Thomas Dissevelt (4 March 1921,

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...

– 1989) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

composer and musician. He is known as a pioneer in the merging of

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. He married Rina Reys, sister of

Rita Reys Rita Reys (born Maria Everdina Reijs; 21 December 1924 – 28 July 2013) was a jazz singer from the Netherlands. She was promoted as "Europe's First Lady of Jazz". In the 1980s, Rita returned to the American Songbook, recording albums such as ...

, in 1946. Tom Dissevelt was also known as bassist/arranger of the Skymasters, and contributed to recordings by Rita Reys. Between 1939 and 1944 Dissevelt studied 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 Nether ...

. He studied

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

for over three years, then went on to study

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitch ...

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (k ...

and piano. Owing to schedule conflicts he discontinued his clarinet studies but later studied bass under the tutelage of Herman Stotijn of the Residentie Orchestra. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Dissevelt moved to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

with the Jos Cleber Orchestra to work. In 1947 he went on an international tour with Wessel Ilcken, the husband of Rita Reys, and the orchestra of Piet van Dijk. This tour lasted three years and was particularly focussed on Spain and North Africa. In 1955 Bep Rowold, leader of the Skymasters, hired Dissevelt as a bassist and arranger. Dissevelt became interested in twelve-tone serialism, listened to the many German radio stations, and heard works by

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundb ...

and

Anton Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stead ...

. Recommended by

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

in 1958, he was invited to

Natlab The Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium (English translation: ''Philips Physics Laboratory'') or NatLab was the Dutch section of the Philips research department, which did research for the product divisions of that company. Originally located in the ...

, where together with

Dick Raaijmakers Dick Raaijmakers (Maastricht, 1 September 1930 – The Hague, 4 September 2013), also known as Dick Raaymakers or Kid Baltan, was a Dutch composer, theater maker and theorist. He is considered a pioneer in the field of electronic music and tape mu ...

, aka Kid Baltan, he composed and recorded

. In 1957 Dissevelt and Raaijmakers released ''The Elektrosoniks: Electronic Music''; in 1959 they released ''The Fascinating World of Electronic Music'' (

), which in 2003

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

would deem one of his 25 all-time favorite albums.Bowie, D.
"Confessions of a Vinyl Junkie"
''

Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

'', Nov 2003. More of Dissevelt’s compositions may be heard on the anthology album ''Popular Electronics: Early Dutch Electronic Music from Philips Research Laboratories, 1956–1963'' (2004, Basta). The emergence of pop music, along with such constitutional changes in the music industry as the disbandment of radio orchestras, compelled Dissevelt to give up orchestra work altogether. He then resolved to become an assistant to renowned Dutch entertainers such as

Wim Sonneveld Willem "Wim" Sonneveld (; 28 June 1917 – 8 March 1974) was a Dutch cabaret artist and singer. Together with Toon Hermans and Wim Kan, he is considered to be one of the 'Great Three' of Dutch cabaret. Sonneveld is generally viewed as a Dutch c ...

and

Toon Hermans Antoine Gerard Theodore "Toon" Hermans (17 December 1916 – 22 April 2000) was a noted Dutch comedian, singer and writer. Toon Hermans was born in Sittard. He began performing in the 1930s, achieving local, regional and, eventually, nation ...

External links

* * * The Fascinating World Of Electronic Music (FULL ALBUM) 959 * The Elektrosoniks: Elektronik Music (renamed ''Song of the Second Moon'', full album) * Sonik Re-Entry 1957

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dissevelt, Tom 1921 births 1989 deaths Dutch composers People from Leiden Royal Conservatory of The Hague alumni 20th-century composers Dutch electronic musicians Dutch male classical composers Dutch classical composers 20th-century Dutch male musicians Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies