Franciscus ("Frans") Jozef Brüggen (30 October 1934 – 13 August 2014) was a Dutch conductor,

recorder player A recorder player is a musician who plays the recorder, a woodwind musical instrument. The recorder is used as a teaching instrument and has a large amateur following. Because of its ubiquity in these regards, the number of people who can play i ...

and

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

flautist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

Biography

Born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, Brüggen was the last of the nine children of August Brüggen, a textile factory owner, and his wife Johanna (née Verkley), an amateur singer. He studied

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

and

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum. He also studied

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. In 1955, at the age of 21, he was appointed professor at the

Royal Conservatory of The Hague The Royal Conservatoire ( nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium, KC) is a conservatoire in The Hague, providing higher education in music and dance. The conservatoire was founded by King William I in 1826, making it the oldest conservatoire in the Netherl ...

. His reputation was initially as a recorder and Baroque flute virtuoso, and he commissioned several works for recorder including

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...

's ''Gesti'' (1965).J.M. Thomson
"Brüggen, Frans"
Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, accessed 16 August 2014 In 1972, he co-founded the avant-garde recorder ensemble

Sour Cream Sour cream (in North American English, Australian English and New Zealand English) or soured cream (British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, wh ...

with

Kees Boeke Cornelis "Kees" Boeke (25 September 1884 3 July 1966) was a Dutch reformist educator, Quaker missionary and pacifist. He is best known for his popular essay/book '' Cosmic View'' (1957) which presents a seminal view of the universe, from the ga ...

and

Walter van Hauwe Walter van Hauwe (born 16 November 1948) is a Dutch recorder player. Biography and career After lessons at the music school of Delft, where his father was director Pierre van Hauwe, Hauwe studied recorder with Frans Brüggen at the Royal Conser ...

. Brüggen introduced a flexibility of tone and rhythm to solo recorder playing that was novel to historically informed performance practice at the time. Notes in slow passages would be slightly bent for emotional affect, tone warmed and cooled,

messa di voce ''Messa di voce'' (Italian, ''placing of the voice'') is a singing technique that requires sustaining a single pitch while gradually making the voice louder (crescendo) and then softer (diminuendo). It is considered to be a particularly advanced t ...

employed, alongside considerable use of

rubato Tempo rubato (, , ; 'free in the presentation', literally ) is a musical term referring to expressive and rhythmic freedom by a slight speeding up and then slowing down of the tempo of a piece at the discretion of the soloist or the conductor. Rub ...

. Such approaches provoked some controversy at the time, but in part due to his use of them, have since become more commonplace. In 1981, Brüggen co-founded with Sieuwert Verster the

Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century ( nl, Orkest van de Achttiende Eeuw) is a Dutch early music orchestra. Frans Brüggen and Lucy van Dael co-founded the orchestra in 1981. Sieuwert Verster became financial manager in 1984. Although he did no ...

(''Orkest van de Achttiende Eeuw''). Although he did not have a formal title with the orchestra, he was its ''de facto'' chief conductor until his death. The

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) is a British period instrument orchestra. The OAE is a resident orchestra of the Southbank Centre, London, associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera Artistic Associate at Kings Place, and h ...

(OAE) named Brüggen its co-principal guest conductor, in parallel with

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...

, in 1992. The OAE later gave him the title of Emeritus Conductor in 2007. He was the conductor of the

Radio Kamerorkest Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

in the Netherlands from 1991 to 1994, and joint chief conductor of the

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

, alongside

Péter Eötvös Péter Eötvös ( hu, Eötvös Péter, ; born 2 January 1944) is a Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher. Eötvös was born in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. He studied composition in Budapest and Colog ...

, from 2001 until the dissolution of the orchestra in 2005. Brüggen conducted the final concert of the successor to the Radio Kamerorkest, the

Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, on 14 July 2013. Brüggen was a visiting professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. His recordings include, as a flautist, selections from the '' Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts'' of

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of Fr ...

, and as a conductor, Instrumental Suites of Rameau's operas ( Dardanus, Les Boréales, Castor & Pollux, Les Indes galantes, Naïs,

Zoroastre ''Zoroastre'' (''Zoroaster'') is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 5 December 1749 by the Opéra in the first Salle du Palais-Royal in Paris. The libretto is by Louis de Cahusac. ''Zoroastre'' was the fourth of Rameau's '' trag ...

Les Fêtes d'Hébé ''Les fêtes d'Hébé, ou Les talens lyriques '' (''The Festivities of Hebe, or The Lyric Talents'') is an ''opéra-ballet'' in a prologue and three ''entrées'' (acts) by the French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. The libretto was written by Antoi ...

Acante et Céphise ''Acante et Céphise, ou La sympathie'' is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 19 November 1751 at the Opéra in Paris. It takes the form of a ''pastorale héroïque'' in three acts. The librettist was Jean-François Marmontel. The ...

), symphonies of

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

and

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

Personal life

Brüggen was married twice. His first marriage to Ineke Verwayen produced two daughters, Laura and Alicia. His second marriage was to the art historian Machtelt Israëls, and produced two daughters, Zephyr and Eos. Brüggen was the uncle of recorder soloist and

Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet The Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet is a professional Dutch recorder quartet. History The quartet was founded in 1978 by Daniël Brüggen, Bertho Driever, Paul Leenhouts and Karel van Steenhoven, four students of Frans Brüggen at the Swee ...

member, Daniël Brüggen.

Honours and awards

* The Honorary medal for Arts and Science of the

Order of the House of Orange The Order of the House of Orange (Dutch: ''Huisorde van Oranje''), sometimes referred to as the House Order of Orange, is a dynastic order of the House of Orange-Nassau, the royal family of the Netherlands similar to the Royal Victorian Order in ...

(22 September 2010) * Knight of the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

(28 April 2003)

References

External links

Bach-cantatas.com: Frans Brüggen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruggen, Frans 1934 births 2014 deaths Baroque-flute players Dutch recorder players Dutch conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Conservatorium van Amsterdam alumni Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Musicians from Amsterdam Recipients of the Order of the House of Orange Academic staff of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague Bach conductors Dutch flautists Dutch performers of early music Edison Classical Music Awards Oeuvreprijs winners