Julius Röntgen
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Julius Engelbert Röntgen (9 May 1855 – 13 September 1932) was a German-Dutch
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 ...
of
classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
. He was a friend of Liszt, Brahms and Grieg.


Life

Julius Röntgen was born in Leipzig, Germany, to a family of musicians. His father, the Dutch born Engelbert Röntgen, was first violinist in the
Gewandhaus orchestra The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...
in Leipzig; his mother, Pauline Klengel, was a pianist, an aunt of the renowned cellist Julius Klengel, born in 1859. Julius was a gifted child. Neither he nor his sisters attended school; he was taught music by his parents and grandparents, and other subjects by private tutors. His first piano teacher was
Carl Reinecke Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke (23 June 182410 March 1910) was a German composer, conductor, and pianist in the mid-Romantic era. Biography Reinecke was born in what is today the Hamburg district of Altona; technically he was born a Dane, as ...
, the director of the Gewandhaus orchestra, while his early compositions were influenced by Reinecke, but also by
Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
,
Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
and
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 ...
. In 1870, at the age of 14, Julius Röntgen visited
Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
in Weimar; after playing piano for him he was invited to a soiree at Liszt's house. In Leipzig, he and his parents were part of the musical circle around Heinrich von Herzogenberg, and it was at their house that he first met Brahms. Later Röntgen moved to Munich, where he studied piano under Franz Lachner, a friend of Franz Schubert. At the age of 18 he became a professional pianist. During a concert tour through southern Germany, he became acquainted with the singer Julius Stockhausen; at this time he also met a Swedish music student
Amanda Maier Amanda is a Latin feminine gerundive (i.e. verbal adjective) name meaning, literally, “she who must (or is fit to) be loved”. Other translations, with similar meaning, could be "deserving to be loved," "worthy of love," or "loved very much b ...
, whom he would marry in 1880. In 1877 Röntgen had to make a decision whether to go to Vienna or Amsterdam. He chose Amsterdam, and became a piano teacher in the music school there. The aristocratic politician
Alexander de Savornin Lohman Jhr. Alexander Frederik de Savornin Lohman (29 May 1837 – 11 June 1924) was a Dutch politician and leader of the Christian Historical Union during the first quarter of the 20th century. He was a member of the lower Dutch nobility and held the ...
, who was professor of law at the University of Amsterdam and an important figure in the cultural life of that city, was a friend of Röntgen's father, and he promised to take young Julius under his wing. According to Röntgen's letter of 1877 he considered the school "a place full of children and amateurs"; since the school was not supported by public funds, it appeared to attach more importance to the number of its students rather than their quality. Between 1878 and 1885 Brahms was a frequent visitor in Amsterdam. In 1887 Röntgen performed Brahms's second piano concerto, conducted by the composer himself. Röntgen also played an important part in establishing institutions for classical music in Amsterdam. In 1883, in association with composers Frans Coenen and Daniel de Lange, Röntgen founded the Amsterdam Conservatory. In 1884 Röntgen was heavily involved in the foundation of the Concertgebouw. He applied for the position of the director; however, to his great disappointment, the choice fell instead on the German Hans von Bülow, as the committee seemed to doubt Röntgen's abilities as a conductor. Nevertheless, Bülow was not able to accept the appointment, and the position went in the end to the violinist Willem Kes. Röntgen turned with greater energy to composing chamber music and to his work for the Conservatory. He became a renowned accompanying pianist, working for the great violinist
Carl Flesch Carl Flesch (born Károly Flesch, 9 October 1873 – 14 November 1944) was a Hungarian violinist and teacher. Flesch’s compendium ''Scale System'' is a staple of violin pedagogy. Life and career Flesch was born in Moson (now part of Mosonmagy ...
, the singer Johannes Messchaert, and the cello player
Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,
. Travelling with Messchaert he came to Vienna at least once a year, where he would always meet Brahms. During the quiet summer periods in Amsterdam, Röntgen and his family often went to Denmark. On one of such visit he met
Bodil de Neergaard Ellen Bodil Neergaard née Hartmann (10 February 1867 – 18 May 1959) was a Danish philanthropist and patron of the arts. She is remembered for her many philanthropic activities as well as for her life in Fuglsang Manor on the island of Lolland ...
, with whom he struck up a close friendship. From now on, and until his death, he would spend his summers in Neergaard’s manor Fuglsang on the isle of
Lolland Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of Region Sjælland (Region Zealand). As of 1 January 2022, it has 57,618 inhabitant ...
and play concerts every evening there. As a result of his close contacts with Denmark, Röntgen's children became fluent speakers of Danish. Röntgen’s students included composers
Anna Schytte Anna Johanne Schytte, also known as Anna Jutta Schytte (20 November 1877 - 16 March 1953) was a Danish composer, pianist, and teacher who performed throughout Europe and recorded for Welte Mignon reproducing pianos. Schytte was born in Copenhagen ...
and
Hanna Vollenhoven Hanna van Vollenhoven Vories (1889 – 1972) was a Dutch composer and pianist who later moved to America. She is best remembered today for composing and performing music for player piano rolls. Her music was published under the name "Hanna Vollenh ...
. For some years, Röntgen and his sons Engelbert (cellist) and Julius jr (violinist) performed together as a piano trio. After the death of his wife Amanda in 1894, Röntgen married the gifted piano teacher Abrahamina des Amorie van der Hoeven. The children of the second marriage also became professional musicians. Röntgen's son Joachim, a violinist, founded the Röntgen String Quartet. At the end of the First World War, in 1919, Röntgen became a naturalized Dutch citizen. One of his sons was taken prisoner by the Germans during the war, while another son emigrated to the United States where he became a soldier in the US army. As a result, Röntgen was for many years unable to visit his native Germany. In the years from 1920 on Röntgen experimented with atonal music; he wrote e.g. a bi-tonal symphony in 1930. Sometimes he performed as a piano accompanist in silent screen productions with popular and folk scenes of the film-maker Dirk van der Ven in the Tuschinski cinema theatre in Amsterdam. He had already published these popular and folk tunes in an earlier stage of his life. He also made many recordings on player piano rolls for the pianola. In 1924 Röntgen retired from public life. He moved to Bilthoven, a small village near Utrecht. His son Frants, who followed a career in architecture, designed for him the country house Gaudeamus. The unusual round music room in that house was constructed in such a way that its floor did not touch the ground, but hung from the ceiling. During the last eight years of his life Röntgen wrote about 100 compositions, mostly chamber music and songs. Gaudeamus became a meeting place for many important composers and musicians; among the visitors in that house were
Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,
and Percy Grainger. At that time, Röntgen studied musical analysis and was interested in the work of Hindemith,
Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...
,
Schönberg Schönberg (german: beautiful hill) may refer to: Places Austria *Schönberg im Stubaital, a municipality in the district of Innsbruck-Land, Tyrol * Schönberg am Kamp, a town in the district of Krems-Land, Lower Austria Belgium * Schönber ...
, and
Willem Pijper Willem Frederik Johannes Pijper (; 8 September 189418 March 1947) was a Dutch composer, music critic and music teacher. Pijper is considered to be among the most important Dutch composers of the first half of the 20th century. Life Pijper was b ...
. In 1930 Röntgen received an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh, where his friend Donald Francis Tovey was professor. During this visit Tovey performed a new Röntgen symphony with the Reid Orchestra and Röntgen was the soloist in his most recent two piano concertos in the same programme. Two years after Röntgen's death, Tovey described him as "one of the greatest masters of absolute music I have ever known". After Second World War the villa Gaudeamus became the seat of the Gaudeamus society, whose aim is to promote contemporary Dutch music. Röntgen died in a hospital in Utrecht, Netherlands on 14 September 1932. His last work, a
piano quintet In classical music, a piano quintet is a work of chamber music written for piano and four other instruments, most commonly a string quartet (i.e., two violins, viola, and cello). The term also refers to the group of musicians that plays a pian ...
(his third for piano and strings, in G major) subtitled ''Sentendo nuova forza'', is dated 5 July of that year.Donemus catalog, page 23.


Works

Julius Röntgen's works include 25
symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
,
concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...
s (7 piano concertos, 3 violin concertos, 3 cello concertos, other concertos), as well as numerous chamber, piano and vocal works. He also completed Grieg's unfinished String Quartet No. 2. Röntgen also harmonized and arranged traditional Dutch melodies used as hymn tunes. One such hymn tune is entitled "In Babilone". It can be found as hymn number 325 "The United Methodist Hymnal" (C) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, TN. In the Methodist hymnal his name is spelled Roentgen but the tune is the same and dates correlate with the time of his work. The same hymn tune can be found as hymn numbers 502, 508 and 649 in the "Celebrating Grace" hymnal (C) 2010 Celebrating Grace, Inc, Macon, GA.


See also

*
Erna Spoorenberg Erna Spoorenberg, Huberdina Aletta Spoorenberg as real name, (11 April 192518 March 2004) was a Dutch soprano. She was born in Yogyakarta, Java, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). As a child, she studied the violin and singing. At the age of 14, ...


Notes


External links


Julius Röntgen FoundationRöntgen Society Page
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rontgen, Julius 1855 births 1932 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century German composers 19th-century German male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century German composers 20th-century German male musicians Dutch classical composers Dutch classical pianists Dutch male classical composers Dutch people of German descent German classical pianists German emigrants to the Netherlands German male classical composers German male pianists German Romantic composers Male classical pianists Musicians from Amsterdam Musicians from Leipzig