Return to Muse

In Greco-Roman mythology, Muse is the goddess of the arts, who was not allowed to be served by wind orchestras for a while during the Covid-19 pandemic. What does it mean for an orchestra if you cannot play music together for a while? And what happens when you can do so again? The composer asks himself this question in this work. 

The work starts festively, unaware of an approaching pandemic. It expresses the pleasure of playing together. It sounds proud and grand, but also playful and sensitive. With the outbreak of the pandemic, the composition switches to a slow tempo. All kinds of emotions pass by. Loneliness and vulnerability dominate when the lockdown occurs. There are also moments of despair, but there are also moments of hope based on rediscovering mutual contacts and playing together via Zoom meetings or in small groups at a distance from each other. 

Then the pandemic is over and they rehearse together for the first time. The festive opening theme sounds again, but it seems to sound even more euphoric than before the pandemic. Because from the moment the musicians return to Muse, there is the realization of how grateful one can be to be allowed to make music together. This gratitude culminates at the end in a solemn hymn in honor of this goddess of the arts. 

Return to Muse was commissioned by Stadtkapelle Bremervörde e.V. from Niedersachsen, Germany.

Jacob de Haan: “The conductor of this band is Mirco Benthien, who gave me the interesting idea to have a composition composed based on the experiences of the musicians before, during and after the pandemic. To be honest, I wasn’t immediately enthusiastic about the idea, because I had the feeling that I would rather not be reminded of this period anymore. Yet I came to the optimal inspiration, because it was precisely because of that pandemic that I realized how valuable it is to make music together.”