‘His darkness is light’ – On ‘Jochen Klepper gewidmet’ by Johan G. Koers

Johan G. Koers got the idea for composing Jochen Klepper gewidmet in Advent of 2013. The preacher of the Doopsgezinde kerk in Heerenveen asked him to provide a short message about the song ‘De nacht is haast ten einde’ {The night has almost ended}, that Jochen Klepper (1903-1942) wrote in December, 1937, and that was first published a year later in Klepper’s collection Kyrie. Klepper’s life story is closely connected to the song. In Jochen Klepper gewidmet, Johan G. Koers uses as thematic material the melody that Johann Petzold wrote for the text. But as the title indicates, the piece is not about the melody of Petzold, but ‘the tragedy at the end the life of Jochen Klepper and his family’, as the composer himself states.

• 

  Jochen Klepper in 1941

• 

  Autograaf 'Jochen Klepper gewidmet'