Melopee
Date of composition: July 2022
Instrumentation: women’s chorus (SSA) and piano
Duration: ca. 5‘30”
Text: Paul van Ostaijen (1896-1928)
“Onder de maan schuift de lange rivier
Over de lange rivier schuift moede de maan
Onder de maan op de lange rivier
schuift de kano naar zee”
The poem Melopee, by the Belgian poet Paul van Ostaijen, describes an image of a man in a canoe, sliding slowly across a river going towards the sea. A ‘melopee’ is a rhythmical type of song, often with a sad melody. The poem is sometimes interpreted as the poet nihilistic contemplation on whether life has any meaning at all.
The slow, reverberating piano part serves as the babbling brook upon which the women’s serenely sail along, gliding between moments of dissonance and consonance, without a clear tonal center, symbolizing our seafarer’s uncertain journey along the waves.
In 1999, the twin brother painters Lucien & Oscar Cornelis painted the first three lines of this poem on the quays of the Graslei & Korenlei in Ghent, along the Leie/Lys river. In 2022, the faded lettering was restored by Maarten Leenknecht. Read the full article at letterknecht.be.