Hendrik Andriessen

Hendrik Franciscus Andriessen (17 September 1892 – 12 April 1981) was a Dutch composer and organist. He is remembered most of all for his improvisation at the organ and for the renewal of Catholic liturgical music in the Netherlands. Andriessen composed in a musical idiom that revealed strong French influences. He was the brother of pianist and composer Willem Andriessen and the father of the composers Jurriaan Andriessen and Louis Andriessen and of the flautist Heleen Andriessen. Life and career Andriessen was born in Haarlem, the son of Gezina Johanna (Vester), a painter, and Nicolaas Hendrik Andriessen, a church organist. He studied composition with Bernard Zweers and organ with at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. As the organist at St. Catherine’s Cathedral, Utrecht, he became well known for his improvisation abilities. From 1926 to 1954, he lectured in composition and music theory at the Amsterdam Conservatory while also teaching at the Institute for Catholic Church Music in Utrecht between 1930 and 1949. He was the director of the Utrecht Conservatory from 1937 to 1949. During World War II, Andriessen refused to join the “Cultural House” (Kultuurkamer) and was thus barred fr