FULL REQUIEM in memoriam Johan de Witt (Roel van Oosten) Den Haag 2022 Cait Frizzell
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: REQUIEM in memoriam Johan de Witt
- Composer: van Oosten Roel
- Libretto: Latin funeral mass with excerpts from a Latin ode to Johan de Witt (parts II and VII) by Dutch poet Joan van Broekhuizen (1649-1707).
- Venue & Opera Company: The Hague's Kloosterkerk, The Netherlands
- Recorded: September 10, 2022
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: Cait Frizzell
- Conductor: Stef Collignon
- Orchestra:
- Chorus: The Carol Company choir
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Roel van Oosten
- Date Published: 2023
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
REQUIEM in memoriam Johan de Witt, was written to commemorate the Disaster Year of 1672, when the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was attacked and overrun from the east, south and west. Johan de Witt – Grand Pensionary, republican, driving force of ‘De Ware Vrijheid’, the idea of undivided civil government – and his brother Cornelis had to pay for this raid with their lives. On 20 August 1672, they were lynched in The Hague by an Orangist mob, by the Ultimi Barbarorum, by the worst barbarians, according to Baruch Spinoza. This composition for choir, solo soprano, piano, organ and percussion combines parts from the Catholic requiem mass with excerpts from a Latin ode to Johan de Witt (parts II and VII) by Dutch poet Joan van Broekhuizen (1649-1707). Part II also features Spinoza’s exclamation ‘Ultimi Barbarorum’ and the well-known saying ‘redeloos, radeloos, reddeloos’ – senseless, desperate, irredeemable – referring respectively to the Dutch people, government, and country. The sacred requiem texts are written in an accessible style, the profane text fragments are more dissonant and robustly set.
REQUIEM in memoriam Johan de Witt was first performed on 10 September 2022 in The Hague’s Kloosterkerk, by The Carol Company choir, Cait Frizzell (soprano), Sepp Grotenhuis (piano), Andrew Wright (organ) and Konstantyn Napolov (percussion), directed by chief conductor Stef Collignon.