Peter Gijsbert van Anrooij (13 October 1879 – 31 December 1954) was a Dutch composer and conductor of classical music.

Biography

Van Anrooy was born in Zaltbommel to Peter Gijsbert van Anrooij, an

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is a mostly archaic term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses '' materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern chemist (British English) or pharmacist (British and North Amer ...

, and Jozefa Helena Maria Pool. The family soon moved to

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, where van Anrooy learned piano, violin and composition in a music school (1890–1899). Then for two years he studied conducting in Dresden and Moscow; in Moscow he also received lessons in counterpoint from

Sergei Taneyev Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev (russian: Серге́й Ива́нович Тане́ев, ; – ) was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of composition, music theorist and author. Life Taneyev was born in Vladimir, Vladimir Governorate, Russia ...

. After completing his studies, van Anrooy played violin with orchestras in Glasgow and Zurich and by 1905 returned to the Netherlands, where around 1905 he assumed positions of conductor with the Groningen Orchestra and director of a music school. In Groningen he received an honorary PhD title in 1914. Van Anrooy continued conducting with various Dutch orchestra until 1940. While his early work mostly focused on classics such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel, Mahler and Strauss, he later paid more attention to modern Dutch composers. He also composed himself, starting from a piano piece ''Mars voor piano vierhandig'' in 1891 and ending with variations on Dutch melodies in 1937. His most known composition is ''Piet Hein Rhapsodie voor symfonieorkest'', which was based on the Dutch song ''De Zilvervloot'' (''

Spanish treasure fleet The Spanish treasure fleet, or West Indies Fleet ( es, Flota de Indias, also called silver fleet or plate fleet; from the es, label=Spanish, plata meaning "silver"), was a convoy system of sea routes organized by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to ...

'') by J.J. Viotta en J.P. Heije. After World War II, between 1947 and 1954 he broadcast a weekly educational radio program at AVRO on understanding classical music. Van Anrooy had a strong character and was active politically. In 1933 he signed a document ''Bruinboek van de Hitler-terreur en de Rijksdagbrand'' (lit. ''Brown book of Hilter terror and the Reichstag fire'') and as a result, his music was banned during the war. In 1937 refused to conduct the Nazi song ''

Horst-Wessel-Lied The "" ("Horst Wessel Song"; ), also known by its opening words "" ("Raise the Flag", ), was the anthem of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 1930 to 1945. From 1933 to 1945, the Nazis made it the co-national anthem of Germany, along with the first sta ...

'' at the marriage of

Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld , house = Lippe , father = Prince Bernhard of Lippe , mother = Armgard von Cramm , birth_date = , birth_name = Count Bernhard of Biesterfeld , birth_place = Jena, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Germany , death_date = ...

and Juliana of the Netherlands. On 29 November 1906 van Anrooy married Frederique Johanna Adolphina de l'Espinasse; they had two daughters.

References

1879 births 1954 deaths Dutch male classical composers Dutch classical composers Dutch conductors (music) Male conductors (music) People from Zaltbommel {{Netherlands-composer-stub