Lamento

Lamento is a setting of the eponymous poem by Remco Campert. I had been walking around with the idea of setting this text to music for some time. As far as I am concerned, Lamento is not only one of Campert's best poems, but also one of the best poems of contemporary Dutch literature. The cyclic strophes - with their repetitions, near-repetitions and their passacaglia-like rhythm - are in fact music in themselves: refined in word choice, with great evocative power. In my setting of Lamento, Campert's poem is the main guideline for the form. The endless circling of the music runs parallel to the strophes: in the repetition and yet constant change, the calmly undulating rhythm of the text, the layer of words that allow time to pass from 'here now' to 'never again'. Literal translation of the opening strophes: Here now along the long deep water that I thought that I thought that you always that you always Here now along the long deep water where, behind the reed, behind the reed, the sun, that I thought that you always, always... Although I originally conceived Lamento for a large choir, I can imagine that the work could also do justice to a more soloistic setting. ​​​​​​​ Lamento was composed at the request of Anthony Zielhorst and the choir Ad Parnassum. The composition was made possible by the Fonds Podiumkunsten. First performance: 4 November 2012 in Abdij Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven in Tilburg, by Ad Parnassum conducted by Anthony Zielhorst.