Johann Wilhelm Wilms

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Johann Wilhelm Wilms (1772–1847)

Johann Wilhelm Wilms (* in Witzhelden , baptized March 30, 1772 ; † July 19, 1847 in Amsterdam ) was a German-Dutch composer , pianist , organist and flautist .

Life

Wilms received his first music lessons from his father Johann, teacher and organist in Witzhelden, the older brother Peter Johann and the village pastor. In 1791 he reached Amsterdam via Lüttringhausen and Elberfeld. He quickly succeeded in being hired by the city's concert orchestras as a flautist and in building a reputation as a piano virtuoso and music teacher .

From 1793 his compositions were printed. In 1796 he was one of the co-founders of the Eruditio Musica concert association , the first Amsterdam association of its kind to be exclusively supported by professional musicians. Wilms' compositions were increasingly known beyond the borders of Holland ; In 1798 one of the works was reviewed for the first time in the Leipziger Allgemeine musical newspaper .

He achieved his national breakthrough in the concert hall after the Leipzig publisher Ambrosius Kühnel contacted him and expressed interest in his symphonies and concerts. From around 1806 his orchestral works were played in the Leipzig Gewandhaus, at the Schwerin court, in Breslau and in Prague. Institutional honors followed: in 1808 he was elected a fourth class member of the Dutch Royal Institute for Science, Literature and Fine Arts . At least since his marriage to Nicoletta Theodora, b. Versteegh, the daughter of a wealthy art collector, had made a connection with the Amsterdam patriciate. Wilms achieved national fame in the Netherlands when, after the liberation of the Netherlands from Napoleon, he composed two patriotic chants that were awarded prizes. One of them, Wien Neêrlands Bloed (1816), became the national anthem of the Netherlands in the 19th century.

But his star was sinking. In 1820 he received first prize in a composition competition at the Academy of Arts in Ghent for his Symphony No. 6 in D minor, Op. 58. But after 1820 hardly any larger works of his appeared in print. He had to struggle with strokes of fate: in the summer of 1821 his wife had given birth to a dead child, and she died a few weeks later. The following year, Wilms lost a two and a half year old daughter and had to carry his father-in-law Dirk Versteegh to the grave. From 1823 he increasingly withdrew from public musical life; instead he took the position of organist in a Mennonite congregation. From 1829 to 1841 he was won over as an appraiser for the Dutch Society for the Promotion of Music . From the mid-1840s he was plagued by increasing visual impairment; he was represented more and more frequently in the organist's office. In 1846 he was officially retired from the parish.

The Pianola Museum in Amsterdam owns piano rolls by JW Wilms, among others.

Works (selection)

The numerical largest part of Wilms' work falls into the two decades from 1800 to 1820. He knew and admired Haydn, Mozart and the early Beethoven; The model of Haydn's Symphony in E flat major Hob. I: 91 (1788) can be seen in the first movement of his first symphony published in print (C major op. 9); the beginning of the third movement refers to the minuetto of Beethoven's First Symphony. Nevertheless, it was this work to which he owed his breakthrough in Central Europe. Contemporary criticism found in it “ a fresh, youthful spirit, not without energy and thorough knowledge of harmony, still less without grace, humor, and excellent instrumentation. “His chamber music reminded contemporaries of Mozart's perfection; the Sonata for Piano and Violin in B flat major, Op. 29 z. B. tore one reviewer to the conclusion: “ Whether he [Wilms] had Mozarten in mind or not: in his heart he was quite certain! for in this work he has fully reached it, and increased that respectable sonata family with an equal member. “In his later works, however, Wilms was able to cast off the models; On the basis of the classical canon of forms, he developed a distinctive individual style, which is characterized by thematic density, expressive harmony and instrumental sound experiments. In a review of the Symphony in C minor, Op. 23, ETA Hoffmann certifies that he “ strives for a certain inner solidity, for something higher and meaningful ”. Wilms' late orchestral works, such as the 7th Symphony or the five individual overtures (of which it can only be assumed that they were written from the end of the 1820s), were rarely performed and found no publishers during the composer's lifetime. To what extent this isolation contributed to a radicalization of his age style remains to be investigated.

The year of creation is given in brackets after the work title; if this was not possible, adding "ed." and the date of first printing is given without brackets.

Vocal music

  • Ter Feestviering van het vijfentwintigjarig bestaan ​​van Harmonica , cantata for solos, mixed choir and orchestra (1814)
  • Treur-Zangen gewyd aan de Nagedachtenis van den Dichter Helmers , cantata for solos, mixed choir, children's choir and orchestra (1814)
  • Wien Neêrlandsch bloed , folk song for voice and piano (1816); arranged for mixed choir (1817), as well as for solos, choir and orchestra
  • Wij leven vrij , folk song for voice and piano (1816), arranged for mixed choir, ed. 1817
  • Zes liederen for voice and piano op.56, ed. 1820
  • Drie geestelyke Liederen for bass and orchestra, ed. 1835 (in the arrangement for bass or alto and piano)
  • Three songs (based on Ludwig Uhland) for voice and piano, ed. 1837
  • Numerous other occasional cantatas on festive occasions for solos, choir and orchestra (between 1814 and 1838)

Instrumental music

Orchestral music and instrumental concerts

  • 7 symphonies: C major op. 9, ed. 1806; F major op.10; ed. around 1808; E flat major op. 14; ed. around 1808; C minor op. 23 (1807 or earlier), ed. 1812; D major op. 52, ed. Between 1814 and 1819; No. 6 in D minor, Op. 58 (1819/20), ed. 1823; No. 7 in C minor (1835)
  • 5 (concert) overtures: F minor; D major; E flat major; E flat major; E major (all not dated)
  • 2 Concertante for several solo instruments and orchestra: F major for flute, oboe / clarinet, bassoon, horn and orchestra op. 35, ed. 1814; C major for flute, clarinet, bassoon, violin, violoncello and orchestra (1814)
  • Variations on Wilhelmus van Naussauwe for flute, clarinet, bassoon, violin, violoncello and orch. Op.37 , ed. 1814
  • Variations on Chants nationaux for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, violin, violoncello and orchestra op.57, ed. Around 1820
  • 5 piano concertos: E major op. 3; ed. around 1799; C major op.12, ed. 1807; D major op. 26, ed. Around 1810; F major op. 32, ed. Around 1813; E flat major op.55, ed. Around 1820
  • Concerto in D major for flute and orchestra op.34, ed. Around 1813
  • Concerto in B flat major for clarinet and orchestra op.40, ed. Around 1815
  • Further lost concerts for piano, oboe, bassoon and violoncello

Chamber music

  • 2 piano quartets: C major op. 22, ed. 1812; F major op. 30, ed. Around 1812
  • 2 string quartets: G minor, A major op.25, ed. 1812
  • 2 piano trios: C major, ed. Around 1799; D major op.6, ed. Around 1800
  • 5 sonatas for piano and violin: E major op. 11, ed. 1807; C major, F major, D major op. 21, ed. 1809; B flat major op.29, ed. Around 1813
  • 6 sonatas for piano and flute: A major, F major, C major op. 15, ed. Around 1810; D major, G major op. 18, around 1813; D major op.33, around 1813
  • Numerous smaller pieces and variations for piano and (mostly) flute

Piano music

(for two-handed piano, unless otherwise stated)

  • 3 sonatas for piano four hands in D major op. 7, ed. Around 1800; C major op. 31, ed. Around 1813; B flat major op. 41, ed. 1814
  • Sonata in B flat major op.13, ed. Around 1808
  • 6 Sonatinas in C major, G major, F major, D major, B major, C major op.16, ed. Around 1809
  • The Battle of Waterloo or la Belle-Alliance , historical clay painting op.43, ed. Around 1815
  • Numerous works of variations and dances

Discography

Sampler

  • 400 Years of Dutch Music - Volume 3, [on it:] Symphony in C minor op. 23; Residentie Orchestra The Hague, conductor Ernest Bour (Olympia OCD 502, 1991)
  • Biedermeier Sonatas: Richter, Wilms, Müller; [on it:] Sonata in D major for flute and piano in D major op. 33; Francesca Pagnini, flute; Paolo Bidoli, piano (dynamic S 2024, 1999)
  • Concertos hollandais pour piano; [on it:] Piano Concerto in E major op. 3; Arthur Schoonderwoerd (pianoforte), Ensemble Cristofori (Alpha 052, 2004)
  • Budapest Festival Orchestra; [from there:] IV. Rondo from: Symphony in C minor op. 23; Budapest Festival Orchestra, conductor Ivan Fischer (channel, 2008)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ It concerns the variations for flute and piano on "All joys flee me [Nel cor più non mi sento]", in: Allgemeine Musikische Zeitung I (1798/99), Sp. 106-107.
  2. ↑ Title and data from Klusen (1975) and Hagels (2007)
  3. ^ Music in Leipzig , in: Allgemeine Musikische Zeitung VIII (1805/1806), Sp. 433–448; Quote Sp. 435.
  4. ↑ "Sonate pour le Pianoforte avec violon obligé, comp. Par JW Wilms. Oeuvr. 29 [...]", in: Allgemeine Musikische Zeitung XV (1813), Sp. 643–645; Quote Sp. 644.
  5. ↑ ETA Hoffmann, [rec .:] [...] Symphonie à grand Orchester, par JW Wilms. Oeuvre 23 [...], in: Allgemeine Musikische Zeitung XV (1813), Sp. 373-380; Quote Sp. 376.

literature

  • Ernst A. Klusen, Johann Wilhelm Wilms and the Amsterdam musical life (1772-1847). Diss. Cologne, Buren 1975
  • Paul van Reijen, "The Symphony in the Netherlands", in: G. Gruber / M. Schmidt (Ed.), The Symphony at the Time of the Viennese Classic (= Handbook of Musical Genres 2), Laaber 2006, pp. 183–202
  • Bert Hagels: Wilms, Johann Wilhelm , in: Music in the past and present . Second, revised edition, ed. by Ludwig Finscher, Person Teil Vol. 17, Kassel 2007, Sp. 993–995

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wilms, Johann Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilms, Jan Willem
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Dutch composer, pianist, organist and flautist
DATE OF BIRTH baptized March 30, 1772
PLACE OF BIRTH Joke heroes
DATE OF DEATH July 19, 1847
Place of death Amsterdam