Henri Willem Petri (5 April 1856 – 7 April 1914) was a Dutch violinist, music pedagogue, composer and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

who spent his entire career in Germany.

Life

Born in Zeist, Petri came from a musical family. His father was oboist in the city orchestra of Utrecht; his cousin (1865-1950) was an organist, pianist and music pedagogue, and another cousin, Martinus Petri (1853-1924) was also a violinist and conductor. He received his first violin lessons within the family, and after his father's death with the concertmaster Dahmen of the . From 1871 to 1874, he studied with Joseph Joachim at the

Hochschule für Musik in Berlin The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research unive ...

and was singled out as one of his favorite pupils. Petri was one of the soloists at the celebrations for Joachim's 50th and 60th anniversaries as a performer in 1889 and 1899. In 1877, Petri performed Spohr's "Gesangscene" Violin Concerto in a minor at the Crystal Palace Concerts in London. Subsequently, he was a regular soloist with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and other regional orchestras. From 1877 to 1881, he was concertmaster at the ''Fürstliche Hofkapelle

Sondershausen Sondershausen is a town in Thuringia, central Germany, capital of the Kyffhäuserkreis district, situated about 50 km north of Erfurt. On 1 December 2007, the former municipality Schernberg was incorporated by Sondershausen. Until 1918 it ...

'' and from 1881 to 1882 in Hanover. In October 1882 he became concertmaster of the famous Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig. He remained in this position until 1889; he then became ''Royal Saxon concertmaster (Königliche Sächsischer Konzertmeister)'' at the Dresdner Hofkapelle, (present-day

Staatskapelle Dresden The Staatskapelle Dresden (known formally as the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden) is a German orchestra based in Dresden, the capital of Saxony. Founded in 1548 by Maurice, Elector of Saxony, it is one of the world's oldest and most highly re ...

) . He held this position for twenty-five years, until his death from pneumonia in 1914. In addition to being concertmaster, he took over after the death of

Eduard Rappoldi Eduard Rappoldi, real name Eduard Rappold (21 February 1839 – 16 May 1903) was an Austrian violinist and composer. Life Born in Vienna, Rappoldi played piano and violin as a child, and was already performing his own compositions at the age o ...

in 1903 as Professor of Music and head of the strings department at the Dresden Conservatory (today the

Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...

). Among his students were the conductor Willem Mengelberg, the composers Gustav Carl Luders, Dora Pejačević, Arno Starck, and the violinists Franz Spiess and Alberto Bachmann. Petri led various chamber music ensembles. Together with Bolland, Thümer and Klengel (later A. Schröder) he made up the Gewandhaus Quartet during his Leipzig years. In Dresden, he founded his own

Petri Quartet The Petri Quartet was a string quartet that existed from 1889 to 1914 and was based in Dresden. It was named after the primarius Henri Petri, who was the concertmaster of the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Dresden Hofkapelle. After Petri's death, G ...

together with Erdmann Warwas (violin), Alfred Spitzner (viola) and Georg Wille (cello). Their concert series in Dresden lasted until 1914. There is a portrait of the string quartet painted in 1907 by Robert Sterl. Petri made a large number of arrangements and editions for the violin. While in Leipzig Petri became friends with the composer

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

. Busoni dedicated his second String Quartet Op. 26 to Petri, as well as the Violin Concerto Op. 35a, whose premiere he gave in 1897 with the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Busoni himself. His son Egon Petri (1881-1962) was an important pianist who studied with Busoni.

Compositions

Vocal music

Songs

* 1884 ''Sechs Lieder'', for voice and piano, op. 4 *# Die Waise "Sie haben mich geheissen" - text: Adelbert von Chamisso *# Volkslied: "Hat dich ein blühendes Blümchen" - text: A. Träger *# Trost "Glücklich wer auf Gott vertraut" - text: August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben *# Neig' schöne Knospe - text: Mirzə Şəfi Vazeh *# Die Ablösung "In Schnee und Eis in kalter Nacht" - text:

Robert Reinick Robert Reinick (22 February 1805 – 7 February 1852) was a German painter and poet, associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. One of his poems, ''Dem Vaterland'', was set to music by Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (13 Ma ...

*# Die Quelle "Uns're Quelle kommt in Schatten" - text: Adelbert von Chamisso * 1884 ''Lieder - Lieder aus Williram'', for voice and piano, op. 5 - text: E. Kühne *# Lied der Berthradis "Schlafe nur ein, mein Kind" *# Die Engel droben sind rein und schön *# Die Blume senkt das Köpfchen *# Ging ein munt'rer Vogelsteller *# Gute Nacht: "Im tiefsten Innern" * ''Lieder'', for voice and piano, op. 6 *# Vergissmeinnicht: "Wild bewachs'ne Felsen" - text: A. von Tettau *# Tobe! tobe mein Herz - text: A. von Tettau *# Du bist so still, so sanft, so innig - text:

Emmanuel Geibel Emanuel von Geibel (17 October 18156 April 1884) was a German poet and playwright. Life Geibel was born at Lübeck, the son of a pastor. He was originally intended for his father's profession and studied at Bonn and Berlin, but his real interests ...

*# Wie des Mondes Abbild zittert - text:

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

*# Das Rosenband: "Im Frühlingsschatten" - text: Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock * ''Wiegenlied: Guten Abend, gute Nacht'' (after

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 ...

)

Chamber music

* 1884: ''Sechs kleine Stücke'', for violin and piano, op. 1 * 1884: ''Albumblatt und Barcarole'', for violin and piano, op. 2 * 1884: ''Drei Fantasiestücke'', for violin and piano, op. 3 * 1900: ''Die hohe Schule des Violinspiels - Werke berühmter Meister des 17. u. 18. Jahrhunderts Bd. I, Nr. 1-7.'', for violin and piano * 1910: ''Die hohe Schule des Violinspiels nr. 1, (Nr. 1-10)'', for violin and piano * 1910: ''Die hohe Schule des Violinspiels nr. 2, (Nr. 11 - 20)'', for violin and piano * ''18 kleine Duette'', for 2 violins * ''Träumerei'', for violin and piano - dedicated to Pauline Erdmannsdörfer-Eichtner

Work for violin

* 1885: ''Künstler-Etüden'', for violin solo, op. 9

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petri, Henri Willem Dutch male classical composers Dutch classical composers Dutch music educators Dutch classical violinists Dutch music arrangers Concertmasters 1856 births 1914 deaths People from Zeist