''De Materie'' (''Matter'') is a four-part vocal and orchestral work by

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

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

, written over the period 1984 to 1988.Arnold Whittall, "CD Reviews: Material Issues" (June 1997). ''The Musical Times'', 138 (1852): pp. 38–39. Robert Wilson directed the first staging of the work on 1 June 1989 at the Muziektheater, Amsterdam, with James Doing, Wendy Hill, Beppie Blankert and Marjon Brandsma as the soloists at the premiere. In the US, Part II of the work, "Hadewijch", was performed at the Tanglewood Festival in 1994. The complete work received its first US performance in 2004 at Lincoln Center,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. "Hadewijch" received its UK premiere at the 1993

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (also known by the acronym HCMF, stylised since 2006 as the lowercase hcmf//) is a new music festival held annually in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Since its foundation in 1978, it has featured ...

. The UK premiere of the full work was at the Meltdown Festival in 1994. The work incorporates eclectic musical influences, ranging from

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

and

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

to the old Netherlands chanson "L'homme armé" and 20th-century

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pian ...

. The work opens with 144 iterations of the same chord played fortissimo (very loud) and features an extended solo for two large metal boxes played with hammers. The texts are both sung and spoken. The four sections of the work incorporate various texts, with the dates of composition of each section in parentheses: * Part I ("De Materie", 1986–1987): the 1581 ''Plakkaat van Verlatinge'' (

Act of Abjuration The Act of Abjuration ( nl, Plakkaat van Verlatinghe; es, Acta de Abjuración, lit=placard of abjuration) is the declaration of independence by many of the provinces of the Netherlands from the allegiance to Philip II of Spain, during the Dut ...

), with a text on shipbuilding by

Nicolaes Witsen Nicolaes Witsen (8 May 1641 – 10 August 1717; modern Dutch: ''Nicolaas Witsen'') was a Dutch statesman who was mayor of Amsterdam thirteen times, between 1682 and 1706. In 1693 he became administrator of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). I ...

and the ''Idea Physicæ'' of

David van Goorle David van Goorle"Junior" is seldom added to his name. But there existed an older David van Goorle: F. M. Jaeger"Goorle (David van), Senior" In Molhuysen, P.C.; Blok P.J. ''Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek'', Leiden, 1911, col. 209. ...

- * Part II ("Hadewijch", 1987–1988): ''Zevende Visioen'' (Seventh Vision) by

Hadewijch Hadewijch, sometimes referred to as Hadewych or Hadewig (of Brabant or of Antwerp) was a 13th-century poet and mystic, probably living in the Duchy of Brabant. Most of her extant writings are in a Brabantian form of Middle Dutch. Her writings inc ...

- * Part III ("'De Stijl", 1984–1985): text from ''The Principles of Plastic Mathematics'' by M. H. J. Schoenmaekers, along with quotes by M. van Domselaer-Middelkoop about his friend, the Dutch painter

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...

- * Part IV (untitled): excerpts from two sonnets by

Willem Kloos Willem Johannes Theodorus Kloos (; 6 May 1859 – 31 March 1938) was a nineteenth-century Dutch poet and literary critic. He was one of the prominent figures of the Movement of Eighty and became editor in chief of ''De Nieuwe Gids'' after the edi ...

, along with a passage from the diary of

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

and her

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

speech - (Timings in minutes and seconds, from the Nonesuch CD listed below)

Recording

* Nonesuch 7559-79367-2: Susan Narucki, James Doing, Cindy Oswin, Gertrude Thoma; Members of the Netherlands Chamber Choir; Schönberg Ensemble; Asko Ensemble; Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor

References

External links

Boosey & Hawkes publisher page on ''De Materie''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Materie, De Compositions by Louis Andriessen Choral compositions 1988 compositions