If there is music for that…’ – literary concert

Poetry by M. Vasalis recited and set to music

M. Vasalis, pseudonym of psychiatrist Margaretha Droogleever Fortuijn-Leenmans (1909–1998), is one of the most widely read poets in Dutch literature. Her small oeuvre, created in the 1940s and 1950s—only three collections published during her lifetime and one after her death—inspired composers to set her poetry to music: Leo Samama, Koos de Muinck, Rita Hijmans, and Flemish composer Bart van Kerchove.

This performance is part of pianist Biljana Urban’s project “Concerts littéraires.” She is dedicated to merging music and literature. In this Sunday Matinee, Lous Droogleever Fortuijn recites poems by her mother, M. Vasalis. These are alternated with music by Diepenbrock, Debussy, Louis Andriessen and Franck.

Program:

Bart van Kerchove: Fairy Tale

Rita Hijmans: from the song cycle “I Am an Ocean of Waiting” for soprano, flute, and piano

Koos de Munich: Unity from So Many Opposites

Leo Samama: from “Vier liederen” for soprano and piano

Franz Schubert: from Moments Musicaux, Op. 94

Alphons Diepenbrock:

“Clari de lunel”

“Mandoline”

“Entsaeung”

For voice and piano