Willem Frederik Johannes Pijper was one of the leading classical musical personalities in Holland in the decades following WW I. Born in 1894 and dying prematurely in 1947, he was not only an important composer but also a critic, journalist, teacher, and tireless advocate for Dutch music and musicians. Initially considering advanced studies in either biology or music he decided on the latter, enrolling at the Utrecht College of Music in 1912, where he studied composition with Johan Wagenaar. He made rapid progress as a composer completing several major works before his graduation, including String Quartet No.1 and a Piano Trio, both dating from 1914. He began his teaching career in 1918 in the preparatory division of the Amsterdam College of Music and eventually was appointed Professor of Composition (1924) at that institution. Simultaneously he began a lifelong pursuit writing about music, both as a critic and journalist, with one of the aims to raise the profile and standards of Dutch music. Pijper was also instrumental in founding the Dutch section of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) in 1922. In 1930 he was appointed headmaster of the Rotterdam Conservatory, a position he held until his death in 1947 and where he taught a number of 20th C. Dutch composers. The successful premiere of Pijper’s Symphonie No. 1 in 1918, by the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Mengelberg, brought the composer recognition as an emerging voice among Dutch composers of the new generation. This was followed in the next decade by a number of important orchestral and chamber works including Symphonies No. 2 and 3, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, String Quartets No. 2 and 3, Piano Trio No. 2, Sextet, and Quintet for Winds. By the time his Six Symphonic Epigrams for orchestra were composed (1927/28). Pjiper was acknowledged as one of the most important Dutch composers. …
