Escher, Rudolf

▪ Dutch composer

born Jan. 8, 1912, Amsterdam

died March 17, 1980, Texel, Neth.

      Dutch composer and music theoretician especially noted for his chamber works.

      Escher studied at the Rotterdam Conservatory from 1931 to 1937, but most of his early compositions were lost in the bombing of Rotterdam during World War II. During 1945 and 1946 he worked as a music editor for De Groene Amsterdammer. He held a variety of editorial and teaching posts from 1946 to 1964, at which time he began teaching contemporary music at the University of Utrecht. He is noted for his excellent essays on Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.

      The first composition for which Escher received wide notice was an orchestral piece, Musique pour l'esprit en deuil (1943). Several instrumental and orchestral pieces followed, and in the 1950s and following years he composed a number of interesting vocal works, including Strange Meeting (1952; to words by Wilfred Owen), Le vrai visage de la paix (1953; to words by Paul Éluard), and Songs of Love and Eternity (1955; to words by Emily Dickinson). His chamber piece Le tombeau de Ravel (1952) was very well received. His later works include Univers de Rimbaud (1970), for orchestra and voices; Sinfonia for 10 instruments (1973–76); and 3 Poems (1975; to words by W.H. Auden) for chamber chorus.

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