Henk van Lijnschooten (1928–2006)
Former WASBE Board member and Dutch composer Henk van Lijnschooten died on Wednesday, 1 November 2006 at the age of 78. Born in the Hague, The Netherlands on 28 March 1928, he received his musical training at the music conservatory in the city of his birth. At the age of eight years, he began playing the clarinet in the wind band “Spoorwijk” in which his father also played. He joined the Dutch Royal Marine Band at the age of eighteen and served for twelve years as a clarinetist and violinist, during which time he also conducted various amateur bands. In 1956, he graduated from the Royal Netherlands Conservatory with diplomas in clarinet and band conducting, and in 1957 became conductor of the Dutch Royal Marine Band, with which he made several international tours and a series of internationally acclaimed recordings. In 1964, he left the Marine Band to devote his time to composing for bands, starting a lifelong collaboration with Edition Molenaar. He was Chairman of the Woodwind Department at the Rotterdam Conservatory from 1965 to 1970, when he became professor for band conducting at the conservatory in Arnheim. He later also taught conducting at the conservatories in Rotterdam and Utrecht.
Edition Molenaar published over sixty of his compositions for band under his own name and almost as many more under the pseudonyms Michael van Delft and Ted Huggens. Many of his compositions are based on Dutch folk music or the folk music of other countries. When he decided to try a new style of writing mixing Baroque and pop styles, Ted Huggens was born, bringing him further international success..
He was greatly sought after as an adjudicator for band contests and for conducting clinics and workshops, thus having tremendous influence on a whole generation of European band conductors. He was also active in organizing bands for senior citizens in the Netherlands, especially in later years, and played an active roll in several national and international wind band organisations, including WASBE on whose Board of Directors he served from 1987 to 1993.
I had the good fortune of serving on the WASBE Board with Henk during those years. He was not only a fine musician but a most friendly and personable man. It was a great privilege to have known him, and he will certainly be missed by all who did.
©2006 WASBE