A Heritage Suite

• Composer: Anton Weeren
• Instrumentation: Concert Band
• Duration: Ca. 12:30 min.
• Difficulty: Grade 4

A Heritage Suite is a three-movement work inspired by family history, places and the feeling of belonging. While researching his family tree, Anton Weeren traced the Weeren family back to around 1730. Among the names he discovered were Andries Hendrix Weeren and Jacomijn Hendrix, who married in 1757 and settled in the small village of Leur. Their lives were those of ordinary agricultural workers, yet discovering their names and the places where they lived made the distant past suddenly feel remarkably close. One of their descendants, Jacobus Weeren, later lived in Hernen, home to the historic Castle of Hernen. These places and the lives of generations who worked and lived there became the inspiration for the three movements. 1. Hernen, Living Heritage opens with a fanfare followed by a joyful, heroic march, with subtle harmonic twists. 2. Leur, Fading Memories reflects on lives that have gradually disappeared from living memory, leaving behind only names, places and fragments of history. 3. Homecoming, A Place to Belong brings the journey into the present, expressing the warmth and security of coming home and the sense of belonging that heritage can provide. A Heritage Suite combines an accessible musical language with character, colour and a personal historical story

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