Louis Andriessen

(Utrecht, 1939)

Francesca Patella

Francesca Patella

The orchestra plays a noticeably small role in the work of the Netherlands’ most important composer Louis Andriessen. In the first instance, the reasons for this are political: after his orchestral work Anachronie I, the composer decided to focus on his own ensembles in the turbulent 1960s. The composer thus became one of the most important driving forces for the Dutch ensemble culture.

However, it is not the case that Andriessen has only composed ‘small works’ in the past 45 years: his oeuvre ranges from solo pieces to operas. Moreover, each work requires its own special instrumentation, thus lending it a unique character.

Mysticism is often the subject of Louis Andriessen’s work – from Hadewych and De Tijd up to his recent orchestral work Mysteriën (2013, for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra). Andriessen: “The world ultimately exists to end up in theatre, Mallarmé once said. With a little good will, you could say that my pieces set to librettos, from Vietnamlied via De Staat and De Tijd up to and including La Commedia, all deal with that theatre of the world. That path develops from politics to, what one may simply call, mysticism. However, philosophy is a better word for it in my opinion.”

Andriessen’s words to describe De Staat from 1976 also actually apply to other works in his oeuvre: “Many composers see their work as somehow being immune to social influences. I do not agree with that.”

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