Willem Kes (

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

, 16 February 1856 –

München Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, 22 February 1934, was a Dutch conductor,

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 ...

violist ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

, and

violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists, notable violinists from the baroque era onwards * List of contemporary classical violinists, notable contemporary classical violinists * List of violinist/composers, ...

. He was the first principal conductor of the

Concertgebouw Orchestra The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklĳk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the "R ...

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 ...

, holding that position from 1888 to 1895.

Life

Early life and education

Willem Kes was the son of the dairy trader Adrianus Stoffel Kes and Cornelia Maria Krekelenbrug. He received his initial training as a violist and composer in Dordrecht with Ferdinand Böhme (harmony), Theodorus Thijssens (violin) and Friedrich Wilhelm Nothdurft (piano). At the time, he also performed with the local orchestra. Admitted to the Leipzig conservatory, Kes studied with the composers

Ferdinand David Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

and

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 ...

. During his stay in Leipzig, he married Bertha Auguste Elise Koch. He completed his studies at the Brussels Conservatory with violinist-composer

Henryk Wieniawski Henryk Wieniawski (; 10 July 183531 March 1880) was a Polish virtuoso violinist, composer and pedagogue who is regarded amongst the greatest violinists in history. His younger brother Józef Wieniawski and nephew Adam Tadeusz Wieniawski were al ...

and Louis Brassin, partly financing his studies partly by taking part in performances. Additional studies in composition and fugue followed in Berlin with

Joseph Joachim Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of ...

Friedrich Kiel Friedrich Kiel (8 October 182113 September 1885) was a German composer and music teacher. Writing of the chamber music of Friedrich Kiel, the scholar and critic Wilhelm Altmann notes that it was Kiel’s extreme modesty which kept him and his e ...

and

Wilhelm Taubert Carl Gottfried Wilhelm Taubert (23 March 1811 – 7 January 1891) was a German pianist, composer, and conductor, and the father of philologist and writer Emil Taubert. Life Born in Berlin, Taubert studied under Ludwig Berger (piano) and Bernhard ...

. In 1877, he was appointed leader of the first Amsterdam Park Orchestra and the Amsterdamsche Orkest-Vereeniging. A year later, in 1878 he became director of the Dordrecht division of the Rotterdam Music Society (Maatschappij ter Bevordering der Toonkunst), followed by the conductorship of the newly formed Park Orchestra (Parkorkest) at the Parkschouwburg in the Amsterdam

Plantage Plantage is a neighbourhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands located in its Centrum borough. It is bordered by the Entrepotdok to the north, Plantage Muidergracht to the east and south and Nieuwe Herengracht to the west. In the centre of the neighbourhoo ...

neighborhood in 1883.

Concertgebouw Orchestra

This made him the prime contender for the post of chief conductor when a new orchestra was created for the

Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls i ...

in 1888. He was tasked to put together the entirely new

Concertgebouworkest The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklĳk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the " ...

, according to his wishes, in order to stimulate the nascent musical scene in the Netherlands. Kes put an end to the 19th-century habit of viewing a musical performance as primarily a social event. He put music first and instilled strict discipline in both his musicians and the audience. Orchestra members who were late for rehearsals were fined. Those who played badly had to stay after school and study their parts in the boardroom. Of the audience, he demanded silence during performances and forbade the consumption of refreshments during rehearsals and concerts, which was still common until that time. Under Kes' direction and drill, the Concertgebouw Orchestra grew to international fame. He introduced symphonic poems by

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

to the Netherlands: ''Don Juan'' in 1891 and ''Macbeth'' a year later. Another innovation consisted in the establishment of theme concerts, the first one in 1893 with only modern French composers, attended by

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Par ...

and

Ernest Chausson Amédée-Ernest Chausson (; 20 January 1855 – 10 June 1899) was a French Romantic composer who died just as his career was beginning to flourish. Life Born in Paris into an affluent bourgeois family, Chausson was the sole surviving child of a ...

. The Dutch premiere of

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...

's ''

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

'' symphony took place under Kes in May 1895. Under his leadership as conductor, many international soloists played with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, including violinists

Pablo de Sarasate Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (; 10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908), commonly known as Pablo de Sarasate, was a Spanish (Navarrese) violin virtuoso, composer and conductor of the Romantic period. His best known works include ...

Eugène Ysaÿe Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (; 16 July 185812 May 1931) was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar". Legend of the Ysaÿe violin Eugène Ysaÿe ...

and

Leopold Auer Leopold von Auer ( hu, Auer Lipót; June 7, 1845July 15, 1930) was a Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor, composer, and instructor. Many of his students went on to become prominent concert performers and teachers. Early life and career Au ...

, pianists

Eugen d'Albert Eugen (originally Eugène) Francis Charles d'Albert (10 April 1864 – 3 March 1932) was a Scottish-born pianist and composer. Educated in Britain, d'Albert showed early musical talent and, at the age of seventeen, he won a scholarship to stud ...

and

Teresa Carreño María Teresa Gertrudis de Jesús Carreño García (December 22, 1853June 12, 1917) was a Venezuelan pianist, soprano, composer, and conductor. Over the course of her 54-year concert career, she became an internationally renowned virtuoso pia ...

, and Portuguese baritone Francisco d'Andrade sang. Kes was also active as a teacher of

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

and

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

. During his time in Amsterdam, his students included the young Dutch cellist, Kato van der Hoeven.

Career after the Concertgebouw

His salary at the Concertgebouw Orchestra consisted of 5,000 guilders a year, far below that of his foreign colleagues. The orchestra members also earned relatively little, between 500 and 1200 guilders a year. This was part of the reason why Kes went to Scotland to accept a better-paying post. When Kes retired in 1895 to join the Scottish Orchestra in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, his successor

Willem Mengelberg Joseph Wilhelm Mengelberg (28 March 1871 – 21 March 1951) was a Dutch conductor, famous for his performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler and Strauss with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest s ...

played

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 ...

's Piano Concerto in E flat major as soloist at the farewell concert. Thanks to Kes, Mengelberg (24) was put in charge of a very disciplined orchestra, which under his direction grew into one of the major orchestras of the world. With his Scottish orchestra, he gave a number of concerts in the Netherlands in 1898. After his time in Scotland, Kes left that year for

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. He concluded his musical career in

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

, where he was director of the conservatory and conductor of the Musikverein from 1905 to 1926. He died in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

at the age of 78.

Honors and recognition

In 1894 Kes was made a knight in the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

. About the same time, the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

also granted him Knighthood of the

Order of St. Stanislaus The Order of Saint Stanislaus ( pl, Order Św. Stanisława Biskupa Męczennika, russian: Орден Святого Станислава), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Ponia ...

. The Willem Kesstraat is a side street of Beethovenstraat, in the Amsterdam borough of

Amsterdam-Zuid Amsterdam-Zuid (; ''Amsterdam South'') is a borough (''stadsdeel'') of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The borough was formed in 2010 as a merger of the former boroughs Oud-Zuid and Zuideramstel. The borough has almost 138,000 inhabitants (2013). With 8, ...

. Dordrecht has a Willem Kes Park, while other cities also have named public spaces after him.

Compositions

Kes wrote works for orchestra (including a Symphony in E Major), chamber music (including a voluminous violin sonata and a Romance in g minor dedicated to Eugène Ysäye) and songs. The idiom used by Kes is mainly late romantic. In addition to his own compositions, a number of manuscripts have survived containing arrangements and transcriptions of works by other composers. His Violin Concerto No. 1 was performed with some regularity, sometimes with himself as the soloist.Henri Viotta (1883). ''Lexicon der Toonkunst'', Vol. II, p. 306.

Orchestral (selection)

*Concert Overture No. 1 (1874) *''Charakteristische Tanzweisen'' for violin & orchestra, Op. 3 (1876) *''Andante'' for cello and orchestra (1879 of 1882) *Concert Overture No. 2 (1880) *Violin Concerto No. 1 (<1883) *Cello Concerto (1886) *Symphony in E flat major (1894) *Hymn of the Dutch and British Anthems (1895) *Violin Concerto No. 2 in F sharp major (1904) *''Slovakian Rhapsody'' for violin and orchestra *Serenade for Orchestra, Op. 8 *''Im Nordfjord'', Symphonic Poem

Chamber Music (selection)

*Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 4 (1869) *''Große Sonate'' for violin and piano No. 2 (1874) *''Serenade'' (1885) *''Bagatellen, Sechs kleine Stücke für Klavier'', Op. 12 *Sonata for String Quartet, Op. 28 *''Musik für 4 Streichinstrumenten'' *''Fraueninsel'' (1924)

Choral works (selection)

*''Der Taucher'',

Cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

to a text by

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

, Op. 9. (1877) *''Kriegslied'' (1914) *''Wein her'', from ''Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen'' by Rudolph Baumbach.

Songs (selection)

*''Winternacht'', for

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

, to a text by

Eichendorff Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (10 March 178826 November 1857) was a German poet, novelist, playwright, literary critic, translator, and anthologist. Eichendorff was one of the major writers and critics of Romanticism.Cf. J. A. Cuddon: '' ...

, Op. 13 *''Stimmen des Lebens'' *Songs, Op. 11

Piano (selection)

* ''Ungarischer Tanz'' (1872) * Mazurka No. 1 in D sharp (1876) *''Allegro (ma non troppo) vivace'' *''Fantasie-Stück'' No. 2 * Mazurka No. 2 * ''Tanzstückchen''

References

Weblinks

90 Compositions by Willem Kes in the archives of the Nederlands Muziek Institut
* *
Concertgebouw 125 jaar (in Dutch), documentary by Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld & Geluid (YouTube)Digital realization of Willem Kes' Symphony in E flat major by mdmusics (YouTube)
1856 births 1934 deaths Dutch composers Dutch conductors (music) Male conductors (music) People from Dordrecht Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra chief conductors Dutch classical violinists Male classical violinists {{Netherlands-conductor-stub