Madelene Olivier Van Aardt (14 August 1896 – 6 July 1982) was a South African

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 ...

and teacher. Her published compositions include the piano piece ''Fusion'' (1935) and four songs, with two in English and two in Afrikaans. Van Aardt was among the first composers to write in the popular light Afrikaans music () genre.

Life and career

Madelene Olivier was born on 14 August 1896 in

Graaff-Reinet Graaff-Reinet is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is the oldest town in the province. It is also the sixth-oldest town in South Africa, after Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Simon's Town, Paarl and Swellendam. The town was the c ...

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

, then in the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Trans ...

. She earned an

associate degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

from

Trinity College London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom, which offers graded and diploma qualifications (up to postgraduate level) across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and ...

, UK. In 1950 she returned to South Africa, and lived in

Somerset East Somerset East ( af, Somerset-Oos) is a town in the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was founded by Lord Charles Somerset in 1825. The Blue Crane Route follows the national road R63 from Pearston, via Som ...

from then onwards. Although the ''

International Encyclopedia of Women Composers The ''International Encyclopedia of Women Composers'' is a 1981 reference book by Aaron I. Cohen which contains biographies of over 5,000 women composers from nearly 70 countries. It was put together when Cohen was retired in order to help fill a g ...

'' describes her as a teacher, it does not list the schools where she taught. According to her

footstone A footstone is a marker at the foot of a grave. The footstone lies opposite the headstone, which is usually the primary grave marker. As indicated, these markers are usually stone, though modern footstones are often made of concrete, or some me ...

, at some point she married and had children, presumably adopting the surname 'Van Aardt' from her husband. She died on 6 July 1982 and was buried in Somerset East's main cemetery; her footstone includes an

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

, . In the early 20th century, the

music of South Africa South Africa is well known for its distinct musical styles which have played a huge role towards the country's society. The music of South Africa is very diverse with a wide variety of genres such as Marabi, Kwaito, house music, Isicathamiya, G ...

saw the emergence of a new

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

genre in the

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

language: light Afrikaans music (). Van Aardt was among the earliest composers in the genre, alongside Danie Bosman and the Coopers and later, . Van Aardt's songs were included in a 1980 collection alongside eight other composers, (''Afrikaans Hits... Part 2'') published by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

-Brigadiers Musiek. Her other published compositions include the

novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

piano work ''Fusion'' (1935) and a four songs for voice and piano. These songs are variously in England and Afrikaans, with texts by Justus Latsky (1913–1955), Mary Astor, and Van Aardt herself. She was associated with the actor-composer Felix de Cola (1906–1983), who published a few of her works. Her other publishers include the Johannesburg-based firms and Ardmore & Beechwood. At least two of her works have been recorded; the two Afrikaans songs, "Heimwee" and "Onthou jy nog?" were included by South African singer on an LP recording (Columbia AE 612).

List of compositions

References

Citations

Sources

:Books * * :Web * * * * *

External links