Louis Andriessen

Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 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. Although his music was initially dominated by neoclassicism and serialism, his style gradually shifted to a synthesis of American minimalism, big band jazz and the expressionism of Igor Stravinsky.

Born in Utrecht into a musical family, Andriessen studied composition under his father Hendrik Andriessen as well as Kees van Baaren and Luciano Berio. Andriessen taught at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague from 1974 to 2012, influencing notable composers. His opera La Commedia, based on Dante's Divine Comedy, won the 2011 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition and was selected in 2019 by critics at The Guardian as one of the most outstanding compositions of the 21st century.

Life and career Andriessen was born in Utrecht on 6 June 1939 to a musical family, His father was professor of composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and later its director. His siblings were composers Jurriaan Andriessen (1925–1996) and Caecilia Andriessen (1931–2019), and he is the nephew of Willem Andriessen (1887–1964). before embarking upon two years of study under Luciano Berio in Milan and Berlin. His father introduced him to the works of Francis Poulenc and Erik Satie, which he came to love. Andriessen lived in Amsterdam starting in 1965.

Andriessen became internationally recognised as a composer with his 1976 work De Staat, which included texts from Plato's Republic. He held the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall during the 2009–10 season. formed by classical, jazz and pop musicians.

Teaching

Andriessen joined the faculty of the Royal Conservatory in 1974.

Personal life Andriessen was married to guitarist Jeanette Yanikian (1935–2008). They were a couple for over 40 years, and were married in 1996. He was married in 2012 a second time to violinist Monica Germino, for whom he wrote several works. In December 2020, she announced that Andriessen was suffering from dementia. He died on 1 July 2021 in Weesp at age 82.

Andriessen had one son, Lodewijk Torenbos-Andriessen, with dancer and theatre director Betsy Torenbos.

Style and notable works Andriessen began in the style of an intentionally dry neoclassicism, but then turned into a strict serialist. 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.

Andriessen's later style is a unique blend of American sounds and European forms. containing minimalist-influenced polyrhythms, lyrical melodic fragments, and predominantly consonant harmonies disrupted by concentrated dissonance. 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.

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 librettist Peter Greenaway on the film M is for Man, Music, Mozart and the operas Rosa: A Horse Drama (1994) and Writing to Vermeer (1998);

Awards and honours 1959 Gaudeamus International Composers Award 1977 Matthijs Vermeulen Award for De Staat 1977 UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris 2016 Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music 2019 Honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam

Works Andriessen's primary publishers are Boosey & Hawkes and Donemus.

Complete list of works:

Rondo Barbaro (1954) for piano Sonata (1956) for flute and piano (dedicated to Lucas van Regteren Altena) Elegy (1957) for cello and piano Elegy (1957) for double bass and piano (arrangement by Quirijn van Regteren Altena) Nuit d'été (1957) for piano four hands Quartet in two movements (1957) for string quartet Plein-chant (1963) for flute and harp (dedicated to Eugenie van des Grinten and Veronica Reyns) (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 Dat gebeurt in Vietnam (1972) (That's going on in Vietnam) for wind ensemble (also transcribed for two pianos in 1992 by Cees van Zeeland and Gerard Bouwhuis) Mattheus passie (1976) (text by Louis Ferron) Music theatre work for 8 mixed voices, 2 oboes (both + English horn), Hammond organ, string quartet, double bass Hoketus (1975–76) for 2 panpipes, 2 alto saxophones ad libitum, 2 bass guitars, 2 pianos, 2 electric pianos, 2 congas Orpheus (1977) (text by Lodewijk de Boer) Music theatre work for 8 mixed voices, lyricon, electric guitar, bass guitar, synthesizer, percussion Symphonie voor losse snaren (1978) for 12 strings Laat toch vrij die straat (1978) (text by Jaap van der Merwe) for voice and piano Hymn to the Memory of Darius Milhaud (1978) (version of chamber work) Felicitatie (1979) for 3 trumpets Toespraak (1979) for speaker who also plays trombone Mysteriën (2013), for orchestra Mach's mit mir, Gott (Do unto me, God) (2016), for organ Signs and Symbols (2016), for wind ensemble and percussion Ahania Weeping (2016), for mixed chorus De goddelijke routine (The divine routine) (2017), for organ Rimsky or La Monte Young (2017), for piano Agamemnon (2017), for speaker and large orchestra Searching for unison (étude) (2018), for piano The Only One (2018), song cycle for female jazz singer and large ensemble, dedicated to Nora Fischer, who premiered the work at The Proms 2019 May (2019), for choir and orchestra