Composed to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the liberation of Leiden on 3 October 1574 from Spain during the Eighty Years War, Joppenszoon is the musical depiction of events in the Netherlands during the summer and autumn of that year as seen through the eyes of Cornelis Joppensz, called Jappenszoon, the young boy who is credited as the first observer of the Spanish retreat, and Ghijsbert Cornelisz Schaeck, the young soldier who is believed to have discovered the hutspot (a kind of stew), left behind by the Spanish army. An historical cantata in ten episodes, the music of Joppenszoon is influenced by Dutch folk music, Trouvère ballads, and Protestant hymns and scored for accordion ensemble, tenor and baritone vocalists, and two percussionists (Timpani, Chimes, Snare Drum).
John Franceschina, composer, has created scores for the National Shakespeare Company and the Provincetown Playhouse in New York City, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, Baltimore's Center Stage, Washington's Ford's Theatre and the Arena Stage, the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Florida Studio Theatre, Geva Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Papermill Playhouse, Music Theatre Works, and the Moscow Art Theatre, in addition to the Asolo State Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, where he acted as composer-in-residence from 1976 to 1993. His Fanfare for the Fiftieth was commissioned by Philippe Entremont for the fiftieth anniversary of the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra in 1985; his secular oratorio, Houtebeen, for male chorus, string orchestra and accordion ensemble, toured the Netherlands in 2014, and his opera, Scenes from the Jungle toured the Netherlands in 2019.
