Landre, Guillaume
Landre, Guillaume
Landre, Guillaume (Louis Frédéric), important Dutch composer, son of Willem (Guillaume Louis Frédéric) Landre; b. The Hague, Feb. 24, 1905; d. Amsterdam, Nov. 6, 1968. He took music lessons from his father and from Zagwijn, and then from Pijper in Utrecht, where he also studied law at the Univ. (M.A., 1929). He subsequently was active as a teacher of commercial law and as a music critic in Amsterdam. He was chairman of the Dutch Music Copyright Soc. (1947–58) and president of the Soc. of Netherlands Composers (1950–62). As a composer, he endeavored to revive the spirit and the polyphonic technique of the national Flemish School of the Renaissance in a 20th-century guise, with euphonious dissonances and impressionistic dynamics creating a modern aura. In his later works, he experimented with serial devices.
Works
dramatic: Opera: De Snoek (The Pike), comic opera (1934; Amsterdam, March 24, 1938); Jean Lévecq, after Maupassant (1962-63; Amsterdam, June 16, 1965); La Symphonie pastorale, after André Gide (1965-67; Rouen, March 31, 1968). orch.: 4 syms.: No. 1 (1932; Amsterdam, June 9, 1933), No. 2 (1942; The Hague, March 6, 1946), No. 3 (Amsterdam, June 16, 1951), and No. 4, Symphonie concertante (1954-55; Stockholm, June 5, 1956); Suite for Piano and Strings (1936); 4 Pieces (1937); Concert Piece (1938); Cello Concerto (1940); Sinfo-nietta for Violin and Orch. (1941); Symphonic Music for Flute and Orch. (1947–48); Sinfonia sacra in memoriam patris (1948; Rotterdam, Nov. 7, 1948; uses motifs from his father’s Requiem); 4 mouvements symphoniques (1948-49; The Hague, Jan. 17, 1950); Chamber Sym. for 13 Instruments (1952; Amsterdam, Feb. 24, 1953); Sonata festiva for Chamber Orch. (1953); Kaleidoscope, symphonic variations (1956); Symphonic Permutations (1957); Clarinet Concerto (1958; Amsterdam, June 25, 1959); Concertante for Contrabass Clarinet and Orch. (1959); Anagrams (1960); Sonata for Chamber Orch. (1961); Variazioni senza tema (Amsterdam, Dec. 11, 1968). chamber: Violin Sonata (1927); 4 string quartets (1927; 1942-3; 1949; 1965); Piano Trio (1929); 2 wind quintets (1930, 1960); 4 Miniatures for Clarinet and String Quartet or String Orch. (1950); Sextet for Flute, Clarinet, and String Quartet (1959); Quartetto piccolo for 2 Trumpets, Horn, and Trombone (1961). vocal:Piae memoriae pro patria mortuorum for Chorus and Orch. (1942); Groet der martelaren (Salute to the Martyrs) for Baritone and Orch. (1943–44); Berceuse voor moede mensen for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1952).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire