#diepenbrock

3. Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921)

Born in Amsterdam to a prosperous family, as a boy he had some violin lessons, but was largely self taught. He learned the piano by playing piano reductions of Wagner's music. In 1880 he went to study classics at the University of Amsterdam, receiving his Doctorate in 1888, with a dissertation, in Latin, on Seneca. That same year in s'Hertogenbosch, he got a teaching job but the composition bug was getting the better of him, so in 1895 he returned to Amsterdam (where he lived for the rest of his life), working as a private teacher of classics and composition. 

Many of his works were unpublished in his lifetime, although the conductor Willem Mengelberg and others advised him to conduct his own music. He also conducted other composers works including, in 1908, Mahler's fourth symphony. He loved music and literature and the poetry of his day, and with his academic background in the classics, was inspired by Greek and Latin writings. His musical influences included Wagner and Debussy.

For today, here is a fabulous, huge and atmospheric orchestral song called, In The Great Silence. Please enjoy! 

More exceptional orchestral songs:

Hans Sommer - Sapphos Gesange, Op.6

Othmar Schoeck - Elegie, Op.36

Paul Von Klenau - Die Weise Von Liebe Und Tod Des Kornetts Christoph Rilke

Catherine Sauvage interpreting "La chanson du petit hypertrophique" Poem by Jules Laforgue. Composition by Diepenbrock.

In the Chanson du petit hypertrophique (Song of the Little Hypertrophic) by Jules Laforgue (1860-1887) a morbidly fat boy is portrayed, with a yellow face and unsteady step, the laughing-stock of the street. He is secretly in love but realises that, like his mother, he will die young. He thinks that the pounding of his heart is her enticing voice. Diepenbrock read the wry text in an article in the cultural and literary magazine De Kroniek of 18 August 1895. The article was a response to the publication of some letters and unknown works by the symbolist poet Jules Laforgue in the French literary and arts magazine La Revue blanche. Diepenbrock greatly admired Laforgue, the contemplative Hamlet searching for the criterion of human certainty.1 (VG:65) His setting of the poem, dated 22 August 1895, appeared as an appendix to the 25 August edition of De Kroniek.

The strophic song with simple accompaniment, which is consistent with the folk-like character of the text, stands alone among Diepenbrock’s compositions of his early period. The composer envisioned a rendition in the style of the famous songster Yvette Guilbert, whom he had heard during a visit to Paris in 1891. He wrote:

It should not be sung. It is more like a lugubrious cabaret ditty with very poignant words. The music is nothing, it contains the absolute minimum of music and that was the difficulty. (BD III:192)

Ton Braas

source(x)

Alphons Diepenbrock - Suite from Elektra I. Andante agitato - Adagio IV. Allegro agitato - Maestoso

Philharmonic Orchestra of the Hague Neeme Järvi, cond.