Daniël de Lange
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Daniël de Lange was raised in a musical family and had his first music lessons from his older brother Samuel and his father, Samuel de Lange Sr., an organist and the city of Rotterdam's carilloneur. As a choral conductor, Daniël de Lange was acclaimed in the Netherlands and abroad for his performances of Obrecht and Palestrina, and as an orchestral conductor and music critic, he was a great advocate of contemporary music. He composed works for men's choir, cantatas for choir and orchestra, lieder, chamber music, overtures, symphonies, and an opera. De Lange developed a style marked by “bold harmonies in coordination with principles from early music”. (J. Kolsteeg)
Daniël de Lange is born in Rotterdam on July 11.
He has lessons with Simon Ganz (cello) and Johannes Verhulst (music theory) at the Toonkunst Music School in Rotterdam.
He goes to Brussels to study with the celebrated cello virtuoso Adrien François Servais.
After making a strong impression touring Eastern Europe as a piano-cello duo, De Lange and his brother, Samuel de Lange Jr., are hired to teach at the conservatory in L'viv, Ukraine.
De Lange moves to Paris and there becomes the organist and choral conductor of the De la Chaussée Montrouge parish and music teacher of the Athanase Coquerel congregation. He is also the conductor of a German men's choir and a composition teacher. It is in Paris that his first compositions are published. He meets many well-known composers, such as Hector Berlioz, Georges Bizet, Jules Massenet, Henri Vieuxtemps, and Edouard Lalo, to whom he dedicates his Symphony in C Major, op. 4.
De Lange finishes his 'Requiem' for mixed double choir and double quartet of soloists. The piece is discovered in the archives of the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague by the violinist and musicological researcher Willem Noske. The work has to wait until May 27, 1993, for its premiere, at the Musée d' Orsay in Paris, with the Netherlands Chamber Choir conducted by Uwe Gronostay.
The Franco-Prussian War breaks out while De Lange is on vacation in Rotterdam. He decides to stay in the Netherlands and takes up residence in Amsterdam, where he becomes a teacher at the Toonkunst Music School. He develops a passion for choral music and conducts the Amstels Men's Choir.
He becomes the music editor at the daily paper Het Nieuws van den Dag. In 1878, he is named secretary of the Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst [Society for the Advancement of Music], a position he holds until 1908, and works to develop musical education, thus leaving his mark of Dutch musical life.
De Lange becomes a member of the board of the Society for Music History of the Netherlands. He is a co-founder of the Amsterdamsch A-Cappella Choir, a predecessor of the Netherlands Chamber Choir, which focuses on the early Netherlandish polyphony. The choir becomes a great success and tours throughout Europe. He introduces Berlioz's “légende dramatique” La Damnation de Faust to the Netherlands.
De Lange co-founds the Amsterdam Conservatory, and he teaches composition, solfège, and music history.
He is named a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.
He serves as the director of the Amsterdam Conservatory.
De Lange moves to the United States and becomes a member of the theosophical community of Catherina Tingley in Point Loma, California. He is active as a music educator at the Isis Conservatory, and he publishes a book with his new insights: Thoughts on Music.
Daniël de Lange dies in Point Loma, California, on January 31.