Characterization

Raymond Schroyens himself saw his artistic output as being directly rooted in expressive sentiments and moods of the past, yet being of its own time in sound and idiom; he used to characterize his music as contemporary/(late) romantic.

“My vocal music is strongly attached to the natural prosody of the text. The flow of the sentences depends upon the impact of the basic binary and ternary meter of the individual words, whence the continuously changing time signatures. The approach should result in a flowing legato singing”.

Differentiation

“The difference between my vocal and my instrumental writing is determined by the natural limits of both these media. I avoid exceeding the compass of the human voice, preferably dividing vocal parts rather than straining the singers' voices. In instrumental scores, however, one can extend the limits much farther and also introduce more complicated rhythms. Nevertheless, I often like to think in vocal terms while writing for instrumental parts; exceptionally, the opposite is also true. Influenced by the new German choral esthetics of the late 50s I wrote various works for choir and a number of folksong arrangements; my instrumental approach was to a certain degree affected likewise”.

Evolution

“Although style evolves rather slowly and spreads itself over several years, a change of expression does become noticeable. Just as in speech, musical vocabulary, composition of sentences, flavor of harmonic sounds, all obey a time change and different discipline. In my later choral and instrumental music, the use of bitonal chords in super-position has become prominent; this creates an organ-inspired sound effect and thus adds an appealing gravity to the performance”.

Bibliography and References

  • Winkler Prins Encyclopedie van Vlaanderen (1974, Brussel)
    Schroyens Raymond (p.204)
  • International Register of Profiles (1977, Cambridge, Eng.)
    R.S. (p.679)
  • Men of Achievement (1977, IBC, Cambridge, Eng.)
    R.S. (p.556)
  • Dictionary of International Biography (1979, Cambridge, Eng.)
    R.S. (p.864)
  • Who's Who in Music (1980, Cambridge, Eng.)
    R.S. (p.991)
  • Who's Who in Europe (1983, Waterloo, Belg.)
    R.S. (p.1959)
  • Algemene Muziekencyclopedie (1983, De Haan-Weesp, Belg, Ned.)
    R.S. (pp.101-102)
  • International Book of Honor (1985, American Biographical Institute, Raleigh, N.C.)
    R.S. (p.562)
  • Who's Who in Vlaanderen (2003, Hove, Belg)
    R.S. (p.937)
  • Levaux, Thierry, Dictionnaire des Compositeurs de Belgique du Moyen Age à Nos Jours (2005, Ohain-Lasne, Belg.)
    R.S. (p.561)
  • International Biographical Association Directory (2005-06, Ely, Eng.)
    R.S. (p.264)
  • Lazri & Simon, Who is Who in Choral Music (2007, Braunfels, Ger.)
    R.S. (p.231)
  • Roquet, Flavie, Lexicon Vlaamse Componisten geboren na 1800 (2007, Roularta, Belg.)
    R.S. (p.626)
  • De Koormuziek bij Raymond Schroyens, stylistic analysis (thesis choral direction Koninklijk Conservatorium Gent, 1983)
  • Tel uw herinneringen – I  (A.N.Z. ['Algemeen Nederlands Zangverbond'], vol. XIII/3, May-June 1985)
  • Tel uw herinneringen – II  (A.N.Z., vol. XIII/3, May-June 1985)
  • Interview met Raymond Schroyens – Pentalpha, Six Dickinson Miniatures, My love is like a red, red rose (De Tweede Adem, Gent, December 1990)
  • Drie open zangstonden rond Raymond Schroyens (De Tweede Adem, Gent, March 1991)
  • Ten huize Sarabande, een gesprek met R. Schroyens (De Tweede Adem, Gent, June 1993)
  • Raymond Schroyens, een zelfportret (VFJK ['Vlaamse Federatie van Jonge Koren'], vol. XXVII/8, Gent, October 1993)
  • Van Haperen, Joon, PENTALPHA van Raymond Schroyens, situering van de partituur (thesis Koninklijk Conservatorium Antwerpen, 1997)
  • Lambrichts, Marcel, Raymond Schroyens, een plusser (Festival Van Vlaanderen, brochure 1998)
  • De Rycke, Simon, Tijd in Noot! Zeilend tussen oude meesters – interview with R.S. (Ambrozijn, vol. 25/4, 2008, p.19)
  • Leys, Peter, Feeststemming, Raymond Schroyens 75! – interview with R.S. (Stemband, vol. 6/3, July 2008, p.12)
  • Van Looy, Patrick, Raymond Schroyens en pure poëzie: Tho' it were ten thousand mile (Stemband, vol. 6/3, July 2008, p.15)
  • Schroyens, A. K. & Schroyens, D. E, Raymond Schroyens – Mechelaar, Musicus, Componist (Mechelen, November 2018)