Willem Landré
Willem Landré, born Guillaume Louis Frédéric Landré, was a Dutch composer. He was born in Amsterdam on 12 June 1874 and died in Eindhoven on 1 January 1948. He spent much of his youth in Haarlem and studied composition with Bernard Zweers.
From 1898, Landré worked as a music journalist, first in Haarlem and, three years later, in The Hague. Between 1906 and 1936 he was employed by the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant. From 1917 he served as senior teacher of theory, composition and music history at the Rotterdam Conservatory.
Considered an progressive composer in the tradition of Alphons Diepenbrock, Landré wrote large-scale choral works including Requiem in Memory of a Wife and Fragments from the Book of Baruch, as well as unaccompanied choral pieces, orchestral works, chamber music, the mystery play Beatrijs, and the opera The Rose of Dekama. His orchestral works included Nocturne, Requiem in Memory of a Mother, and Little Suite on E.F.; some of his music was published by A.A. Noske Music Publishers.
The Concertgebouw Orchestra programmed his music nineteen times. Nocturne was performed five times under Willem Mengelberg. In January 1948, shortly after Landré's death, the orchestra gave three performances of Requiem in Memory of a Mother under Hein Jordans in tribute to him. Streets in several cities, including Amsterdam, were named after him. He was the father of the composer Guillaume Landré and broadcaster Joop Landré, and the grandfather of actor Lou Landré.