Herman Strategier

About the composer

Herman Strategier was born in Arnhem (the Netherlands) in 1912. His father was the organ player in the Walpurgis Church and as a little boy he assisted his father at the organ. He turned the pages of the musical score and he operated the stops. Hij studied at the Institute for Church Music in Utrecht and when he was twenty years old he became an organist at the St Anna Church in Nijmegen. In 1935 he succeeded his father in Arnhem. In 1944 he had to leave the city because of the war (the battle of Arnhem) and the Mul family in Overveen provided shelter for him. There he met Jan Mul. After the war he was conductor and organist in Zeist. Besides he was a teacher at the Institute for Church Music and at the conservatory in Rotterdam and Utrecht. In 1949 he was appointed as a teacher Music Theory at the institute for Music Science and as organist in the cathedral of Utrecht. Herman Strategier was a composer in the school of Hendrik Andriessen. He wrote a large and varied body of works in which sacred music plays a significant role. Herman Strategier died in 1988. His death was not unexpected to him. He had already composed his own requiem, that has been performed during his funeral.