Willem Andriessen (

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

, October 25, 1887 –

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 ...

, March 29, 1964) was a Dutch pianist and composer. His compositional output was small due to the demands of performance and teaching, but he was nonetheless awarded a number of compositional prizes in Belgium and the Netherlands. He was an uncle of

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 ...

and Jurriaan Andriessen, who followed in his footsteps as composers.

Biography

Andriessen studied at the

Amsterdam Conservatory The Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA) is a Dutch conservatoire of music located in Amsterdam. This school is the music division of the Amsterdam University of the Arts, the city's vocational university of arts. The Conservatorium van Amsterdam ...

, completing his studies in 1906, and was awarded the school's Outstanding Achievement Prize for piano. He appeared frequently in concert performances in the Netherlands, and was noted for his interpretations of

J.S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

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 (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

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 ...

and

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

, though he also played piano pieces from contemporaries such as

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

, Bartók and Pijper. Andriessen taught at the

Royal Conservatory in 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 ...

(1910–18) and following this at the Muziekschool in Rotterdam after 1924. He was appointed director of the Amsterdam Conservatory from 1937 to 1953. He also gave

radio 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 ...

broadcasts of performances which included analyses of compositions. In 1942, following the

Nazi occupation of the Netherlands Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of Fall Gelb (Case Yellow). On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered. The Dutch government and the royal family ...

, Andriessen and his brother Hendrik were imprisoned for a year, during which time Willem gave lecture-concerts for the prisoners.

Works

Orchestral

*''Overture'' (1905) *''Piano Concerto in Db'' (1908) *''Scherzo, Hei, t'was in de Mei'' (1912, R/1956)

Choral

*''Mass'' (1914–16) *'' Sub tuum praesidium'' (1943, for male chorus) *''Salve coeli digna'' (1944) *''Ave Maria'' (1954, for female chorus) *''Exsultate deo'' (1954) *''Missa brevis'' (1963)

Solo vocal

*''4 liederen'' (1906) *''Bruidsliederen'' (1909) *''3 liederen'' (1909) *''3 liederen'' (1911) *''2 liederen'' (1913)

Solo piano

*''Sonata'' (1934) *''Praeludia'' (1942–50) *''Sonatine'' (1945) *''Praeludium'' (1960, for the left hand)

Sources

*Jos Wouters, Ronald Vermeulen. "Willem Andriessen". ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'' online. {{DEFAULTSORT:Andriessen, Willem 1887 births 1964 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Dutch composers Codarts University for the Arts alumni Academics of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam Dutch male classical composers Dutch classical composers Dutch music educators Dutch pianists People from Haarlem Male pianists 20th-century Dutch pianists 20th-century Dutch male musicians