Nico Richter
Nico Max Richter (born December 2, 1915 in Amsterdam ; died August 16, 1945 there ) was a Dutch composer .
biography
Ascent
Nico Richter was born in Amsterdam as the second of three children to dentist Izaak Richter. He received his first violin lessons at elementary school age and at the age of twelve he was impressed by the performance of a living composer: "I want that too!"
In September 1927 he started high school (HBS Hoogere Burger School) and in 1930 began his violin lessons with Sam Tromp , to whom his parents reported with concern that Nico was neglecting school for sheer violin playing. The first compositions were also created, which he later referred to as youthful works and not all of them.
After graduating from school in 1932, he enrolled (at his father's insistence) as a medical student in Amsterdam. At the same time he began studying the violin with Sepha Jansen in the local conservatory. The first public performance of a composition was on March 16, 1935: the 17-year-old's violin concerto.
In July 1935 he took part in a master class with Hermann Scherchen in Belgium, performed as a conductor and received the Prix Henry Le Boeuf for his cello concerto. Hermann Scherchen himself conducted the world premiere in the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels and also took the concert with him to Winterthur . There the well-known cellist Emanuel Feuermann played the solo part. A performance also took place in his hometown the following year. Nico Richter became increasingly known, be it as the conductor of the student orchestra MUSA, as a composer at the Maneto Dutch Music Festival founded in 1937 (Manifestatie Nederlandsche Toonkunst) or as a reviewer of performances by Stravinsky and Darius Milhaud in Amsterdam. On July 23, 1937, his Sinfonia Divertimento was broadcast on Radio Brussels.
persecution
In early 1940 emigrated his older sister just in time with her family in the US, while Nico Richter and his parents decided not to stay in Amsterdam. But as early as May, the Netherlands was invaded by the Germans, and reprisals, especially against the Jewish population, increased steadily.
In September 1940 Nico Richter married the violinist Hetta Scheffer, who was not Jewish and to whom he has been engaged since 1937. In early 1942, mixed marriages were banned. At the end of October 1941, Nico Richter was removed from his offices in the student orchestra, but was able to finish his medical studies in November.
On the night of April 17-18, 1942, Nico Richter was arrested. He was interned in Amersfoort from November 6 to January 18, 1943, and then in the Vught camp . There was a prisoner orchestra here for a few months , in which he participated. On November 15, 1943, he came to Auschwitz via Westerbork . The three-day transport to Dachau followed on October 16, 1944 , where he was taken to a satellite camp near Kaufering . Huge underground bunkers for the wood pigeon armament project were built here according to the principle of “ destruction through work ” .
After the liberation by the Americans on April 27, 1945, Nico Richter arrived in Eindhoven in July 1945 . His wife Hetta was able to bring her terminally ill husband to Amsterdam with an ambulance. In the few weeks that remained, he dictated two movements of a serenade that he had composed in memory in the camp. He died on August 16, 1945, four months before his thirtieth birthday.
Youth works
(not received)
- 1929 Mozart-style minuet
- numerous works were created between 1929 and 1933:
- Spanish dance violin and piano, sonatina, epigram d'un fou , litany (à la perte de la tousade) , sonata
- various dances and prelude for piano, chamber music for cello and piano
- Two piano trio, two piano quartets, trio for oboe, bassoon and piano
- Four symphonies, including: de potkachel , burlesque ,
- various songs with piano accompaniment based on texts by Heine , Guido Gezelle , Herman Gorter , Goethe , Schiller , Alfred Tennyson
- 1931 comic opera huweliksbedrog based on a text by Rinze Veldman
- 1932 Opera de goal
- 1932 blues piano
- 1932 La Tousade
- 1933 (approx.) Fantasy and Waltz
- 1933 de gouden bol shadow play for speaking voice, voice, violin, cello and piano based on a text by Ruurd Vierhout
- 1934 Short opera de moedermoordenaar based on his own text
Works
- 1933 Violin Concerto (? .Lento,?, Allegro) (duration 10 min)
- 1934 Sinfonietta I Serenade Chamber Orchestra (two violins, violoncello, flute, clarinet and guitar)
- 1934 Sonatina I piano (3 movements) 5 min
- 1935? Concerto for violoncello and six (clarinet, horn, trumpet, piano, two violins) instruments (Allegro vivo, Lento, Presto) 6 min
- 1935 Trio for flute, viola and guitar (Allegro, Non troppo lento, Presto) 5 min
- 1936 Symphony I Symphony Divertimento 8 min
- 1936 String Quartet I (allegro, andantino, presto) 4 min
- 1936 Sinfonia divertimenta
- 1937 Amory's chamber opera in one act (libretto Hendrik Lindt ) Cast: 1./2. Violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, piccolo, clarinet, bassoon, horn, piano, percussion
- 1937 song, soprano and piano (Lento), text Wim Kriste 6 min
- 1940 Het lyk , baritone and piano, text by Wim Kriste
- 1941 Orchestration of the work Baal Shem by Ernest Bloch
- 1942 Two pieces violin and piano (allegretto, adagio)
- 1945 Serenade for flute, violin and viola (1 Allegretto giocoso, 4 Presto - Adagio) 9 min
See also
Web links
- Short biography (Dutch)
- Estate in the Dutch Music Institute , portrait photo
- CD with recorded works
- Kaufering extermination camp , Wood pigeon project
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Judge, Nico |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Richter, Nico Max (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 2, 1915 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Amsterdam |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 16, 1945 |
| Place of death | Amsterdam |