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The Secret of Mercury
Composed in 2019 on behalf of Harmonieorkest “Da Capo” Leeuwarden
Mercury is the Roman god of trade and travellers. He is also the messenger of the gods – a kind of postman, in other words. That must have been why the then Dutch company PTT Post (now PostNL) sometimes had this god of mythology depicted on stamps and special medals. The orchestra that commissioned this composition was the Leeuwarder PTT-Harmonie until 1995. This background, which remained important even after the orchestra became independent, was the basis for the inspiration for this composition commission.
Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system, is closest to the sun. It takes its name from the god of the same name in Roman mythology, who, in his role as messenger, obviously had to be quick: Mercury therefore revolves around the sun the fastest of all the planets.
When the composition commission was granted, the link with Mercury was quickly established. When writing this four-movement uninterrupted work, however, the composer chose the planet rather than the god as his source of inspiration. The first movement of the composition, tellingly titled Mysterious Planet, creates a mysterious atmosphere. The second movement, Messenger, is named after the unmanned spacecraft launched in 2004 that, among other things, explored the immense Great Valley valley – the starting point for movement three. The work ends with BepiColombo, the name of the dual space probe sent to Mercury in 2018 to orbit the planet in 2026 and further map its surface. All this interesting subject matter makes for a composition that captivates from start to finish.
| Composer: | Jan de Haan |
| Instrumentation: | Concert band |
| Genre: | Concertwork |
| Level: | 4 |
| Duration: | 12:00 |
| Download score: | |
| Publisher: | De Haske Order this work |
