Quick, name a Dutch painter. Right, the one that came immediately to mind was…. let me guess: Rembrandt? van Gogh? Bosch? Hals? van Dyck? Vermeer? Brueghel? Mondrian? Shall I go on?

Quick, name a Dutch composer.

Yup, I couldn’t either.

Why would that be, given the geographic closeness to all of the middle-european countries that had a flourishing music scene through the centuries? Why, even the Scandinavian countries, further removed, had great composers that come readily to mind.

Here are some possible reasons that people have speculated about, with no particular scientific evidence for any one. (And some of today’s musings can be found here, following this week’s guide to musical cities.)

• Holland is a small country, (less than ⅓ of the population of Germany, for example. (Hmm. Plenty of great musical performers and conductors hail from Holland. Population size cannot be the answer.)

• Music from the Baroque period on depended on a rich and generous court-scene. Composers were supported and financed by dukes and kings throughout Europe, who needed compositions for their great orchestras used for lavish entertaining. The Netherlands never had a big court culture (being a Republic until 1815.) No aristocracy, no cultural production….

• Across Europe, 19th century nationalism inspired the “greats,” think Beethoven, Wagner, Sibelius, as some examples. Holland constructed a national culture way earlier, starting in the 16th century, with much energy devoted to colonialism.

• The Netherlands were a Calvinist nation since the 16th century. This form of protestantism is a theological system centering on human sinfulness and God’s sovereignty. Calvin was intensely opposed to using images in worship and that extended to music. Singing was allowed but only if it used the words of the Bible. Calvinists are often equated with puritans, which allows me to cite one of my favorite H.L.Mencken quotes: A “puritan” is a person with the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be having a good time. (For what it’s worth, here is something interesting and critical on the current US calvinist revival.) My money is on this potential explanation….

So what does a search for Dutch composers reveal? Some contemporary greats: the minimalists Louis Andriessen, Simeon ten Holt and the microtonal composer Ton de Leeuw.

Here are some samples: ten Holt’s Canto Ostinato, the four grand pianos a sight to behold. Andriessen’s De Staat (about Plato’s Republic) played by the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble. And finally de Leeuw’s Trio. Anyone of these will wake you up on a cold Thursday morning…..

Photographs are, of course, from Holland. And speaking of Holland: some excerpts from old Dutch paintings (photographed this summer at an exhibit of 16th century dutch naval paintings) found their way into montages for my 2020 calendar. If you want to look at the prettiest pictures of hubris, greed and environmental destruction, you can order one ($30). Proceeds go to Street Roots this year.