Kees van Baaren

Kees van Baaren (born 22 October 1906 in Enschede – died 2 September 1970 in Oegstgeest) was a Dutch composer and teacher. His early studies (1924-29) were in Berlin with Rudolph Breithaupt (piano) and Friedrich Koch (composition). After returning to the Netherlands in 1929, he studied with Willem Pijper, adopting Pijper's "germ cell technique" in his compositions from about 1934 onward. While composing some works in an accessible, tonal style, in other pieces he developed toward a serial technique, which emerged fully with the Septet for five winds, violin, and double bass (1952). He was the first important Dutch composer to use twelve-tone technique.

Van Baaren was director of the Amsterdam Musieklyceum from 1948 to 1953, when he was appointed director of the Utrecht Conservatory, and in 1958 became director of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. His students included many of the leading composers and performers of the next generation, including Louis Andriessen, Reinbert de Leeuw, Misha Mengelberg, Peter Schat, and Jan van Vlijmen.

Compositions (selective list)
Concertino for piano and orchestra (1934)
Sonatina in memoriam Willem Pijper, for piano (1948)
The Hollow Men, cantata for soprano, baritone, mixed choir and orchestra, text by T. S. Eliot (1948, rev.1955-56)
Septet for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, and contrabass (1952)
Symphony (1956)
Variations for orchestra (1959)
Partita for wind band (1961)
String Quartet (1962)
Wind Quintet (1963)
Concerto for piano and orchestra (1964)