Lichtveld, Lou (actually, Lodewijk Alphonsus Maria)
Lichtveld, Lou (actually, Lodewijk Alphonsus Maria)
Lichtveld, Lou (actually, Lodewijk Alphonsus Maria), Dutch composer; b. Paramaribo, Surinam, Nov. 7, 1903. He went to Amsterdam in 1922 and was active as an organist and music critic. In 1936 he joined the International Brigade on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War. During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, he served in the resistance movement, and became its representative in the emergency parliament of 1945. He returned to Surinam in 1949, and served as Minister of Education and Public Health and later President of the Exchequer; organized the facilities for musical education. From 1961 to 1969 he was in the diplomatic service of the Netherlands, stationed in Washington, D.C., and at the United Nations. He wrote about 2 dozen novels and essays under the pen name of Albert Helman. His musical works include an oratorio, Cauciones(1934; MS lost in the Spanish Civil War), Piano Concertino (1932), Flute Sonata (1930), Violin Sonata (1931), Triptych for Piano (1925), and Piano Sonata (1927), as well as experimental pieces employing oriental scales. He used a 24-tone scale for 2 Dutch documentary films produced by Joris Ivens: Regen(1929; musical score added in 1932) and Philips-Radio(1930; also known as Industrial Symphony).He also composed several choruses.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire