Sem Dresden
Sem Dresden (full name Samuel Dresden; 20 April 1881 – 31 July 1957) was a Dutch composer, music educator, music critic and conductor. Born in Amsterdam, he was the son of diamond broker Marcus Dresden and Anna Mijerson. In 1907 he married the contralto Jacoba Dhont, later a singing teacher of Elly Ameling; they had two sons, including the musician Anton Dresden.
Dresden studied violin and piano with Richard Hageman, violin with Johannes Cornelis Dudok and Felice Togni, harmony with Fred J. Roeske, and counterpoint, fugue and composition with Bernard Zweers at the Amsterdam Conservatory. In 1903 he moved to Berlin, where he studied composition and conducting with Hans Pfitzner.
After returning to the Netherlands, Dresden conducted in Laren, Amsterdam and Tiel from 1905 to 1914 and led the Society for the Advancement of Music. In 1914 he founded the Amsterdam Madrigal Society, an a cappella choir of nine singers. The ensemble later became part of the Haarlem Motet and Madrigal Society, through which he revived much polyphonic Renaissance music while also promoting contemporary repertoire. In 1918 he co-founded the Dutch Society for the Development of Modern Creative Music with Daniël Ruyneman, Henri Zagwijn, Bernhard van den Sigtenhorst Meyer, Alexander Voormolen and, later, Willem Pijper.
He directed the Amsterdam Conservatory from 1924 to 1937, succeeding Julius Röntgen, and then became director of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, succeeding Johan Wagenaar. After returning to that post following the liberation, he retired in 1949. He subsequently directed the Youth and Music Foundation until 1953. Dresden also lectured in the United States in 1947 on Dutch composers of his time, chaired the State Commission for Music Education and the Music Section of the Council for the Arts, and served on several musical organizations.
As music critic for De Telegraaf from 1923 to 1927, Dresden supported the dissemination of newer music. His publications included Musical Life in the Netherlands Since 1880 and Currents and Countercurrents in Music. His compositions were influenced chiefly by the French Impressionism of Debussy and Ravel, despite the different orientation of his training under Zweers and Pfitzner. He sought to reconcile tradition and innovation and was, alongside Willem Pijper and Hendrik Andriessen, an influential figure in Dutch musical life.
Dresden's output includes Theme and Variations for Large Orchestra, two violin concertos, concertos for oboe, piano, flute, organ and orchestra, Symphonietta for clarinet and orchestra, Dance Flashes, string quartets, sonatas and choral works. His larger vocal compositions include Chorus Tragicus, Saint Anthony and Saint George, and his principal work was the opera François Villon, orchestrated by Jan Mul.