To what extent did the upheavals in Dutch classical music in the 1960s influence the performance practice of music by Orthel and his generation?

Abstract

In the historiography of Dutch classical music, the generation of composers that was active immediately after the Second World War is mostly missing. The 1960s are well-documented: Louis Andriessen, Peter Schat, Reinbert de Leeuw, Otto Ketting and Theo Loevendie all have their (auto-)biographies. Not much is to be found about the older generation, composers that were expected to be the successors of Willem Pijper. Is it necessary to repair this gap? Even if all music composed by this generation would be labelled insignificant, it should be established on legitimate grounds that this was the era of musical mediocrity. Programming and analysing this music in context to the music of generations before and after would clarify the position of this so-called “Lost Generation”. This thesis addresses the question how the changes in the 1960s affected the programming and appreciation of classical music in the Netherlands after 1965 – with the above-mentioned gap as a result. To this end I have analysed musicological, historical, sociological and archival sources. I have taken as exemplary for this thesis the Dutch composer Léon Orthel – whose career spanned the relevant period - to see up close the effects of these changes. I found a variety of circumstances that together effected the obliteration of the Lost Generation. In conclusion my thesis offers an argument for re-evaluation of the work of composers of this generation.