Cat No. JM47150
Price £93.50
Composer: Jan De Haan
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works)

Duration 13.20

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This colourful work is based on the adventures of Christopher Columbus and his voyages to discover Africa and other new territories around the World. The theory that the earth was round urged Columbus to try and reach Asia by sailing west. A truly exotic work that grasps the drive and excitement of the world’s greatest explorer.

Composer Jan de Haan wrote Hispaniola on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the death of Christopher Columbus, who lived from 1451 to 1506. Columbus was born in Italy, but as a young man he settled in Lisbon, where he undertook voyages of discovery to Africa and elsewhere. The then-new theory that the earth was round urged Columbus to try and reach Asia (then called the East Indies) by sailing west. In 1492 he sailed under the Spanish flag, and two months later, he discovered the first islands in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus assumed that he had reached the Indies, and so he called the natives Indians. One of the islands — that of Haiti and the Dominican Republic — he called La Espanola, meaning Little Spain. On Latin that is “Hispaniola”.
The composition Hispaniola consists of three connected movements. In the first movement, the preparation of the voyage is reflected. The industriousness that is expressed in the music repetitively alternates with a relaxed Spanish atmosphere. The second movement has a fast tempo and is full of rhythmic surprises — thus the long, dangerous, and unpredictable sea voyage is described. After the ship’s bell has sounded loudly at the “Land hol”, the third movement begins. During the long-drawn-out theme, the coast seems to rise slowly from the sea, after which the euphoria because of the discovery of the new land is echoed with a great musical climax at the end.