Willem Pijper

Willem Pijper (1894–1947) 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. Pijper was born at Zeist, near Utrecht. In 1912, after three years study at the gymnasium, he entered the Utrecht Academy of Music, where he was taught composition by Johan Wagenaar. He quickly chose his own path as a composer. The difference in style between his First Symphony (Pan; 1917) (in which Mahler's influence is evident) and the Second (1921) is significant, and between 1918 and 1922 he grew into one of the more advanced composers in Europe. He occasionally gave piano recitals, but his activity as a critic was of greater importance. In 1926, with Paul F. Sanders, he established the periodical De Muziek, to which he contributed many essays. From 1919, Pijper's music can be described as polytonal. He remained a composer of strong emotional character, to which his Third Symphony (1926) bears witness. In his later works the harmonic expression seems at times to approach monotonality. As a teacher, Pijper had a great influence on modern Dutch music, teaching many prominent Dutch composers of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. He was senior teacher of instrumentation at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, and from 1930 until his death in 1947 he acted as principal of the Rotterdam Conservatoire. Pijper spent much of his time during the war years working on a new opera, Merlijn, based on the Arthurian legend. Although he worked on the project for over six years, the work was never completed. In late 1946, he was diagnosed with cancer. During the closing weeks of his life he rewrote the orchestration to his Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra. Pijper died in Utrecht on 18 March 1947.