Alphons Diepenbrock
Title Details

433 Pages

23.4 x 15.6 cm

67 b/w, 35 colour images

Imprint: Toccata Press

Alphons Diepenbrock

The Life, Times and Music of a Dutch Romantic Composer

by Leo Samama

  • Description
  • Contents
  • Author
The music of the Dutch composer Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921) is one of the glories of European late-Romantic culture, although is hardly known outside his native Netherlands. This translation makes Leo Samama's masterly study of Diepenbrock available to non-Dutch readers for the first time.

The music of Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921) is one of the glories of European late-Romantic culture. But it is hardly known outside his native Netherlands - a situation this book hopes to change. Diepenbrock's life and his music are deeply intertwined: self-taught as a composer, he was a classics tutor by profession, a Catholic with a fondness for religious mysticism and one of the leading Dutch intellectuals of his day, with Mahler, Schoenberg and Richard Strauss among his circle of friends. In his 'Overture' to this book Robin Holloway describes Diepenbrock's music - most of which involves the voice - as a 'wondrous fusion of Palestrina and Wagner (with Debussy thrown in, and a dash of Mahler)' and praises its 'visionary serenity'. It is that balance between classical clarity and Romantic passion that gives Diepenbrock's compositions their unique character - and their emotional power.
Leo Samama's richly illustrated study of Diepenbrock sets him and his music in the context of their times, this translation opening up an important chapter of European history to non-Dutch-speaking readers for the first time.
Overture Robin Holloway
Preface
Introduction
Historical Context
Compositional Skill
Understanding Diepenbrock's Sound Ideal
Church and Theatre
The Universal Artist
Fellow Composers
Sphere of Influence
Opinions
Inertia and Longing
Correspondence
Yearning over Fulfilment
Part I: The Life
Family and Youth
School and University
Amsterdam in 1880
De Nieuwe Gids
Teaching in Den Bosch
Elisabeth de Jong van Beek en Donk
Marriage
The Road Upwards
Mokje and Cécile
Richard Strauss
Initial Successes
Friendships
Te Deum
Mahler and Debussy
A. A. Noske
The Rembrandt Year
Marsyas
Elisabeth and Johanna
Johanna and Elisabeth
Further Heights
Diepenbrock's 50th Birthday
War
Netherlands, Arise!
Missa in die festo
Crisis
The Birds
Faust
Peace
Electra
Finis vitae
Part II: The Music
Contemporaries
The Choral Music
Regensburg Cecilianism
Smaller Choral Works and Church Songs
Missa in die festo
Te Deum
Secular Choral Works
The Lieder
The Early Songs
Verlaine
Spiritual Songs and Hymns to the Night
From Perk to Thijm
Im grossen Schweigen
Rembrandt
From Baudelaire to Hölderlin
From Van Lerberghe to Verhagen
War-Songs
Instrumental Works
Stage Music
Marsyas, of De betooverde bron
Gijsbrecht van Aemstel
De vogels
Faust
Electra
Appendices
One Chronological List of Works Eduard Reeser and Ton Braas
Two Articles and Submissions by Diepenbrock
Bibliography
Index of Diepenbrock's Work
General Index

Leo Samama, born in 1951, studied musicology and composition before teaching at the Utrecht Conservatoire, the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and Utrecht University between 1977 and 1992. He was also a critic for several prominent Dutch newspapers and magazines. From 1988 to 1994 he sat on the board of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam as artistic advisor. Beginning in 1994 he was artistic administrator of the Residentie Orkest The Hague and from 2003 general and artistic manager of the famous Netherlands Chamber Choir. As a musicologist, he is best known internationally as an authority on Dutch music; at home, his lectures are streamed to an appreciative audience. He is also a composer, now over one hundred works to his credit; they are increasingly attracting performances, recordings and broadcasts the world around. In 2010 he was knighted as an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau for his contribution to Dutch musical life.

Hardcover

9780907689614

March 2023

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9781800105027

March 2023

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Title Details

433 Pages

2.34 x 1.56 cm

67 b/w, 35 colour images

Imprint: Toccata Press