Jakob Van Domselaer

Jakob van Domselear was born in the Dutch town of Nijkerk on 15th April 1890. After several years of organ and piano lessons with Johan Enderlé and Willem Petri, he began to study composition and piano with Dr. Johan Wagenaar in Utrecht. The period with Wagenaar was particular fruitful for the young musician, but in the summer of 1911, on his teacher's advice, he went to Berlin to pursue his piano studies with Frédèric Lamond. Here he came into contact with leading figures from the international art world. He was greatly influenced by Busoni's concerts, and through an intensive and almost daily contact with the composer's circle he gained an insight into the ideas of both Busoni and Schönberg. It was Van Domselear who, in 1914, first introduced their music to the Netherlands. Throughout his twenties Van Domselear was developing his own theories of composition, talking, writing, playing and composing. Like many of the young artists in his circle, amongst whom was his friend Piet Mondriaan, he was busy trying to rethink some of the most fundamental assumptions about art. From 1918 onwards, with no significant break, Van Domselaer was occupied with composition. In the last 40 years of his life he lived in relative seclusion in Bergen, North Holland, where he completed 39 piano works (sonatas, suites and variations), 2 piano concertos and a symphony.