Composition student Thomas Wenas wrote the Last One Minute Symphony of season 2024/2025. As a subject, he chose the bombing of The Hague's Bezuidenhout, now eighty years ago. The premiere will be at Amare on Friday May 23.

"I was commissioned to write a One Minute Symphony. I took this very literally by actually writing a short symphony with four movements. A Prelude, Andante (chorale), Scherzo and Finale. As a subject, I chose the bombing of the Bezuidenhout. This was a bombardment by the Allies intended for the Hague forest. It was thought that the V2 rockets of the Germans were located there. Unfortunately, it was not the Hague forest that was hit, but the residential area next to it and also the Korte Voorhout."

"I met Frank Kuipers of the March 3, '45 Foundation for this project. Frank told me a lot about the bombing and he is also committed to keeping lasting attention to this event. After our conversation, Frank showed me the monument. There is also an exhibition at Beatrixlaan 15, where there are many stories of people who experienced the bombing. I also walked through the neighborhood a lot, I think I had 80% of the streets! It is special to see that here and there a single old house still stands among the post-war houses. It's a unique place where old and new go together, it has its charm in a way."

Positive side
"I wanted to dwell on the bombing of the Bezuidenhout. After all, it was eighty years ago this year and it is probably the biggest disaster the city of The Hague has known. I think it's important that an event like this continues to be remembered. It was a sad event and when you see the old pictures of the beautiful neighborhood, you automatically get a little sad. The Bezuidenhout used to be a stately neighborhood with large mansions. But for this very reason, I also wanted to highlight the somewhat positive side of reconstruction. Despite the misery, a whole new neighborhood has emerged where people can live with pleasure. It also shows how resilient people are. One quote in particular inspired me a lot: "For children it was a fantastic time right after the war. With friends I played near the broken houses and we made tunnels through which you got under them.'(Paul Verhoeven, was 9 years old and lived in Gerard Reijnstraat.) Precisely this positive side I also wanted to show in my piece."

Walks
When asked how you start a piece, Thomas talks about his love of walking, "I walk a lot. For this project, I took a number of walks through the Bezuidenhout and surrounding area. It feels very strange to walk there. Because of the bombing, there are so many different types of buildings: from flats to stately homes. Normally I could be quite disconcerted by that, as in the Zeeheldenkwartier, for example. But for some reason, I actually like the mix in Bezuidenhout. It is a pleasant neighborhood to be in and to walk around. It is also comforting to see how well the neighborhood has been restored. I also visited the temporary exhibition about the bombing and, as mentioned earlier, talked to Frank Kuipers who knows a lot about the subject. When it comes to notes I mostly write behind my piano. This piece tells four images of the aftermath of the bombing. So for this piece I went looking for the notes that fit the particular image or character."

Reconstruction
"I hope to be able to contribute something to the commemoration of the bombing and, of course, World War II in general. We are commemorating eighty years of liberation this year, which is actually very recent. I also want to show how the Bezuidenhout was rebuilt and the resilience of the people after the war. A beautiful neighborhood has been lost and that is painful, but when you walk through it today you see many people who live there in harmony."