Smijers, Albert(us Antonius)

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Smijers, Albert(us Antonius)

Smijers, Albert(us Antonius) , eminent Dutch musicologist; b. Raamsdonksveer, July 19, 1888; d. Huis ter Heide, near Utrecht, May 15, 1957. He studied music with Averkamp at the Amsterdam Cons. He was trained for the priesthood and was ordained in 1912; then entered the school for church music at Klosterneuburg; later took a course in musicology with Adler at the Univ. of Vienna (Ph.D., 1917, with the diss. Karl Luython als Motettenkomponist; publ, in Amsterdam, 1923). He taught at Beekvliet Seminary in Amsterdam until 1929, then at the Amsterdam Cons. (1929–33); in 1930 he was appointed prof. of musicology at the Univ. of Utrecht; formed the Inst. of Musicology there. He brought out 7 vols. of the anthology Van Ockeghem tot Sweelinck (Amsterdam, 1939–56), and, in collaboration with C. Van den Borren and others, he publ. Algemeene Muziekgeschiedenis (Utrecht, 1938; fourth ed., 1947). He also ed. the collected works of Josquin Des Prez (Amsterdam, 1921–56) and Obrecht (Vols. I-III, Amsterdam, 1953–56).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire