Jan van Gilse
Encyclopedia
Jan Pieter Hendrik van Gilse (Rotterdam
, 11 May 1881 - Oegstgeest
, 8 September 1944) was a Dutch
composer
and conductor. Among his works are five symphonies
and the Dutch-language opera
Thijl
.
conservatory. After his teacher, Franz Wüllner
, died in 1902, he continued his studies with Engelbert Humperdinck
in Berlin
. From 1909 to 1911, he studied in Italy
. In 1901, Van Gilse received the Beethoven-Haus Prize in Bonn
for his (First) Symphony in F major; In 1906, the Michael Beer Prize was awarded to him for his Third Symphony, 'Erhebung' ('Resurrection'; for soprano solo and orchestra).
In addition to composing, Van Gilse soon developed an interest in conducting
. He started out with the Bremen
opera, a post which was followed by appointments in Munich
and Amsterdam
. After the breakout of the First World War
made travel difficult, he moved back to the Netherlands. From 1917 until 1922, he was the conductor of the Utrecht Municipal Orchestra (Utrechtsch Stedelijk Orkest).
In 1921, Van Gilse resigned the post after a conflict with the orchestra board of directors. Van Gilse had been attacked for some time by the composer and music critic Willem Pijper
in the daily Utrechts Dagblad, attacks that grew in viciousness as time progressed. Van Gilse's request that Pijper be denied access to concerts was stalled for such a time that he lost faith and resigned. The board subsequently refused him a farewell concert.
Eight years later Van Gilse put his Utrecht experiences to paper. The autobiography
that materialised was sizeable, and contained almost 350,000 words. However, because he didn't spare anyone or anything (including himself), Van Gilse doubted whether the manuscript would ever see the light of day. It was eventually edited and published in 2003.
During World War II
, Van Gilse became actively involved with the resistance movement against the German occupation of the Netherlands. Both his sons, who were also resistance fighters, were killed by the occupiers before Van Gilse himself succumbed (probably to pneumonia
) in the autumn of 1944. To protect his shelter, he was buried in an unmarked grave outside the village of Oegstgeest
.
conservatory. He was also active in protecting the interests of composers in The Netherlands. In 1911, Van Gilse was one of the founders of the Society of Dutch Musicians (Genootschap van Nederlandse Componisten or GENECO). One year later, he was instrumental in founding the Dutch Bureau for Musical Copyrights (Buma).
Recently, interest for Van Gilse has increased, helped by the publication of his autobiography (edited by Hans van Dijk) and a biography. The German label CPO
is set to record his five symphonies as well as the opera
Thijl in the near future, under the direction of conductor David Porcelijn
.
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, 11 May 1881 - Oegstgeest
Oegstgeest
Oegstgeest is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was 22,576 in 2008.-Location :...
, 8 September 1944) was a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and conductor. Among his works are five symphonies
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
and the Dutch-language opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Thijl
Till Eulenspiegel
Till Eulenspiegel was an impudent trickster figure originating in Middle Low German folklore. His tales were disseminated in popular printed editions narrating a string of lightly connected episodes that outlined his picaresque career, primarily in Germany, the Low Countries and France...
.
Life
Coming from a family of theologians, Jan van Gilse showed an early aptitude for piano playing and composing. From 1897 onwards, Van Gilse would study at the CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
conservatory. After his teacher, Franz Wüllner
Franz Wüllner
Franz Wüllner was a German composer and conductor. He led the premieres of Richard Wagner's operas Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, but was much criticized by Wagner himself, who greatly preferred the more celebrated conductors Hans von Bülow and Hermann Levi.Wüllner was born in Münster and studied...
, died in 1902, he continued his studies with Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck was a German composer, best known for his opera, Hänsel und Gretel. Humperdinck was born at Siegburg in the Rhine Province; at the age of 67 he died in Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.-Life:After receiving piano lessons, Humperdinck produced his first composition...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. From 1909 to 1911, he studied in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. In 1901, Van Gilse received the Beethoven-Haus Prize in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
for his (First) Symphony in F major; In 1906, the Michael Beer Prize was awarded to him for his Third Symphony, 'Erhebung' ('Resurrection'; for soprano solo and orchestra).
In addition to composing, Van Gilse soon developed an interest in conducting
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
. He started out with the Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
opera, a post which was followed by appointments in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. After the breakout of the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
made travel difficult, he moved back to the Netherlands. From 1917 until 1922, he was the conductor of the Utrecht Municipal Orchestra (Utrechtsch Stedelijk Orkest).
In 1921, Van Gilse resigned the post after a conflict with the orchestra board of directors. Van Gilse had been attacked for some time by the composer and music critic Willem Pijper
Willem Pijper
Willem Pijper ; Zeist, 8 September 1894 - Utrecht, 18 March 1947) was a Dutch composer, music critic and music teacher.-Life:Pijper was born at Zeist, near Utrecht, on 8 September 1894 of strict Calvinist working-class parents. His father, who sometimes played psalm accompaniments on the harmonium,...
in the daily Utrechts Dagblad, attacks that grew in viciousness as time progressed. Van Gilse's request that Pijper be denied access to concerts was stalled for such a time that he lost faith and resigned. The board subsequently refused him a farewell concert.
Eight years later Van Gilse put his Utrecht experiences to paper. The autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
that materialised was sizeable, and contained almost 350,000 words. However, because he didn't spare anyone or anything (including himself), Van Gilse doubted whether the manuscript would ever see the light of day. It was eventually edited and published in 2003.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Van Gilse became actively involved with the resistance movement against the German occupation of the Netherlands. Both his sons, who were also resistance fighters, were killed by the occupiers before Van Gilse himself succumbed (probably to pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
) in the autumn of 1944. To protect his shelter, he was buried in an unmarked grave outside the village of Oegstgeest
Oegstgeest
Oegstgeest is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was 22,576 in 2008.-Location :...
.
Organiser
From 1933 to 1937, Van Gilse served as director of the UtrechtUtrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
conservatory. He was also active in protecting the interests of composers in The Netherlands. In 1911, Van Gilse was one of the founders of the Society of Dutch Musicians (Genootschap van Nederlandse Componisten or GENECO). One year later, he was instrumental in founding the Dutch Bureau for Musical Copyrights (Buma).
Work and reputation
Van Gilse's early style is indebted to German late romanticism. After about 1920, however, it becomes more modernist. His opera Thijl (1940), often regarded as his masterpiece and arguably the most important opera in Dutch musical history, is one of his last works and a totally individual conception. An attempt by the German occupiers to destroy all of Van Gilse's work was prevented by his collaborators.Recently, interest for Van Gilse has increased, helped by the publication of his autobiography (edited by Hans van Dijk) and a biography. The German label CPO
Classic Produktion Osnabrück
Classic Produktion Osnabrück is a record label founded in 1986 by Georg Ortmann and several others. Its declared mission is to fill niches in the recorded classical repertory, with an emphasis on romantic, late romantic and 20th-century music...
is set to record his five symphonies as well as the opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Thijl in the near future, under the direction of conductor David Porcelijn
David Porcelijn
David Porcelijn is a Dutch composer and conductor.David Porcelijn studied flute, composition and conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Music in The Hague...
.
Selected list of works
- Symphonies:
- Symphony No. 1 in F major (1900-01; recorded)
- Symphony No. 2 in E flat major (1902-1903; recorded)
- Symphony No. 3 in D minor, "Erhebung" for soprano and orchestra (1903)
- Symphony No. 4 in A major (1910-1915; recorded)
- Symphony No. 5 in D major (Fragment; 1922)
- Orchestral works:
- Concert Overture in C minor (1900; recorded)
- Variations on a St. Nicholas Song (1908)
- Three Dance Sketches for piano and small orchestra (1925-26)
- Prologus brevis (1928)
- Praeludium to "Der Kreis des Lebens" (1928)
- Small Waltz (1936)
- Treurmuziek bij den dood van Uilenspiegel, from the opera Thijl (1940; recorded)
- Andante con moto (date uncertain, after 1935)
- Works for voice(s) & orchestra:
- Sulamith, cantataCantataA cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
for soprano and orchestra (1901-02; recorded) - Eine Lebensmesse, cantata after Richard DehmelRichard DehmelRichard Fedor Leopold Dehmel was a German poet and writer.- Life :...
(1903-04) - Gitanjali Songs for sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
and orchestra - Der Kreis des Lebens, cantata (1928-1929)
- Rotterdam, declamatorium on a text by Jan Prins (unfinished; 1942)
- Sulamith, cantata
- Operas:
- Frau Helga von Stavern, opera on a text by Van Gilse, in German (1911-13)
- Thijl, opera after Charles de Coster's novel The heroic, jolly and notorious acts of Uilenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak in Flanders Country and elsewhere, on a libretto by Hendrik Lindt (1940; recorded)
External links
- http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/BWN/lemmata/bwn1/gilseBiography of Jan van Gilse (in Dutch) at the Institute for Dutch History in The HagueThe HagueThe Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
.] - Jan van Gilse Archive in the Netherlands Music InstituteNetherlands Music InstituteThe Netherlands Music Institute is the central institution for the preservation of the musical heritage of the Netherlands.-History of the institute:...