Das Narrenschiff / Stultifera Navis / The Ship of Fools / Het Narrenschip
Dutch composer Wilbert Bulsink has composed a song specially for the 48th edition of the International Vocal Competition in 2010. The IVC warmly invites all candidates to include this song on their repertoire list.
Composer: Wilbert Bulsink (*1983)
Title: Das Narrenschiff
Length: 4 minutes
Accompaniment: Piano
Text: Sebastian Brant (1457, Strasbourg — 1521, Strasbourg) in Old German
Das Narrenschiff (1494)
Wir faren umb durch alle landt
All port durchsuchen wir, und gstadt
Wir faren umb mit grossem Schad
Und künnent doch nit treffen wol
Den staden do man lenden sol
Unser umbfaren ist on end
Dann keyner weisz, wo er zu lend
Und hant doch keyn růw tag, noch naht
Uff wiszheyt unser keyner acht.
The Ship of Fools
We sail round many foreign parts
Probing every port, and coast
We sail around with grievous loss
And cannot seem to find the place
To put ashore and land embrace
Our journey follows without end
For no-one knows the place to land
And no-one rests by night, or day
Nor thoughts of wisdom doth relay
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Das Narrenschiff
The choice to sing this song is optional and not compulsory. Candidates who include the song in their repertoire are also entered for the Dutch Composition Prize worth € 2,500. The work counts in the repertoire list as 1 of the 3 compulsory works composed after 1915. Candidates are also eligible for the November Music engagement prize.
Candidates who are interested may request the sheet music via the IVC: info@internationalvocalcompetition.com.
The first public performance of the song will be given by the candidates in the semi-finals of the competition. The song will be performed by selected candidate prize winners in the final of the IVC 2010.
Explanation by composer Wilbert Bulsink:
“After seeing the painting by Hieronymus Bosch, reading Sebastian Brants’ poetry and feeling the rhythm of the old German metre, it was immediately clear to me that this song had to portray an out-of-control drunkenness, a fool-like reflection of human helplessness and imperfection. Like a drunkard, the text repeats itself time and time again, falling prey to sudden mood swings. Sailing on a dangerously swirling piano part, the song searches the highways and byways without finding solid ground to set its foot upon. Although it is easy to make fun of the drunkard, he/she is completely serious and sincere in his/her observations and song.”
Wilbert Bulsink
Composer Wilbert Bulsink was born on 10 July 1983 in Doetinchem, the Netherlands. He studied piano under Ton Hartsuiker and Gert-Jan Vermeulen, instrumentation under Theo Verbey and composition under Daan Manneke, Wim Henderickx and Theo Loevendie. He also studied electronica under Kees Tazelaar, Jorrit Tamminga and Jos Zwaanenburg. In 2008, he completed his composition studies with distinction. During the course of his studies, Bulsink played church organ and was keyboard player/arranger in the rock band Magic Fish.
At an early age, Bulsink’s work was performed by the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble and Orkest de Ereprijs. In 1999, his composition for orchestra Ontdekkingen was selected for the Nederlands Balletorkest’s Young Composters Project. Prelude no. 2 (2003) was performed during the World Music Days in Ljubljana. In 2006, he worked together with Thomas Myrmel on the composition of the multimedia performance The Expected for 5 singers/speakers, an 11-man ensemble and electronics, based on a short film by Keren Cytter. In 2007, he composed Air (an eternal music) for the Nieuw Ensemble supplemented by sho, duduk and qanun. In 2008 and 2009 some of his commissioned pieces were performed by the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble. He also wrote some short piano pieces and some short pieces for the Ziggurat ensemble and the Rosa Ensemble. In April 2009, his orchestral piece Koranfragment was performed by the Orchestra of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam conducted by Ed Spanjaard. Together with Thomas Myrmel, and in close collaboration with the seven performing musicians, he created the music theatre piece Pigeonhouse in 2009 at the request of November Music.
In 1998, Wilbert Bulsink won a first prize at the Prinses Christina Concours with Prelude no. 1. In 1999, he received the NOG Stimuleringsprijs [encouragement prize] for Ontdekkingen. In October 2005, he was presented with the first Jan van Vlijmen Prize for new composers. The Proms in Paradiso Programme Prize was awarded to Bulsink in 2006 for The Expected. In 2009, his composition Op/Weg … geblazen for air piano and an ensemble was selected for Toonzetters 2009, and in 2010 his composition Koranfragment was selected for Toonzetters 2010.
Das Narrenschiff / Stultifera Navis / The Ship of Fools / Het Narrenschip
Das Narrenschiff
Sebastian Brant was born in Strasbourg in 1457 and studied law at Basel. He taught at the University of Basel and was later appointed imperial councillor. Brant died in 1521. He is best known for his moralistic-satirical poem The Ship of Fools, published in 1494.
This ship is carrying 111 fools on their way to Narragonia, a fools’ paradise. Human characteristics and behaviour are closely examined, commented on and strongly rejected. Brant articulates his dissatisfaction with the many expressions of objectionable human behaviour which are corrupting and spoiling his society. He encourages the readers in an instructive yet pleasant manner to improve their behaviour for they will otherwise come to a bad end. The book was illustrated with woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer among others. Right from the start, The Ship of Fools was a best seller, with many reprints and translations.
The Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch (c 1450 – 1516, ‘s-Hertogenbosch) recorded Brant’s theme in his painting The Ship of Fools, an Allegory of Gluttony and Lust. This painting should be seen as a depiction of debauched behaviour, a degenerate life filled with drinking and feasting on forbidden fruits. The fool sitting in a tree branch on board the ship and drinking from a bowl, gave the painting its name.
On the right, next to a large barrel of drink, one of the passengers is leaning over the side of the ship because he needs to throw up. The other side of the ship shows a man lying down being grabbed by a woman clasping a flask. Is she trying to get him more drunk, or does she want to brain him with the flask? A man with a knife is reaching out of the leaves for a piece of fowl hanging from the mast.
Two naked figures are swimming in the water; one is carrying a bowl while the other is clutching the side of the boat. The cherries, the flasks, the fowl and the fish in the work are all allegorical symbols related to the theme of the painting: a profligate life.
The original painting can be seen in the Louvre in Paris.
Some 20th century artists (including Art Hazelwood, Dusan Kállay, István Orosz, Brian Williams) made images based on “Das Narrenschiff”, or drew illustrations for contemporary editions of The Ship of Fools.
