Through a concert in the stairwell of the Grotius building, three choirs from Nijmegen celebrate the life of former Carmelite priest, professor, and rector Titus Brandsma. Two years ago he was declared a saint. ‘Brandsma stood up to injustice. That message is now more important than ever.’

Brandsma, a story for today. That is the title of the choir concert that conductor Willibrord Huisman wrote with his friend Hendrik Jan Bosman. The eighteen multivocal songs, strung together by a narrator, form the life story of Saint Titus Brandsma. The Campus Choir, Carmina Ludicra, and the Brandsma Project Choir will perform the concert on Thursday the 11th of April in the stairway of the Grotius Building.

‘We tell the story of the life of Brandsma in chronological order,’ conductor Willibrord Huisman, who wrote the music, explains. ‘It starts with Brandsma’s birth in Frisia and there is also a song on his work as professor and rector of the Catholic University Nijmegen.’

Also addressed during the concert are his imprisonment in Scheveningen and Amersfoort, because he rebelled against Nazism, and his death in the German concentration camp Dachau. The last songs are about the canonization, nearly two years ago at St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

Final rehearsals

‘During the rehearsals, we slowly saw the project grow, from several songs to an entire concert,’ says biology student Luisa Orlando, who is a member of the Campus Choir. ‘It was intriguing to see.’

Rehearsing for a concert with three choirs was not always easy. ‘Especially because some songs are sung by one, two or three choirs at the same time – and sometimes even the audience can sing along too,’ Huisman says, who, being a conductor, is also a retired educational advisor at the Radboud Teaching and Learning Centre. ‘It’s not easy to practice all the different setups, especially because there is movement involved in some songs. And on top of that, there will only be one final rehearsal with all the choirs.’

‘It’s still difficult to imagine what it will sound like at the stairs of the Grotius building,’ Orlando says. There are about two hundred chairs, spectators will be able to read all the lyrics with English translation on a big screen.

Multilingual

Although most songs are in Dutch, the choir members will sing some parts in English, German, Frisian, and even Spanish. ‘It’s not a big problem for the Campus choir, since we consist of about twenty different nationalities,’ Orlando says, she herself is from Italy. ‘That way we can practice pronouncing different words in different languages with each other.’

Within his role as conductor, Huisman tries to not put emphasis on the pronunciation of the words. ‘That would be at the expense of the ambiance, and that would be a shame,’ he says.

Inspiring

What is the meaning of Titus Brandsma anno 2024? ‘As one of the founders and former rector of the Catholic University Nijmegen he embodies the identity of our university and the emancipation of the catholic population in the Netherlands,’ Huisman says. ‘One of the songs in the concert, Feliciter, is actually about the festivities at the founding of our university in 1923.’

Brandsma is also a symbol of fighting injustice, Huisman continues. ‘This cost him his life. With all the wars waging in the world, when barely anyone dares to speak out against them, that message is more important than ever.’

‘I hope people wonder afterward what they would have done if they stood in Brandsma’s shoes’

Orlando, who only got to know more about Brandsma’s life when she was learning the songs, also admires the way he stood up for his ideals. ‘Time and time again he carved his own path, and in the end, he sacrificed himself for the greater good. That is still inspiring for students nowadays.’

According to Huisman, there is not just one moral to the story, but spectators should decide for themselves what they remember of it. ‘I hope people wonder afterward what they would have done if they stood in Brandsma’s shoes.’

More information can be found via this link. All lyrics and music are available through this link. On May 15th, Titusday, the Campus Choir will perform several songs from the concert on campus.

Translated by Lara Nijhof