Feest der Poëzie - Frederik van Eeden

Reciter Simon Mulder, soprano Saskia de Man-Martig and pianist Daan van de Velde present a portrait of Frederik van Eeden (1860-1932) through rarely performed poems, letters and songs.

Van Eeden was one of the most versatile figures in Dutch culture around the turn of the 20th century: poet, novelist, playwright and essayist, but also psychiatrist, linguist, political and ecological activist, beekeeper and early New Age thinker. Various highlights and low points from his life are explored - his role among the Tachtigers, his quarrel with Lodewijk van Deyssel over the novel "Een liefde", the founding of the self-sufficient colony Walden in Bussum, his international contacts, his conversion to Catholicism and his tragic end.

Works performed include "De Waterlelie" by Van Eeden himself, "De klare dag" by Alphons Diepenbrock, "Ik ben in eenzaamheid" to a text by Lodewijk van Deyssel and "Stort o arbeiders" by Herman Gorter. Also heard are songs by Jan Brandts Buys, Hugo Nolthenius, Willem Andriessen and other composers inspired by the great writers of their time.