[citation needed] Poor health as a child meant that he was educated at home until age 13, but in 1912, after three years study at the gymnasium (high school), Pijper entered the Utrecht Academy of Music, where he was taught composition by Johan Wagenaar, passing examinations in theoretical subjects in 1915.

At the end of the First World War, he became a critic for the Utrechtsch Dagblad, and in that capacity was at least partly responsible for the departure of Jan van Gilse, then chief conductor of the Utrechts Stedelijk Orkest.

Pijper spent much of his time during the war years working on a new opera, Merlijn, based on the Arthurian legend.

The difference in style between his First Symphony (Pan; 1917) (in which Mahler's influence is evident) and the Second (1921) is significant, and between 1918 and 1922 he grew into one of the more advanced composers in Europe.

Yet there is no question of Pijper's consciously abandoning tonality; rather his polyphonic way of thinking and his sense of counterpoint made his harmonic style evolve in that direction.

Adapted with permission from John Craton's Willem Pijper web page Selected recordings[edit]