Jan van Gilse

Jan Pieter Hendrik van Gilse (11 May 1881 – 8 September 1944) was a Dutch composer and conductor.

Coming from a family of theologians, Jan van Gilse showed an early aptitude for piano playing and composing.

Van Gilse's request that Pijper be denied access to concerts was stalled for so long that he lost faith and resigned.

[1] During World War II, van Gilse became actively involved with the resistance movement against the German occupation of the Netherlands.

Both his sons, who were also resistance fighters, were killed by the occupiers before van Gilse himself succumbed (probably to pneumonia) in the autumn of 1944.

An attempt by the German occupiers to destroy all of van Gilse's work was prevented by his collaborators.