Jan Gerard Palm (2 June 1831 – 13 December 1906) was a 19th-century

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. Palm is often referred to as the "Father of

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

's classical music".

Biography

Born in Curaçao, Palm had directed several music ensembles by a relatively young age. In 1859, he was appointed music director of the citizen's guard orchestra in Curaçao. Palm played several musical instruments such as

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, and

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

. As an organist, Palm played for many years in the

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

synagogue Emanu-El and Mikvé Israel, the Protestant Fort Church, and the Lodge Igualdad in

. He was also a regular contributor to the widely read and influential periodical ''Notas y Letras'' (Notes and Letters). This periodical was issued in Curaçao in the period 1886–1888, with numerous subscribers throughout

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. Palm died at the age of 75 on December 13th, 1906. Musicians and composers Rudolph Palm (1880–1950),

John Palm John Palm (13 June 1885 – 24 February 1925) was a Curaçao-born composer. Biography Johan Antoine Palm—better known as John Palm—was a grandson of Jan Gerard Palm (1831-1906), who is often referred to as the "father of Curaçao classical ...

(1885–1925), Toni Palm (1885–1963),

Jacobo Palm Jacobo Palm (28 November 1887 – 1 July 1982) was a Curaçao-born composer. Biography Jacobo José Maria Palm was the grandson of Jan Gerard Palm (1831-1906) who is often referred to as the "father of Curaçao classical music". At the age of seve ...

(1887–1982), Albert Palm (1903–1958),, Edgar Palm (1905–1998), and Robert Rojer (1939) are descendants.

Compositions

As a composer, Palm can be characterized as both original and productive. One of his well-known statements used to be that a good composition should include at least one surprising change. Palm wrote more than 180 compositions. His

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

es and

mazurka The mazurka (Polish: ''mazur'' Polish ball dance, one of the five Polish national dances and ''mazurek'' Polish folk dance') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character de ...

s can be characterized by a rich use of harmonic variations. His

polka Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ...

s, marches and

galop In dance, the galop, named after the fastest running gait of a horse (see Gallop), a shortened version of the original term galoppade, is a lively country dance, introduced in the late 1820s to Parisian society by the Duchesse de Berry and popul ...

reveal his buoyant life style. Palm was also often progressive, in the sense of not being afraid of using chords that were relatively unusual for his time. The rhythms that he wrote for each of his

danza Danza is a musical genre that originated in Ponce, a city in southern Puerto Rico. It is a popular turn-of-the-twentieth-century ballroom dance genre slightly similar to the waltz. Both the danza and its cousin the contradanza are sequence danc ...

s are typically complex, very creole and sensual. In the dominantly prudish 19th century, Jan Gerard Palm was the only composer who dared to write erotic tumbas. Alongside dance music written for the

, Palm also wrote larger works for the orchestra and for piano and violin. Examples of the latter are the fantasies and serenades. Finally he also wrote several pieces for services in the

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

, the

protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

church and the Lodge.

Media

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References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palm, Jan Gerard 1831 births 1906 deaths 19th-century composers 19th-century Dutch male musicians 20th-century composers 20th-century Dutch male musicians Curaçao musicians Dutch Antillean composers Male composers