anthony fiumara

instrumentation

Christiaan Andriessens uitzicht op de Amstel


Christiaan Andriessen's View On the River Amstel


Louis Andriessen 2009 | arrangement 2009

Christiaan Andriessen (1775-1846, no genealogic line to Louis) was the son of an Amsterdam painter of wallpaper and decorative work. Although he also produced paintings, he was later to become known principally for his ‘journaal’: between 1805 and 1808 he kept a diary in which he entered sketches on an almost daily basis. His main subjects were family and friends, political events and his impressions of Amsterdam’s streetlife. Many of these drawings are accompanied by written observations.

One of these colored drawings is the view on the river Amstel, close to Louis Andriessen’s own view from his house, on which the composer based this piece. On the drawing one sees the river with a few sailing boats and the other quayside with trees and houses. On the forground you can see a churchgoing couple, a pregnant girl and two donkeys. Based on Christiaan’s written observation, Louis Andriessen put the following motto in his score:

The sun on the other side / the still water / the two boats, also still / „no churchgoers more faithful” / the two donkeys / the beautiful, pregnant girl / „elle me plaît”

In Christiaan Andriessen’s View On the River Amstel, originally written for ensemble De Ereprijs, these elements all appear in the music. You hear the rippling water in piano, a coral for the churchgoers, and the donkeys are represented by the sound of their hoofs (and with a Mendelssohn quote). A keyboard solo with a piece by Scarlatti (with some minor but important changes) refers to the early 1800s. The appearance of the girl (in the flute) is „more like Catherine Deneuve than merely a simple Amsterdam girl”, according to the composer.