contents
1. summary
2. listen
3. programme notes
4. details
5. performances
summary
Rozalie Hirs’ arbre généalogique (2011) for lyrical soprano and large ensemble expands her exploration of harmony, timbre, and form through poetry and song. Setting her own poem ‘Stamboom’ (“family tree”) — in Henri Deluy’s French translation — Hirs creates a meditative sound world where ancestry and memory unfold through music. The soprano and bass lines, simple yet shifting in intervallic relation, generate evolving harmonies through frequency modulation, gradually transforming the ensemble’s colour and texture. Electronic sounds, derived from the same frequency structures as the acoustic writing, subtly refract and enrich the sound, weaving voice, ensemble, and electronics into a unified sonic family tree. The work is featured on Hirs’ album Rosehart (2025).
listen
programme notes
In arbre généalogique (“family tree”) Rozalie Hirs extends her exploration of harmony and timbre through the lens of poetry and the human voice. Drawing on her dual background as poet and singer, Hirs integrates voice into her compositional practice in a natural, organic way. The work, for lyrical soprano and large ensemble, sets her own poem ‘Stamboom’ (“Family tree”) from the collection Geluksbrenger (2008). The text traces ancestry along streams of memory and language. For this setting, Hirs turned to Henri Deluy’s French translation, whose playful compound words (such as mèremèrepèremère) inspired a vocal line of archaic, incantatory character.
In the eighties and nineties, Hirs explored her soprano voice extensively, shaping the vocal writing of her early works in both indie pop (“new wave”) and contemporary classical idioms. Later vocal compositions — In LA (2003), Pulsars (2007), and Bridge of Babel (2009) — centred on spoken text, tracing the shifting boundary between music and poetry. In article 5 [delphin, gekrümmte zeit] (2008) she applied spectral techniques to the vocal melody, leading directly to the sound world of arbre généalogique.
Here, melody again comes to the fore. The soprano and bass parts were intuitively shaped together and kept relatively simple; as their intervallic relationship shifts, new harmonies emerge through frequency modulation, propelling the music forward. The soprano unfolds slowly, with breath and spaciousness, while the ensemble transforms in colour and density, both during the vocal phrases and in brief instrumental explorations of the musical motifs. Long, arching spans create a meditative sound world, where the generational imagery of the text resonates with the music’s unfolding. The result is both intimate and architectural — a personal narrative refracted through harmony. As in Roseherte, electronic sounds form an integral layer. The same calculated frequencies that underpin the microtonal chords also generate the electronic sounds in Csound, subtly colouring and refracting the ensemble. Together with the soprano, they form a living fabric — a sonic family tree of voice, ensemble, and electronic sounds.
Arbre généalogique
mère femme fatale tirée hors de la boue père mauvaise herbe pousse
partout apporte l’esprit de mèremère papillonnant bon pour un perpétuel
mèrepère en jaguar bleue petits oeufs de pâques sucrées féeries mèrefrère
à quatre ans en pyjama avec le bac sure le IJ mèremèremère jeune morte
mèremèrepère baryton à femmes et à boire décadence mèremèrepèremère
comblait le creux dans une chaussette 100 florins épargnés rêve aux pieds
du lits mèrepèresoeur rejetée pour folle décrépite esclave du ménage
née le 19 octobre 1919 mèrepèresoeur prétendu mèremère pèremère
pensée liens entre tous les tractatus pèrepère qui pour des cigares
et un verre écrit les lettres du quartier pèremère célibataire sans moyens
pèremèrepère dans la chair et dans le sang rejeté hors du nom de la source
la fortune de son pèremèrepèrepère premier fabricant de peinture
des pays-bas à haarlem joué aux courses noyé son 19° anniversaire
pèrepèremère à eu 15 enfants don’t le plus jeune pèrepère l’arbre de vie
arrive là maintenant vie de musique des mots alors ?
(poem: Rozalie Hirs, French translation: Henri Deluy)
details
commission
arbre généalogique (2011) was commissioned by ASKO|Schönberg and its artistic director Willem Hering.
dedication
arbre généalogique (2011) is dedicated to Susan Narucki.
instrumentation
soprano
flute/ alto flute
oboe/ cor anglais
clarinet/ bass clarinet
bassoon/ contra bassoon
French horn
percussion (vibraphone, glockenspiel, tubular bells, crotales, drumkit)
piano
violin 1
violin 2
viola
cello
contrabas
midikeyboard & computer with Logic software and Logic sampler with 300 electronic sounds (1 player)
optional: live ring-modulation
duration
17′ ca.
publisher
The score of avatar (2022) can be purchased through its publisher Deuss Music.
poem
The music composition arbre généalogique is based on the poem Arbre généalogique by Rozalie Hirs, translated into French by Henri Deluy (from: Action Poétique No. 198, France, 2009). The Dutch poem Stamboom was originally published as part of Hirs’ fourth poetry collection Geluksbrenger (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Querido, The Netherlands, 2008).
performances
10 November 2011, 20:15, PROMS, Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Susan Narucki (soprano), Pierre-André Valade (conductor), Asko|Schönberg
13 november 2011, 14:00, November Music, Verkadefabriek Den Bosch, The Netherlands – Susan Narucki (soprano), Pierre-André Valade (conductor), Asko|Schönberg
The above photograph of Rozalie Hirs and Susan Narucki was made by Miek Zwamborn after the premiere on 10 November 2011 at Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.