Jan van Gilse
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Jan Pieter Hendrik van Gilse (
.Life
Coming from a family of theologians, Jan van Gilse showed an early aptitude for piano playing and composing. From 1897 onwards, he studied at the
In addition to composing, van Gilse soon developed an interest in conducting. He started out with the Bremen Opera, a post which was followed by appointments in Munich and Amsterdam. After the outbreak of the First World War made travel difficult, he moved back to the Netherlands. From 1917 until 1922 he was the conductor of the Utrecht Municipal Orchestra (Utrechtsch Stedelijk Orkest).
In 1921, van Gilse resigned the post after a conflict with the orchestra's board of directors. Van Gilse had been attacked for some time by the composer and music critic Willem Pijper in the daily Utrechts Dagblad, attacks that grew in viciousness as time progressed. Van Gilse's request that Pijper be denied access to concerts was stalled for so long that he lost faith and resigned. The board subsequently refused him a farewell concert.
Eight years later van Gilse put the experiences from his tenure in Utrecht on paper. The autobiography that materialised was sizeable and contained almost 350,000 words. However, because he didn't spare anyone or anything (including himself), van Gilse doubted whether the manuscript would ever see the light of day. It was eventually edited and published in 2003.[1]
During
Organiser
From 1933 to 1937, van Gilse served as director of the
Work and reputation
Van Gilse's early style is indebted to German
Recently, interest in van Gilse has increased, helped by the publication of his autobiography (edited by Hans van Dijk) and a biography.[2] The German label CPO has recorded his four completed symphonies, with plans under way to record the opera Thijl in the near future, all under the direction of conductor David Porcelijn.
Selected list of works
- Symphonies:
- Symphony No. 1 in F major (1900–01; recorded)
- Symphony No. 2 in E♭ major (1902–1903; recorded)
- Symphony No. 3 in D minor , "Erhebung" for soprano and orchestra (1903; recorded)[3]
- Symphony No. 4 in A major (1910–1915; recorded)
- Symphony No. 5 in D major (Fragment; 1922)
- Orchestral works:
- Concert Overture in C minor (1900; recorded)
- Variations on a St. Nicholas Song (1908; recorded)
- Three Dance Sketches for piano and small orchestra (1925–26; recorded as "Piano Concerto")
- Prologus brevis (1928)
- Praeludium to "Der Kreis des Lebens" (1928)
- Small Waltz (1936)
- Treurmuziek bij den dood van Uilenspiegel, from the opera Thijl (1940; recorded)
- Andante con moto (date uncertain, after 1935)
- Works for voice(s) & orchestra:
- Sulamith, cantata for soprano and orchestra (1901–02; recorded)
- Eine Lebensmesse, cantata after Richard Dehmel (1903–04; recorded)
- Gitanjali Songs for soprano and orchestra
- Der Kreis des Lebens, cantata (1928–1929)
- Rotterdam, declamatorium on a text by Jan Prins (unfinished; 1942)
- Operas:
- Frau Helga von Stavern, opera on a text by Van Gilse, in German (1911–13)
- Thijl, opera after Charles de Coster's novel The heroic, jolly and notorious acts of Uilenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak in Flanders Country and elsewhere, on a libretto by Hendrik Lindt (1940; recorded)
- Chamber Pieces:
- Nonet, for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass (1916)
- String Quartet, an unfinished string quartet (1922)
- Trio for flute, violin and viola (1927)