The compositional and stylistic techniques in Hendrik Hofmeyr’s Sinfonia africana and the earlier related works Gebed om die Gebeente and Afrika

Abstract

Hendrik Hofmeyr is a prolific South African composer, who has written well over 150 works to date. Many of these compositions were commissioned for performers such as the British duo Nettle & Markham, the Hogarth Quartet and the Latvian youth choir Kamer. Sinfonia africana was composed in 2003, as a commissioned work for the Vriende van Afrikaans.

Sinfonia africana is a large-scale work scored for solo soprano, choir and orchestra. It consists of three movements, each based on a different poem: The first movement is based on Marais’s Die Lied van Suid-Afrika, while the middle movement uses Opperman’s Gebed om die Gebeente, with the third movement concluding Sinfonia africana with van den Heever’s Afrika. Both the second and third movements of Sinfonia africana are related to earlier Hofmeyr compositions, namely the 1999 chamber work Gebed om die Gebeente and the 2001 choral work Afrika.

This study aims to identify, analyse and discuss the basic elements of music found in the three movements of Sinfonia africana, as well as in Gebed om die Gebeente and Afrika. The various elements of music that constitute compositional and stylistic techniques are: text, structure, pitch, harmony, rhythm, texture, timbre, dynamics and articulation. These elements of music will be compared with each other in the various movements of Sinfonia africana, as well as in Gebed om die Gebeente and Afrika, to determine their contribution to Hofmeyr’s compositional and stylistic techniques as a whole.