Dutch composer and pianist (1939–2021) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Louis Joseph Andriessen (Dutch:[luˈʋiˈɑndrisə(n)]; 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.[1] Although his music was initially dominated by neoclassicism and serialism, his style gradually shifted to a synthesis of American minimalism, big bandjazz and the expressionism of Igor Stravinsky.[citation needed]
Andriessen originally studied with his father and Kees van Baaren at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, graduating in 1961 with a first prize,[4][5] before embarking upon two years of study with Italian composer Luciano Berio in Milan and Berlin.[2][6] His father introduced him to the works of Francis Poulenc and Eric Satie which he came to love.[6] From 1961–65, Andriessen wrote for the daily De Volkskrant, and for De Gids magazine from 1966–69.[7] Andriessen lived in Amsterdam starting in 1965.[7]
In 1969, he was part of a group of protesters at a concert of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. They disrupted the concert with nutcrackers and bicycle horns, handing out leaflets on the dismal representation of Dutch new music in the orchestra's programming. The next year, he and the other "Nutcrackers" were given one-week prison sentences, and yet their protest sparked something of a social reform in the Dutch music scene.[8]
Andriessen was internationally recognised as a composer with his 1976 De Staat which included texts from Plato's Republic.[9] He was one of the founders of the Hague School, an avant-garde and minimalist movement from the second half of the 20th century.[10] In later decades, he accepted commissions from major orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.[11] Andriessen was the focus of festivals in Tanglewood (1994), London (1994; 2002), Tokyo (2000), Brisbane (2001) and New York (2004).[7] In 2008, he was elected an honorary member of the International Society for Contemporary Music ISCM.[12] He held the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall during the 2009–10 season.[11]
Ensembles
In 1969, Andriessen co-founded Studio voor Elektro-Instrumentale Muziek STEIM in Amsterdam.[13][14] In opposition to the classical orchestra, a structure seen as "hierarchical",[6] he also helped founding the instrumental groups Orkest de Volharding[2] and Hoketus, both of which performed compositions of the same names,[6][15] formed by classical, jazz and pop musicians.[6] He later became closely involved with the Schonberg and Asko ensembles and inspired the formation of the British ensemble Icebreaker.[16]
Andriessen was married to guitarist Jeanette Yanikian (1935–2008). They were a couple for over 40 years, and were married in 1996.[18]La Commedia is dedicated to Yanikian.[19] He was married in 2012 a second time to violinist Monica Germino, for whom he wrote several works.[11][14] In December 2020, she announced that Louis was suffering from dementia.[20][21][22] He died on 1 July 2021 in Weesp at age 82.[2][11][21][23]
Andriessen had one son, Lodewijk Torenbos-Andriessen, with dancer and theatre director Betsy Torenbos.[citation needed]
Andriessen began in the style of an intentionally dry neoclassicism, but then turned into a strict serialist.[14] His early works show experimentation with various contemporary trends: post-war serialism (Series, 1958), pastiche (Anachronie I, 1966–67),[24] and tape (Il Duce, 1973). His reaction to what he perceived as the conservatism of much of the Dutch contemporary music scene quickly moved him to form a radically alternative musical aesthetic of his own. From the early 1970s on he refused to write for conventional symphony orchestras and instead opted to write for his own idiosyncratic instrumental combinations, which often retain some traditional orchestral instruments alongside electric guitars, electric basses, and congas.[14] Andriessen repeatedly used his music for political confessions and messages, but he also referred to painting and philosophy.[14] His range of inspiration was wide, including the music of Charles Ives in Anachronie I, the art of Piet Mondrian in De Stijl, the visions of Beguine mystic Hadewijch in Hadewijch, and shipbuilding and atomic theory in De Materie Part I.[25]
Andriessen's later style is a unique blend of American sounds and European forms.[11] His mature music combines the influences of jazz, American minimalism,[2] and the music of Igor Stravinsky and Claude Vivier,[26][27] containing minimalist-influenced polyrhythms, lyrical melodic fragments, and predominantly consonant harmonies disrupted by concentrated dissonance.[28] Andriessen's music thus departs from post-war European serialism and its offshoots. By the 21st century he was widely regarded as Europe's most important minimalist composer.[29]
His notable works include Workers Union (1975), a melodically indeterminate piece "for any loud sounding group of instruments" whose score specifies rhythm and contour but not exact pitch; Mausoleum (1979) for two baritones and large ensemble; De Tijd (Time, 1979–81) for female singers and ensemble; De Snelheid (Velocity, 1982–83), for three amplified ensembles; De Materie (Matter, 1984–88), a large four-part work for voices and ensemble; collaborations with filmmaker and librettistPeter Greenaway on the film M is for Man, Music, Mozart and the operas Rosa: A Horse Drama (1994) and Writing to Vermeer (1998);[11] and La Passione (2000–02) for female voice, violin and ensemble. His 2008 opera La Commedia, based on Dante's Divine Comedy, won the 2011 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition and was selected by critics at The Guardian as one of the most outstanding classical compositions of the 21st century in 2019.[30]
Ittrospezione III (Concept I) (1964) for 2 pianos and 3 instrumental groups[34]
Double (1965) for clarinet and piano (dedicated to George Pieterson and Tan Crone)[34]
Ittrospezione III (Concept II) – Fragment (1965) tenor saxophone ad libitum, 2 pianos (section of Ittrospezione III [Concept II]; may be performed separately)
Beatles Songs (1966) (satirical arrangements of four Beatles songs) for female voice and piano
Souvenirs d'enfance (1954–1966) for piano. Including amongst others: Nocturne, Ricercare, Allegro Marcato, As you like it, Blokken, Strawinsky, Rondo opus 1, Étude pour les timbres, dotted quarter note = 70
Rage, rage against the dying of the light (1966) for 4 trombones
Reconstructie[nl] (1969) (with Reinbert de Leeuw, Misha Mengelberg, Peter Schat, Jan van Vlijmen; libretto by Hugo Claus, Harry Mulisch) Morality opera for soloists, 3 mixed choruses (4 voices each), orchestra (11 winds, 7 brass, 2 guitars, 11 keyboards, 10 strings), live electronics
De negen symfonieën van Beethoven (1970) for ice cream bell, orchestra
Spektakel (1970) for improvisational ensemble (saxophone [+ bass clarinet], viola, bass guitar, electronic organ [+ piano], percussion [or other instruments]), small orchestra (12 winds, 4 horns, 6 percussion)
Vergeet mij niet (1970) (Forget me not) for oboe[34]
Le voile du bonheur (1966–1971) for violin and piano
een, twee (1971) for organ, 10 instrumentalists and piano[36]
In Memoriam (1971) for tape
Volkslied (1971) for an unlimited number and kinds of instruments (in all octaves) (based on the Dutch national anthem Wilhelmus van Nassouwe and on The Internationale)[34]
Melodie (1972–1974) for alto recorder (or other flute) and piano[34]
Arrangement of Ipanema and Gavea from Saudades do Brasil by Darius Milhaud (1974) for wind ensemble
Il Principe (1974) (text by Niccolò Machiavelli) for 2 mixed choruses, 8 winds, 3 horns, tuba, bass guitar, piano
Wals (1974) for piano
Symfonieën der Nederlanden (1974) for 2 or more symphonic bands (minimum 32 players)
Nederland, let op uw schoonheyt (1975) for symphonic band
Workers Union (1975) for any loud-sounding group of instruments
De Staat (1972–76) (text by Plato) for 2 sopranos, 2 mezzo-sopranos, 4 oboes (3rd, 4th + English horn), 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, bass trombone, 2 harps, 2 electric guitars, 4 violas, bass guitar, 2 pianos[9] (also transcribed for two pianos in 1992 by Cees van Zeeland and Gerard Bouwhuis)
Dubbelspoor (1986 rev. 1994) Ballet music for piano, harpsichord, celesta, glockenspiel
De Materie (1984–88) (texts from the Plakkaat van Verlatinge, Nicolaes Witsen, David Gorlaeus, Hadewijch, M.H.J. Schoenmaekers, Madame van Domselaer-Middelkoop, Willem Kloos, Marie Curie, Françoise Giroud). Music theatre work for soprano, tenor, 2 female speakers, 8 amplified mixed voices, amplified orchestra (15 winds, 13 brass, harp, 2 electric guitars, 2 pianos [one + electric piano], off-stage upright piano, celesta, 2 synthesizers, 6 percussion, minimum 9 strings, bass guitar.[9] Two of its four sections may be performed separately as concert works: [2] Hadewijch, [3] De Stijl
Nietzsche redet (1989) (text by Friedrich Nietzsche) for speaker, alto flute, English horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, 2 violins, viola, 2 celli, double bass, 2 pianos
Flora Tristan (1990) for mixed choir a cappella (text by Fleur Bourgonje)[34]
Facing Death (1990) for amplified string quartet
Facing Death (1990) for saxophone quartet (arrangement by Aurelia Saxophone Quartet)
Dances (1991) (text by Joan Grant, choreography by Bianca van Dillen) For soprano, small orchestra (amplified harp, amplified piano, percussion, strings). May be performed as a concert work.
M is for Man, Music, Mozart (1991) (texts by the composer, Jeroen van der Linden, Peter Greenaway) for female jazz voice, flute (+ piccolo), soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, horn, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, double bass, piano (TV score; may be performed as a concert work with one additional song)
Lacrimosa (1991) for 2 bassoons
Lacrimosa (1991) for 2 flutes (arrangement by Manuel Zurria)
Hout (1991) for tenor saxophone, electric guitar, piano and marimba (+ woodblocks)
Romance voor Caecilia (1991) for piano
Nadir en Zenit (1992) improvisations on poems by Sybren Polet for voice and piano (+ synthesizer)
...not being sundered (1992) (text by Rainer Maria Rilke) for soprano, flute, cello
The Memory of Roses (1992) for piano (+ toy piano)
Chorale (1992) for piano
M is Muziek, Monoloog en Moord (1993) (text by Lodewijk de Boer) Music theatre work
Lied (1993) for piano
Rosa – A Horse Drama: The Death of a Composer (1993–94) (libretto by Peter Greenaway) Opera for 2 sopranos, tenor, 2 baritones, female speaker, 8 mixed voices, orchestra.
Een lied van de zee (1994) (text by Hélène Swarth) for female voice
Zilver (1994) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, vibraphone and marimba
Base (1994) for piano left hand
Odysseus' Women (1995) (text by Homer, choreography by Beppie Blankert) for 2 sopranos, 2 altos, sampler
De komst van Willibrord (1995) for carillon
To Pauline O (1995) for oboe
Machmes Wos (1996) for voice, piano
Trilogie van de Laatste Dag (1996–97) (each of its three sections may be performed separately: (i) The Last Day (texts by Lucebert, folksong A Woman and Her Lass) for boy soprano, 4 male voices, orchestra; (ii) TAO (texts by Laozi, Kotaro Takamura) for 4 female voices, piano [+ voice, koto], small orchestra [5 winds, 2 horns, harp, piano (+ celesta), 2 percussion, minimum 14 strings]; (iii) Dancing on the Bones (text by the composer) for children's chorus, orchestra, 1997)
De herauten (1997) for 3 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani
Not an Anfang (1997) for piano
De eerste minnaar (1998) (text by Toon Tellegen) for boy soprano, organ, 1998 (section of music theatre work Oldenbarneveldt; may be performed as a concert work)
Tuin van Zink (1998) for viola and live electronics
Writing to Vermeer (1997–99) (libretto by Peter Greenaway) Opera for 2 children's voices, 2 sopranos, mezzo-soprano, female chorus, orchestra (7 winds, 2 horns, 2 trumpets [2nd + bass trumpet], 2 harps, 2 electric guitars, cimbalom, 2 pianos, on-stage harpsichord, 2 percussion, minimum 22 strings),[9] CD (music by Michel van der Aa)
Woodpecker (1999) for percussion
Image de Moreau (1999) for piano
Dirck Sweelinck Missed the Prince (1999) for harpsichord
Passeggiata in tram in America e ritorno (1999) (text by Dino Campana) for female Italian voice, violin and piano
What Shall I Buy You, Son? (2000) for voice, piano
Boodschappenlijstje van een gifmengster (2000) (text by the composer) for vocalist (also writes), voice (may be performed as Shopping List of a Poisoner [translated by Nicoline Gatehouse]
Inanna's Descent (2000) for mezzo-soprano, piccolo, oboe, violin, piano, 2 percussion ensembles (4–12 total players)
The New Math(s) (2000) (text by Hal Hartley) for soprano, transverse flute, violin, marimba, CD (music by Michel van der Aa), 2000 (film score; may be performed as a concert work)
Feli-citazione (2000) for piano
Passeggiata in tram in America e ritorno (2001) (text by Dino Campana) for female Italian voice, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, electric guitar, electric violin, double bass, piano, percussion, 1998 (also version for voice, flute, horn, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, amplified violin, double bass, piano
De vleugels van de herinnering (2001) (text by Larissa Tiginachvili [Dutch translation]) for voice, piano
Fanfare om te beginnen (2001) for 6 groups of horns
La Passione (2000–02) (text by Dino Campana) for female jazz voice, violin, small orchestra (7 winds, 7 brass, electric guitar, cimbalom, 2 pianos, synthesizer, 2 percussion, 3 violins, bass guitar)
Very Sharp Trumpet Sonata (2002) for trumpet
Tuin van Eros (Garden of Eros) (2002) for string quartet
Klokken voor Haarlem (Bells for Haarlem) (2002) for piano, celesta, synthesizer, vibraphone (+ glockenspiel)
Pupazzetti by Alfredo Casella, arranged by Louis Andriessen for ensemble in 2002–2003
Inanna (2003) texts by Hal Hartley, Theo J.H. Krispijn) for 4 voices, 3 actors, mixed chorus, contrabass clarinet, 4 saxophones, violin, film (by Hal Hartley)
Letter from Cathy (2003) (text from a letter by Cathy Berberian to the composer) for female jazz voice, harp, violin, double bass, piano, percussion
Tuin van Eros (2003) for violin and piano
RUTTMANN Opus II, III, IV (2003) for flute, 3 saxophones, horn, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, double bass, piano (film music for a film of Walter Ruttman, written for the Filmmuseum Biennale 2003)[34]
Haags Hakkûh (The Hague Hacking) (2003) for 2 pianos. Renamed to Haags Hakkûh Stukje (The Hague Hacking Scrap) in 2008.
Racconto dall'inferno (2004) (text by Dante Alighieri) for female jazz voice, small orchestra (8 winds, 6 brass, guitar, cimbalom, 2 pianos, 2 percussion, minimum 8 strings, bass guitar). Part II of La Commedia (2004–08).
De Opening (2005) for ensemble (combined Orkest de Volharding, ASKO Ensemble, Schoenberg Ensemble)
Vermeer Pictures (2005) concert suite for orchestra from Writing to Vermeer (arrangement by Clark Rundell)
XENIA (2005) for violin
Hymn to the memory of Darius Milhaud for ensemble (1974/2006)[34]
Hellende Fanfare (Inclined fanfare; Fanfara inclinata) (2006) for voice and ensemble (Text by Dino Campana)
Adlington, Robert (2004). "Louis Andriessen, Hanns Eisler, and the Lehrstüück". Journal of Musicology. 21 (3). University of California Press: 381–417. doi:10.1525/jm.2004.21.3.381. ISSN0277-9269.
Adlington, Robert: De Staat. Hants. (UK): Ashgate (2004). ISBN0-7546-0925-1
Andriessen, Louis and Elmer Schonberger (trans. Jeff Hamburg): The Apollonian Clockwork: On Stravinsky Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP (reprint, 2006). ISBN90-5356-856-5
Everett, Yayoi Uno. The Music of Louis Andriessen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2006). ISBN0-52186423-2.
Zegers, Mirjam (ed.): Trans. Clare Yates. The Art of Stealing Time. Arc Publications. ISBN1-900072-88-2.