Recomposing Van Hemel's 'Fantasia'
The dutch composer Oscar van Hemel (1892-1981), pupil of among others Willem Pijper, wrote the 'Fantasia' (1945), that consists of 10 short pieces for piano solo. They are traditionally connected to small compositions like Schumann's Kinderszenen or Album für die Jugend. The titles of the pieces refer to compositional techniques (e.g. canon), to mood (e.g. Joyeux) or to more musical portraits (e.g Berceuse or Walzer Viennoise). A closer look at the some playful and easy pieces reveals that 'Fantasia' is an example of an excellent educational project, that can give music student a lot of ideas.
In this section, I use more or less a method of simulated composition and will recompose pieces of Van Hemel's 'Fantasia'. Simulated composition is a very useful analytical tool, for it uncovers principles of the creative process that really matter; principles which get lost in a purely disintegrated analysis.
| Fantasia | Topic | View PDF | Download MP3 (Right mouse click > Save link as) |
| 1. no. 1 | Canon (on one chord) | View PDF | Download MP3 |
| 2. no. 7 | Canon (on two chords) | View PDF | Download MP3 |
| 3. no. 4 | 'Comique', about note repetition and lines | View PDF | Download MP3 |
| 4. no. 9 | 'Berceuse', about antecedents and consequents | View PDF | Download MP3 |
| 5. no. 5 | 'Oriental', about prolongation of tones | View PDF | Download MP3 |
| 6. no. 2 | 'Danse', about making a melody | View PDF | Download MP3 |
| 7. no. 6 | 'Valse', applying a germinal motive | View PDF | Download MP3 |
| 8. no. 8 | 'March', about motivic relations | View PDF | Download MP3 |
| 9. no. 10 | 'Joyeux', the triad as melodic and harmonic force | View PDF | Download MP3 |
| 10. no. 3 | 'Valse Viennoise', breaking lines | View PDF | Download MP3 |