Louis Andriessen (1939-2021) was one of the most influential Dutch composers of the past centuries, a view shared worldwide. The New York Times, for instance, honoured him as ‘the Dutch Modernist master’. The Independent, meanwhile, characterised Andriessen as ‘the foremost Dutch composer since Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck in the 17th century’, the man who used to appear on the 25-guilder note. Louis Andriessen was born into a warm and musical family – his mother was a pianist and both his father Hendrik and his brother Jurriaan were composers. After studying with the Italian innovator Luciano Berio (1925-2003), he and a few colleagues would lay the foundations for the Hague School, a musical movement influenced by jazz and American minimal music. It produced music that dared to be loud, rhythmic and energetic, featuring plenty of percussion and electronic instruments, and which shunned any hint of sentimentality. And so Andriessen, as the most famous representative of his circle, gave voice to the turbulent 1960s. He would continue to embody the rebellious verve of that period throughout his entire career. A now-famous incident was the Aktie Notenkraker in 1969, in which Andriessen and a number of supporters (such as Reinbert de Leeuw and Jan van Vlijmen) disrupted a performance by the prestigious Concertgebouw Orchestra. In doing so, they sought to denounce the conservative and elitist nature of the music world. Since then, Andriessen has had a complex relationship with established institutions.

In 2025, an interesting biography of Louis Andriessen, written by Jacqueline Oskamp, was published. Read more