Les Hollandais volants

Here are the Dutch! Of course, an image dealing with water is best to bring this message. Several ages ago seamen traversed the open sea to East India. And they encountered many fears. Suppose the skipper and his crew would meet the Flying Dutchman in African waters... The phantom ship that inspires everybody with awe, and that according to tradition wanders near the Cape of Good Hope. It can sail right against the wind and right through other ships.

This programme, which consists entirely of Dutch compositions, was first performed during the Quatrième Festival Les Journées de la flûte à bec 2005 in Montreal, Canada. Inspired by the pioneering spirit of this theme, the Dutch Recorder Orchestra Praetorius under the baton of Norbert Kunst present the programme Les Hollandais volants -French for "The Flying Dutchmen". The focus of this programme will be on pieces of sixteenth and seventeenth century composers living in the towns of Leiden and The Hague. One can hear compositions by Cornelis Schuyt, an organ concert by Christian Ruppe (arranged for recorder orchestra) and Johann Christian Schickhardt. Schuyt en Sweelinck are considered pioneers in music history, living and working in the transitional phase from Renaissance to Baroque. Schuyt, who lived in the town of Leiden, became well-known as a composer of music for organ, for which he used style elements from Venice. A striking detail is the fact that the Dutch Recorder Orchestra Praetorius is also based in Leiden. Sweelinck earned his fame both in the Netherlands and abroad not only because of his vocal and instrumental compositions, but also as a pedagogue in composition and organ play. Johann Christian Schickhardt was not born in the Netherlands, but is buried in Leiden.

Most famous is Richard Wagners opera Der fliegende Holländer . He used the principle of the leitmotiv in it to announce the phantom ship.

More than enough ingredients for a concert programme full of adventure. And perhaps the audience will find itself face to face with The Flying Dutchman during Les Hollandais Volants. Wagner might be passing by... But you can never know in advance!

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