Leopold van der Pals Leopold van der Pals, a Danish/Dutch composer, was born in St. Petersburg on 4 July 1884. He started to compose music at the age of 12, studying under his grandfather, Julius Johanssen, a professor at the Petersburg Conservatoire, who had himself been a student of Felix Mendelssohn and Niels Gade. By the age of 18 Leopold van der Pals had written more than 50 compositions. After further study in Lausanne, he moved to Berlin in 1907. There, on the recommendation of Sergei Rachmaninov, he received further lessons from the Russian professor and composer Reinhold Glière who, apart from the initial lessons with Julius Johannsen, was his main teacher. His debut as a composer came with his First Symphony, Op. 4, which was premiered in 1909 by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Heinrich Schultz. This was very well received, leading to performances of his compositions throughout Europe and America. It was in Berlin that Leopold van der Pals met Rudolf Steiner, who made a great impression, introducing him to Goethe’s idea of metamorphosis. Early compositions were abandoned, and his works now began to be given opus numbers. Over the following years he moved from Berlin to Arlesheim and then eventually, after a period of much travelling, to Dornach, where he continued to work on his compositions until his death on 7 February 1966. In his life Leopold van der Pals produced a huge number of compositions, with many different styles represented. His music ranges from romantic/late romantic to modernist style. He composed a total of 252 works, including symphonies, operas, oratorios, chamber music and songs.