In 1989 the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts awarded Bank the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize for his Requiem voor een levende (Requiem for one of the living), a work which, because of its highly unusual setting - including 9 accordions, 4 saxophones, 3 double basses and choir - and very demanding choir parts, was only premiered four years later.br> Requiem voor een levende (requiem for a living one) is written in 1985 by Jacques Bank for speaking voice, mixed choir, 4 saxophones, 9 accordions, 3 double basses and percussion.

Until late into the 18th century, a leper was officially 'declared dead' by his healthy fellow-citizens, before being banned forever to a leperhouse, usually situated at quite a distance from the town. To this purpose a requiem-ceremony was held in his presence, during which he was submitted to a number of quite lugubrious rituals. In part 3 of the Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus, a book by father Edmund Marten, published in Antwerp in 1763, it is explained how this ceremonial expulsion took place in the various towns of Northern France. The ceremony held in Bourges and surroundings has been used as a model for Requiem voor een Levende (Requiem for a Living One).

Part 1 -- LIBERA ME Relatives, friends and acquaintances proceed in procession to the leper's house, singing the 'libera me', in fact the final hymn of a funeral service. The acolyte, holding a large cross, leads the way immediately followed by the priest, the celebrant of the requiem-service, in full pontificals. When they arrive, the leper steps outside and the priest recites chapter 21 of the Lavaur Council, which deals with the line of conduct to be followed by church officials in case one of their parishioners should suffer from leprosy. Subsequently the leper's head is shaved and covered with a black cloth. He wraps himself in the 'cloth of humility', also called the 'cloth of Lazarus' and is seated in a carrying-chair and carried from his house to the church again, accompanied by the singing of the 'libera me'

Part 2 -- REQUIEM AETERNAM In a remote corner of the church, at a safe distance from the church-goers, the carrying-chair is put on a bier with on both sides three burning death candles. Then the actual funeral ceremony begins with the 'introitus'and the 'kyrie'.

Part 3 -- DIES IRAE The service proceeds with the 'dies irae'. At the end the carrying-chair is opened and the black cloth is removed from the leper's head. The church-goers are given the opportunity to say farewell, still at a safe distance. The leper is sprinkled with holy water, the black cloth is replaced and the carrying-chair is closed.

Part 4 -- SIS MORTUUS The leper is carried to the churchyard. He leaves the carrying-chair and lies down in a grave prepared for him. The church-goers sing a text by St.Agustine, in which the sick is reassured that the suffering becomes more bearable once he realizes his mortality. Then the priest throws some sand on the leper's feet, saying that, although he may be dead to the community, to God he is still alive. While the leper is still in the grave, the bystanders comfort him and urge him to have patience by speaking some words once said by the prophet Isaias. Then the leper is seated again in the carrying-chair and is carried to the leperhouse. Standing in the entrance he is once more addressed by the priest, this time in his mother's tongue, French. With a threateningly raised finger, he is told which rules he has to follow from now on in order to prevent the disease from spreading. For example, he is forbidden to walk in a narrow alley, because touching healthy people will be inevitable. He has to see to it that, during a conversation with a healthy person, he doesn't talk 'with a favourable wind'. When the priest has finished his speech, he sprinkles the leper with holy water and gives him his blessing. The carrying-chair is set fire to and the leper enters the leperhouse.

01. Kassandra 1
02. A. de eerste plannen
03. B. de plannen worden concreet
04. C. de eerste paal
05. Kassandra 2
06. D. problemen bij het bouwen
07. E. een bewoner van het eerste uur
08. F. bewoners protesteren
09. Kassandra 3
10. G. de Bijlmerexpres
11. H. de veelkleurige Bijlmer
12. I. wanhoop bij het bestuur
13. Kassandra 4
14. J. pogingen te redden wat er te redden valt
15. K. de bewoners houden de moed erin, maar het noodlot slaat toe. Een vliegtuig stort neer op de Bijlmermeer
16. L. requiem

♫ 01. Kassandra 1
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 02. A. de eerste plannen
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 03. B. de plannen worden concreet
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 04. C. de eerste paal
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 05. Kassandra 2
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 06. D. problemen bij het bouwen
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 07. E. een bewoner van het eerste uur
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 08. F. bewoners protesteren
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 09. Kassandra 3
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 10. G. de Bijlmerexpres
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 11. H. de veelkleurige Bijlmer
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 12. I. wanhoop bij het bestuur
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 13. Kassandra 4
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 14. J. pogingen te redden wat er te redden valt
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 15. K. de bewoners houden de moed erin,
maar het noodlot slaat toe. Een vliegtuig stort
neer op de Bijlmermeer
© Composers' Voice CV 110


♫ 16. L. requiem
© Composers' Voice CV 110

Requiem is the last part of "De Bijlmer Opera". The cd is a live recording of an opera on the Bijlmermeer, a new estate district of the city of Amsterdam, with lots of high-rise buildings, designed and realised in the 20th century. This opera was produced by Orkest de Volharding and premiered in January 2000 in Theater Bellevue, Amsterdam. Written in memory of the victims of the airplane-crash on the 4th of October 1992 in De Bijlmer, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Text by Le Corbusier, pseudonym of Charles Edouard Jeanneret (06/10/1887 - 27/08/1965), a Swiss architect, painter and sculptor. Le Corbusier, the great Swiss architect and city planner is often mistaken as being of French origin. In actuality, he was born on the 6th of October in 1887 as Charles Edouard Jeanneret in La Chaux-de-fonds, a watch-making city in Switzerland. He pioneered functionalist architecture with the use of reinforced concrete and the concept of a house as a "machine for living." He died in the Mediterranean in 1965.