Hendrik Franciscus Andriessen (September 17, 1892, Haarlem

Haarlem

Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...

 – April 12, 1981, Haarlem) was a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and organist

Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...

. He is remembered most of all for his improvisation

Musical improvisation

Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...

 at the organ and for the renewal of Catholic liturgical music

Catholic liturgy

The Catholic Church is fundamentally liturgical and sacramental in its public life of worship.-Liturgical principles:As explained in greater detail in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its shorter Compendium, the liturgy is something that "the whole Christ", Head and Body, celebrates —...

 in the Netherlands. Andriessen composed in a musical idiom that revealed strong French influences. He was the brother of pianist and composer Willem Andriessen

Willem Andriessen

Willem Andriessen was a Dutch pianist and composer.-Biography:Andriessen studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory, 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...

 and the father of the composers Jurriaan Andriessen

Jurriaan Andriessen

Jurriaan Hendrik Andriessen was a Dutch composer, whose father, Hendrik, brother Louis, and uncle Willem have also been notable composers...

 and Louis Andriessen

Louis Andriessen

Louis Andriessen is a Dutch composer and pianist based in Amsterdam. He teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague...

 and of the flutist Heleen Andriessen.

Life and career

Andriessen studied composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

 with Bernard Zweers

Bernard Zweers

Bernard Zweers was a Dutch composer and music teacher.-Life:Bernard Zweers was born in 1854 as the son of an Amsterdam book- and music shopkeeper...

 and organ with Jean-Baptiste de Pauw at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. As the organist at Utrecht

Utrecht (city)

Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

 Cathedral, he became well known for his improvisation abilities. From 1926 to 1954, he lectured in composition and music theory

Music theory

Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...

 at the Amsterdam Conservatory while also teaching at the Institute for Catholic Church Music in Utrecht between 1930 and 1949. He was the director of the Utrecht Conservatory from 1937 to 1949.

During World War II, Andriessen refused to join the "Cultural House" and was thus barred from public functions by the Nazi occupiers. The only musical activities he was allowed was to give lessons and to accompany church services. He was taken hostage by the occupation from July 13-December 18, 1942, but released.

In 1949, he was appointed director of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

, a post he held until 1957. Between 1954 and 1962, he was appointed an Extraordinary Professor of Musicology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen

Radboud University Nijmegen

Radboud University Nijmegen is a public university with a strong focus on research in Nijmegen, the Netherlands...

.

Andriessen's works included, besides eight mass

Mass (music)

The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...

es, a setting of the Te Deum

Te Deum

The Te Deum is an early Christian hymn of praise. The title is taken from its opening Latin words, Te Deum laudamus, rendered literally as "Thee, O God, we praise"....

, four symphonies

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

, variations

Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these.-Variation form:...

 for orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

, lied

Lied

is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...

er for voice and orchestra, chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

, sonatas for cello

Cello sonata

A cello sonata is usually a sonata written for cello and piano, though other instrumentations are used, such as solo cello. The most famous Romantic-era cellos sonatas are those written by Johannes Brahms and Ludwig van Beethoven...

 and for piano

Piano sonata

A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement , two movements , five or even more movements...

, and works for solo organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

.

Orchestra

• 4 Symphonies (1930, 1937, 1946, 1954)
• Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Johann Kuhnau, for string orchestra (1935)
• Variations on a Theme by Couperin for solo flute, string orchestra, and harp (1944)
• Ricercare (1949) (also arranged for wind orchestra, 1977)
• Concerto for Organ and Orchestra (1950)
• Symphonic Etude (1952)
• Violin Concerto (1969)
• Cello Concertino (1970)
• Oboe Concertino (1970)
• Chromatic Variations (1970)

Chamber

• Suite for violin and piano (1950) I.Preludio II. Fuguetta III. Air Varié IV. Finale
• Quartetto in stile antico for String Quartet (1957)
• Sonatina in One Movement for Viola and Piano (1924)
• Sonata for Viola and Piano (1967)
• Sonata for Cello and Piano (1926) = Sonate pour violoncelle et piano [a Thomas Canivez]

Organ

• Aria (1944)
• 4 Chorals (Premier: 1913), (Deuxième: 1916, rev. 1965), (Troisième: 1920), (Quatrième: 1921, rev. 1951)
• Fête-Dieu (1918)
• Fuga a 5 voici c kl. terts (1916)
• In dulci jubilo (1961)
• Interlude (1957)
• Interludium (1968)
• Intermezzi: 24 pieces in two books (1935 and 1943-46)
• Intermezzo (1950)
• Meditation on the hymn "O Lord with wondrous mystery" (1960)
• O filii et filiae (1961)
• O sacred head (1962)
• Offertorium (1962)
• Passacaglia (1929)
• Praeludium en Fuga in d
• Preghiera (1962)
• Quattro studi per organo (1953)
• Sinfonia (1939)
• Sonata da Chiesa (1927)
• Suite (1968)
• Thema met variaties (1949)
• Toccata (1917)
• Veni, Creator Spiritus (1961)

Opera

• Philomela (1950), in 3 acts
• Der Spiegel von Venedig (1964), chamber opera in 1 act

Choir

• Missa in honorem Sacratissimi Cordis, with organ (1919)
• Missa Simplex, acappella (1928)
• Missa diatonica (1935)
• Magnificat, with organ (1936)
• Missa Christus Rex (1938)
• Missa solemnis, with organ (1946)
• Te Deum, with orchestra (1968)

Lieder

• Magna res est amor, with organ (1919, orchestrated 1919)
• Fiat domine, with organ (1920, orchestrated 1930)
• Miroir de peine (set of five songs on texts by French poet Henri Ghéon
  Henri Ghéon
  Henri Ghéon , born Henri Vangeon in Bray-sur-Seine, Seine-et-Marne, was a French playwright, novelist, poet and critic. Brought up by a devout Roman Catholic mother, he lost his faith in his early teens, while still at the Lycée in Sens...
  
  , 1875-1944) (1923, orchestrated 1933)
• Trois pastorales (1935)

Books and other writings

• César Franck (1941)
• Over muziek (1950)
• Muziek en muzikaliteit (1952)

External links