Requiem (Vic Nees) ::cd:: Requiem / Tweeklank van aarde en water / De zee is een orkest

On the occasion of my sixty-fifth birthday in 2001, the Flemish Federation of Young Choirs (VFJK) commissioned me to compose a work for children's choir. Over the years I have written a few such compositions, but I am known primarily for sacred works with Latin texts. A minority language such as Dutch (Flanders) is often an obstacle to obtaining a wider reception and, I should add, I am not particularly inspired by the current crop of children's poetry, characterized by a slavish adherence to rhyme, forced humour and an exaggerated tendency to speak to today's social issues. Good poetry, including children's poetry, is timeless.

My introduction to the children's poetry of Armand van Assche (1940-1990) has given me wings. It is different: free verse, pointed expression and no explicit social criticism. Adults, too, experience it as poetry. In the same vein, I have tried to compose music that can be sung by children but be appreciated by adults without making them feel they are listening to a pedagogical exercise. Suitable for children's voices, it will be just as much at home in the repertories of youth and women's choirs.

I have deliberately limited the work's vocal range to make it accessible to a vocally untrained children's choir. Students at music academies who can follow the notation will be able to sing it using their voices within their normal range, as long as the conductor and pianists are up to the task.

Vic Nees
(translation: Myriam Coppieters Jarsky)


	De zee is een orkest The Music of the Sea On the occasion of my sixty-fifth birthday in 2001, the Flemish Federation of Young Choirs (VFJK) commissioned me to compose a work for children's choir. Over the years I have written a few such compositions, but I am known primarily for sacred works with Latin texts. A minority language such as Dutch (Flanders) is often an obstacle to obtaining a wider reception and, I should add, I am not particularly inspired by the current crop of children's poetry, characterized by a slavish adherence to rhyme, forced humour and an exaggerated tendency to speak to today's social issues. Good poetry, including children's poetry, is timeless. My introduction to the children's poetry of Armand van Assche (1940-1990) has given me wings. It is different: free verse, pointed expression and no explicit social criticism. Adults, too, experience it as poetry. In the same vein, I have tried to compose music that can be sung by children but be appreciated by adults without making them feel they are listening to a pedagogical exercise. Suitable for children's voices, it will be just as much at home in the repertories of youth and women's choirs. I have deliberately limited the work's vocal range to make it accessible to a vocally untrained children's choir. Students at music academies who can follow the notation will be able to sing it using their voices within their normal range, as long as the conductor and pianists are up to the task. Vic Nees (translation: Myriam Coppieters Jarsky)