T h e D r o w n e d L a n d

composition for fortepiano by Frank Agsteribbe

commissioned by the MAfestival Bruges for the Fortepiano Competition 2019 “The Drowned Land of Saeftinghe”: the large-scale, salt marsh wilderness, situated in the River estuary, surviving on the edge of land and sea. The Drowned Land of Saeftinghe, as the name suggests, was once inhabited. In late medieval times it was a flourishing area of ‘polders’ and villages, and even had a castle. Saeftinghe was of great strategical importance; whoever occupied it could control access to harbour. This, together with the forces of nature, finally led to its ultimate destruction. Heavy storm floods during the 14th and 16th centuries devoured large areas of the reclaimed land and, during the 16th century Eighty Years’ War (the Dutch War of Independence), the dikes of Saeftinghe were pierced in order to flood the land, in an attempt to defend Antwerp. The consequently became an extensive intertidal area - the largest of its kind in Europe. For more information, see https://saeftinghe.eu/en/

Flemish painter Bruno Van Dijck has made several paintings of the Drowned Land of Saeftinghe. After hearing my performance of one of my earlier untitled compositions for pianoforte on the Graf at the Vleeshuis Museum in Antwerp, Bruno suggested that I give this work the title "Elegie voor het Verdronken Land" ("Elegy for the Drowned Land"). He showed me his paintings and pictures he had taken, and this resulted in my visit to this Drowned Land. I must say, it is an extraordinary place! Not only does one see this open nature with many wild birds, one also cannot deny the immediate and threatening presence of the international seaport of Antwerp, and the towers of the nuclear plant of . It makes it an extremely multi-layered and controversial experience: this open, wide, calm and peaceful setting in combination with the harbor and nuclear plant ... Also the soundscape is remarkable, with a strange combination of constant low frequencies of industrial installations, combined with wind, birds, and church bells from a faraway village. It is this experience that I wanted to evoke in my composition: a multi layered soundscape where the peaceful and vulnerable nature goes together with threatening and ugly human (industrial) presence.

The performer of this composition will have to capture the atmosphere of these very different worlds, and I hope the notes will inspire him to make it into a coherent performance, evoking the many interactions between living organisms and their threatening environment.

The work has been written for a 5 octave fortepiano, but can of course be performed on instruments with a larger tessitura. In such a case, performers can decide to play several "bird" passages an octave higher, or to play the low cluster on the 4 lowest notes of the keyboard. Also, I strongly recommend to use all possible (knee-lever) pedals during the performance - the sustain pedal can be used most of the time, and moderator and una corda for the softer passages. In free passages, the space in between the notes has to be decided by the performer.

With the permission of Bruno Van Dijck, I hereby include a picture and a painting he both made (painting on the title page)

The Drowned Land inspired by a painting by Bruno Van Dijck Frank Agsteribbe

Free nœ œ Fast œ œ œ œ œ œ œbœ œbœ 6 bœ J 6 6 6 & œ œ #œ #œ œbœ œbœ #œ #œ œ œ œ œ #œ #œ mp 6 3 œ œ bœ bœ #œ #œ ff œ œ œ œ 6 6 6 {? œ bœ œ bœ#œ#œ #œ#œ œ œ #œ #œ œ œ œbœ œbœ #œ œ #œ œ use ° throughout the piece 6 almost without demping

Free j bœbœ3nœ œ b>œ nœ™ œ™ Fast nœ œ nœ œ #œ #œ 6 U œ œœœ œ œ œœ œœ bœ bœ œ œ œnœ œœ & ‰ œ œ bœ bœ bœ bœ œ œ œ œ 6 œ œ mp 6 6 6 bœ bœ mf - molto crescendo 6 U 6 6 6 6 {? nœ œ #œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœnœ bœœ œ œ nœ œ bœ bœ b ˙™ bœ œ bœ œ bœ bœ œ œ œ œ n#n ˙˙™ l.v. cluster F-F#-G-G# © Frank Agsteribbe 2019 2

> Æ Lento - lontano nœ œ nœ œ œ U Fast œ œ #œnœ #œœ U bnœ œ œ b˙ œbœ œbœœœ œœ bœœ bœœ #œ #œ & Œ œ ˙ œ œ bœ bœ œ#œ œ#œ 6 6 pp 6 6 6 nœ œ U ff œ œ 6 6 ? nœ œ U b œ œ œ b˙ œbœ œbœ œ œ œ œ #œ #œ nœ #˙ { nœ œ ' Œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ bœbœ bœbœ #œ #œ Œ nœ #˙ #œ #œ > œ œ nœ #˙ #˙ ˙ 6 ˙ * 6 6 marcato (catch resonance with pedal) sempre ff

Free #œj œ™ j œ j œ j œ j œ nœ j j œ #œ #œ #œ #œ j œ #œ nœ œ#œ & J #œ J #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ

mp p 7 {? U œ ™ œ #nb˙˙™ l.v. cluster F-F#-G-G# œbœ nœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ nœ #œ j j #œ œ bœ #œ#œ nœ œ nœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œj œ œ#œ#œ J J #œ & nœ œ œ œ œ œ J 7 6 mf p mp 6 mf slow - open space - free 3 w w w #w w w w # w w & #w w w #w bw ? #w U { w #w w & w w #nbww pp (with moderator / UC ad lib.) l.v. cluster F-F#-G-G#

extremely soft, free like wind œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ U & Œ 6 6 6 6 6 U {& #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ #œ Œ ? ppp poco cresc. dim. a niente

w slow - open space - free #w w & w w bbw #w w w w ? bw #w { bw w w w pp (with moderator / UC ad lib.) bw 4 Fœreeœ œ œ #œ #œ nœ #œ nœ œ œ œ œ œnœ #œ #œ #œ #œ œ œ œ œ #œ#œ#œ#œ#œ#œnœ œ bœ bœ bœ bœ bœ bœ & mp 7 6 6

bœbœbœ #œ #œ œj #œ #œ #œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ #œ 3 #œ #œ#œ#œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ j œ & œ œ œ œ J #œ#œ#œ bœ 6 3 mf p

slow - open space - free eœxtremely soft,œ free like windœ œ œ w w nœ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œœ w bw & ‰ 6 6 6 6 6 #œ #œ#œ #œ#œ #œ#œ #œ#œ #œ#œ #œ#œ #œ#œ #œ #œ {& R ? #w ppp poco cresc. dim. a niente pp (with moderator / UC ad lib.)

w bw bw bw w w w bw & w bw w w w {? U w b w #n ww l.v. cluster F-F#-G-G# 5 U slow - open space - free #w nw w w nww œ w bw w & #w bw œ #œ #˙ w pp (with moderator / UC ad lib.) w ff U ? w j #œ { #w #w œœ j #˙ j nœ#œ j œ nœ #˙ b w marcato n#n ww l.v. cluster F-F#-G-G#

Fast w w œ œ nœ œ nœ œ nœ#œ œ#œ #w #w bw œ œ bœ bœ bœ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ & #w w bœ bœ 6 6 6 6 mf - molto crescendo 6 6 6 6 {? nœ œ #œ #œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ nœ œ bœ œ bœ œ bœbœ bœbœ œ œ œ œ

> Lento - lontano nœ œÆ #œ n˙ #w- - #œnœ #œ œ œ nœ #œ œ #˙ #œ œ n ˙˙ # #ww bw nœ n œ n œ bœ ˙ œœ b ˙ n w n #ww & œ n˙ nw n nw 6 pp mp p 6 ? nœ œ { nœ œ ' #œ #œ > * (catch resonance with pedal) 6 Lento - lontano Free ™ ™ - - nw- b œbœbœbœbœbœ œbœnœ œbœ œ b w w- n w- ##w n ww bœ #w w #w & w b w nœ bw w pp ppp 6 mp p pp mp

œ- œ- - - - n˙- bœ œ œ œ œ bœ #œ Lontano #œ-##œ #˙ nœ œ bœ œ œ œ œ œ # œ œ & #œ œ œ #-œ œ 5 5 nœ - mp 6 - œ- œ {? nœ nœ œ #nbww l.v. cluster F-F#-G-G#

Free Free Æ Æ œ œ œ œ œ œnœ #œ œ- nœ nœ bœ bœ bœ bœ bœ bœ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ- U bœnœ bœœ √ & œnœ œ #œ œ bœ J bœ J ∑ #œ #œ 6 6 - b w mp p -œ n#n ww 3 3 fœ-f U mf {? œ #œ #œ #œ œ - #-œ œ n# bww marcato - n w l.v. cluster F-F#-G-G# 7

slow - open space - free w w w w w ##w & #w w w w w bw U #w #w {? w w w pp (with moderator / UC ad lib.)

w Free #œ #œ œ 9 #œ#œ#œ#œnœ œœœ #œ w œ nœ œ #œ & #w w nœnœ mp 3 bw {? bw #œ #œ bw œ nœ#nb˙˙ ff

cluster F-F#-G-G# 8

Free nœœ œœ œ nœ bœ j j œ œ bœ bœ œ œ #œ #œ œ nœ bœ nœ bœ nœ œ & J J J bœbœ mp 3 3 6 U 3 ? œ { & nœ bœ < > <#>n b ww l.v.

œ nœ nœ œ œ œ nœ #œ œ #œ bœ œ œ œ œ & bœ bœ 3 3 p pp ppp 3 3 {& œ œ œ œ ‰ bœ bœ

keep ° a niente

Ghent, March 2019