Jacob van Domselaer

Dutch composer Jakob van Domselaer (sometimes spelled "Domselaar") was a pioneering figure among Dutch modernists and is the musician most closely associated with the art movement De Stijl. Raised in the Dutch Reformed Church, Domselaer got his first musical instruction as an organist, and later studied with Dutch pedagogue Johan Wagenaar in Utrecht. Wagenaar took note of Domselaer's skill as a pianist and arranged for Domselaer to travel to Berlin in order to study with former Liszt student Frederic Lamond and composer/pianist Ferruccio Busoni in summer 1911. It was as a member of Busoni's circle that Domselaer blossomed and became deeply interested in the concept of new music; his attendance to the premiere of Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony under Bruno Walter only further confirmed this interest. Domselaer also made the acquaintance of Arnold Schoenberg at this time. In Paris in 1913, Domselaer struck up a close friendship with painter and fellow compatriot Piet Mondriaan. Because of their contact, Domselaer decided to realize in music the kinds of concepts Mondriaan was exploring in the visual arts. This found its realization in a cycle of 11 piano pieces, Proeven van Stijlkunst (Experiments in Style-Art, 1913-1917) that heralded the birth of Dutch modernism in music. The music is highly angular, dissonant, and spare in texture; some of it is derived from mathematical formulas, and he developed the term Klankstollingen (Concrete consonance) to describe his style. Domselaer first introduced his music in concert in London in 1914 to considerable interest and comment, but similar concerts in the Netherlands in 1915 were poorly received, and Mondriaan decided that the Dutch public wasn't ready for Concrete consonance. Occurring midway through Domselaer's creation of the cycle, this was one element among many leading to a decisive break between Domselaer and Mondriaan; though they remained good friends, they were then finished as artistic collaborators. Unlike many composers who flirted with avant-garde styles around the time of the First World War and then later went onto more conventional careers, Domselaer's later work more or less continued as a refinement of concrete consonance until he stopped writing at about the age of 68. His output overwhelmingly favors the piano, outside of a single Symphony (1921) and two piano concertos (1925 and 1927), and he composed 38 piano sonatas, many suites for piano, and a number of one-off pieces entitled Variaties. Almost none of this music was heard during Domselaer's lifetime, a property his music shared with that of fellow Dutch modernist and critic Matthijs Vermuelen, who was well known to him. While in the very last years of Vermuelen's life his music began to be revived, in Domselaer's case it would take decades after his death before any of his music was heard or recorded.