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Banja Luka
Composed in 1995 on the occasion of the International Horn Festival in Leeuwarden.
Banja Luka is a city in Bosnia-Herzegovina and has a rich history, as evidenced by its many preserved landmarks. Partly due to its strategic location, Banja Luka has successively been under Roman, Turkish and Austrian rule and developed into an important trading centre over the centuries. The city was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1969 and was then rebuilt in modern style. The name Banja Luka means “bath of Luke”. According to popular belief, the evangelist Luke practised the profession of medicine here and discovered healing springs, which are still in use.
This composition expresses my feelings towards the civil war-ravaged former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. An aggressive introduction introduces the conflict, after which the saxophone section voices the drama. This section culminates in a prayer, rendered by the trumpet and trombone soloist. After the conflict briefly resurfaces, a rather light-hearted section follows, expressing the hope for peace. That this hope is premature is shown by the fact that the rulers (depicted by the alto saxophone and flute) decide otherwise. The forces then advance, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake. Fate strikes hard: innocent people are raped and murdered and ethnic cleansing is widespread. The population suffers.
| Composer: | Jan de Haan |
| Instrumentation: | Concert band |
| Genre: | Concertwork |
| Level: | 5 |
| Duration: | 13:45 |
| Download score: | |
| Publisher: | Hal Leonard Order this work |
