Kees van Baaren (;In isolation, ''van'' is pronounced . 22 October 1906 – 2 September 1970) was a Dutch composer and teacher.

Early years

Van Baaren was born in

Enschede Enschede (; known as in the local Twents dialect) is a municipality and city in the eastern Netherlands in the province of Overijssel and in the Twente region. The eastern parts of the urban area reaches the border of the German city of Gronau ...

. His early studies (1924–29) were in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

with Rudolph Breithaupt (piano) and Friedrich Koch (composition) at the

Stern conservatory The Stern Conservatory (''Stern'sches Konservatorium'') was a private music school in Berlin with many distinguished tutors and alumni. The school is now part of Berlin University of the Arts. History It was founded in 1850 as the ''Berliner Musi ...

. After returning to the Netherlands in 1929, he studied with

Willem Pijper Willem Frederik Johannes Pijper (; 8 September 189418 March 1947) was a Dutch composer, music critic and music teacher. Pijper is considered to be among the most important Dutch composers of the first half of the 20th century. Life Pijper was b ...

. He adopted Pijper's "germ cell technique" in his compositions from about 1934 onward. While composing some works in an accessible, tonal style, in other pieces he developed toward a serial technique, which emerged fully with the Septet for five winds, violin, and double bass (1952).

Career

In 1948 Van Baaren became director of the Conservatoire of the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum Society (later merged into the Conservatoire of Amsterdam). In 1953 he was appointed director of the

Utrechts Conservatorium The Utrechts Conservatorium is a Conservatory of Music in Utrecht, Netherlands and part of the '' Utrecht School of the Arts'' (HKU). The conservatory opened in 1875 and is one of the eldest professional musical education institutes of the Netherl ...

. In 1958 he became director of 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 students included many of the leading composers and performers of the next generation, including

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

Reinbert de Leeuw Reinbert de Leeuw (8 September 1938 – 14 February 2020) was a Dutch conductor, pianist and composer. Life Lambertus Reinier de Leeuw's mother and father were both psychiatrists: Cornelis Homme 'Kees' de Leeuw (1905-1953) and Adriana Judina ...

Misha Mengelberg Misha Mengelberg (5 June 1935 – 3 March 2017) was a Dutch jazz pianist and composer.Feather, Leonard & Gitler, Ira (2007) ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 459. Oxford University Press. A prominent figure in post-WWII European Jazz ...

Peter Schat Peter Ane Schat (5 June 1935, in Utrecht – 3 February 2003, in Amsterdam) was a Dutch composer. Schat studied composition with Kees van Baaren at the Utrecht Conservatoire and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague from 1952 until 1958, and then ...

, and Jan van Vlijmen. He died in

Oegstgeest Oegstgeest () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was in . Etymology The portion ''geest'' in the name refers to the geest lands, which were excavated in the seventeenth cent ...

Selected works

* Concertino for piano and orchestra (1934) * Sonatina ''in memoriam Willem Pijper'', for piano (1948) * ''The Hollow Men'', cantata for soprano, baritone, mixed choir and orchestra, text by T. S. Eliot (1948, rev.1955-56) * Septet for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, and contrabass (1952) * Symphony (1956) * Variations for orchestra (1959) * Music for Orchestra * Partita for wind band (1961) * String Quartet (1962) * Wind Quintet (1963) * Music for

Carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...

(1964) * Concerto for piano and orchestra (1964)

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baaren, Kees Van 1906 births 1970 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Dutch male musicians Composers for carillon Dutch classical composers Dutch male classical composers People from Enschede Academic staff of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague Twelve-tone and serial composers