Le Café de Nuit: Inspiration and Concept
Dutch composer Jan-Peter de Graaff drew inspiration from Vincent van Gogh’s eponymous painting and the letters the artist wrote to his brother Theo during his stay in Arles, where he rented a room above the cafĂ©. In his letters, Van Gogh describes this location as “a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad, or commit a crime.”
Le Café de Nuit (2017) is a 13-minute fantasia and nocturne for orchestra that explores the inherent conflict within the concept of a café.
In the words of the composer:
“This subject deeply intrigued me. Usually, people visit a cafĂ© to escape everyday life—to dance, celebrate, and immerse themselves in a different reality through drink. However, as Van Gogh states, there is a distinct danger, as the cafĂ© also influences the world outside. It is a place where the darkest sides of human behavior can surface. In this work, I sought a strange balance between joy and danger, between alertness—or even panic—and drunkenness, and between passion and truth.”
FIRST PERFORMANCE
| Conductor | Nicholas Collon |
|---|---|
| Ensemble | Residentie Orkest |
GENERAL INFORMATION
| Instrumentation | 3.3.3.3 | 4.3.3.1 | perc. timp. hp. cel. pf. | 14.12.10.8.6 |
|---|---|
| Commissioned by | NTR Zaterdagmatinee (with financial support from Fonds Podiumkunsten) |
| Written for | Residentie Orkest |
“De Graaff is an all-rounder and a real and bright comet in the musical firmament that no one can pass unnoticed.”
– Maarten Brandt, Opus Klassiek
Jan-Peter de Graaff (1992) studied music composition at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague under the tutelage of Guus Janssen, Calliope Tsoupaki and Diderik Wagenaar and at the Royal College of Music in London with Kenneth Hesketh. He graduated in 2016 (MMus) with the prize-winning opera “All Rise!” (Nicolaï fund award, 2016). Next to his composition studies he studied orchestral conducting with Alex Schillings and Lukas Groen. In 2018 he won the International Rostrum of Composers prize (under 30 category) with the composition “Le café de nuit”, which subsequently was performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
