Performers

Director
Marc Versteeg
Soloists
Mother God EA Margot Kalse
Priest Ken Gould
Vocal ensemble
Mirieille Hofmann, Ayumi Aoki, Desiree Verlaan, Bram Verheijen, Coert van de Berg, Marcel Moester.
Recorder quartet
Maurice van Lieshout, Dina Titan, Morton Séan Kierman, Maya Schulten.

Recording VPRO 10-11-2002 Novembermusic festival

Photo 
Elle Gielens (Margot Kalse , Ken Gould)
Design Peripteron picture 1 Harrie Heuvelmans
© Paul Frankhuijzen
Peripteron takes place in the temple of Esklepios at about 1000 BC.
The company is lead by a priest (baritone) and the mother god EA (alto). The priest makes the singers think
and preaches purification and concentration. But he is also keen on having his own temple and for that purpose
he needs people. The mother god EA predominantly sings about her son and tells what happened to him.
The ensemble of vocalists, which is in the here and now, reacts to the events.
Peripteron mirrors a depth structure of 'mythical' layers of emotion throughout the ages. Therefore it is a story
of our day and age too.

Part 1. Rite, is based on the Sumerian Hymn 'the creation of mankind', the original of (v.c. 800) which was
written down on a clay tablet. The hymn is about the land between Euphrates and Tigris. The priest sings a
magical ritual for purification and concentration. The singers take this up and perform several rites.
The texts are in Hebrew and Sumerian.
 
Part 2. The land of the blind singers, the calls and the longing of the first part are being examined. Mesopotamia, the land of milk and
honey, is praised. This part ends with the priest's following words: I for my part, I will think both of you and of another hymn.
Part 3, Oracles. In several layers a number of oracles take place simultaneously.  A priest wants his own temple. The mother god EA is singing about her son. The singers sing their contemporary stories and sing about their experiences. The part develops not into a big crescendo, but into a big (contemporary) complexity of information. EA one last time sings her ode to Apollo.
Part 4. Epilogue, is the part to put things in perspective: the myth is being put in perspective.
The singers sing the words: We are walking around here in this wing. We are here Peripteron.
Now the priest ends with the parting words: So then, Lord! This hymn is my prayer.
Audio samples



© Paul Frankhuijzen
Peripteron (2002) 56’

chamber-opera
soloist: alto, soloist bass, vocal ensemble, recorder quartet
lyrics: Musehymn of Mesemedes / Homeric Hymns compound through Paul Frankhuijzen
Oracle lyrics woman voice, from Turkish woman during a earthquake in 1999.
Oracle lyrics man voice, from Italian restorer during the restoration work of the church of Franciscus from Assisi,
whichwas through a earthquake damage.
Epilogue lyrics Paul Frankhuijzen.
commissioned by the Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst
for November Music
Info         Publ. Donemus
 
 
Of course it was neither my church
nor the one of the clergy present here...
‘From follower to individual’, thus reads the
subtitle of this project of its composer Paul
Frankhuijzen.
In the large-scale song-cycle ‘Canto X’
Frankhuijzen gives voice to a universal search by
humankind: i.e. the one of faithful follower of
God into a more unconventional and enlightened
individual. A rebirth of humanity placed in a
historical perspective. From the dark, gloomy
Middle Ages during which religion left a large
mark on life into the enlightened era of

‘Canto X’ by Paul Frankhuijzen: a consonance journey into purification
First signs of mental resistance emerge at the beginning of the composition. Savonarola, the heretical monk,
sings in ‘Non fu mai el piu bell sollazzo’ about the insanity of Christ and Christianity. The same vital
questions are also given a chance in the edited sequentias from around 850 A.D.: ‘Fortis Atque amara’
[full of bitter force] and ‘Stans a longe’ [standing at a distance]. ‘In Voce’, a short duet for baroque
trombones, is followed by ‘I am black’ [Ik ben zwart].
In this part text fragments from Canticles no.1 by Solomon are mixed with heretical texts by Tertullian
(3rd century A.D.). 'I am black‘ [Ik ben zwart] deals with Love and Respect for Higher Things, as well as with
man’s weaknesses and his prejudices.

The second part, called ‘Canto X’, takes up centre stage.Text fragments from Dante Alighieri’s ‘Hell’ from
‘La Divina Commedia’ [The Divine Comedy] are  used in this part. A hellish journey through no man’s land is
undertaken in the part in question. A Dantesque world in which lies, fraud, cheating and exorbitant profits
prevail, and one in which sinners don’t want to acknowledge their sins.


 
In the third part Love and Beauty are  at the forefront. ‘It is Love which will triumph in
the end’, according to the composer. ‘Love for a person, an object or love of work,
but especially the kind of love that  gives drive to life.’
The third part starts with ‘Due Voce’, a duet for baroque trombones.
Then the conclusion follows with ‘Thou art beautiful’ [‘Gij zijt schoon’]. It consists of
text fragments originating from Canticles No. IV.  by Solomon. ‘It is one big languorous
declaration of  love to Beauty’, observes Frankhuijzen.
the Renaissance, in which much more meaning
was being to personal initiative, as well as to
Arts and Science.
The composer uses remarkably contemporary
texts originating from the Song of Solomon and
Dante's La Divina Commedia [The Divine
Comedy], but a heretic argument of fifteenth-
century monk Savonarola has been included as
well. In addition Frankhuijzen incorporated
inciting and inspiring texts in Dutch, old Italian,
Latin and English.

The cycle has been divided up in three chapters,
which have been set up as one long composition,
joined tightly together.
A consonance journey with one end only:
‘ from follower to individual’.

Marc van der Voort

Performers

Quink Vocaal:
soprano Mariët Kaasschieter
soprano Mariette Oelderik
alto Elsbeth Gerritsen
trombones: Timothy Dowling / Joost Swinkels.

Recording: De Concertzender, live Canto X,
4.3.2007.

De Witte Dame Eindhoven (AXES)
The Netherlands.

Audio samples



© Paul Frankhuijzen
Listen to complete audio menu audio vocal