"Forbidden!" Or is it? Reinbert de Leeuw performance makes curious about biography

It is the kind of publicity even literary agency Sebes and Van Gelderen dreams of. An argument between biographer and subject that makes it into all the national newspapers. Especially when it is not a biography of, say, an ex-soccer player who squandered his fortune, but one of wayward composer and conductor Reinbert de Leeuw.

On Friday, the book was in the bookshops, with a rave review in Het Parool on the same day, followed another day later by an interview with author Thea Derks. "I still admire Reinbert" headlines the article, which goes into detail about the stirring genesis of the biography. The devil, however, is in the final sentences. "It is so unjust that this book was banned. I find it shocking that such press bias can exist. That someone can block a book because he doesn't like the content."

Ouch. A banned book. That's sensitive.

[Tweet "A banned book - that's sensitive"]

De Leeuw had no choice but to respond, again in Het Parool: "I am not banning anything. I am not cooperating, and that is something completely different."

De Leeuw's anger is understandable. Banning books, we don't do that in the Netherlands. But not cooperating? Anyone talking to people who have worked with De Leeuw hears two words recurring remarkably often: 'special' and 'difficult'. Special is certainly De Leeuw. Without him, the Dutch music world would have looked completely different. The list of world premieres he has conducted is improbably long. And his compositions are also highly appreciated, by colleagues and critics alike.

A man who deserves a biography. Music journalist Thea Derks thought and thinks so too. She worked on that biography for seven years and had countless conversations with De Leeuw, although the latter didn't think all that digging into the past was so necessary. "I thought a biography without biographical data was absurd and I told him so," Derks said. Not only did the conversations continue, De Leeuw even gave her his eldest brother's phone number.

Of course, it is possible that De Leeuw thought Derks wanted to talk to his brother about De Leeuw's Satie performances, but that is unlikely. And so Derks worked on. She also offered De Leeuw the manuscript for correction.

[Tweet "we offer new members the book as a welcome gift"]

A bomb exploded, then indoors. De Leeuw wanted nothing more to do with it, he told Derks, and he did not want to authorise the biography. He not only refused to discuss the problematic passages with her, but also, when NRC broke the news, sent journalists away with no more than that he had dropped out on "substantive grounds".

Now, however, De Leeuw says he was never enabled "to see anything at all", that Derks betrayed his trust "from the start" and that she pays far too little attention to his friendship with Harry Mulisch, for example. Be happy, thinks the Reve lover, who knows how sensitive a biography can be.

We are going to read it ourselves. And so will you.

[bol_product_links block_id=”bol_53e8a4d78f545_selected-products" products="9200000026257133″ name="thea2″ sub_id="" link_color="003399″ subtitle_color="000000″ pricetype_color="000000″ price_color="CC3300″ deliverytime_color="009900″ background_colour="FFFFFF" border_colour="D2D2D2″ width="250″ cols="1″ show_bol_logo="undefined" show_price="1″ show_rating="1″ show_deliverytime="1″ link_target="1″ image_size="1″ admin_preview="1″]