July 7, 2017. By: Henk, board member of the mixed choir Cantamus Alati, based in The Hague (Netherlands).
We are proud to present a unique choral & orchestral work based on the poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
This 40-minutes choral & orchestral work, including all vocal and orchestral materials are free for rehearsal and performance by your choir throughout 2017 and 2018 (extension will be considered).
What is the story behind this production and this free offer for your choir?
In 2016 Cantamus Alati (The Hague – Netherlands -) our mixed choir of around 60 members, celebrated its 60th birthday. For this occasion we decided to commission a new work. It’s a choral & orchestral work entirely based on the poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 – 1834). The duration of this work is about 40 minutes and it comprises mixed choir (SATB), soloist (bass), children’s choir, piano, horns, harp, percussion and 22 strings (6-6-4-4-2).
The text of the original poem by Coleridge is very closely followed. Our composer (Nico de Rooij, also from The Hague) did a great job. He has drawn up the scores for our choir and the children’s choir, and made the vocal score for the soloist. A full orchestration for strings, horns, harp and percussion was made under De Rooij’s responsibility, by Casper van Nugteren.
We performed the work as a world premiere on October 1, 2016, in The Hague, with Kees van der Linden conducting. He is our regular conductor. The performance was a success!
Here is what we offer your choir for your use, free of charge:
• The vocal score (pdf), containing the SATB voices for choir, the children’s parts, the soloist’s part and a full piano score for the rehearsals.
• The orchestral score (pdf), ranging from the director’s score to the scores for every individual instrument in the orchestra.
• Rehearsal piano music (MP3) per individual choir voice (SATB) and for the children as well.
• Publication materials (pdf), though in the Dutch language, that may serve as a basis for your PR activities. Such as a concert program, flyers and posters.
• A recording of our concert (MP3) on October 1, 2016 in The Hague, so you can evaluate and (as we hope and expect) enjoy this work as much as we did!
And why do we offer this for free?
In honesty: it is not common for our choir to commission such a work. Usually we perform works that are available on the market. For our jubilee, we made an exception for this very interesting poem of Samuel Coleridge.
In the future we may consider to exploit the commercial publication / exploitation rights of this beautiful work (we own the rights). But at present our main target is to make the work more known. This is why we invite and offer your choir to be (one of) the first choir(s) to perform this work outside the Netherlands. And that is why there will currently be neither rental nor any other charges for your use of this work.
So the materials are currently free for use. But may your choir ask an entrance fee?
Yes, you are completely free to sell tickets in the way that you are used to, or that you deem suitable. There is no franchise or charge from our side whatsoever.
Are there no conditions?
There are some, but they are quite overseeable:
• You will receive all choral, orchestral and other materials digitally, and printing costs will be on your side.
• You may not sell CD’s or other type of recordings of our October 1, 2016 concert in The Hague. You may distribute the – freely available – MP3 files of that concert only for evaluation purposes (such as among the board of your choir or your own director).
• If you like to sell or otherwise distribute CD’s or other type of recordings of your own concert, please let us know, so we can make an arrangement with you. As a first indication, our composer and we are entitled to a small fee per CD or other recording sold.
• Though we went through an elaborate checking process, all materials are made available to you “as-is”, and we cannot be held responsible for any errors in the materials, nor for any other consequences or costs that are or may be related to your performance of the work.
• If any taxes have to be paid due to your (free) use of the materials, they will be paid by you. If this concerns taxes on our side in the Netherlands, we will let you know beforehand. Though this is unlikely.
• Please inform us of your planned concert, venue, date and time, at least 3 months in advance. We would appreciate if you would offer us some free tickets. Our attendance is not guaranteed however due to travel cost from the Netherlands.
• If you would like some “live” support from our composer (Nico de Rooij) or our director (Kees van der Linden) or other staff during your rehearsals or during your evaluation of the work as such, or at other occasions, please let us know also in due course, so we can make an arrangement with you. Assistance by telephone could be an option too.
• Though for free (at present) we will enter into a (simple) written agreement with you / your choir, and after mutual agreement and signing, we will make all the materials available for you to download.
Are you interested?
Please contact us on the following email address (pls. include this quote: “pls. forward this mail to Henk, treasurer”): info@cantamusalati.nl We are very much looking forward to hear from you.