Categories
20th Century Dutch

ANDRIESSEN, Hendrik

Born in Haarlem, Sept 17, 1892
Died in Haarlem, April 12, 19811

[HEN-drik an-DREE-sen / Dutch Pronunciation]

Biography from Donemus publishing house

Pieces


Categories
Renaissance Dutch

CLEMENS NON PAPA, Jacobus

Born in c1510–15
Died in 1555/6

  • Jacobus Clemens non Papa (also called Jacob Clement) was one of the most prolific musical figures of the early 16th century. He is best remembered today for his polyphonic settings of the psalms in Dutch called the Souterliedekens.
  • Musicologists know little-to-nothing about the early life of the composer. The first public record of Clemens is in the late 1530s with the publication of several chansons.
    • *Regarding the “non Papa” distinction in the composer’s name – there’s a theory that the suffix was meant to be a joke as a play on the similarly-named Pope Clement VII, i.e., Jacob Clemens… not the pope ;).
  • One of the unique features of Clemens’s music is the fact that it is largely melody-driven rather than led by counterpoint (as was the standard of the time).
  • Clemens’s surviving 500ish manuscripts include 15 masses, two mass fragments, ~233 motets, two cycles of Magnificat settings, 159 souterliedekens and lofzangen, and just over 100 secular works.1

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Biography from Hyperion

Categories
Late Romantic Dutch

DIEPENBROCK, Alphons

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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Biography from the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society
Short biography from the Kennedy Center

Pieces


Categories
Renaissance Dutch German

SUSATO, Tielmann

First name also spelled “Tielman” or “Tylman”

Born c1510–1515, in Soest, near Dortmund
Died (possibly in Sweden), 1570 or later1

Biography

Pieces