesten gaven visies,
theorieen, hoe het moet.
Wat de oorzaak is van onrust,
van verlangen, en van strijd.
Want daar buiten is de wereld,
en de wereld, dat ben jij!
Ze zeggen dat vorig millennium
een tijdperk was van strijd,
en hopen dat huidig millennium
er een worden zal van vrede.
Wat brengt dit nieuwe millennium,
buiten technologieen en geld?
Wat brengt dit nieuwe millennium,
minder vrede of minder geweld.
Grote geesten gaven visies,
theorieen, hoe het moet.
Wat de oorzaak is van onrust,
van verlangen, en van strijd.
Want daar buiten is de wereld,
en de wereld, dat ben jij!
I have a Dream!
that one day every valley shall be exalted,
every hill and every mountain shall be made low,
the rough places will be made plain,
and the crooked places will be made straight,
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together.
Wat brengt dit nieuwe millennium,
minder vrede of minder geweld.
Zij vertelden te gaan zoeken,
niet daar buiten,
maar hier binnen.
Man, in order to escape his conflicts,
has invented many forms of meditation,
these have been based on desire,
and the urge for achievement
and imply conflict
and a struggle to arrive.
This conscious, deliberate striving
is always within the limits of a conditioned mind
and in this there is no freedom.
Meditation is the ending of thought.
It is only then that there is a different dimension
which is beyond time.
Ze zeggen dat vorig millennium
een tijdperk was van strijd,
en hopen dat huidig millennium
er een worden zal van vrede.
Wat brengt dit nieuwe millennium,
buiten technologieen en geld?
Grote geesten gaven visies,
theorieen, hoe het moet.
Wat de oorzaak is van onrust,
van verlangen, en van strijd.
Want daar buiten is de wereld,
en de wereld, dat ben jij!
Living on the Planet Earth
Living on the Planet Earth is a work in five movements, for mixed choir, piano, 1 trumpet, 2 horns, and 2 trombones.
I wrote it in 1995, the author of the text is anonymous.
1: Expression of Life
2: Mother Ertha
3: Filled with lasting Joy
4: Peace of the Goddess
5: Return of the Goddess
Preview this book (a new window will be opened)
You can order the sheet music at the Lulu online bookshop. Click on the button below and you will be transferred to their shop:
Here is the complete text of the work:
1: Expression of Life
I am a divine expression of life.
I am loving and lovable.
I am a divine expression of life.
I am loving loving and lovable.
I am a divine expression of life.
I am loving and lovable.
2: Mother Ertha
Ertha, mother, giver of life.
Fountain of our energy,
Nurturer, sustainer,
source of our bodies and souls,
blessed be She.
Let us be mindful of Her.
Let us love all beauty in Her.
Let us not forget our dept to Her.
Let us protect Her other children,
our animal sisters; The swimmers, crawlers, runners, flyers!
Ertha, mother, giver of life.
Let us love Goddes Ertha,
until She gatters us in.
To return once more to Her substance,
to be absorbed by Her womb.
Let us love,
Goddes Ertha.
Let us love,
Goddes Ertha.
To be Eartha.
Blessed be She.
3: Filled with lasting Joy
May all beings, be filled with joy and peace.
May all beings, everywhere;
the strong and the weak;
the great and the small;
the mean and the powerful;
the subtle and the gross;
May all beings, be filled with joy and peace.
May all beings, everywhere;
Seen and unseen;
dwelling far of or nearby;
being or waiting to become;
May all beings, be filled with joy and peace.
May all be filled with lasting joy!
4: Peace of the Goddess
By the Earh, that is Her body.
By the air, that is Her breath.
The peace of the Goddes go in our hearts.
By the fire, that is Her bright spirit.
By the living water of Her womb.
The peace of the Goddes go in our hearts.
By the earth, by the air, by the fire, by the water;
The circle is open, but unbroken.
Blessed be.
5: Return of the Goddess
We all came from the Goddes,
and, to Her we shall return.
Like a drop, of rain,
flowing, to the ocean.
1: Expression of Life
I am a divine expression of life.
I am loving and lovable.
I am a divine expression of life.
I am loving loving and lovable.
I am a divine expression of life.
I am loving and lovable.
2: Mother Ertha
Ertha, mother, giver of life.
Fountain of our energy,
Nurturer, sustainer,
source of our bodies and souls,
blessed be She.
Let us be mindful of Her.
Let us love all beauty in Her.
Let us not forget our dept to Her.
Let us protect Her other children,
our animal sisters; The swimmers, crawlers, runners, flyers!
Ertha, mother, giver of life.
Let us love Goddes Ertha,
until She gatters us in.
To return once more to Her substance,
to be absorbed by Her womb.
Let us love,
Goddes Ertha.
Let us love,
Goddes Ertha.
To be Eartha.
Blessed be She.
3: Filled with lasting Joy
May all beings, be filled with joy and peace.
May all beings, everywhere;
the strong and the weak;
the great and the small;
the mean and the powerful;
the subtle and the gross;
May all beings, be filled with joy and peace.
May all beings, everywhere;
Seen and unseen;
dwelling far of or nearby;
being or waiting to become;
May all beings, be filled with joy and peace.
May all be filled with lasting joy!
4: Peace of the Goddess
By the Earh, that is Her body.
By the air, that is Her breath.
The peace of the Goddes go in our hearts.
By the fire, that is Her bright spirit.
By the living water of Her womb.
The peace of the Goddes go in our hearts.
By the earth, by the air, by the fire, by the water;
The circle is open, but unbroken.
Blessed be.
5: Return of the Goddess
We all came from the Goddes,
and, to Her we shall return.
Like a drop, of rain,
flowing, to the ocean.