''Canto Ostinato'' ("Obstinate Song" (as ''

ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...

'')) is a musical

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

written by the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Simeon ten Holt Simeon ten Holt (24 January 1923 – 25 November 2012) was a Dutch contemporary classical composer. Ten Holt was born in Bergen, North Holland, and studied with Jakob van Domselaer, eventually developing a highly personal style of minimal ...

. The piece was completed in 1976 and performed for the first time in 1979 and is by far his most popular and most performed work.

Performance

The most remarkable aspect about this work is the amount of freedom that is given to the performer(s). The piece can be performed with different instruments and a different number of performers. Most commonly, it is played with either two or four

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

s, but during the first performance in

Bergen, North Holland Bergen () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Its North Sea beaches and forests make it a popular destination for tourists. In 2001, the municipality was formed from a merger of the former municipaliti ...

in the Netherlands, the performers used three pianos and an electric organ. Other aspects that illustrate this freedom can be found in how this piece has been built up. The composer created a hundred and six small cells called 'sections' of a few bars, which can be played

ad libitum In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; from Latin for 'at one's pleasure' or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The r ...

and be repeated either one or many more times (some

bridges A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whic ...

excepted). Because of this build-up, performance may take from some two hours to more than a day. The whole piece is at a steady tempo of ♩ = 60, marked so several times along the score. It starts with that, given the fact that quintuplets are thoroughly used in this composition, is actually . Following is a complete representation of the structure of the work: The piece is regularly performed live in the Netherlands with changing players and instruments, ranging from those with four pianos or one or more different instruments, to those played by a solo musician. A couple of performances have taken place with the carillon of the

Dom Tower of Utrecht The Dom Tower (Cathedral Tower, Dutch: ''Domtoren'') of Utrecht is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands, at 112.5 metres (368 feet) in height. It is considered the symbol of Utrecht. The tower was part of St. Martin's Cathedral, als ...

. It has also been performed in several public spaces all around the Netherlands, such as the

Groningen railway station Groningen railway station (; abbreviation: Gn), locally called ''Hoofdstation'' (main station), is the main railway station in Groningen in the Province of Groningen, Netherlands. It is located on the Harlingen–Nieuweschans railway between Zu ...

Style

This piece is considered to be minimal in origin, because of the repetitive and obstinate nature of the piece, but there is some discussion on this subject. Ten Holt usually uses the term '

genetic code The genetic code is the set of rules used by living cells to translate information encoded within genetic material ( DNA or RNA sequences of nucleotide triplets, or codons) into proteins. Translation is accomplished by the ribosome, which links ...

' to describe his work, probably because of the typical build-up of the piece. As opposed to a high percentage of modern classical music that is not tonal and/or

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...

, ''Canto Ostinato'' contains tonal

harmonies In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However, ...

and does not become (very) dissonant. Another typical aspect is the fact that one can hear the same or similar bass figures and harmonies throughout the piece, which explains the title. If one word would have to catch the essence of ''Canto Ostinato'', one could use "meditative", as the different sections are similar, but generate different emotional reactions. Examples of pieces written by Ten Holt in roughly the same way are ''Lemniscaat'' (1983), ''Horizon'' (1985), ''Incantatie IV'', and ''Meandres'' (1997), none of which have become as popular as ''Canto Ostinato''.

Recordings

Excerpts are available for download on official sites (see external links). Many different recordings of ''Canto Ostinato'' are now available. The CD recording made by

Kees Wieringa Kees Wieringa is a Dutch pianist, composer, writer and cultural entrepreneur. He came to prominence for his performances of the Dutch composers Jakob van Domselaer, Daniel Ruyneman and Simeon ten Holt. Biography Kees Wieringa graduated from the ...

and

Polo de Haas Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small har ...

, published in 1996 by Emergo Classics, received Gold status, which means that more than 10,000 copies were sold (the actual number lies above 15,000). That is rather rare for modern classical-music performance CDs and especially for Dutch composers, who usually do not generate that much popularity. Another recording that is relatively popular is the four piano version of the ''Piano Ensemble'', featuring Irene Russo,

Fred Oldenburg Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rodr ...

, Sandra van Veen, and Jeroen van Veen and released by

Brilliant Classics Brilliant Classics is a classical music label based in the Dutch town of Leeuwarden. It is renowned for releasing super-budget-priced editions on CD of the complete works of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and many other composers. The label also sp ...

. One particular record was made by

Ivo Janssen Ivo is a masculine given name, in use in various European languages. The name used in western European languages originates as a Normannic name recorded since the High Middle Ages, and the French name Yves is a variant of it. The unrelated So ...

, released in 2009, which has a total length of around 60 minutes, and is a one-man, one-piano performance of the original composition. Simeon ten Holt was the official sponsor of the record of "Canto Ostinato" by the

Rondane Quartet published in 2010. Versions using other instruments than piano include solo organ (performed by Aart Bergwerff in 2007), solo harp (by Assia Cunego, Italy, in 2009), string quartet (by Matangi Quartet, 2020) and solo marimba ( Peter Elbertse, 2012). Cunego's performance inspired Dutch pianist

to record a one-man version for solo piano in 2009. Other versions use combinations of piano, organ, marimba, carillon, and other instruments. CantoOstinatoGroningen2010.jpg, ''Canto Ostinato'' performed in

(2010) CantoOstinatoTheHague2011.jpg, ''Canto Ostinato'' performed in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

(2011)

Documentary

Dutch documentary maker Ramón Gieling made the documentary "''Over Canto''" ("About Canto") about this piece. This documentary has been promoted in the Dutch TV-show ''

De Wereld Draait Door ''De Wereld Draait Door'' (; English: "The world keeps on turning") also known by the acronym DWDD was an early-evening talk show on Dutch television, broadcast every weekday at 7:00 p.m. on NPO 1. It is the Netherlands' longest-running, reg ...

''.''De Wereld Draait Door'', 17-11-2011
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References

External links

* Listen to recordings o
canto-ostinato.com
o

The Grand Melody from Canto Ostinato by the Rondane Kwartet.

Live recording of Canto Ostinato for 4 pianos
Eindhoven, 2 april 2011.

* {{IMDb title, qid=Q14854032, title=Over Canto 1976 compositions 20th-century classical music Minimalistic compositions