1a. Tell something about yourself.
My name is Maurice Verheul, born 1964-09-29 in the Centre of Amsterdam: Noorderstraat. I am the son of Eugene Verheul and Ria van Bergen. I had a very troubled youth with all sorts of schools, a difficult household with a father with lots of mental problems due to his childhood (abuse, neglect etc). Due to his mental problems and resulting unable to raise a child other than an iron will to say what is right and wrong; his raising a child was a complete failure. He loved me that I can say but his in capability to show it was a big problem to say the least. Thank God I had and still have a very loving mother the total opposite and contrast of my father. I think the reason I compose is the constant escape of the thought about how it was at home and what became of it….and what became of me. Maybe this is a complete wrong reason to compose, I don’t know but it keeps me upright and clear.
1b. Which musicians have influenced you and who have had an effect on you when it comes to musical interest, personality and self-esteem?
Johann Sebastian Bach, Olivier Messiaen, Igor Strawinsky, Claude Vivier are some of the composers I love most. Bach, Strawinsky and Messiaen had the most effect on me. My musical interest goes from the middle ages, till now. You can better ask me what I don’t’ like…the popular County and western music I don’t like. ( not the Blue grass or Zydeco this I like). I was raised with Opera, early rock and roll ( Bill Haley , Little Richard etc.), 40ths music. I raised myself with Soul and Funk. I was at some age disc jockey for some years and the records I bought where off course R&B. My first classical records I bought at the age of 17/18: Bach organ works by Marie Claire Alain and 10 other classical albums for 2 guilders each at the “Koperen Hoorn” on the Rozengracht in Amsterdam-centre; a record shop. I heard myself say: “Hmmm what are you going to do? Listen all your life to soul and funk or are you going to broaden your horizon with other music?” …and that I did! My first contact with modern music was: Ivo Jiracek’s Mother hope symphony on Supraphone ( Label) LP…I still love this work! What My personality and self-esteem concerns …. My self-image is not that great but I owe lot to my teachers and two in particular: Franz Heym and Edgard Vreuls. Further on to resent days I owe a lot to Geoffrey Madge and Micheal Habermann two of my best musical friends! But self-esteem or the lack of it…well that is a problem deeply rooted in my childhood. Personality? You better ask someone else about me!
2a. Why did you want to compose or be involved with music?
I didn’t want to compose! I wanted to be a concert pianist. I wanted to express myself due to the piano. But life had other plans with me….or maybe I must say no plans with me in this direction…or no plans what’s however. I was one of those children You only read about…” just out of the blue he could play…..yes I played Fur Elise out of the blue and I learned to read notes and play due to the moonshine sonata and the first piano concerto of Tchaikovsky …within one year. After this year my mother thought it would be better to find a teacher…but due to my lack of self-esteem my mother found one: Franz Heym! A wonderful man! His thoughts after the telephone talk which he had with my mother.. ”well he practiced for a year now on his own … Mary had a little Lam that would be his level…..but No! ….. He fell from his chair so to speak after he heard what I played. Years later I had a back surgery and that didn’t go well. Due to the position my body was hanged in for this operation my nerves where damaged and due to this my arms where were partially paralyzed for years till now; my left arm/ hand has never be the same after this.
In the year of this back surgery I discovered composing. My first major work: Facies Tantum est ( It’s just a face: trans.) an Oratorio based on Zettela Steinbach was back (1994) than presented to Reinbert de Leeuw. Not presented by me but trough someone else and for what I heard years after that is was still there on his desk under a pile of other work……25 years later I tried it with some other works; the envelope I send it (tracked) was returned unopened: refused. So far our front fighter for modern music in the Netherlands: he did an immense work for befriended modern composers, he did a good work for them ….unfortunately I was probably not his friend….but that’s how it works. Back then I asked myself: Do I want to be involved in this? and still 25 years later I think exactly the same…nothing changed.
2b. What are your greatest strengths and what are your weaknesses?
My greatest strength is My greatest weakness: Patience with people! Not to know wheatear I can trust people or must mis trust them. Perseverance.
3a. What are your responsibilities in music /composing and how did you take them up?
Your greatest responsibility is towards to people you work with and work for. Be honest in the work you make, don’t lie. Be unique and create your own signature. Don’t give in to what others say and think about the work you make; you can listen to advice but don’t let others dictate you what to make. This is becoming more and more a plaque; a fungus we can’t get rid of. Bad teachers creating mediocre students that become even worse teachers creating even more mediocre students; regrettably this is the new standard we live by in in the Land of music where One-ear is King of the deaf……. You know Macdonalds has entered the land of Music? It tastes all the Same a, has no content and is a waste of your time.
3b. What would you rather not do; where are your weaknesses?
I would rather not organize concerts because it’s so unrewarding. You will be criticized for what you do, left or right, it doesn’t matter…most of the time You are wrong in the eyes of the other and when you are right, God forgive, you will never hear it! So why you do it? Well someone has to, if I don’t do it no one does..that’s the idea I get and modern music most survive. Whit out modern music there will be no music at all at the end. Letts face it during the centuries of making music all music was once modern music and this so called modern music boosted always the next generation of music makers. The creation of new music is at a sense laboratory like, experimenting, finding new forms, exploring new ideas. Dump this and we have a major problem…. Compare it with the pharmacy: dump its laboratory and society has a serious problem! And your weaknesses? I am too involved whit the idea that modern music must survive…. Maybe we have say: the patient has been declared dead! And it’s time to say goodbye; nothing lasts forever!
3c. What do you refuse to do?
Sell my soul to get there. For example; giving in to your management, audience, concert hall CEO’s, telling you what to play because it is convenient to listen to or you have better ticket sales or Management telling you what music to record…it’s selling your soul! Or compose Einaudi like music because you get more likes on in the social media…..or compose Einaudi like trash!
3d. What do you hate?
I can be very short in this: 1; Mediocrity in all facets you can think of. 2; Consciously stupidity. 3; Egocentrism. 4; Tunnel vision. 5; short-sightedness. These 5 point I hate the most in humans in general but most in musicians because in my opinion they most know better! These characteristics you see the most in the sub-top layers of music land; the other problem is they think they are the top, the real deal, …the real top doesn’t have these 5 characteristic.. they give rather than take! Do you give? Yes! But I must be honest; also to receive…unfortunately that doesn’t work out most of the time hahaha…. Never, not with me hahaha.
4. What successes have you achieved and how have you achieved them?
It’s funny you ask this, it’s now 25 years ago that I started to compose; last year it was 25 years so maybe it’s time to make up the balance of my achievements or better my almost achievements or things that didn’t work out like I had hoped or planned. I will give a summary:
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Achievements |
Miss achievements |
Failures |
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Musical Friendschips |
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All my composed work > 1400 |
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Facies tantum est |
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Stichting Facies |
Stichting Facies |
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The performance of some of my work |
The non Performance of most of my work |
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Somextro |
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Somextro England |
The Somextro website |
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Trusting the music buisenis and most of the people working in it. |
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The work that has been done to put modern music back on the map. |
5a. Everyone makes mistakes, what were the things that didn't go well for you? If you could turn the clock back, what would you have done differently?
I mentioned it before; the oratorio Facies tatum est. My first major work and my greatest disillusion. One of my teachers had a friend ( and what a friend he turned out to be) who became interested during to process of making this work. When the work had reached the end he came to me and told me he wanted to finance the performance of this work. He had time to spend and money wasn’t any issue. Can you imagine how I feld?! This was a dream come true. From typesetting the piece to the performance he insisted to pay for it. Choirs where found, auditions of musicians given, printers contracted, filmmakers, Directors, soloists, rehearsal spaces, a concert hall, tickets, interview’s, P.R….a Catholic mass combined with a Jewish service month and months of talking with both parties and together to get them next to each other; A priest and a Rabbi… And everything that goes with 3 performances he found it, contracted it and organized (not alone with my former wife) it but at the end he didn’t pay anything: 100.000 Guilders total costs in 1994 (that would be now: € 70 459.05). He turned out to be an impostor of the purest sort. It took a long time, a lot of phone call, a lot of talking, a lot of saying you’re sorry, police reports and a lawyer to straighten this out. His proclaimed dead mother!! said “Oh my God I thought he didn’t do this anymore, that he was normal now”… We never saw him, heard from him again, he was gone with the wind!
Well if I could turn back time I would not have written Facies tantum est or maybe composed at all.
5b. Are you an team player?
No! but I must be to achieve something. You must have an impeccable insight in times spirit, be a perfect businessman, and have a fortunate luck to do it on your own. I am not a businessman, have not an insight in time and I don’t have luck so best is to combine forces.
6. In what way have you contributed to the change of music or do you hope to have contributed to the change of music?
This question is better to be answered by others, especially Pianists and Bass clarinet players because I composed for these 2 groups most of my repertoire. I was asked by Geoffrey Madge to compose for piano, to compose for him, he lectured about my work. I was asked to make a immense amount of work in all his facets for the Bass clarinet by the late Harry Sparnaay. So there must be something I am doing okey in composing, these man are and where not some mediocre B class self-proclaimed musician: No! these man are ( and where) what you want as a composer: The Best of the Best!
As former wanna-be concert pianist I hope that my contributian for the piano repertoire is one of the same heights as my illustrious predecessors; one can only hope! And yes I fantasize about changing the music playground, why not!
7. What did you like the most and least about music?
I like the process of composing, to find new ways to express yourself. Now I’m exploring the Fibonacci sequence, Zeckendorf’s and the Lucas sequence combined with the extracted upper tones formed as a tone scale in music. You can hear all kinds of pulp on YouTube from composers saying they used the Fibonacci sequence……and what do you hear?! A lot of B.S. which is as boring as the color grey. Well a goalless repeat of 1,1,2,3,5,8 intervals isn’t music…it’s just a repeat of intervals nothing more. What I like the least about music is that today every dombo who can write the note A on a empty score can call itself composer; And we have 1000ths of them. The problem that arises from this is that the really good composers are not noticed due to the quantity of misery (composers) that surrounds them.
Are you a good composer? Only time can tell; one can only hope that his contributions a noticed!
8a. Why do you do "what you do" in music?
To quote Luther: “Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders. Amen"
8b. What does music do to you?
It comforts me, it keeps me sain, it dries my tears, it expresses my deepest feelings
8c. What is really characteristic of your music?
I think (please ask others) Rhythm, counterpoint, breathable chords in non-standard settings, melodic lines and the use of other than standard tone scales
8d. What do you hate about music
To beg to get my music performed and the feeling of completely ignoring my person, my being and what I am! You have no idea how this affects me and how hurtful this is to me.
9a. What are your goals in music?
One of my new goals is together with my brother in arms Ruud Harte to start an one day festival of modern music in Amsterdam this year. Fingers crossed!!!
9b. Can you do something with the question "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"
Well every lustrum I hoped that I conquered world fame; The opposite is true.
Why you want world fame? Well it opens doors, gives access to concert halls, you meet top A performers: Must I go on?
9c. What distinguishes you from other composers?
I don’t know! I know that my music has my signature and that’s important; it has my identity. Like Mozart has his or Bach, Beethoven to Messiaen and Strawinsky
10. What are your longer term goals and plans when it comes to your career?
I have learned that working in this field of work, with all its disappointments, actually doesn't make sense anymore to have goals on the long term. Most of my goals didn’t came through, regrettable!
11. What are your personal motives in your daily life?
I like to say, be happy but we know this isn’t so. I would give something to have a life that the lying idiots on the commercials let us trying to belief. So my motive is stay alive, keep yourself sane, don’t let others tell you how to live, ask the right questions and don’t let to cooperates, like the Jeff Bezos’s in this world, take your life. Don’t sell your soul to them!
12a. What actions do you take in music?
Trying to be creative as hell. Other than my own personal working space, the world within my reach, I can handle. I tried to stretch out with my music to a shit load of record companies ….. you have no idea how many there are! After 167 rejections I gave up. Some were interested if I gave them 10.000,00 for a recording project: Imagine you are a composer whit no money to spent and you have good music to offer. This good music goes down the drain and must give up to a composer who has money but composes horrible music. 1: the audience get fooled. 2: These record companies aren’t in for the art of music. No they are in for the art of making money. If you belief in my music, if you belief that my music is what the music world needs right now than a record company doesn’t ask for money, believing in the product you make and that it will pay off top dollar afterwards is enough. They will pay you and remember: when I pay someone before he did any labor his motivation is less than I pay them afterwards.
I must say that 2 labels stood out: Deutsche Grammophon and BIS records they were honest about themselves: These are difficult times and now where are doing all to survive the music business: Whe are at this moment only curators of our won work, we don’t need new projects. This I can handle, I don’t agree but this I can handle.
Overall I see a deadly spiral going downwards. You see it in the whole music world non creativity reigns Supreme: They think by giving the masses what they want they let you belief they are giving you art: NO! They are giving you MacDonald’s and they know they are giving you MacDonald’s: You get fooled and you want to be fooled! How many times do you hear to complain “It all sounds the same”….. or “My God already I hear the 5th of Beethoven, the last time was last week”. At some point your audience, your target group, starts to belief that there is nothing more they offer than this….this is what’s happening now! Can we conclude that music is dead I ask you!?
So you compose against all odds? Yes it’s so sad but I think this is true.
Thoughts about stopping with music? Every day but if you consider that this is the one thing that’s keeps me breathing …..
12b. How do you deal with failures.
That’s difficult! I always get depressed when it happens same as rejection this always feels like an attack to who and what I am. I personalize failure and I know that’s a unhealthy thing to do. I know where this is coming from, directly from childhood. I had a father who did not hesitate to tell you that you could do nothing good. Somehow I don’t get over it.
13. How do you deal with things that are imposed on you that fall outside the music?
No Problem you deal with it in a normal way. Life is not all about music you know. Music is part of life it’s not life is part of music!
14a. What makes you a good composer or a bad composer?
I must say this first to be a good composer has nothing to say about how famous you are or about the amount of likes you get in the social media. The fact you can life from you music is mostly the fact that life’ granted you a gift.
There are a lot of mediocre composers or musicians who have conquered to world and conquer it now we speak. Like Shakespeare said “Being a genius doesn’t bring bread on the table”. A good composer must know his meritus first of all and this will take a lot of ‘flying hours’ to achieve this; talent alone is not enough. Have an open mind about what others bring to the table but don’t try to copy those other just be yourself. Be creative and think outside the box within for you acceptable ranges. Work with Parameters, learn the joy of walking on boundaries when you learned this there is an whole wide world of exploring to do. Be sublime always ask and give the best of yourself. BUT know this all is not a guarantee that you become a success in this world or get famous it is just a guarantee you will enjoy composing to you last breath. You are not composing for others you compose because the music the music you want to hear doesn’t exist so you have to make it yourself! If others enjoy what you make that is the cherry on the cake!
What makes a bad composer? All the opposites from the above!
Are you a genius of do you consider yourself as a genius?
Well I have my moments hahahahaha and also the opposites hahaha once a teacher said “Maurice sometimes you are a genius but sometimes you are so dump”……maybe he didn’t understand me at all hahaha …A good composer doesn’t take itself to serious; let’s face it in the long run it’s just entertainment for the masses (or you hope on ‘masses’) There is no Divinity to be achieved, I am just a man which scribbles with his computer mouse in Finale and tries to get the best out of himself, no more no less!
14b. What are you going to bring us?
Nothing and everything; that is the discrepancy that I have to live with. Yes as a composer you are ambivalent. I can give you myself and that must be enough.
14c. What can you tell me about your creativity?
I always try to reinvent myself and most the times this happens in making series of works; I get bored or it starting to get annoying to do the same trick over and over again; Now that I said this, Jesus Fuck doesn’t Phillip Glass get bored doing to same trick over and over again or Einoudi, I know I get bored listening to them.
15a. Give a few examples of how you take on your duties
Well I sit down and I start to compose…and this happens 24/7
15b. What do you see as appreciation for you?
I really don’t know, I don’t get the idea that people appreciate my music that much on a view exceptions off course. It’s funny or sad it’s how you look at it. After 25 years the feeling of deny that I exist as a composer and the feeling of rejection you can say you get used to it, No! The problem this creates is that when you get some kind of appreciation for the labor you did, you don’t trust the appreciation given to you and the way to act, ‘enthusiastic’ is ‘beaten’ out. It’s not their fold Oh no, I let this happen to me, I could have made to choice to be a shoe seller and live a mediocre life With my apologies to shoe sellers all over the world it’s just a metaphor stolen from ‘Married with Children’
15c. Is music rewarding?
In most of the cases No! Let me tell you that I have been asked dozens of times to compose a piece for a musician or group of musicians and always for free but never to a view times performed. Do you know how frustrating this is?! To work your ass of for people you actually don’t know and at the end not even being able to say sorry that your work is not being performed! You have any idea how lonely and under appreciate this makes you feel? Do you? For those musicians who will reeds this interview, now or in the future, ask yourself a simple question before you ask someone to compose for you, make art for you. Does he or she gives me his or her inner life, does he or she opens them self up and exposes them self, does he or she make them self vulnerable to others by ‘letting them in’. If you have any empathy you only can answer this question with: YES! A composer let you take a look inside his being so how to handle this is with extreme caution. So rejection of his work can’t be an afterwards option anymore!!!! You must ask yourself: Are we or am I good enough to perform the work made for me and if your ego isn’t in your way you can answer this question in all honesty and it is nothing to be ashamed of if you can’t do the job; Some are good performers some are bad performers. You can inform yourself by checking his older work so you know what you are dealing with and what to expect. So if you can't judge yourself properly please stop asking to compose work, all you do is disappoint others, or pay the composer in advance with the message that the work will or will not be performed but that it has been paid for and don't have to complain about the outcome. Clear and Simple!
If you want the people to work free for you ask yourself the question do I enjoy to work for free for others and have an empty stomach every month; if you can answer this with Yes; feel free to ask others to do the same!
16. There are a number of (for example 4) competencies that are important as a composer? Can you indicate with examples that you have these competences?
I can adapt real fast, I am very creative and inventive, I master many musical models and ideas, I work extremely fast. Please ask my references for examples or read my work or re-read this interview.
17. What kind of musician suits you?
Let me tell you first which ones I don’t like that’s more funny to a certain extent. I don’t like Bob Ross alike musicians the people pleasers. Musicians who think in difficulties instead of possibilities, the ones that seeks for questions and don’t like the answers he finds and can’t settle with it.
I want a musician to be honest and respectful, 110% committed to the work he performs and this means not only playing the notes but also researching all what there is to know about the composer and his motives to make this work and how to perform it. 110% solution oriented and always against all negativity in try play the most difficult works. People like Michael Habermann and Geoffrey Madge.
A work that has only been spent for a few hours with a perfect performance and the musician does this all his life is an under achiever, an audience pleaser and a fraud letting people to belief that this is all there is. A good musician has the responsibility to inform his audience about the new works that are written even when it will cost the musician hours and hours of hard work, even months or years! Many have forgotten what it is like to work to achieve something. Well let me tell you are not too old to learn, an old dog can learn new tricks…and to make an comparison: When a Judoka gets his first! Black belt he has 9 Dan grades to go …. Okay I know many have been called, but few have been chosen. But this must not stop you for reaching the ‘impossible’
18. We're going to call references, what do you think musicians will say are your weaknesses and strengths?
I don’t know you ask them! “He is a nice guy, always willing to help you at the expense of themselves” that is what you probably will hear.
19. Are there things that we haven't discussed yet that are worth discussing?
A lot is being said and a lot of hurt came out but in spite of it all I love composing.
20. Do you still have questions?
I always have questions, that’s live!