Draft:Paul Becker

• Comment: Doesn't meet WP:NCOMPOSER. The sources are either bare or ubreliable. Safari Scribe^{Edits! Talk!} 03:45, 23 October 2024 (UTC)

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Paul Becker (born June 13, 1960) is a Dutch-Swedish composer and a trained musicologist.

Becker was born in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in 1960. The Becker family is of Dutch and German heritage traceable to the 17th century to a couple of small villages in Lower Saxony near the city of Bremen.

Life and Career

Becker studied piano in Eindhoven with Leo Veeneman from 1975 to 1978. His musicology studies continued at the University of Utrecht (1978-1983). Here his teachers included Marius Flothuis, Kees Vellekoop, Jos Kunst, and Willem Elders. Under the direction of Marius Flothuis, Becker graduated in June 1983 with a paper (Master of Arts) on the Fourth Symphony by Jean Sibelius.

Becker emigrated to Sweden in August 1983. In 1984, Becker became engaged to Anette Marie Lundell (Stockholm, 1961) whom he had met at the University of Stuttgart in the summer of 1981. The couple married in Stockholm in 1985. Becker is a dual Dutch and Swedish citizen. He has held Dutch citizenship since birth and Swedish citizenship since becoming naturalized in 2015.

As of September 2017, Becker serves as Artistic Director of a chamber music series (soirées musicales) and offers pre-concert talks to each chamber music event.

Over the past three decades, Becker has studied the music of the Czech composer Leoš Janáček (1854-1928). He has given lectures on Janáček at the Cultural Centre of the Czech Embassy in Stockholm as well as at Malmö Opera House for the 2011 production of Jenůfa (Její pastorkyňa, 1904) for which Becker also provided programme notes. He has also written booklet notes for a recording of works by Mozart and Dvořák.

List of Compositions

As a composer Becker is self-taught and has been composing since his early twenties. Becker’s catalogue contains more than 70 compositions. Becker’s music is on You Tube and there is a recording on CD of the Arietta by an American pianist. Becker is a member of STIM, the performing rights organization in Sweden. The following is a brief, non-exhaustive list:

Orchestral Music

Svenska Lottakårens Jubileumsmarsch opus 6a (March for the Swedish Women’s Voluntary Defence Organization, 1994, orchestrated 2024; premiere 2024)

Arietta opus 43a, for oboe and string orchestra (2004, orchestrated 2017; premiere 2018)

Suite opus 56, for chamber orchestra (2017; premiere 2018)

Fanfare pour une Nouvelle Époque opus 62, for brass instruments and three timpani (2020)

Chamber Music

Sonatina semplice opus 57, for flute and oboe (2018; premiere 2018)

Polyptyque - Cinq Aphorismes opus 58, for solo cello (2018)

Elegia opus 61, for cello and piano (2020)

Elegia opus 70, for cello and piano (2023)

Solo Piano Music

Petite valse française opus 2 no. 3 (1993)

Petite valse rêvée opus 13 (1997)

Nocturne opus 27 (1998)

Lied ohne Worte opus 28 (1999)

Petite valse mélancolique opus 33 (2001)

Petite valse nostalgique opus 38 (2002)

Arietta opus 43 (2004; premiere 2012)

A Christmas Waltz opus 63 (2020; premiere 2021)

Vocal Music

Ave Maria opus 25, for soprano, cello and organ (1998; premiere 2018)

Ecce lignum Crucis opus 68, for mixed choir and B-flat clarinet obbligato (2022)

Dreams of Love on Christmas Eve (lyrics by Paul Becker), opus 7, for voice and piano (1994)

Vi människor (poem of Verner von Heidenstam), opus 16, for baritone and piano (1997)

Years of Yearning (lyrics by Paul Becker), opus 19, for voice and piano (1997)

Ett hjärta i sand (lyrics by Sofie Nilsson), opus 36, for voice and piano (2002)

Running with Wolves (lyrics by Stefan Lejonbalk), opus 64, for voice and piano (2021; premiere 2022)

Miscellaneous

Twelve tangos, most of them scored for piano trio and snare drum (1998-2022)