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This composition has - of course, I would almost say - a different character than the previous lied in this cycle Sotto Voce. Circumstances are different, so are my sentiments. I personally feel it as even more intense, perhaps more compact. You will probably have to listen to the composition a number of times to get into the mood of the 'meandering' music. Metastases Vasalis wrote for Fan - a personality unknown to me. At the same time, I felt the poem sizzle and steam, because it also tells my own story. The Trojan Horse you let in, though uninvited, has crept in with immeasurable consequences. Vasalis portrays this by paraphrasing the metastases as 'undesirable strangers', who, moreover, no longer want to leave. How the joy of the initial victory turned into a losing battle. So it is also my struggle - that's why I put in the score the dedication of Vasalis (for Fan) under her name as a poet and 'Autobiographical' under my name as composer.

The poem was published in 2002 in the collection Unpublished poems.

Vasalis has given the subtitle "Troy - Timeo Danaos et dona ferentis" - in other words: I fear the Greeks and the gifts they bring. The words of the Greek poet Virgilius in his Aeneid - an epic about the origins of the Roman Empire. Everyone is probably familiar with the image of the - afterwards unwanted - wooden horse with soldiers. Troy was conquered and destroyed.
I think the comparison with tumors that Vasalis makes is briljant.

For people who do not know her yet: M. Vasalis is the pseudonym of Margaretha Droogleever Fortuyn-Leenmans. She was a Dutch poet and a psychiatrist by profession. She lived from 1909 to 1998.

In 1982 she was awarded the P.C. Hooftprijs - a renowned literary price in the Netherlands - and in the same year her last poetry bundle was published, as well as a number of novellas which went along.

As early as 1988 I wrote my first composition on her poem Skeleton - a title that may not be very accessible - but that is only an illusion. It's a nice story. You can here listen to that composition and read the poem. I later added a piano accompaniment to it and recently made minor tempo adjustments. The poetess gave me personal permission for the use of that poem at the time and she liked the result very much.

In this cycle of songs have appeared so far:

1. My spring and my love are gone
2. Skeleton
3. Time
4. The Idiot in the bath
5. Autumn
6. Sotto voce
7. Metastases
In the menu at the top of this page, click on Compositions to go to the different lieder.

On Wikipedia there is more valuable information on Vasalis, might you be curious.

Aristos

The poem

Metastases

Troy – Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes

For Fan

When you had weathered the attacks,
the enemy seemed withdrawn,
the fires were blazing and festivities
had dawned – it was already over.

The great gate torn down, the Horse entered,
spread itself into a thousand strangers
unnoticeable at first. They didn't depart anymore.

Trusting for the first time, vulnerable for the first time,
receptive, almost timid with happiness,
you were betrayed and destroyed. And áfter the battle.

From the inside.

You can get an impression of the songs below.

© The complete copyright of the music (also this electronic version) has been deposited. This means that you can only listen but not use it nor partially, nor completely for your own purposes. Let alone that you use it for your own performances or productions. For citation rights please contact the publisher and the Buma/Stemra organization in the Netherlands.

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