Jakob van Domselaer (15 April 1890 in

Nijkerk Nijkerk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ''Niekark'') is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city located in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. Population centres Some people state that ''Groot Corlaer'' is a ...

Gelderland Gelderland ( , ), also known as Guelders ( ) in English, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands, located in the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Nethe ...

– 5 January 1960) was a Dutch composer. Domselaer was born at

, Netherlands. In 1912, he traveled to Paris where he met the Dutch painter

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...

(1872–1944), eventually becoming a part of Mondrian's artistic circle known as "

De Stijl De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...

." Domselaer's piano suite ''Proeven van Stijlkunst'' (Experiments in Artistic Style, 1913–17) represented the first attempt to apply principles of Neo-Plasticism to music, and Mondrian asserted that pieces were created under the influence of the plus-minus painting he created around the year 1915 . This austere, mathematically based music represents an important but as yet unacknowledged precedent to

minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

and has been little performed or recorded. He died at

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, Netherlands. Domselaer's students have included the Dutch composers Nico Schuyt and Simeon ten Holt . At the Berlage Concourse in 1988, the Dutch pianist Kees Wieringa was one of the prize winners, playing piano music by Domselaer. He released a recording featuring the music of Domselaer in 1994 (DO Records CD, DR 001). He married Maaike Middelkoop, with whom he had three children. His son, Jaap van Domselaer (1923–1944), was a promising young poet when he was shot while trying to escape from German-occupied Netherlands to the liberated zone in 1944 . His daughter, Matie van Domselaer, married the

situationist The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

Constant Nieuwenhuys Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys (21 July 1920 – 1 August 2005), better known as Constant, was a Dutch painter, sculptor, graphic artist, author and musician. Early period Constant was born in Amsterdam on 21 July 1920 as the first son of Pieter N ...

on 13 July 1942 and

Asger Jorn Asger Oluf Jorn (3 March 1914 – 1 May 1973) was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International. The largest collection of Jorn's works� ...

in 1950 .

Recordings

Recording by Kees Wieringa

Recording on the Donemus Foundation's Composer's Voice label

References

* * * * * *

External links

Jakob van Domselaer Archive
and biography at the

Netherlands Music Institute The Netherlands Music Institute (Nederlands Muziek Instituut, NMI) is the central institution for the preservation of the musical heritage of the Netherlands. History of the institute The NMI has existed as a foundation since 1996; it became full ...

1890 births 1960 deaths People from Nijkerk 20th-century Dutch classical composers Dutch male classical composers De Stijl 20th-century Dutch male musicians {{Netherlands-composer-stub