Uploaded November 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
- Composer: Willem (Frederik Willem Johannes) Pijper (8 September 1894 -- 18 March 1947)
- Orchestra: The Residentie Orchestra
- Conductor: Eduard Flipse
- Year of recording: 1953
Six Adagios {Zes Adagio's} for Orchestra, written in 1940.
00:00 - I. Grave
02:09 - II. Adagio (lento assai)
03:42 - III. Adagio (quasi un poco meno lento)
04:59 - IV. Adagio, un poco più andante
06:13 - V. Largo
07:39 - VI. Grave
Dutch composer Willem Pijper composed the Six Adagios for Orchestra for the student initiation of the Order of Freemasons, of which he was a member. Each adagio was designed as temple music for a given phase of the initiation ritual.
Given the purpose of the work, he did not utilise his usual polytonalic and polyrhythmic techniques, but returned very consciously back to the 'familiar' tonality principle: the Adagios are in the key of C Major and C minor. Therefore, the music comes to the listener as an understandable, familiar language, richly melodic and with a gentle harmony partly due to the instrumental timbres. This piece, along with the Sex Epigrams [uploaded on this channel] show of Pijper's excellent orchestral writing skills.
The piece is recorded under the label "Order of Freemasons under the Grand Orient of the Netherlands".
- Composer: Willem (Frederik Willem Johannes) Pijper (8 September 1894 -- 18 March 1947)
- Orchestra: The Residentie Orchestra
- Conductor: Eduard Flipse
- Year of recording: 1953
Six Adagios {Zes Adagio's} for Orchestra, written in 1940.
00:00 - I. Grave
02:09 - II. Adagio (lento assai)
03:42 - III. Adagio (quasi un poco meno lento)
04:59 - IV. Adagio, un poco più andante
06:13 - V. Largo
07:39 - VI. Grave
Dutch composer Willem Pijper composed the Six Adagios for Orchestra for the student initiation of the Order of Freemasons, of which he was a member. Each adagio was designed as temple music for a given phase of the initiation ritual.
Given the purpose of the work, he did not utilise his usual polytonalic and polyrhythmic techniques, but returned very consciously back to the 'familiar' tonality principle: the Adagios are in the key of C Major and C minor. Therefore, the music comes to the listener as an understandable, familiar language, richly melodic and with a gentle harmony partly due to the instrumental timbres. This piece, along with the Sex Epigrams [uploaded on this channel] show of Pijper's excellent orchestral writing skills.
The piece is recorded under the label "Order of Freemasons under the Grand Orient of the Netherlands".
