Strange Story – 12 minutes
4 solo celli, fl,ob,cl,fg,hn,tmp,v1,v2,va,cl,cb
I was invited to write this piece for the daughter of the president of the Toermalijn orchestra, who played in an cello quartet and wondered if there existed a piece for celloquartet and orchestra,
I completed Strange Story in 2006, but due to all kind of problems the premiere took place in april 2011 in theater “De Speeldoos” in Vught.
Audio-Impression 1 (generated bij Notion)
Audio-impression 2 (rehearsal Toermalijn with Herman Olij Vught March 13th 2011 )
Score and Parts
Before the music was played at the premiere, the ladyspeaker, Ans Verweij, announced the piece in this way:
Once upon a time, in a certain land, there was a king who had a daughter. Despite the fact that the princess was of marriageable age, beautiful, and kind, the king could not manage to find her a husband.
The princess adored beautiful stories. Her future husband had to be, above all, the very best storyteller in the entire land.
Therefore, the king organised a storytelling competition. The best storyteller would win the hand of the king’s daughter.
Heralds went out into the land to announce the contest. Four brothers heard about it and set off for the capital to try their luck.
The first had a heroic story, the second a scary story, the third a romantic story, and the fourth a cheerful story.
When the four brothers had told their tales, the princess was equally enthusiastic about all of them. She could not choose, and since in a fairy tale anything is possible, she decided to marry all four.
In short: a strange story.
This strange tale will now be brought to you in music. The roles are divided as follows:
The narrator will be portrayed by the clarinets. He gathers listeners around him in the square and begins his story.
The listeners will be played by the strings, while the supporting characters—such as ladies-in-waiting, footmen, jesters, dance masters, and beggars—will be portrayed by the flutes, oboes, and bassoons.
The princess will be brought to life by the violas, and the king by the horns.
The famous cello quartet consists of four wonderful solo cellists:
Bea Schoenmakers (1st cellist), Coby Klijnsma (2nd cellist), Marike Dijkhuizen (3rd cellist), and Jeroen Geene (4th cellist).
The first brother in the fairy tale is Jeroen, with a heroic story. The second brother is Marike, with a scary story. The third brother is Coby, with a romantic story. And the fourth brother is Bea, with a cheerful story.
The ending of the musical piece reflects the atmosphere of a gigantic celebration lasting into the early hours, where the princess dances enthousiasticly with all four of the brothers.
With this, I have lifted a corner of the veil to give you some guidance.
We hope you enjoy Strange Story, conducted by our maestro, Herman Olij!
Frans Music Workshop 