Year: 2022 | Grade: 4

Scores

Orchestra

Comment

Cape Horn is situated at the southern point of South America, on the Chilean island “Isla Hornos”. For centuries, sailing around the horn was said to be one of he most dangerous passages for ships that wanted to sail from the Atlantic Ocean westwards to the Pacific Ocean. Tradition has it that Sir Francis Drake discovered Cape Horn in 1578 and the Dutch voyager Willem Cornelisz Schouten was the first to round it in 1616. It was the latter who named the promontory after his Dutch hometown Hoorn. It is estimated that over 800 ships and 10,000 men in total sank into the icy waters during attempts to circumnavigate the cape. The work Cape Horn – a solo for Horn and concert band – attempts to reflect the beauty, but also the peril of this region. It is a matter of great importance to the composer Otto M. Schwarz to write new repertoire in the wind band solo works genre. The tonal language of his main genre – film music – is as unmistakable as the experimental parts and catchy tunes.