Alphons Diepenbrock

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 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