Leopold van der Pals

Leopold van der Pals (St. Petersburg 4 July 1884 – Dornach 7 February 1966) was a Danish/Dutch modernist composer who developed a personal and lyrical style in composing by involving elements of late romanticism, expressionism and impressionism. From an early age, Van der Pals expressed himself as a composer, writing at least 50 works before the age of 18. He studied with Professor Julius Johannsen (Van der Pals' grand father), Alexander Denéréas (Lausanne) and Reinhold Gliere (Berlin). Van der Pals also studied piano under Alexander Siloti and cello under Tom Canivez. Leopold van der Pals debut as a composer took place in 1909 with Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Symphony nr. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 4) and an extensive tour of performances throughout Europe and America followed until WWII. The main part of his 252 works consists of music for singers (8 operas, 9 cantatas and 650 lieder), but it also includes orchestral works and chamber music. He was in close contact with authors, musicians, artists and poets his whole life. Among them were Rudolf Steiner, Andrei Belyj, Rainer Maria Rilke, Friedrich Lienhard, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Serge Koussevitzky and Alexander Scriabin. Leopold van der Pals was born into an artistic and aristocratic home in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire with a Dutch father and Danish mother. His father, Hendrik van Gilse van der Pals was the Dutch general counsel in Russia and director of the “Treugolnik” rubber factory. At the age of 12, Leopold van der Pals started his musical training under his grandfather, Julius Johannsen, a Professor of counterpoint and director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory (Johannsen was himself a student of Felix Mendelssohn and Niels W. Gade). The van der Pals home was open to artists and musicians, and here, Leopold van der Pals heard concerts with Modest Tchaikovsky, Anton Arensky, Alexander Glazunov, Alexander Siloti, Pablo Casals, and many others. At the age of 19 van der Pals left Russia to continue his studies in Lausanne, Switzerland, with the famous Swiss composer and music theory professor Alexander Denéréas, and the cellist Thomas Canivez.