About the composer

                   

"A composer should continuously lead the public astray. Music is not served by truth. Good music exists by the grace of cunning and deception." - Tristan Keuris

                   Tristan Keuris was born on October 3, 1946 in Amersfoort and he died on December 15, 1996, in Amsterdam.

                   From 1962 to 1969, he studied composition with Ton de Leeuw at the Utrecht Conservatory from the time he was fifteen, after first having studied with Jan van Vlijmen in his native city Amersfoort. For a short time, he also followed lessons in music theory at the Utrecht Conservatory with Joep Straesser. In 1969 he concluded his studies and was awarded the Prize for Composition. In addition to his activities as a composer, Keuris taught at the conservatories in Hilversum and Utrecht.

                   Practically all of his works were commissioned. Keuris received international recognition with his symphonic works Sinfonia (1975) and Movements (1982) (the latter introduced in the United States by the Concertgebouw Orchestra). Since 1987 new compositions were published by Novello, London. Symphonic transformations (1987) was commissioned and performed by the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Catena (1988) was written for the centenary of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Three Michelangelo Songs (1990) for mezzo?soprano and orchestra, was commissioned for the centenary of the Gelders Orkest. In 1992 Keuris was commissioned by the Concertgebouw to write a Concerto for organ and orchestra (1993) on the occasion of the restoration of the Maarschalkerweerd organ. In 1993, Laudi (1993) for choir and orchestra was performed during the Nederlandse Muziekdagen.

                   Keuris's compositions were published by Donemus until 1987; later works were published by Novello of London.

                   In 1969, Keuris was awarded the Composition Prize of the Utrecht Conservatory. Sinfonia was awarded the 1975 Matthijs Vermeulen Prize of the City of Amsterdam. In 1995, he received the Koussevitzky Foundation Award, for writing a major choral work for the New York Virtuosi.

                   Note written by Muziekgroep Nederland, 1996

                   Tristan Keuris: Artist and Craftsman Rolled into One (excerpts)

                   A striking characteristic in Tristan Keuris's music is the harmonious combination of what in French is so neatly termed 'l'artiste et l'artisan' - of the artist and the craftsman. Keuris had a knack for couching his compositional innovations in finely wrought constructions whose highly idiomatic instrumental and vocal lines, which are largely free of unusual effects, are interwoven into very refined orchestrations. The various orchestral timbres do not serve as decor but exert instead a formative influence on the dialogue between the horizontal and vertical elements. Composing, arranging and instrumentation are variants of one and the same creative process and could hardly be considered separately in Keuris's music. Said differently: Hardly any other composer in the Netherlands has so convincingly forged technical fabric and artistic content into one as has Tristan Keuris.

                   Keuris's craftsmanship was paired with an openness towards tradition. Three historical sources in particular have served as inspiration to him and, though the weight of their presence has gradually become less pronounced in his music, they have been deeply absorbed in his idiom and become a substantial component of it. First to be mentioned here is Anton Webern. Keuris's feeling for intervallic structures lay in the continuation of this, the most consistent composer of the Second Viennese School. Regarding orchestral sound, Gustav Mahler has been a second point of orientation. Keuris shared Mahler's predilection for large-scale, late romantic settings and his work also reflected this predecessor's handling of the orchestra. A third beacon has been the music of Igor Stravinsky. Echoes of early Stravinsky are found in the syncopated rhythms of the Sinfonia and Movements, for example.

                   The neo-classical Stravinsky (particularly as exemplified in Symphony in three Movements) has inspired a more diatonic way of writing often used by Keuris since he sprung the surprise of the tonally oriented closing chorale of Sinfonia.

                   These three spheres of influence allowed augmentation from other sources when needed. After all, no composer's sensibilities are a 'tabula rasa'. In his vocal works, Keuris has shown that he has not turned a deaf ear to Puccini or Verdi (although one could not say that he leant heavily on these illustrious predecessors). Moreover, no construction is less imposing or original when the origins of the materials used by its builder are identifiable. What ultimately matters is the work itself. And with Keuris, it has invariably been as intriguing as it has been directly appealing. Keuris's idiom is clear and recognizable; he combines a motivic, often a-thematic style with a lyrical and sometimes even cinematic expressive power. These elements are assimilated into a logical and consistent musical discourse, rich in surprising turns and contrasts.

                   Tristan Keuris never had actual affinity with strict serialism, a style that spread even to the Netherlands after World War II. His mentor, Ton de Leeuw (who could be considered the anti-pole of the Netherlands' pioneering serialist, Kees van Baaren), was also critical towards the idiom. Unlike older colleagues, many of whom were students of this very Van Baaren (among them, Louis Andriessen, Peter Schat and Jan van Vlijmen), Keuris early on has distanced himself from the arid aesthetics and rigid methodology of serialism. A further point of difference between Keuris and Andriessen or Schat is that his work did not propagate any particular political stance - unless one interprets the 'aggressive, biting' Play (1967) as doing so.

                   As can be seen from the titles and genres he chose (Quartet, Sonata, Concerto, Serenade, Fantasia, Divertimento, Trio, etc.), Keuris worked for quite some time in seemingly traditional forms. Like Schoenberg, however, he gave entirely new meanings to these older forms in his work. In this regard, Verdi's famous maxim could have served as Keuris's motto: 'Torniamo all'antiche e sarà un progresso!' (Return to the old masters and it will be progress!).

                   His frequent use of the symphony orchestra - and through this, the symphony - as the vehicle of expression for his musical ideas must also be seen in this light. The symphony is a guiding thread through Keuris's oeuvre. Whereas this traditional genre is essentially only suggested in the title of the two-movement Sinfonia. . .

                   Leaving aside the dozens(!) of compositions he committed to paper while still an adolescent, Keuris's oeuvre is (with slight exaggeration) divisible in three periods. From 1967 to 1977 he has composed mostly chamber music, with a noticeable leaning towards wind instruments. The few orchestral pieces of this period, the exception to the rule, offer an early indication of the course he would later follow. All Keuris's compositions of this period are instrumental pieces, with his earlier free atonal idiom gradually giving way to compositions in which more tonal elements begin to surface. . .

                   A second important work of this period is the previously mentioned Sinfonia, for orchestra, which was composed in the years 1972-74. In part because it was awarded the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize and was in addition performed abroad, Sinfonia was Keuris's breakthrough as a composer. With its thirteen minute duration and broad setting, it is the most ambitious piece he wrote in this period. According to the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize jury report, Keuris had shown 'that in this time, too, a music is conceivable which, artistically speaking, was created in a spirit of absolute compositional integrity and meets the highest demands, and yet at the same time remains accessible and potentially valuable for any person who harbours true interest in the music of today and who is willing to take the effort to understand it. Keuris's Sinfonia is music that is not exclusively directed towards the specialist, but rather to a relatively broad public of 'Kenner und Liebhaber'.

                   The much-praised accessibility of this music undoubtedly has some connection with the E major theme from the Adagio, which closes Sinfonia. While undeniably conspicuous here, this tonal orientation had not gone unheralded by earlier compositions, nor was it later abandoned. Choral Music I (1969), the Saxophone Quartet and Muziek for violin, clarinet and piano (1973) already bear traces of tonal affinities and in the pieces that followed Sinfonia this diatonicism grew into a distinguishing feature of Keuris's work. A new stylistic period began to take shape with Capriccio, a work for wind ensemble (written in 1978, for the Netherlands Wind Ensemble) using the same setting as Mozart's Serenade KV 361. While in preceding years several works gave the impression that the musical idea had been restricted by the tight confines of a small setting, Keuris's composition gradually became more even in this respect. At the same time the tonal leanings became stronger and his rhythmic usage more economical.

                   Until 1988, Keuris continued to write exclusively for instruments. The number of his orchestral works grew steadily over this period and his compositions became increasingly longer, with the twenty-five minute Movements beating them all. A gradual transition could be seen from chamber pieces for wind instruments to strings; for example, the Concertino (revised in 1979) for string quartet and bass clarinet, and the two string quartets (from 1982 and 1985 respectively). . .

                   After nearly thirty years of writing music, Tristan Keuris had developed into one of the most important and versatile composers in the Netherlands. His scores are found on the music stands of prominent orchestras and ensembles around the world. Most of his compositions were commissioned - for example, by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the BBC and the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet. Keuris's list of compositions numbers about fifty pieces and includes a wide variety of genres: From chamber music to symphonic; from concertos for saxophone, oboe, violin, piano, two cellos, organ, or accordion to quartets for strings, recorders or saxophones. Several ideas had sadly to remain unrealized due to his premature death (such as a commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation to compose a piece for the New York Virtuoso Singers).

                   Impossible to tell how Keuris's composing would eventually have developed. Perhaps as have his individual compositions: One had only to think that he could predict what Keuris would do at a given moment and the composer immediately switched gears. Or, as he once put it: 'A composer should continuously lead the public astray. Music is not served by truth. Good music exists by the grace of cunning and deception.' Well said indeed, but still the heart of Keuris's music is the perfect unity of art and craftsmanship.

                   Note written by Emile Wennekes and translated by John Lydon, Muse Translations

                   Note excerpted from the Muziekgroep Nederland Catalogue Brochure