David Gijsbert van der Linden (22 June 1915 – 30 January 1999), known as Dolf van der Linden, was a Dutch conductor of popular music with a reputation which extended beyond the borders of the Netherlands.

Biography

David Gijsbert van der Linden, the son of a salesman of musical instruments, was born in

Vlaardingen Vlaardingen () is a city in South Holland in the Netherlands. It is located on the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas river at the confluence with the Oude Maas. The municipality administers an area of , of which is land, with residents in . Geog ...

, near

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. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he played in some different bands as a pianist and tried his hand at arranging music for these bands. His colleagues started calling him "Dolf", because he reminded them of a former colleague with that name. In 1945, he was asked by Dutch authorities who had arrived back from their exile in London to form an orchestra for light music. Picking musicians he knew from all over the Netherlands, he thus managed to create the Metropole Orchestra. Famous names from these early years were

Benny Behr Benny or Bennie is a given name or a shortened version of the given name Benjamin or, less commonly, Benedict, Bennett, Benito, Benson, Bernice, Ebenezer or Bernard. People Bennie Given name * Bennie M. Bunn (1907–1943), American Marine of ...

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(both violinists),

Kees Verschoor Kees or KEES may refer to: * Kees (given name) * Kees (surname) * KEES, an American AM radio station licensed to Gladewater, Texas See also * Cees (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

(clarinetist) and

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(pianist). In 1957, van der Linden conducted the winning Dutch entry to the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, "Net als toen", sung by Corry Brokken. In the year after, he and his orchestra accompanied the Eurovision Song Contest which was organised by Dutch TV in Hilversum. Afterwards, he was asked by, amongst others, the BBC to do some work for them. All in all, between 1957 and 1971, van der Linden conducted 13 Dutch Eurovision entries, amongst which two winners (in 1957 and 1959 - the latter song, "Een beetje", written by the pianist of his orchestra,

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). In 1969 he refused to go to the Eurovision Song Contest in Spain, claiming that

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reminded him too much of his experiences in World War II.

Frans de Kok Frans de Kok (18 January 1924 – 4 May 2011) was a Dutch musician. He taught himself to play the piano, the accordion and the bass. In the 1940s and 1950s, he played and arranged music for the Joe Andy Orchestra, which toured the Netherlands, Wes ...

stepped in and was lucky enough to accompany what turned out to be another winning entry, "De troubadour" by

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. In the 1970 contest in Amsterdam, van der Linden was asked by

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to step in and conduct " All Kinds of Everything" by Dana, another winner. In the 1970s, Dolf van der Linden tried to rejuvenate and modernise his orchestra. In 1980, he retired and his successor as chief conductor of the Metropole Orchestra was Rogier van Otterloo. In 1995 he was awarded a Golden Harp for his outstanding achievements for entertainment music in the Netherlands; at the ceremony, he conducted the Metropole Orchestra for the last time. In 1999, van der Linden died in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilver ...

.Henk van Gelder, "Metropole Orkest 60 jaar", Amsterdam, 2005 On 22 June 2015, which would have been van der Linden's 100th birthday, the Metropole Orchestra played a concert of his compositions and arrangements. At this occasion, the first copy of van der Linden's biography, written by Bas Tukker, was presented to Dolf's younger brother Rob.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linden, Dolf van der 1915 births 1999 deaths Dutch conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Eurovision Song Contest conductors People from Vlaardingen 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century Dutch male musicians