Simeon ten Holt
Simeon ten Holt (24 January 1923 – 25 November 2012) was a Dutch contemporary classical composer. Ten Holt was born in Bergen, North Holland, and studied with Jakob van Domselaer, eventually developing a highly personal style of minimal composition. Van Domselaer's influence on ten Holt's musical philosophy was considerable, with the younger composer picking up van Domselaer's interests in the links between music and visual art, in music's relationship with mathematics, and in the use of the piano as a principal instrument in his compositions.
Simeon ten Holt
Simeon ten Holt · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Born
- 1923. · Bergen.
- Died
- 2012. · Alkmaar.
- Nationality
- Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- Occupation
- composer.
- Fields
- classical.
- Education
- École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot.
- Known for
- Canto Ostinato.
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Documentary summary
Simeon ten Holt (24 January 1923 – 25 November 2012) was a Dutch contemporary classical composer. Ten Holt was born in Bergen, North Holland, and studied with Jakob van Domselaer, eventually developing a highly personal style of minimal composition. Van Domselaer's influence on ten Holt's musical philosophy was considerable, with the younger composer picking up van Domselaer's interests in the links between music and visual art, in music's relationship with mathematics, and in the use of the piano as a principal instrument in his compositions.
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wikipedia incomplete · checked 25 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q377032 · wikipedia · Simeon ten Holt
In this article
Piano
Piano
Ten Holt generally used consonant, tonal materials and his works are organized in numerous cells, made up of a few measures each, which are repeated ad libitum according to the player's preference. Many of his works are for piano or ensembles of multiple pianos. His most famous work is Canto Ostinato, which he wrote in 1976 and is considered one of the most famous works in contemporary classical Dutch music history. Ten Holt died 25 November 2012 in Alkmaar, the Netherlands, aged 89.
Kompositie I, II, III, IV (1942–1945) Sonate (1953) 20 Bagatellen (1954) Allegro ex machina (1955) Diagonaalsuite (1957) Muziek voor Pieter, 7 small pieces (1958) Diagonaalsonate (1959) Soloduiveldans I (1959) Epigrammen (1959) 5 Etudes (1961) Cyclus aan de Waanzin (1961–1962) Sekwensen, for 1 or 2 pianos (1965) Interpolations (1969) 5 Pieces (1970–1972) Canto Ostinato (1976–1979) Natalon in E (1980) Lemniscaat (1982–1983) Horizon (1983–1985) Soloduiveldans II (1986) Incantatie IV, for piano and other instruments (1987–1990) Soloduiveldans III (1990) Schaduw noch Prooi, for 2 pianos (1993–1995) Eadem sed Aliter (hetzelfde maar anders) (1995) Méandres, for 4 pianos (1997) Soloduiveldans IV (1998)
Chamber music
Chamber music
Suite, for string quartet (1954–1955) Diagonaalmuziek, for strings (1958) Quartetto: per archi, for string quartet (1965) Differenties, for mixed ensemble, (3 clarinets, piano, vibraphone, 2-11 players) (1969) Scenario-X, (2 trumpets, horn, trombone, tuba) (1970) Palimpsest, for string septet (4 violins, viola, cello and contrabass) (1990–1992, 1993 revised) Capriccio, for solo violin (1999)
Electronic
Electronic
Inferno I & II (1970–1971) Module IV (1970–1972) I am Sylvia but somebody else (1973)
Vocal
Vocal
..A/.TA-LON, for mezzo-soprano and 36 instrumentalists who play and speak (1967–1968) Koorprojekt 75, for 3 choirs, 4 speakers, electronic music (1975) Bi-Ba-Bo for vocal quartet (1980)
Other
Other
Tripticon, for percussion (1965) Kockyn: een kermiskroniek, film music for piano, guitar and metallophone (1966) Centri-fuga for orchestra (1976) Une musique blanche for orchestra (1980–1982)
Canto ostinato in the Groningen railwaystation Simeon ten Holt's Canto ostinato for four piano's played in the hall of the Groningen main railwaystation. I had to miss the first half hour but the next hour and fourtyfive minutes were excellent anyway. I stood with my back to the main entry which provided a cool breeze whilst looking a the sunlit hall where four pianists played a marvelous version
XPeria2Day · Flickr Stream of XPeria2Day
Canto ostinato Canto ostinato (composed by Simeon ten Holt) performed by Jeroen Sandra van Veen on two grand pianos at Theater De Regentes, The Hague. The audience was invited to bring mattresses and lie down around the pianos. There is a whole website dedicated to this unique and unsurpassed composition of the Dutch composer Simeon ten
Maurice · Flickr stream Maurice
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
2012
Simeon ten Holt died in 2012 at Alkmaar.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Bergen.
Birth place
Alkmaar.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q377032: Simeon ten Holt
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Simeon ten Holt”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
- Simeon Ten Holt's Canto ostinato as a manifesto of the musical Metamodern, PHILHARMONICA. International Music Journal, 2022
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2022
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
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References
Citations
References
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scholarly publication
Simeon Ten Holt's Canto ostinato as a manifesto of the musical Metamodern, PHILHARMONICA. International Music Journal, 2022Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q377032: Simeon ten HoltWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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