"Marie, with her ending. Strauss said
a funny thing in 'Capriccio' about endings,
and Carmenita sang: "Gibt es einen der ist
nicht trivial?" (is there one that's not
trivial?) Then she asked him what music he
wanted played at his funeral. "No idea ...
and you?" "The music you hear now. Symphony
No. 44 in E Minor by Joseph Haydn. He has
composed it for his own funeral. At least
the slow part. But at his death they played
the Requiem Mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
"I prefer to imagine my death without
burial. More as in old Indian stories.
That an old warrior feels death
coming and then withdraws to a lonely
place, quietly waiting for his death.
Once I had a presentation at school
about Slauerhoff. Paul had written the
major part and I made a rhyming ending.
I think I can still recite it:
He wanted a burial at sea
He wanted to be set free
So he could keep going astray
But it didn't go that way
Finally he found his Elysium
In a nursing home in Hilversum."
Slauerhoff
