Despite the havoc and distress caused by attacks on Allied shipping by U-boats one cannot but be saddened by the fact that out of 40,000 who went to sea in them, 30,000 never returned. Authenticity was achieved by filming in a full size replica with actors who were denied washing or shaving to get the right 'atmosphere' of life in a U-boat. Das Boot was a 1980's TV series/film that followed the patrol of U-96 and is reckoned by many to be the best (anti) war film produced. Traditionally, submarines are referred to as 'boats' rather than 'ships' and the German U- boat (Unterseeboot) was originally a craft primarily designed for surface attack that also had an underwater capability, an aspect that was subsequently developed into the submarine craft that we now know. After nature's force has spent itself, resignation sets in and the composition ends with a majestic ode to nature. Hereafter follows a turbulent passage symbolising the huge rolling waves. Suddenly a short climax (glissandi in the trombone part) indicates the seaquake, and the megatsunami isa fact. Themes are interrupted, broken off suddenly, followed by silence, suggesting the calm before the storm. Right from the beginning there seems to be something in the air, the music creating an oppressiveatmosphere of impending disaster. In his composition Wittrock describes an ordinary day which will have an unexpected ending. In the case of La Palma, the tidal wave will move in the direction of South America, where it may reach 50km inland, destroying everything on its way. The consequences of a natural calamity like a megatsunami are immense. This island is based on oceaniccrust at a fracture zone and as such is one of nature's time bombs. There are more areas which run the risk of being struck by a tsunami, such as the island of La Palma, one of the Canary Islands. The tsunamitook the lives of thousands of people and destroyed many villages and towns. Tidal waves 10 meters in height ravaged the coastal regions of many countries for miles around. On the 26th of December 2004 a heavy seaquake took place near the Indonesian island of Sumatra. When Carl Wittrock completed this composition not many such big earth movements had occurred, but since then we have become all too familiar with the disastrousconsequences which a tsunami may have. A megatsunami is the superlative of this awesome expressionof power that nature can create, and has catastrophic consequences. When you look it up in a dictionary, you will find that it means 'a great sea wave produced by submarine earth movement or volcanic eruption'. The word 'tsunami' is of Japanese origin. The Power of the Megatsunami - Carl Wittrock The work was written for and commissioned by Flowers Band as part of their programme of music at Brass in Concert 2019. On one hand, a troubled and agitated figure, juxtaposed with the reflective memories of his homeland, children, mother and father. The Descent is based on the idea of a descent to the depths of the ocean in the Nautilus with Captain Nemo, with the cornet soloist expressing both the anguish and reflective sides of the character. Captain Nemo is a genius, an engineer, an artist, an athlete, sometimes a pacifist, sometimes a righter of wrongs, sometimes an out and out villain, and he invented the Nautilus. Verne gives his hero's brilliance and benevolence a dark underside - the man's obsessive hate for Empires and Imperialism. He's a man who has turned his back on the world, and his name - Nemo - means 'No Man.' He has vowed never to set foot on dry land ever again. Nemo is one of Verne's most memorable characters. In Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Professor Arronax finds himself a prisoner of the mysterious Captain Nemo, on a remarkable submarine called the Nautilus. The Descent takes its inspiration from Victorian author Jules Verne specifically, his work Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
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