Pijper, Willem

Preface

Willem Frederik Johannes Pijper – Der Sturm (Incidental Music to William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest)

(g. Zeist, 8. September 1894 – g. Leidschendam, 18. März 1947)

Vorwort
Willem Pijper is considered one of the most important Dutch composers of the early 20th century. He was a man of many hats: composer, music critic, and teacher. Biographical and analytical texts from the mid-twentieth century to today about the musician all tell the same story: Pijper is seen as an eclectic musician, with a large following of dedicated pupils from his time as a professor and being influenced by Freemasonry and astrology. His compositions, while certainly not the most dissonant, atonal, or “modern” by today’s standards, represent an important part of the history of twentieth-century music when musicians were experimenting with new techniques and ideas to develop original compositions. Pijper’s The Tempest sits comfortably in the later years of the composer’s oeuvre and is a perfect example of the composer’s favorite compositional techniques and ideas.

Pijper was born in Zeist, a village outside of Utrecht, Netherlands, in 1894. Not many details are handed down about his childhood, but it is known that he suffered from bouts of bronchitis and asthma and studied at home until the age of fourteen. At fourteen, he attended a secondary school in Utrecht until 1911 when he enrolled at the Utrecht Toonkunst Muziekschool, known today as the Utrecht Conservatorium. It was there that Pijper studied composition with Johan Wagenaar until 1918. The year brought much change to the composer’s life: his marriage to his first wife, Annie Werker; musical opportunities in Utrecht; and connections with various new colleagues. His first symphony premiered in 1918 by conductor Willem Mengelberg brought him the national recognition he aimed for and he began teaching theory at the Amsterdam Muziek lyceum and writing music criticism for the Utrechtsch Dagblad. Between 1918 and 1929 was a tumultuous time for Pijper as he tested his new radical compositional styles; helped to found organizations such as the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM); had issues with his personal relationships and mental health; and composed, premiered and published music internationally. …

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