SICUT CERVUS for choir and small orchestra

I wrote this piece at a time when my creative years are approaching the finishing line. I am aware of the myths surrounding Mozart’s famous Requiem but why not write one for my own funeral…

To get going I picked up a work I had left unfinished several years ago and added a choir to remodel it into some kind of Requiem. I remembered the lines of a hymn (my catholic upbringing) by Palestrina, the theme of which I recall in the fugal passage towards the end. These lines are repeated 5 times like a rondo theme, interspersed with a poem by Victor Hugo, Ce que c’est que la mort, which I divided into four sections that seemed to me coherent fragments of Hugo’s musings on death. The element of sarcasm wasn’t lost on me and the desire to have control over my own death is reflected in the latin version I fabricated from the original. With hindsight I could have kept much closer to the second line:

Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum
ita desiderat anima mea ad (requiem aeternam).

A variety of musical references bears testimony to the eclectic range of my musical roots. The instrumentation was originally inspired by the ensemble for Kraanerg by Xenakis, which once had a big influence on my composing ambitions. I doubled the solo strings to give it more body. Although at times I was tempted to add trumpets, I stuck to this configuration, arguing that it must be possible to work within the confines I had set myself. It is what it is…

Sicut Cervus is a trubute to my father Jacob Vriend who installed in me a broad musical appetite and my mother who gave me love and encouragement. I would like to add that the original dedication was to Sieuwert Verster who, at a late stage in my life, decided my music was worth celebrating on his label Attacca.

Jan Jacobszoon Vriend

July 2025