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Was born in The Hague in 1953. He
studied music theory (with Diderik Wagenaar) and composition (with Jan van
Vlijmen and Louis Andriessen) at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.
Since 1988 he has taught music theory at The Hague Conservatory.
His honours include the Incentive Prize (Aanmoedigingsprijs) from the Arts
Foundation in Amsterdam (for De deuren gesloten, 1986) and the Van Baaren
Prijs from the Johan Wagenaar Foundation (for Bloed II, 2003).
In all his compositions, de Bondt enters into a dialogue with the past. He
does so in a very rigorous way, as a result of which his pieces are highly
formalized and even ritualized. This relationship with the past is in some
cases easy for the listener to discern and difficult in other cases. Like
the melody of Diabelli1s insignificant waltz was enough for Beethoven to
write a major cycle of variations, de Bondt needs just a handful of notes
to create a monumental construction, all of whose parameters (rhythm,
pitch, proportions) have their source in the same dna structure.
In the 1980s de Bondt started to write his own computer programmes in
order to be able to accomplish highly complex technical manipulations. The
computer provides him, however, with nothing more than raw material (chords,
rhythms, time proportions) which has to be processed further. Composition
in the true sense of the word remains therefore a human act, whereas the
computer, de Bondt claims, is something like a sharpener which is
indispensable for the owner of a pencil.
Selected works: Bint for ensemble
(1980), Guillotine, political cantata for male choir and large ensemble (in
cooperation with Huub de Vriend and Jan Rispens; 1981), Karkas (The
Skeleton) for large ensemble (1983, new version 2001), Het gebroken oor (The
Broken Ear) for ensemble (1984), De deuren gesloten (The Broken Ear II)
for large ensemble (1985), La fine d1una lunga giornata (The Broken Ear
III) for ensemble (1987), Grand Hotel (The Broken Ear IV) for piano
(1988), Dipl1 Ereoo for choir and ensemble (1990), Gefrorener Fall, ein
kleines holländisches Winterdrama, with words by W. Moolenaer for
mezzo-soprano, piano and sound engineer (1992), De namen der goden (The
Names of the Gods) for two pianos and electronics (1992), De Tragische
Handeling (Actus Tragicus) for clarinets, electric guitar, bass guitar,
percussion and electronics (1993), Beethoven is doof (Beethoven is deaf)
for actor, mime artist and electronics (1993), Canon perpetuus perforatus
for music box (1994), Dame blanche for recorder, electronics and orchestra
(1995), Singing the Faint Farewell for large ensemble and dancer ad
libitum (1996), Iphigeneia in Aulis (Euripides), incidental music for
voice, recorder, percussion and sampler (1998), Bloed II (Book of Exodus,
Euripides, Vergilius) for countertenor, two tenors, baritone, wind
ensemble and basso continuo (1998), Bijt uw tijd for fanfare (2000), Die
Wahre Art, concerto for piano and orchestra (2000), Bloed I for boys1
choir, orchestra and electronics (2001; version for boys1 choir, mixed
choir and wind ensemble, 2002).
Die Wahre Art
The piece consists of a Chaconne and a Scherzo, another Chaconne and
Scherzo, a cadenza and a final chorale. Both Chaconnes are closely related,
as are the Scherzi, but the first Scherzo and the second Chaconne are
considerably shorter than the outer movements. The Chaconnes are marked by
a sequence of whirling garlands on the piano and flowing string textures
full of suspensions. The Scherzi have a clearly identifiable theme in a
flat minor, which de Bondt develops in a Oclassical1 manner, and are
played in fast 6/8 metre (occasionally interspersed with bars in 4/8 metre).
The cadenza in its written form a lightning-speed sequence of hammered
chords is unplayable, but here Othe true art1 comes into play, as the
pianist sets about varying and ornamenting the chords at his own
discretion, while keeping the harmonic structure intact. The score has two
appendices intended for Gerard Bouwhuis1 possible successors:
a list of note series for the pianist to choose from and a worked-out
Opossible1 version for the cadenza.
For de Bondt a true dialectic, a dialogue with only one composer was
too one-sided. He introduced therefore a double entendre: the first bars
of Webern1s Symphony Op. 21 dating from 1928. This work is
a textbook application of strict twelve-note technique. Not only does the
passage in question include a double canon; each of its twelve notes,
moreover, occurs in only one register (with the exception of the E flat,
which occurs in two octaves). One might say that all one hears, in fact,
is a thirteen-note chord being exposed in ever-changing lights.
De Bondt sees his piece an attempt to Otonalize1 Webern, using the
precepts of c. p. e. Bach. He did this by stretching the first 25 bars of
Webern1s Symphony to ten times their original length and weaving them as a
cantus firmus in long notes through his piano concerto. The long notes are
produced by the brass and piano1s electronically lengthened tones.
In the final chorale, de Bondt combines Webern1s Osteering1 notes with
chords that are based on his own composition De Namen der Goden (The Names
of the Gods). The melody thus treated may be hard to recognize, yet de
Bondt1s choice for the Dies irae is entirely in character. Life is no
picnic, and even in a work as exuberant as this piano concerto the message
prevalent in all his compositions cannot be missed. Memento mori to all
things there is an end.
Frits van der Waa
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