Lied aan de zee

Paul Schollaert turned 80 in 2020. He wrote Lied aan de Zee from the Ensorcantata in July 1984 on the occasion of the annual music week in Ronse with the Ostend choirs Muzeschuit (children's choir), Camerata Ostendia (like-minded women's choir) and Ter Duinenkantorij (mixed choir of mainly parents of the children and young people from the two other groups).

Schollaert had translated the oeuvre of James Ensor into a colourful palette of choral and Orff music. It is a beautiful cantata, completely tailored to the specific choirs: easy and spicy children's songs for the Muzeschuit, more difficult for the mixed choir Ter Duinenkantorij (including The Song of the Sea) and much more challenging for the Camerata Ostendia, supported by Orff instruments and interspersed with sprechgesang.

The work was written on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of Ensor's birth. The work was performed for the first time in the Festival and Culture Palace of Ostend and also in 1985 two Ensor celebrations followed with the cantata. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the choirs, the work was performed again in Ostend and a CD recording followed in the Lemmens Institute.