In June, Chronicle of Dutch Music will be focusing on Ton de Leeuw, who died a quarter of a century ago. Today, De Leeuw is best known as the author of the 1964 standard work Muziek van de twintigste eeuw (music of the twentieth century). He wrote the book while teaching composition and musical history at the Amsterdam conservatory. As a composer, De Leeuw became fascinated with non-Western music and what connected it and made it different from the Western classical traditions. Pieces like Mouvements retrogrades for orchestra (1958) and Linkerhand en rechterhand (1976) bear witness to that. For the last eight years of his life, De Leeuw lived in Paris, France. The piece he wrote as a farewell to Amsterdam and the Netherlands can also be heard in the Chronicle. The title will probably sound familiar: Les Adieux.
Listen
Chronicle of Dutch Music. Tuesday evenings at 1900.
