Catharina van Rees
Catharina Felicia van Rees (pseudonym Celestine ; born August 2, 1831 in Zutphen , † March 28, 1915 in Velp ) was a Dutch poet , writer , composer and feminist .
Life
Catharina van Rees was born as the daughter of the tax inspector Richardus van Rees and his wife Constantia Wilhelmina Piper and grew up with eight other children in a wealthy family. After her father died, a brother of her mother took care of the family and also took care of Catharina's upbringing, so that she had the opportunity to develop her musical talent. At the age of five she was already composing pieces for piano. Her first opera Les Débutants premiered in 1855.
Van Rees lived with the philanthropist and social reformer Jeanne Merkus in the Arnhem region from 1862 to 1867 and began actively campaigning for the emancipation of women in the early 1860s. She wrote for literary magazines such as De Tijdspiegel and Nederland , until 1870 under the pseudonym Celestine .
She lived in Germany from 1869 and continued her journalistic activities in Bonn . She maintained contact with the feminist Louise Otto-Peters , the president of the General German Women's Association , worked for the association magazine Neue Bahnen and for the emancipatory women's magazine Onze Vocation .
In addition to her writing activities in the 1870s, she also remained very active as a composer. By 1874 at least thirty compositions had appeared in print, mainly for piano with and without vocals. She became best known with the so-called Transvaal hymn , which she wrote from 1875 at the request of Thomas François Burgers , President of the South African Republic . Van Rees had met Van Rees while studying theology in Utrecht and also played as a flautist in her opera Les Débutants. However, another song became the official Transvaal hymn.
The Catharina van Rees collection is in the Dutch Museum of Literature and Documentation Center in The Hague , some correspondence is in the Leiden University Library and a collection of sheet music is in the Dutch Music Institute in The Hague.
Works (selection)
- Les Débutants (1855)
- Zuster Catchinka (1866)
- Rob's moeder (1868)
- The Mixpicle family (1877)
Web links
- Lotte Jensen: Rees, Catharina Felicia van (1831-1915) , Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland ( online , Dutch).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rees, Catharina van |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rees, Catharina Felicia van (full name); Celestine (pseudonym) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch poet, writer and composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 2, 1831 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zutphen |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 28, 1915 |
| Place of death | Velp (Rheden) |