Johann Wilhelm Wilms

Johann Wilhelm Wilms (March 30, 1772 (baptized) – July 19, 1847) was a Dutch-German composer, best known for setting the poem Wien Neêrlands Bloed to music, which served as the Dutch national anthem from 1817 to 1932. Biography Wilms was born in Witzhelden, a small town near Solingen. After receiving lessons from his father and oldest brother in piano and composition, Wilms studied flute on his own. He moved to Amsterdam in 1791 where he played the flute in two orchestras and was soloist in Mozart and Beethoven piano concertos, giving them their Dutch premieres. Here, he also received further instruction in musical theory from the Saxony-born composer Georg Casper Hodermann (1740-1802). Around 1793, his first composition was published, a sonata for keyboard (harpsichord or possibly fortepiano), which is lost. Three years later, Wilms was one of the six founders of the society Eruditio Musica, which organised concerts at which he was active as pianist and composer. He taught piano at the Koninklijk Nederlandsch Instituut voor Wetenschappen (the precursor of the present Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) after it was founded by the first King of Holland, Louis Napoleon.