Gerard Kockelmans was a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, conductor and music teacher.

He studied at the conservatoires of Maastricht

Maastricht

Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...

, The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

 and Utrecht

Utrecht (city)

Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

, where Kees van Baaren

Kees van Baaren

Kees van Baaren was a Dutch composer and teacher.Van Baaren was born in Enschede. His early studies were in Berlin with Rudolph Breithaupt and Friedrich Koch at the Stern conservatory. After returning to the Netherlands in 1929, he studied with Willem Pijper...

, Sem Dresden

Sem Dresden

Samuel Dresden was born in Amsterdam, April 20, 1881, and died at The Hague, July 30, 1957). He was a Dutch conductor, composer and teacher.-Life:...

 and Henri Geraedts were among his teachers.

As a composer he mainly wrote choral music. Other works comprise masses, motets, chamber music and songs. He was a master of counterpoint

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

. Although he was clearly influenced and inspired by the twelve-tone music, which was very popular in those days, he never completely embraced this style. Hence his music, although ‘modern’, sounds accessible and comprehensible. Towards the end of his life, he practiced the so called ‘serial’ style of composition, which he developed himself.

As a choir conductor and music teacher, Kockelmans was very influential in the music scene of Limburg

Limburg (Netherlands)

Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...

. Amongst the choirs he conducted were the ‘Maartrichts mannenkoor’, ‘oratoriumvereniging Nieuw Leven’, ‘Mignon’ and ‘Maastrichter Staar’.

He was also an uncle of composer Hans Kockelmans

Hans Kockelmans

Hans Kockelmans is a Dutch composer, teacher, and performer of Early Classical and electronic music.He studied baroque lute with Mijndert Jape, as well as electronic music, and classical guitar at the Maastricht conservatory....

.

External links

• http://www.kockelmans.nl