Eduard Alexander van Beinum (; 3 September 1900 – 13 April 1959,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

) was a Dutch conductor.

Biography

Van Beinum was born in

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, where he received his first violin and piano lessons at an early age. He joined the Arnhem Orchestra as a violinist in 1918. His grandfather was conductor of a military band. His father played the double bass in the local symphony orchestra, the Arnhemse Orkest (later Het Gelders Orkest). His brother Co van Beinum was a violinist, and the two brothers performed as a violin-piano duo in concerts. As a student at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, he gained conducting experience with several concerts by amateur ensembles in Schiedam and Zutphen. He also conducted concerts by the choir of the church of St. Nicholas in Amsterdam.

Concertgebouw Orchestra

Van Beinum was the conductor of the Haarlem Orchestral Society from 1927 to 1931. He first conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, in 1929. He became second conductor of the orchestra in 1931, under the supervision of

Willem Mengelberg Joseph Wilhelm Mengelberg (28 March 1871 – 21 March 1951) was a Dutch conductor, famous for his performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler and Strauss with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest s ...

. In 1938 he was named co-principal conductor, alongside Mengelberg. After World War II, Mengelberg was dismissed as principal conductor because of controversy over his (still-disputed) behavior and attitude towards the Nazi occupiers in the Netherlands. According to Kees Wisse, van Beinum "detested the Nazis and kept himself as aloof as he could." Van Beinum refused to conduct a 1943 benefit concert for the Nazis, and threatened to resign as co-principal conductor if forced to conduct that event. Van Beinum did receive a reprimand after the post-war de-Nazification activities, but this was not so severe as to keep him from his post with the Concertgebouw. Van Beinum remained as sole principal conductor of the orchestra after the war. In 1947, van Beinum became principal conductor of the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

(LPO), but left after two successful seasons. According to Michael Kennedy in his biography of

Sir Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...

, van Beinum was "not well", which led the LPO to seek Boult as a successor to him. In general, van Beinum suffered from health problems, including a heart condition, which left him unable to conduct for much of the 1950–1951 season of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Van Beinum made his US guest-conducting debut in 1954, with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He took the Concertgebouw Orchestra on its first U.S. tour later in 1954. In 1956, the year of van Beinum's 25th anniversary with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, he was invested as a Grand Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau, and also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam. Van Beinum's recordings with the Concertgebouw Orchestra are available on the

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

and

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

labels. Outside of the Netherlands, he also served as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1956 to 1959. Van Beinum suffered a fatal heart attack on 13 April 1959, on the Concertgebouw podium while rehearsing the orchestra for a performance of

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

' Symphony No. 1. He was buried in

Garderen Garderen is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Barneveld, in the forests of the Veluwe. The village has 1,994 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2008). Garderen was a separate municipality until 1818, ...

, in the

Veluwe The Veluwe () is a forest-rich ridge of hills (1100 km2) in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The Veluwe features many different landscapes, including woodland, heath, some small lakes and Europe's largest sand drifts. The Ve ...

region, where he maintained a residence. After his death, the Eduard van Beinum Foundation was established in 1960. Van Beinum was married to Sepha Jansen, a violinist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 2000, their son, Bart van Beinum, published a book about his father, ''Eduard van Beinum, over zijn leven en werk''. In 2004, Truus de Leur published her biography of van Beinum, ''Eduard van Beinum, 1900-1959 - Musicus tussen musici'' ('Eduard van Beinum, 1900-1959 - Musician among musicians'). In the course of her research, de Leur commented on her research to look for negative as well as positive aspects about van Beinum's personality: : "''Ik heb echt gezocht, ook al omdat mijn redacteuren mij waarschuwden dat het geen hagiografie mocht worden. Maar ik heb niets kunnen vinden. Over van Beinum kom je alleen maar positieve dingen tegen''." : ("I really searched, also because my editors warned me that it should not be a hagiography. But I couldn't find anything. You only come across positive things about van Beinum.")

References

External links

Biography of Beinum and discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beinum, Eduard Van Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra chief conductors 1900 births 1959 deaths Dutch conductors (music) Male conductors (music) People from Arnhem Conductors (music) who died while conducting 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century Dutch male musicians