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First Time I Saw
Music for Orchestra,

First Time I Saw

InstrumentationGradeDurationPublisherDemo Score
Orchestra5½ 14 minutesJanssen Music→ Download

A tone poem for orchestra after a poem about the circle of life by an unknown poet.

First Time I Saw

First time I saw the water, I was a grain

First time I saw the earth, I was a human being

First time I saw the sky, I was a boy

First time I sensed fear, I was a man

First time I heard a bird’s squeal, I was an old person

When I felt pain, I was death

Then was life, I was everything

Score & Parts are available from …

Demo recording

Symphonische Fantasie aus “Die Frau ohne Schatten” / Richard Strauss
Transcriptions for Wind Band,

Symphonische Fantasie aus “Die Frau ohne Schatten” / Richard Strauss

A Masterful Synthesis of a Monumental Opera.

In 1946, in the aftermath of World War II and during his exile in Switzerland, Richard Strauss revisited one of his most ambitious and beloved operatic scores: the 1919 masterpiece Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow). Rather than creating a mere chronological medley, Strauss distilled the opera’s massive score into this Symphonic Fantasy, a self-contained, single-movement tone poem.

Strauss seamlessly weaves together the most powerful musical themes and emotional highlights of the opera. Requiring a massive orchestral lineup, the work sweeps the listener into a magical, fairy-tale sound world. From the dark, dramatic motifs of the Emperor and the spirit realm to the deeply moving, lyrical love themes of the dyer Barack and his wife, all the passion, mysticism, and late-Romantic grandeur of the original opera are brought to life in concentrated form.

The piece received its highly successful world premiere in Vienna on June 26, 1947, conducted by the legendary Karl Böhm. Ever since, this fantasy has stood as a brilliant and virtuosic showcase of Strauss’s unmatched orchestral genius.

In this transcription for large wind orchestra, all the rich colors of the original are preserved. A true challenge for orchestras of the absolute highest level.

Digital Score & Parts only available on request.

BECHÆ – festive overture
Music for Wind Band,

BECHÆ – festive overture

InstrumentationGradeDurationPublisherDemo Score
Wind Band3½8 minutesJanssen Music→ Download

The overture BECHÆ is a musical tribute to Beek, composed specifically to mark the 175th anniversary of the “Koninklijke Harmonie St. Caecilia Beek”.

The title refers to the municipality’s medieval name. Inspiration for this work was drawn from the historic village column bearing the Latin inscription: 

“Historia Bechæ continet facta et fabulas” – (The history of Beek contains facts and fables).

The work follows a classic three-part structure in which history and myth merge. The energetic, spirited outer movements give musical expression to the facta – the tangible dynamism and vibrant future of Beek and its wind orchestra, all with a festive character.

The contrasting middle section brings the fabulas to life, featuring a beautiful, lyrical solo for English horn (or alto saxophone). Supported by a rippling accompaniment that evokes the flow of the Keutelbeek stream, this expressive melody invites s moment of atmospheric reflection. 

The work concludes with an exhilarating “Vivace” in which the orchestra pulls out all the stops for a sparkling finale.

Score & Parts are available from …

Demo sound file:

Test piece ONHK 2027
News

Test piece ONHK 2027

The Open Dutch Wind Orchestra Championships in 2027 have selected “Symphony #16” as the compulsory work for the 1st Division. The championships will take place on March 20, 2027, in Zutphen (NL).

Screenshot
Wintertaferelen / Winter Scenes
Music for Fanfare Band,

Wintertaferelen / Winter Scenes

InstrumentationGradeDurationPublisherDemo Score
Fanfare Band515 minutesJanssen Music→ Download

Winter scenes (Wintertaferelen in dutch) is a three-movement work inspired by the seventeenth-century masterpieces of Hendrick Avercamp. It serves as a musical canvas depicting the Dutch winter during the Little Ice Age.

The Prelude tells the story of the icy, mysterious silence of a frozen river at sunrise. The Scherzo is a feverish, hectic, and virtuosic movement in which the people on the ice are portrayed through music. The work concludes with a universal chorale that evokes the warmth and sense of togetherness of a December evening.

This work was commissioned by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee.

Winter Landscape – Hendrick Avercamp (17th Century)

Score & Parts are available from December 2026

Demo Recording;

Echoes of Time
Music for Wind Band,

Echoes of Time

InstrumentationGradeDurationPublisherDemo Score
Wind Band513 minutesJanssen Music→ Download

Dedicated to everyone, in any way involved in the Hercules disaster on July 15th 1996.

Commissioned by Koninklijke Militaire Kapel ‘Johan Willem Friso’.

Echoes of Time is a symphonic poem composed on the occasion of the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Hercules disaster on July 15th 1996.

The work consists of four consecutive parts. It opens with “Morning Light”, a colorful look back at the day it all happened. After a short introduction – where the dawning of the day turns into the grand opening theme – the story is told of the great musicians, in the prime of their lives, resuming the return journey after a successful performance by their “Fanfarekorps Koninklijke Landmacht” (FKKL).

Just as suddenly as a disaster can take place, the second part “Silence Fall” follows. After the drastic event – in which 34 musicians and crew members were killed and 7 seriously injured – it is as if time stands still for a moment. The music becomes still, as it were. A heartbeat illustrates the fight for the lives of the survivors and the dead are mourned in short recitatives. 

The third part follows consecutively and tells the story as a kind of dialogue between survivors/relatives and the dead. This “Cantilene” is a remembrance of the lost, where time softens the wounds but does not erase them. The part ends grandly, where, as it were, a tribute is paid to all the victims. 

In the final part “Permanent Echo”, the memories of the past are translated into a message that leaves a sense of hope and remembrance.

Score and Parts

Sound demo

Dance of the seven veils / Richard Strauss
Transcriptions for Wind Band,

Dance of the seven veils / Richard Strauss

The Dance of the Seven Veils is a famous, suggestive dance scene from Richard Strauss’s opera Salome, often depicted as a striptease in which the biblical princess Salome removes seven veils before her stepfather Herod, made influential by Oscar Wilde’s 1891 play. This dramatic dance leads to the demand for the head of John the Baptist.

Digital Score & Parts only available on request.

The Village School
Music for Wind Band,

The Village School

InstrumentationGradeDurationPublisherDemo Score
Wind Band4½ 8 minutesJanssen Music→ Download

“The Village School” a frivolous and colourful overture for wind band. The work, originally for orchestra (titled as “Regalo Festivo Ouverture”) was commissioned by the University Orchestra Maastricht and serves as a prelude to its concerts. 

This version for wind band is also freely inspired by Jan Steen’s painting “the village school”, in which the everyday chaos within a classroom can be felt. It is also a reference to the connection with the university, where students experience their hopefully best time of their lives that eventually leads to a successful career. In the work, the various musical themes develop into a grand apotheosis.

Score & Parts

Demo recording