Premier Choral

Hendrik Andriessen (1892 - 1981) was an extraordinarily talented musician. When he was ten years old he replaced his father as organist of the St. Joseph Church in Haarlem (where later Albert de Klerk became his successor).

From 1914 he studied organ with Jean Baptiste de Pauw and composition with Bernard Zweers at the Amsterdam Conservatory. This makes him a contemporary of Anthon van der Horst, who in those years also studied with De Pauw and Zweers.

Andriessen was influenced by French music and was active in many areas in the Dutch music scene. From 1927 to 1948 he taught composition at the Amsterdam Conservatory and from 1930-1949 composition and organ at the Catholic Music School in Utrecht. In 1937 he is appointed as director of the Utrecht Conservatory. In 1949 he became director of the Conservatory of The Hague until his retirement in 1958.

His Premier Choral (1913) is largely influenced by César Franck, whose biography he wrote in 1941.