Composer of the month for July 2020 is Dutchman Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921). He lived exactly three centuries after Sweelinck and for many of his generation he was the first Dutch composer since Sweelinck with an international reputation. In his works a number of traditions come together in a complex manner. As a good Catholic he knew his Gregorian very well. His second love was German culture, and not the Prussian military tradition of Wilhelm II but the early romanticisim of poets such as Eichendorff and Hoffmann. Above all Diepenbrock was one of the first in this country to accept Debussy’s language. Diepenbrock called himself a vocally oriented composer, introduced the symphonic poem genre and his music has inspired Dutch musicians for more than a century.
