Mul, Jan

Mul, Jan, Dutch organist, choral conductor, and composer; b. Haarlem, Sept. 20,1911; d. Overveen, near Haarlem, Dec. 30,1971. He was a student of H. Andriessen and Dresden in Amsterdam, and of the Roman Catholic School of Church Music in Utrecht. From 1931 to 1960 he was an organist and choral conductor in Overveen. He also was music ed. of the Amsterdam daily De Volkskrant.He orchestrated Dresden’s opera François Villon from the vocal score (Amsterdam, June 12, 1958) and Sweelinck’s Keyboard Variations on an Old Song (Amserdam, June 12, 1963). Mul composed some fine sacred choral music.

Works

dramatic: opera:De Varkenshoeder (The Swineherd; Amsterdam, June 25, 1953); Bill Clifford (Hen-gelo, Oct. 5, 1964). orch.: Piano Concerto (1938); Felicitatie (1952); Concerto for Orchestra (1956); Sinfonietta (1957; based on the Piano Sonata, 1940); Mein junges Leben (1961); Concerto for Piano, 4-Hands, and Small Orch. (1962); Confetti musicali (1965); Ik, Jan Mul (I, Jan Mul; 1965); Divertimento for Piano and Orch. (1967); Balladino for Cello and Orch. or Piano (1968); Variazioni “I due orsini” (1968). chamber: Quintet for Clarinet, Bassoon, Violin, Viola, and Cello (1957); Trio for 2 Violins and Double Bass (1969). keyboard: piano: 2 sonatinas (1928,1942); Sonata (1940; orchestrated as the Sinfonietta, 1957); Intervallen, 6 inventions (1942; orchestrated 1954); Sonata for 2 Pianos (1953); Les Donemoiselles, 6 pieces (1968). organ: Sonata (1942). vocal:Stabat Mater for Chorus and Small Orch. (1934); 4 Coplas for Voice and Orch. (1936); Egmont onthalsd (Egmont Beheaded) for Chorus and Orch. (1938); Sonata for Mezzo-soprano, Baritone, and Small Orch. (1940–53); Galant Quartet for Soprano and Small Orch. or Flute, Cello, and Piano (1952); Te Deum laudamus for Chorus and Orch. (1955); Lettre de M. l’Abbé d’Olivet à M. le President Bouhier for Baritone and Orch. (1962); De kwink, ballad for Men’s Chorus, Bassoon, and Percussion (1965); L’Homme désarmé, cantata for Chorus and Orch. (1970–71; Leiden, Sept. 25, 1973); masses.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire