1994
Voice and piano
Text: Jan Boerstoel
UA: 18/3/1994, De Ijsbreker – Amsterdam, Thea van der Putten, Sopran; Henk Ekkel, Klavier
VOORVADEREN (The ancestors) is a cynic poem by Jan Boerstoel which I composed in February 1994 for a concert in the Amsterdam “Icebreaker”.
The text deals with those typical Dutch calvinist historic heroes who tried to conquer the world and suppress people with the bible in one hand and the gun in the other one. Especially the final chord of that song has driven angered the Dutch public quite a lot: a slamming piano-lid sounds exactly as a dropped coffin-lid.
This little song has substantially increased my popularity in the Netherlands.
The score can be downloaded here: Die-Altvorderen-Voorvaderen.pdf