Johannes Verhulst

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Johannes Josephus Hermanus Verhulst (born March 19, 1816 in The Hague , † January 17, 1891 in Bloemendaal ) was an important Dutch conductor and composer of the Romantic period .

Johannes Verhulst

Life

Johannes Verhulst came from a simple family background and received his first music lessons as a choirboy. However, it was only when the boy was working as an assistant at the music store Weygand & Co that he was recommended a higher musical education. Johannes Verhulst was one of the first to attend the Hague Music School, which was founded in 1826 . There he studied violin and music theory. In 1836 he studied composition with Charles Hanssens , the then conductor of the French opera. At this time, with the support of the Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst (“Society for the Promotion of Music”), Verhulst's first compositions were already in print. When he was made aware of him, King Wilhelm II of the Netherlands made it possible for him to continue his education abroad.

In 1837 the composer went to Paris , but in 1838, after a short stay in Cologne , moved to Leipzig , where he was in close contact with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and was influenced by his musical style. In addition, Verhulst belonged there to the circle of Davidsbündler around Robert Schumann . From 1838 to 1842 Verhulst was head of the Euterpe Music Society . During a visit to the Netherlands in 1842, the King of Verhulst was so impressed with his works that he appointed him court music director. The composer then left Leipzig and settled again in The Hague. However, his compositional works were initially less recognized in his homeland, where musical tastes were more oriented towards France and were only printed in small numbers. On the other hand, in the years that followed, he made a name for himself internationally as a conductor. In 1848 he became conductor of the “Society for the Promotion of Music” in Rotterdam , in 1860 director of Diligentia and in 1864 in Amsterdam director of the Felix Meritis Society and the Cecilia Concerts. In these leading positions he dominated practically the entire musical life in the Netherlands. In 1886, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, he was made an honorary member of Diligentia, but a few months later he retired into private life, also because of his rejection of the musical innovations of the New German School . (Although he the music of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt refused, he nevertheless led the premiere of Liszt's Totentanz , as well as the Dutch premieres of the 3rd Symphony of Anton Bruckner and the symphony in F minor by Richard Strauss ).

Johannes Verhulst was married to Johanna Elisabeth Cornelia Rochussen, the sister of the Dutch painter Charles Rochussen . He had six children with her, of whom the two daughters Anna Charlotte (as a pianist) and Louise Henriette (as a singer) made careers. Verhulst was a knight of the Dutch Order of Lions. Together with Woldemar Bargiel and Friedrich Gernsheim , Verhulst was responsible for the Bach Renaissance in the Netherlands.

His grave is in the Dutch cemetery Oud Eik en Duinen in The Hague .

A street was named after him in the Amsterdam-Zuid district of Amsterdam .

Works

In terms of style, Verhulst is particularly strongly influenced by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Robert Schumann . In his songs, which almost exclusively set Dutch texts to music, Verhulst primarily relied on texts by the Dutch folk poet Jan Pieter Heye .

Selection:

  • Symphony in E minor op.46
  • Overtures
  • 3 string quartets
  • Church music ( e.g. Requiem for male choir, several masses)
  • Songs and choral works

literature

  • Verhulst, Johannes . In: Hermann Mendel and August Reissmann: Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon , Vol. 11, Berlin 1879, pp. 20f.
  • Verhulst, Johannes . In: Musik-Lexikon , ed. v. Hugo Riemann, 10th edition, Berlin 1922, pp. 1352f.
  • Gerard Werker: Johannes Verhulst (1816-1891) . In: Mens en melodie 21 (1966), pp. 70–72.
  • Marcel Venderbosch: De Liederen van Johannes Verhulst: een plaatsbepaling , dissertation University of Utrecht 1991.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Muziek Encyclopedie . Biography. (Under: "Volledige biography"). Dutch, accessed February 11, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Verhulst, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Verhulst, Johannes Josephus Hermanus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch conductor and composer
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1816
PLACE OF BIRTH The hague
DATE OF DEATH January 17, 1891
Place of death Bloemendaal