ABSTRACT
Walter Maas was the first alien i n m y life, although that w o r d had a very different f lavour forty years ago. I was an adolescent wanting to go to the conservatory and he saw something i n me, virtual ly the only one who d i d . H e put me i n touch w i t h his friend and music teacher Henk Stam, f rom w h o m I received my first composition lessons. The result, a work for organ, was performed i n the Gaudeamus Music Week of 1954.
