Jan van Gilse

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Jan van Gilse (no year, photographer unknown)

Jan van Gilse , full name: Jan Pieter Hendrik van Gilse , (born May 11, 1881 in Rotterdam , † September 8, 1944 in Oegstgeest ) was a Dutch composer and conductor.

Life

Van Gilse's father was a journalist; however, his musical talent was recognized and promoted early on. After finishing school he studied composition and conducting with Franz Wüllner at the Cologne Conservatory from 1897 . In 1902 he received a prize from the Bonn association “Beethovenhaus” for his 1st symphony . After Wüllner's death, van Gilse moved to Berlin and completed his training with Engelbert Humperdinck at the Academy of Arts . From 1905 to 1908 he worked as a répétiteur and conductor at the Bremen City Opera . In 1909 he married Alida Henriette Hoijer. Thanks to the Rome Prize of the Michael Beer Foundation(comparable to the French Prix ​​de Rome ), which he received in the same year for his 3rd symphony , he spent some time in Rome and then moved to Munich .

In 1917 van Gilse took over the management of the Utrecht Stedelijk Orkest (USO). After constant arguments with the young music critic and composer Willem Pijper , he resigned in 1922 (an autobiography in which van Gilse describes his time in Utrecht was printed posthumously in 2003). This was followed by stays in Zurich and - from 1927 to 1933 - Berlin. During this time he also worked as a guest conductor a. a. in Cologne and Munich. After the National Socialist seizure of power , van Gilse left Germany and took over the management of the conservatory and the music school in Utrecht, but gave up the office in 1937 in order to be able to devote more time to composition. During the Second World War , van Gilse played an important role in the Dutch resistance against the German occupation regime and had to go underground. His two sons, also in the resistance, were shot by the occupiers. In Oegstgeest, where he was last gone into hiding with the support of the composer Rudolf Escher , van Gilse fell seriously ill and died in September 1944. In order not to endanger his helpers, he had to be buried there under a different name.

Van Gilse was instrumental in founding two important institutions for Dutch composers and also temporarily chaired them: in 1911 the “Genootschap van Nederlandse Componisten” (GeNeCo) and in 1913 the “Bureau voor Muziek-Auteursrecht” (BUMA).

plant

Van Gilse's earlier works - he had already presented three symphonies and the Life Mass , an oratorio based on Richard Dehmel , before his 25th birthday - are influenced by German late Romanticism, such as that of his teacher Humperdinck, Max Reger and Richard Strauss . Gustav Mahler's influence , however, is often overestimated. In the 1920s, Impressionism found expression in his works. One of his most important works is the opera Thijl (about Till Eulenspiegel ), written between 1938 and 1940 .

Catalog of works (selection)

Symphonies

  • 1st Symphony in F major (1900–1901)
  • 2nd Symphony in E flat major (1902–1903, revised 1928)
  • 3rd Symphony in D major "Elevation" with soprano solo (1906–1907)
  • 4th Symphony in A major (1915)
  • 5th Symphony in D major (1922, fragment)

Further orchestral works

  • Overture in c (1900)
  • Variaties op een St.-Nicolaasliedje (1908)
  • Three dance sketches for piano and small orchestra (1926)
  • Overture "Prologus brevis" in F major, commissioned by Willem Mengelberg (1928)

Voice (s) and orchestra

  • Sulamith , cantata for 3 solo voices, choir and orchestra based on poems by Emil von Schoenaich-Carolath (1901–1902)
  • A life mass , oratorio based on Richard Dehmel (1903–1904)
  • Three chants from Rabindranath Tagore's " Gitanjali " for soprano and orchestra (1915)
  • Three chants from Rabindranath Tagore's “The Gardener” for soprano and orchestra (1923)
  • The Circle of Life , cantata for soprano, tenor, choir and orchestra (1929)

Operas

  • Mrs. Helga von Stavern , opera based on her own, Dutch text (1913)
  • Thijl , dramatic legend, libretto by Hendrik Lindt based on Charles de Coster (1938–1940)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gilse, Jan van
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gilse, Jan Pieter Hendrik van (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch composer and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH May 11, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Rotterdam
DATE OF DEATH September 8, 1944
Place of death Oegstgeest