Night in Venice Wouter Lenaerts

Titel / Title: Night In Venice
Herausgeber / Publisher: Beriato Music Publishing
Instrumentation: Concert Band/Harmonie
Produkttyp / Product: Partitur + Stimmen
Erscheinungsdatum / Date of Production: 2006
ISMN: 9790365211920

This piece was commissioned by the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp and dedicated to the flautist Aldo Baerten. The premiere took place on 15 March 2006 in the Blue Hall of deSingel in Antwerp. Performers were Aldo Baerten and the Harmony Orchestra of the Antwerp Conservatory.

--Silver Glow--

It is night. The "Queen of the Adriatic" bathes in the silvery glow of the full moon. The ancient city seems to lie under a magical spell. In the distance, the bells in the campanile of St Mark's Basilica ring out. Echoes of the murmuring water from many hundreds of small canals resound through the narrow streets. Venice seems to have fallen into a deep sleep ... Or has it?

--Secrets of the Doge's Palace----

There is a dangerous calm in St Mark's Square. The austere architecture of the Procuratie and the Doge's Palace watches over the deserted square. What secrets lie hidden behind this rectilinear gallery of columns? How many prisoners were once tortured here after seeing daylight for the last time on the Bridge of Sighs? How many stories have been waiting to be told for centuries? Will the Doges ever reveal this secret?

--The Four Horses--

A few metres away, four imposing horses guard the portal of St Mark's Basilica. Their bronze coats shimmer in the moonlight and it seems as if they are about to jump down. They once shone above the Hippodrome in 4th century Constantinople, but during the 4th Crusade in 1204 they were stolen and taken to Venice, where they became the symbol of the four biblical evangelists. Because the number 4 constantly appears in the mysterious story of Venice's most famous horses, "The Four Horses" is also based entirely on the fourth as a musical interval. Behind the horses, the heavenly interior of the basilica opens up, where several thousand glittering mosaics reflect the incoming moonlight. A new world unfolds in an ethereal silence ...

--Epilogue - Silver Glow--

Outside, the full moon is still resplendent in the open sky. The magic of the most romantic city in the world seems to have gained even more power ...