Rosy Wertheim (19 February 1888 – 27 May 1949) was a Dutch pianist, music educator and composer.

Biography

Rosalie Marie Wertheim was born in

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 ...

to parents John and Adriana Rosa Gustaaf Wertheim Enthoven. Her father was a banker and Rosalie attended a French boarding school in Neuilly, where she took piano lessons. She studied piano with Ulfert Schults and harmony and counterpoint with Bernard Zweers and Sem Dresden. In 1921 she took the state exam in piano and graduated from the Nederlandse Toonkunstenaars Vereniging. From 1921 to 1929, she taught at the Amsterdam Music Lyceum, composed songs and choral works and conducted children's and women's choirs. In 1929 Wertheim moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where she lived for six years, composing music and writing for the Amsterdam newspaper ''Het Volk'' on the Parisian music scene, while studying composition and instrumentation from the composer

Louis Aubert Louis François Marie Aubert (19 February 1877 – 9 January 1968) was a French composer. Biography Born in Paramé, Ille-et-Vilaine, Louis Aubert was a child prodigy. His parents, recognizing their son's musical talent, sent him to Paris to rec ...

. In 1935 she moved to

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, where she studied counterpoint with

Karl Weigl Karl Ignaz Weigl (6 February 1881 – 11 August 1949) was a Jewish Austrian composer and pianist, who later became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Weigl was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of a bank official who was al ...

. In 1936 she traveled to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to give lectures and arrange performance of her works. In 1937, just prior to the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she returned to

. During the German Occupation, Wertheim gave secret concerts in a cellar where she played music by banned

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 ...

composers. After September 1942, she went into hiding to escape the Jewish deportations. After the war, Rosy Wertheim taught at the Music School in Laren, but contracted a serious illness and died May 27, 1949, in Laren, the Netherlands.

Works

Wertheim composed over ninety works, and her compositions were described as "cheerful, neo-classical and at times playful." Selected works include: *Trois Morceaux for flute and piano, 1939 *Trois Chansons for soprano, flute and harp, 1939 *Cello Sonata (around 1921) *Concerto per pianoforte e orchestra (1940) * Divertimento for chamber orchestra (undated) *Six Morceaux for piano solo (undated) *Trio for flute, clarinet and bassoon (undated) *Quatuor à cordes (undated)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wertheim, Rosy 1888 births 1949 deaths Dutch classical composers Dutch women classical composers Dutch Jews Dutch classical pianists Dutch women pianists Jewish women composers Jewish Dutch musicians Musicians from Amsterdam Women classical pianists 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century women pianists