Cornelis Dopper
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Cornelis ['Kees'] Dopper (February 7, 1870–1939) was a Dutch composer, conductor and teacher. Born in the northern Dutch town of Stadskanaal, he came to study at the Leipzig conservatory with, among others, Carl Reinecke. After his studies he settled in Groningen, not far from his place of birth. His first opera, De blinde van Castel Cuillé [The Blind Man of Castel Cuillé] was premiered there with some acclaim in 1894, and in that same year he entered the service of De Nederlandse Opera [Dutch Opera] in Amsterdam; here he worked as a violinist, choir master and conductor.
During the years 1904-1905 he worked as a music critic for the Amsterdam newspapers De Echo [The Echo] and Het Leven [The Life]. A year later, Dopper joined the Savage Opera Company and began to tour the Unived States, Canada, and Mexico. In that capacity, he was responsible for the American premiere of Puccini's La Bohème (1907). On his return to Amsterdam in 1908 he was appointed as second conductor of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, assisting the famous conductor Willem Mengelberg. He would remain there until his retirement in 1931. A recognition of his great service, his name was painted one of the balustrades in the Concertgebouw's great hall, where it can still be seen today.
Dopper composed well over a hundred works. Because of his great love for Dutch folk song, Dutch culture and Dutch landscape, he was sometimes termed the 'most Dutch composer of all Dutch composers'. The titles of his symphonies attest to that sentiment: the 'Rembrandt' Symphony (Nr. 3, written on the tercentenary of Rembrandt's birth in 1906) , the 'Amsterdam' Symphony (Nr. 6), the 'Zuiderzee' Symphony (Nr. 7). Beside seven symphonies, Dopper wrote many other works for the orchestra. Of these, his Chaconna Gotica acquired the most fame, and is often considered to be Dopper's masterpiece. Many of his works were performed in great concert halls by famous conductors (e.g., Richard Strauss, Willem Mengelberg, and Otto Klemperer).
In addition, Dopper wrote chamber music (e.g., a string quartet, a violin sonata, and a sextet for woodwind and piano). His interest in musical education for the young caused him to write a great number of works for children's choir. In Amsterdam, Dopper introduced specific youth concerts.
Dopper's reputation as a composer has suffered from the accusaton of being 'too German' for much of his career, and still haunts him to this day. Very popular among the concert audiences, his works never received much critical acclaim in his home country (contrary to abroad). His reputation among the musical avant-garde further suffered because of the so-called 'Vermeulen incident' of November 1917. After a performance of Dopper's Seventh Symphony (which ends with a march) under the baton of the composer, his dissatisfied colleague Matthijs Vermeulen stood up in the hall of the Concertgebouw and shouted: "Long live Sousa" (the implication being that Dopper was of little more value as a composer than the critically reviled American marchsmith John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)). This caused some uproar, because of Vermeulen's liberty but even more so because a great part of the audience understood it to be "Long live Troelstra!" (the name of the socialist leader who'd attempted to unleash a revolution days before), and therefore as a call to revolution. In the aftermath, Vermeulen was banned from attending the Concertgebouw, buth the subsequent scandal also caused the orchestra board to 'relegate' Dopper.
The same piece, the Seventh Symphony, played a more positive role when it was played at the Concertgebouw in November, 1940, six months after the German occupation of the Netherlands. The piece contains many songs from Valerius' Nederlandtsche Gedenck-Clanck [Dutch Song of Remembrance], a collection of anti-Spanish songs originating from the Revolt of the Netherlands against the Spanish in the 16th and early 17th century. The finale ends with an 'anti-march', composed by Dopper as a reflection of the First World War, similar to the way in which Ravel's [[La Valse]] is a perversion of the sorrowless waltzes of Vienna before that war. The performance, obviously programmed before the German invasion and conducted by Mengelberg, erupted into a patriotic ovation. The recording of that event can be heard today in what is the only version of the Seventh Symphony available on record.
Although most of Dopper's works slided into oblivion after his death, a recent revival has done much to rekindle interest in his music. A biography was published in 1998 by Joop Stam, and the British Chandos label released two CDs with works by Dopper (i.e., the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th symphonies, and two symphonic poems). In February, 2005, Dopper's Dirst Symphony Diana received its world premiere by the Noord Nederlands Orkest in Leeuwarden. Unfortunately, Dopper's two master works, the Seventh Symphony and the Ciaconna Gotica, are only available in vintage and severely cut versions (albeit conducted by Willem Mengelberg).
The Stichting Cornelis Dopper in Stadskanaal works to keep the memory of Cornelis Dopper alive.
