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Rendezvous
Rendezvous has a total of 100 different versions. I started working on it in 2013, beginning with the piano version. When I began writing, it was very late at night, but I sat down in front of the piano and started playing a melody. I kept going with the flow, not making a single change or edit, imagining a movie synopsis in my head as I worked. I even recorded myself, because I wanted to remember all the impromptu tunes. From this original piano version, I have scored 100 versions of Rendezvous, including versions for orchestra, harp, piano, and voice, with lyrics already translated into 80 languages.
After the piano version was completed, I wanted to put lyrics to the music and make it a song. While I originally wrote the lyrics in Korean, I started studying other languages, thinking it would be nice to put lyrics to this song in many different, beautiful languages. I recorded 80 versions, doing my best to pronounce the words with the hope that one day native singers from all these countries could sing this song to give hope and warm feelings to other people’s hearts.
Most songs are written in the familiar 4/4 “heartbeat,” but I wrote this song in 3/4, which can express both sadness through a slow, steady tempo with strong downbeats and weak upbeats, and the happy, radiant breeze of a waltz.
Link to Full Playlist (with all 80 languages)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLivgfHFrhUOHSgJat-Qd6Ey3cyvC9EFiv
Complete List of Rendezvous’ 80 Languages
| 1. Korean (Female) 2. English 3. Spanish 4. Cantonese 5. Italian 6. German 7. French 8. Mandarin 9. Albanian 10. Greek 11. Hindi 12. Haitian Creole 13. Persian 14. Nepali 15. Telugu 16. Yoruba 17. Romanian 18. Russian 19. Portuguese 20. Swahili | 21. Luganda 22. Tamil 23. Gujarati 24. Japanese 25. Vietnamese 26. Urdu 27. Dhivehi 28. Bahasa Indonesia 29. Turkish 30. Marathi 31. Bengali 32. Ambonese Malay 33. Latin 34. Thai 35. Malayalam 36. Punjabi 37. Arabic 38. Swedish 39. Mandarin 40. Somali | 41. Amharic 42. Tagalog 43. Hausa 44. Burmese 45. Lao 46. Georgian 47. Polish 48. Kazakh 49. Ukrainian 50. Dutch 51. Slovak 52. Lithuanian 53. Czech 54. Serbian 55. Cape Verdean Creole 56. Croatian 57. Norwegian 58. Macedonian 59. Slovenian 60. Bosnian | 61. Danish 62. Tigrinya 63. Jamaican Patios 64. Finnish 65. Catalan 66. Taishanese 67. Montenegrin 68. Bahasa Malaysia 69. Hokkien-Taiwanese 70. Zulu 71. Kinyarwand 72. Hungarian 73. Kabyle 74. Twi Igbo 75. Bulgarian 76. Nigerian Pidgin 77. Berber 78. Hindi Master 79. Mandarin (Poetic) 80. Korean (Male) |
Rendezvous’ Piano Version is dedicated to my God and my parents, and below is the one that is most closely tied to the imaginative synopsis I had in mind while composing Rendezvous.
It is about a woman and a man who fall in love all over again, as they both believe that they are each other’s past lovers. The woman conceals her true identity and pretends that she is truly the man’s past lover. As their romance progresses, they both begin to realize that they are not past lovers. They are, instead, reflections of their former beloveds. Faced with the reality of their situation, the couple tries to separate. Unsuccessful in their endeavor, they eventually decide to accept the love and embrace each other once more, even though their reasons for loving each other might stem from seeking similarities of past lovers.
Composer’s Note
The meaning of this piece is “Life and Death.”
The piece begins in A and ends in A. The theme in the beginning returns at the end. While the melody stays the same, the key signature changes from A-minor to A-major, expressing life as a mirror image of death.
I left the first measure as an empty measure. It is meant to represent the rotation of the world – the cycle of life and death that connects us all. The 3/4 time signature echoes this by presenting a contrast of happiness and sadness.
What I imagined for the song, as the composer, is the image of a man in a winter coat standing atop a snow-covered mountain, contemplating if he should end his life. We are observing him from the sky – almost like viewing him through a drone’s camera – in order to see how lonely he is just before his death.
The opening [A] section acts like a sponge, absorbing and blending all the different colors and tones. It should sound purposely blurry, but still retain its dignity and discipline. We observe the man from afar as he looks down the mountain, confused on whether he should end his own life. There is rising tension as he contemplates this, releasing twice in mm.8 and mm.13 when he decides it would not be worth it. The timpani in mm. 17 – 18 leads into the main theme.
When we arrive at the [B] section, the blur of sound becomes clear with the introduction of the main theme. Black and white turns to vivid pastels as he recalls all his life’s memories throughout the [B] section (e.g., measures 25 – 26 might represent a tense, painful memory).
The [C] section illustrates his happier memories. His feelings on these are mixed, as they are bittersweet, but still showcase a beautiful and blissful time in his life. Mm. 28 – 35 guides him to these happier memories, the ascending lines reminding him of things he wants to tell his lovers, family, and friends. Feelings that only his voice can share, that his melody can create.
A soft cymbal roll in mm. 36 leads into the [D] section, where the man is only recalling these happier times. The waltz-like cello and basses accompany a light dance in the melody, and the man spins about, as if with a dance partner. He dances with those he loves.
As the song transitions through the [E] section and into the [F] section, the man calms down little by little. The horn supports throughout these sections (particularly in mm. 48), and the violins take the melody to express his loneliness. The other instruments blend together once more as he realizes that his life and death are his own, and that he must face them. No one can die for him, just as nobody could live his life for him. Whether his decisions and direction in life were the best choices or not, he strove to seek the best path for himself no matter what happened. While there were some paths not taken and some regrets from the paths he did take, he understands that life is art that you cannot erase. He cannot cover up his errors like a painter would – he can only learn from his mistakes and keep moving forward.
The [G] section is busy, the strings ascending and descending in various patterns as we are brought into his mind and into his past. The [H], [I], and [J] sections each represent a different part of his life. [H] should bring back his happier memories, echoing section [D]. The [I] section, where he is called forward and cannot calm down, acts as a bridge between [H] and [J]. In the [J] section, the tremolos should be shaped well, in order to represent the confusion about this part of his life – of all the misunderstandings, mistakes, and missing pieces.
When we finally reach the [K] section, he is letting go of everything. His soul has been freed, and he is ready to fly. No longer is he attached to the world beneath his feet – but rather, he can tell his family, friends, and lovers his last farewells, just as he does in section [L]. In mm. 103 – 105, the oboes should be the most prominent sound, but still blend with the core and remain focused. In the [M] section, his spirit is flying higher and higher, dancing upon the sky’s stage. He forgives all wrongs from people, allowing him the freedom to ascend as he wishes. Mm. 113 – 117 express this rising sensation as he is guided towards Heaven, where Jesus is calling him.
Finally, in the [O] Section, he is using his last breath to say a final goodbye to his friends and lovers, and his spirit finally rests. As his story, and the song, end on A, we are reminded of where it began – of the cycle of life and death, of happiness and sorrows, and of major and minor. From ashes to ashes, dust to dust, God sculpts a divine creation celebrating this rendezvous of coming and going.