Beethoven and the Dutch school

Tickets
Address Plac Teatralny 1, Warszawa
Tags Ballet
Venue's website www.teatrwielki.pl…
Release 2023
Author Hans van Manen, Ted Brandsen, Toer van Schayk

Ballet triple bill featuring works by 20th century Dutch choreographers set to Beethoven's music.

The Dutch, or more precisely the Netherlandish, School was a style in 15th and 16th century painting represented by the van Eyck brothers, Rogier van der Weyden and Dieric Bouts, artists mainly based in Flandres. The term is also used to refer to a few generations of composers who perfected polyphonic vocal music composition (the Franco-Flemish polyphony) as well as a group of 20th-century choreographers primarily associated with the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, the influential artistic centre established in 1961 by the mother of contemporary Dutch ballet, Sonia Gaskell.

In painting, the Netherlandish School is generally associated with masterfully executed still lifes, landscapes, and portraits showcasing with the poetry of simple everyday activities and characterised by ascetic form and subject-matter underneath which lies a mystery, although this is more applicable to Dutch painting of the 17th century and its finest representative, the master of light and shadow, Rembrandt. This kind of simplicity and asceticism in costumes and staging and ambition to explore the essence of the universe also distinguishes the work of the choreographers of the Dutch National Ballet. They are, first and foremost, such brilliant Dutch artists as Rudi van Dantzig, Hans van Manen, Toer van Schayk, and Ted Brandsen, the current head of the company, as well as British choreographer David Dawson and Poland’s Krzysztof Pastor, director of the Polish National Ballet.

Ludwig van Beethoven was also Flemish by origin and used a Netherlandish last name. Although he was born in Bonn to a German mother, he was also a grandson of an immigrant from a town near Antwerp (Austrian Netherlands), employed in Germany as the Kapellmeister of the orchestra of the Elector of Cologne. Regardless of his origin, Beethoven’s music resonates with artists the world over. It also fascinates the leading figures of the Dutch school of choreography, which is clearly evidenced by this triple bill made up of pieces that were inspired by and are danced to his music.

  • Grosse Fuge choreography: Hans van Manen music: Ludwig van Beethoven (Grosse Fuge in B-flat major Op. 133 and Cavatina from String Quartet in B-flat major Op. 130) staging: Rachel Beaujean lighting: Joop Caboort set design: Jean-Paul Vroom

  • New Work choreography: Ted Brandsen music: Ludwig van Beethoven (piano music)

  • Symphony No. 7 choreography: Toer van Schayk music: Ludwig van Beethoven (Symphony No. 7 in A major Op. 92) lighting: Jan Hofstra

conductor: Alexei Baklan

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