DIEPENBROCK, Alphons – All Classical Research

Born in Amsterdam, Sept 2, 1862
Died in Amsterdam, April 5, 1921

Dutch composer Alphons Diepenbrock was a skilled musician from an early age, particularly proficient in piano, organ, and violin. Though he longed for a career as a composer and conductor, his family convinced him to study classical languages instead.
- Diepenbrock began his professional career as a classics teacher while studying composition on the side. Fun fact – he received no formal training in composition and instead taught himself through extensive study of composers he admired, such as Wagner.
Around 1895, Diepenbrock decided to devote himself to music, though he still supported himself by teaching Latin and Greek and cultural writing articles. He finally gained notoriety as a composer around the turn of the century, gaining the recognition (and consequent friendship) of Gustav Mahler.
As a composer, Diepenbrock’s musical voice incorporated 16th-century polyphony and Wagnerian chromaticism. After extensive study of Debussy’s works in the last decade of his life, his musical style shifted to include impressionism.
- “Diepenbrock’s music is passionate and sensitive, without falling into the excesses of late Romanticism.”
- Diepenbrock was largely inspired by poetry; consequently, the bulk of his compositional oeuvre is vocal music.¹

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