Johann Wilhelm Wilms

Johann Wilhelm Wilms (March 30, 1772 (baptized) – July 19, 1847) was a Dutch-German composer, best known for setting the poem Wien Neêrlands Bloed to music,[1] which served as the Dutch national anthem from 1817 to 1932.

He moved to Amsterdam in 1791 where he played the flute in two orchestras and was soloist in Mozart and Beethoven piano concertos, giving them their Dutch premieres.

Three years later, Wilms was one of the six founders of the society Eruditio Musica, which organised concerts at which he was active as pianist and composer.

He taught piano at the Koninklijk Nederlandsch Instituut voor Wetenschappen (the precursor of the present Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) after it was founded by the first King of Holland, Louis Napoleon.

However, in December 1805 he married Nicoletta Theodora Versteegh, the daughter of a wealthy art collector, which improved his financial situation as well.

However, following the fall of Napoleon and the return of the House of Orange to power, Wilms in 1816 won the open competition for the new Dutch anthem with Wien Neêrlands Bloed (with lyrics by Hendrik Tollens).

After 1823, he restricted himself to composing and publishing piano variations and songs (with a patriotic character at the time of the Belgian revolution of 1830).

His works were performed less and less, and in 1841 he resigned as a member of the Amsterdam Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst [nl], of which he had been co-founder in 1829.

[2][3] A sonata by Wilms was recorded in the early nineteenth century on a cylinder for an automatic organ (present in the current Geelvinck Pianola Museum [nl] in Amsterdam).