The Rotterdam philharmonic (preview) by Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest

Rotterdam, 1918: Fifty-seven musicians from the entertainment world establish their own symphony orchestra. What starts as a peculiar local society grows into a globally operating orchestra. This book tells the stories from a century of the Rotterdam Philharmonic: a history of increasing international fame and lasting Rotterdam solidarity.

The Rotterdam Philharmonic

From Local Hero to Global Player

Een Rotterdams wereldorkest 100 jaar Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest

Stad en Bedrijf 2018

The Rotterdam Philharmonic From Local Hero to Global Player

Stad en Bedrijf 2018

The Rotterdam Philharmonic From Local Hero to Global Player

Stad en Bedrijf 2018

Contents

Looking back for beginners

3 On its own initiative

by Joke Dame

by Sam van den Eijnden

1 An exceptional orchestra

5 At home in De Doelen

The price of ideals

A philharmonic vagabond

A more solid base

A gem of a hall

The heart and soul of the orchestra

By mutual agreement

Pre-war locations

Created by musicians

Bombs and allies

The New World Symphony

The orchestra and the bombardment

The war years

A church as a makeshift solution

The Jewish musicians during

Organisation in chaos

Disillusion and screeching animals

The orchestra and the government

Homecoming

100

German occupation Eduard Flipse and the Honour Court

Structural solutions

The Doelen effect

103

The sound: muscular and poetic

Instrument fund

At the heart of the city

104

The musician and his instrument

New realism

Character

106

Teachers and their students

The Philharmonic Gala

The kicks and stress of brass playing

Finding the answer

Cultural representative of the port city

An orchestra of the 21st century

6 An international orchestra

108

by Bart Diels

2 Leading with courage

4 For all Rotterdammers

by Sam van den Eijnden

by Joke Dame

Across the border

111

On tour for the first time

112

Five world-conquering recordings

116

To a higher level

118

Five narrow escapes

121

Pioneering with Feltzer

For our own enjoyment and that

Alexander Schmuller [1928-1930]

of the people

Triumphs with Flipse

Its own audience

Around the world

122

Franz-Paul Decker [1962-1968]

Tomorrow’s concert audience

The 21st century

125

Jean Fournet [1968-1973]

Hunger for music in difficult times

Going for it with Edo

Only in Rotterdam

Timeline: One hundred years of

128

David Zinman [1979-1982]

Mahler 8

the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Fine polishing with Conlon

Part of Rotterdam’s collective memory

in 28 pioneering performances

Jeffrey Tate [1991-1995]

A history of programmes

Learning to see with Gergiev

Blue jeans and swaying petticoats

Sources

130

Working out with Yannick

Reaching younger generations

Index

134

A new phase with Lahav

‘Is that really necessary?’

Colophon

136

Empty seats

Photo and image credits

136

‘It has to whet the appetite’

Closer to the audience

Contents

Looking back for beginners

3 On its own initiative

by Joke Dame

by Sam van den Eijnden

1 An exceptional orchestra

5 At home in De Doelen

The price of ideals

A philharmonic vagabond

A more solid base

A gem of a hall

The heart and soul of the orchestra

By mutual agreement

Pre-war locations

Created by musicians

Bombs and allies

The New World Symphony

The orchestra and the bombardment

The war years

A church as a makeshift solution

The Jewish musicians during

Organisation in chaos

Disillusion and screeching animals

The orchestra and the government

Homecoming

100

German occupation Eduard Flipse and the Honour Court

Structural solutions

The Doelen effect

103

The sound: muscular and poetic

Instrument fund

At the heart of the city

104

The musician and his instrument

New realism

Character

106

Teachers and their students

The Philharmonic Gala

The kicks and stress of brass playing

Finding the answer

Cultural representative of the port city

An orchestra of the 21st century

6 An international orchestra

108

by Bart Diels

2 Leading with courage

4 For all Rotterdammers

by Sam van den Eijnden

by Joke Dame

Across the border

111

On tour for the first time

112

Five world-conquering recordings

116

To a higher level

118

Five narrow escapes

121

Pioneering with Feltzer

For our own enjoyment and that

Alexander Schmuller [1928-1930]

of the people

Triumphs with Flipse

Its own audience

Around the world

122

Franz-Paul Decker [1962-1968]

Tomorrow’s concert audience

The 21st century

125

Jean Fournet [1968-1973]

Hunger for music in difficult times

Going for it with Edo

Only in Rotterdam

Timeline: One hundred years of

128

David Zinman [1979-1982]

Mahler 8

the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Fine polishing with Conlon

Part of Rotterdam’s collective memory

in 28 pioneering performances

Jeffrey Tate [1991-1995]

A history of programmes

Learning to see with Gergiev

Blue jeans and swaying petticoats

Sources

130

Working out with Yannick

Reaching younger generations

Index

134

A new phase with Lahav

‘Is that really necessary?’

Colophon

136

Empty seats

Photo and image credits

136

‘It has to whet the appetite’

Closer to the audience

Looking back for beginners You only need to read a few random orchestra chronicles to see that almost all orchestras start the same way. An influential person – usually a conductor or composer, sometimes a wealthy music lover – gathers a group of musicians around him, who are then supposed to realise his ambitions: that is more or less the blueprint for the first chapter. The story of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, however, is different. When our ensemble was founded on 10 June 1918, there was no wealthy enthusiast in sight. Nor a conductor. It was the musicians themselves who took the initiative. They all earned their living in Rotterdam’s cinema, dance and variety orchestras; they all craved to be able to play the great classical repertoire. They did not see the fact that they had to organise and pay for everything themselves as an obstacle. They had a dream, and that dream gave them wings. Daring and decisiveness and perseverance: these characteristics are still inherent in our orchestra, a hundred years after its founding. Generations of musicians have come and gone, but the ensemble’s character has remained the same. You can call that our DNA, but it is also a typical feature of Rotterdam: our history only makes sense within the context of the city we come from. A hundred years of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra is not a jubilant succession of highlights. There were, of course, plenty of glorious moments, but they acquire an extra dimension in a story of falling, standing up and moving on, even in times of adversity. That is how this city works: we forever build new things, and we are not afraid either to demolish things to replace them with something stronger and bigger. Rotterdammers do not cherish a sentimental bond with the past, we prefer to look ahead rather than back. This forward-looking attitude has brought us this far. It is important, however, that we also continue to explore our history – not as a list of dry dates and facts, but as a pattern of recurring themes and major developments that have made us what we are today. It is that kind of history that this book is about. It is about the orchestra’s willingness to take risks again and again, which almost always seem to pay off. It is about the ongoing struggle for independence, supported by the municipality, the national government, the business community and the Rotterdam audience. It is about the ambition, the headwinds and the friction that this inevitably produces. And above all: it is about the growth of the orchestra, about a local music society that managed to climb under its own steam to a place among the world’s best orchestras. This book tells the orchestra’s history in six thematic chapters. The book stops at our centenary, but our story continues. Never settling down, always on the road. Still as eager and driven as when it started out. George Wiegel Managing Director, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

1 9

An exceptional orchestra

The one-day Blown Away festival in the Submarine Wharf, 2013. Photo: Dennis Bouman.

1 9

An exceptional orchestra

The one-day Blown Away festival in the Submarine Wharf, 2013. Photo: Dennis Bouman.

AN EXCEPTIONAL ORCHESTRA

This recording was made ‘behind closed doors’ so to speak. ‘We saw Feyenoord perform extremely well throughout the season and decided to make this recording in De Doelen, without telling anyone,’ the orchestra explained. ‘We did this back in December, thinking: time will come when the competition becomes exciting and we’ll have to support them. Coming Sunday, they will be playing Ajax. This match can help them take a huge step [towards the championship]. That was the right moment for releasing the recording.’ The YouTube video of the recording provoked many enthusiastic comments from Rotterdammers, with an urgent request: ‘Yannick to City Hall!’ where Feyenoord would receive the Eredivisie trophy in front of one hundred and fifty thousand supporters. The heart and soul of the orchestra Rehearsal conducted by Alexander Schmuller in the premises next to the Groote Doelezaal, 1928.

An exceptional orchestra By Joke Dame

March 2017, there were about one hundred people on the stage – the men in dress suits, the women in long black dresses – with instruments at the ready. Principal conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin gave the beat and the orchestra began to play. ‘Is this what I think it is?’ the Radio Rijnmond reporter hesitated as he heard the opening measures leading to something only too familiar. ‘What a fantastic version of Hand in Hand Kameraden [the club song of the local Feyenoord football team] by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra’, he shouted into his microphone. ‘The orchestra has recorded the Feyenoord song to support the club, which will be playing an important away match against Ajax this weekend. The orchestra members are waving Feyenoord scarves in De Doelen, and principal conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin is even wearing a Feyenoord jersey.’

‘T

he orchestra is a beast. It bites,’ NRC Handelsblad headlined an article about the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014. This comparison, lovingly intended, was made, according to the newspaper, by the late Kees Hillen, the orchestra’s artistic director from 1990 to 2000. If you asked people involved with the orchestra, they would describe the Rotterdam Philharmonic as a decisive, wilful, no-nonsense orchestra. And in one word? ‘Power’, said horn soloist Martin van de Merwe, ‘it’s all about power.’ ‘Energy, a lot of energy and enthusiasm’, added flute soloist Juliette Hurel. ‘Assertive’, noted former solo cellist Marien van Staalen.’ ‘Unassuming’, according to percussionist Ronald Ent: ‘Rotterdam is an unpolished diamond.’ No doubt, they can sometimes ignite into flames, but on stage this quality is an asset. ‘We notice this immediately when the audience reacts with wild enthusiasm to the spontaneity and directness of the performance’, said orchestra leader Igor Gruppman. ‘Guts’ is the shortest word to describe the Rotterdam Philharmonic’s character. Gruppman: ‘I do not know of any other orchestra that dares to run so many risks.’ Lahav Shani, before he started as the new principal conductor: ‘Taking risks is

Lahav Shani, 2017. Photo: Hans van der Woerd.

‘Taking risks is always a plus for me. Even when things do not go well.’ Lahav Shani, 2016. always a plus for me. Even when things do not go well.’ For Shani, this appetite for artistic risk is exactly what attracts him to the orchestra, which he has already conducted through several concerts. ‘We invested a lot of energy into the rehearsals, but at the concert everything became even more energetic because the musicians responded with such alertness – of their own volition and driven by their own emotion.’ Other foreign newcomers notice this too. Clarinet soloist Bruno Bonansea, who joined the orchestra in 2016: ‘The orchestra is very direct and alert, very temperamental.’ Assistant leader Hed Yaron

AN EXCEPTIONAL ORCHESTRA

An exceptional orchestra By Joke Dame

‘T

Lahav Shani, 2017. Photo: Hans van der Woerd.

AN EXCEPTIONAL ORCHESTRA

Mayersohn (since 2015) spoke of daring. ‘The orchestra encourages its musicians to give their best. No one has to hide their light under a bushel.’

Marius Dado Jr.

Jules Zagwijn (centre) at the Hollandsch Concert Ensemble ‘Caecilia’.

Drive, self-reliance, enthusiasm, energy, willpower – this is what has characterized the musicians from the very beginning. It were these qualities that inspired the orchestra’s creation in the first place. It was not created out of a high-handed desire for a private orchestra for Rotterdam – the symphony orchestras of Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague visited the city often enough – but out of the pure idealism of the musicians themselves. That idealism had major consequences, NRC Handelsblad noted at the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra’s golden jubilee.

Created by musicians

he very first audition – won by Marius Dado Jr – took place in December 1918 and concerned the position of orchestra leader of the ‘Genootschap van Beroepsmusici Tot Onderlinge Kunstbeoefening’ (Society of Professional Musicians to Mutually Practice the Arts). This clumsy mouthful was what the society of classically trained musicians called themselves – so it soon became ‘TOK’ in daily usage. The Society was created to give professional musicians the opportunity to play firstclass music for a change, not just the music that they were playing for a living in cinema, theatre and variety orchestras or with ad hoc ensembles in cafes, tearooms and restaurants. That kind of music played for uninterested ears trapped the classically-trained professional musicians in ‘a murderous routine, making them gradually lose the lust for music and even the technique. After all, no one pays attention anyway to your phrasing or other such things; you play, you bow, each in his own manner, and think of other, usually not very happy things (...) And that there are so many good musicians among them, wasting their lives. You become a pessimist, sir; you start to hate everything... Is this what you have been studying so hard for?!’ These bitter observations and the desire to ‘practice good, high-quality musical art’ were already expressed in June 1918 by violinist Jules Zagwijn (1874-1966) – himself an orchestra leader and bandmaster of cinema and theatre orchestras. Zagwijn, generally regarded as the ‘father’ of the Rotterdam orchestra, drew up a plan with several friends at his home in Agniesestraat and, within a few months, managed to gather a group of more than fifty like-minded people: potential candidates for the society, which set itself the goal of providing its members with the opportunity ‘to hear and perform good music’. The society also wanted to play music by little performed composers and to help its members develop professionally through courses and

Advertisement of the Willem Feltzer Music Lyceum in one of the orchestra’s programmes, early 1920s.

‘To let good music be heard and to make the performance of good music possible.’ Objective of the Genootschap van Beroepsmusici Tot Onderlinge Kunstbeoefening (Society of Professional Musicians to Mutually Practice the Arts), 1918.

scientific lectures on high-quality music in the broadest sense. Just over thirty musicians – mostly men, just a handful of women – became members and formed the first symphonic Society that rehearsed under the direction of violin teacher Willem Feltzer (1874-1931). This violinist – once a pupil of the famed violin teacher Joseph Joachim from Berlin – hurried to take a few conducting lessons to master the very basic skills of the profession. The Society managed to give all the four concerts that it had planned for its first season. It also organized four chamber music concerts – all this for their own pleasure, for family, supporters and guests, certainly not for the general public.

AN EXCEPTIONAL ORCHESTRA

Mayersohn (since 2015) spoke of daring. ‘The orchestra encourages its musicians to give their best. No one has to hide their light under a bushel.’

Marius Dado Jr.

Jules Zagwijn (centre) at the Hollandsch Concert Ensemble ‘Caecilia’.

Created by musicians

Advertisement of the Willem Feltzer Music Lyceum in one of the orchestra’s programmes, early 1920s.

AN EXCEPTIONAL ORCHESTRA

The members of the Society of Professional Musicians could not expect any income from this initiative. Earlier attempts to establish a professional orchestra in Rotterdam had stranded in the absence of financial support from the authorities, and Zagwijn, soon chairman of the Society, did not expect that the subsidy providers would change their mind any time soon. People thus became members out of idealism, artistic ambition, and paid a monthly contribution – both the supporters and the playing members. This was a labour of love for conductor Feltzer too. His readiness to work for the Society without any compensation was the decisive factor in his appointment as ‘director’, overriding reservations about his limited conducting experience. From the start, the rehearsals were a breath of fresh air for the artistically deprived musicians. A cold shiver would often run down their backs, the secretary of the Society recalled after several practice sessions: ‘Just to listen to such beautiful music!’

Chief conductor Eduard Flipse, who was appointed in 1930, in his rehearsal room, photographed for Groot Rotterdam, 1931.

But no matter how much the musicians delighted in the contact with high-quality music and playing together under the direction of Feltzer, there were considerable teething problems during the Society’s first few years. Where would they hold their rehearsals, where would they get their musical scores and orchestral parts? There were no financial resources for investment; Feltzer’s connections with ‘affluent circles’ (Zagwijn) would only provide enough for them to keep their head above water. And the high rate of absenteeism from the rehearsals after busy weekend schedules – miners in the film trenches, as they called the overworked musicians, who often literally did not see the light of day – more than once drove the conductor to despair. In 1921, Feltzer realized that the Society needed some form of subsidization to survive. It was because of such subsidization, however, that Jules Zagwijn left the orchestra, which he had led for two and a half years, and resigned as chairman of the Society. Years later, looking back at his resignation, he explained that, in his eyes, the orchestra developed ‘too much in a materialistic sense’ and there was too little left of the ideals which had inspired the whole enterprise in the first place. ‘I started from the idea that we would only play music for pleasure and out of love for art, but then it became an orchestral operation.’ Zagwijn’s fears for the commercialization of the orchestra turned out to be unfounded. Playing for pleasure and love of art remained at the core, the artistic ambition would actually get a boost from the – initially limited – financial security that the subsidy provided. The subsidy came with strings attached: the orchestra had to give a series of concerts for the general public. That is why the orchestra changed its verbose name to the Rotterdam Philharmonic Society in 1921. In 1930, 34-year-old Eduard Flipse (1896-1973) became principal conductor to put the orchestra on the map and, with the number of concerts increasing, to firmly anchor it in the city.

The orchestra and the bombardment

ven though Eduard Flipse with his energetic approach seemed to be the right man in the right place, the survival of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, as it was called from 1937, was not guaranteed under his leadership either. The war years would wreak havoc and the orchestral enterprise, despite the artistic upward trend, narrowly escaped collapse. At the last pre-war concert, a ‘charity concert’ on 7 May 1940 for the benefit of the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, the orchestra was, according to the Maasbode critic, in top form performing ‘at the highest level’. Exactly one week later, on 14 May, at half past two in the afternoon, the Rotterdam city centre would be destroyed by German bombs. There were no members of the orchestra among the casualties – estimated at between 650 and 900 people. None of the musicians was even injured. However, more than a quarter of them lost the roof over their head and all their belongings. The orchestra also suffered major losses: the majority of the musical instruments, including the Blüthner grand piano, and almost the entire music library (350 scores with all orchestral parts, including

‘The RPhO has lost everything, even its employment.’ Eduard Flipse in a letter to composer Jan van Gilse, 24 May 1940.

First recording of the orchestra for Odeon, 1943.

unique copies, such as compositions and orchestral arrangements by Flipse himself) went up in flames. The orchestra’s archive was reduced to ashes. The rehearsal rooms and concert venues were completely destroyed. It was typical of Flipse and his musicians that they rolled up their sleeves and went back to work the day after the bombing. Full of energy as ever, the conductor convened a meeting that unanimously decided to continue the orchestral enterprise. Help was provided to the sixteen homeless musicians: they received clothes and shoes from colleagues and one extra week’s salary from the orchestra’s funds, which at that time only contained one week’s salary for all members of the orchestra. Money had to be earned, concerts given: a studio recording for the KRO broadcasting corporation, choir and ballet accompaniments and summer concerts at the Kurhaus in Scheveningen. Flipse asked the municipality for rehearsal space, and he also approached his nationwide network of connections to secure support for the Rotterdam orchestra. For that, he would regularly cycle to The Hague or even to Amsterdam. The Concertgebouw Orchestra in the capital was the first fellow orchestra to organize a benefit concert.

AN EXCEPTIONAL ORCHESTRA

Chief conductor Eduard Flipse, who was appointed in 1930, in his rehearsal room, photographed for Groot Rotterdam, 1931.

The orchestra and the bombardment

‘The RPhO has lost everything, even its employment.’ Eduard Flipse in a letter to composer Jan van Gilse, 24 May 1940.

First recording of the orchestra for Odeon, 1943.

AN EXCEPTIONAL ORCHESTRA

Many others followed. The Residentie Orchestra from The Hague generously supplied sheet music. That example was followed too. Rotterdam’s citizens raised money to buy new instruments, and valuable string instruments were donated or given on loan. The Rijken & De Lange firm from Rotterdam, which rented out concert grand pianos fortunately still had one Steinway left after the bombs and the fire. However, the problem was – and this goes to show that everybody had their own problems in those times – that tuning the grand piano presented a challenge since all the tuning forks had melted in the fire. Thanks to the resilience of the orchestra and Flipse’s ‘truly superhuman efforts’ (according to composer Jan van Gilse) to save the orchestra from collapse, as well as the help of many other people, the orchestra managed to hold a rehearsal

again, in full strength, on 28 May. The first concert took place on 16 June in the garden of the Lommerrijk conference centre in Hillegersberg. Thanks to the beautiful weather that summer, the orchestra would be able to give seven outdoor concerts there. The indoor concerts took place at the Kralingen Riding Academy, where five concerts were given that summer. Remarkably, on 29 June, the orchestra gave a benefit concert for the Rotterdam performers of light music, who had suffered even worse in the bombing, under the motto: Big Art for small Art. Although the audience did not display much enthusiasm for that particular charity concert, the orchestra could not complain about the public interest in and appreciation for the concerts that were performed in the Koninginnekerk (Queen’s Church) starting from September and throughout the war years.

The Jewish musicians during German occupation With the occupying forces demanding the ‘Aryanization’ of the Dutch orchestras, a distressing task lay before the Rotterdam orchestra: to serve dismissal notifications to all its Jewish musicians on 15 May 1941. The orchestra was forced to fire eleven of its members: ten string players and a wind instrument player, by the end of June of that year. Five of them were given a place in the Jewish Symphony Orchestra, which had been established with the permission of the German occupational authorities and housed in the Amsterdam Jewish Theatre (formerly the Hollandsche Schouwburg) until the building became the collection point for the deportation of Jews to the Nazi extermination camps in 1942. The Jewish Symphony Orchestra had been dissolved by then. The dismissed wind player from Rotterdam, bass clarinettist Meyer Wery, wrote a letter to Eduard Flipse in early 1943. It was written in a light tone and, compared with the situation of his Jewish colleagues from the orchestra, he appeared to have good cause to feel relieved.

‘As there are not many of my Jewish colleagues from the orchestra left in the country, I am sure you will be pleased to hear that I am still in Amsterdam. And this is not the only piece of good news I want to share with you: I now no longer have to wear a star. I finally managed to prove that two of my grandparents were Aryans. (...) I am sure you can imagine how it feels not having to wear that medal on my chest. Although I am not yet allowed to practice my profession (as you know, I would need three Aryan grandparents for that), this means that I no longer have to fear being sent to Poland.’ Thanks to Flipse’s mediation, Meyer Wery was allowed to return to the orchestra in late 1943 because he was only partly Jewish. Of the Rotterdam Philharmonic’s other ten Jewish musicians, only four would return to the orchestra after the war; six were murdered by the Nazis.

The Jewish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Albert van Raalte. The orchestra consisted of musicians who were fired from other Dutch orchestras because of their Jewish background, including five members of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra: Herman Brill, Louis van der Sluis, Bram van Zanten, Sam Gotlib and Meyer Wery.

Eduard Flipse and the Honour Court When, after the war and the internal purge, the orchestra could get back to work – it did get a collective play permit despite several members of the orchestra having been suspended – its regular conductor was not available. Eduard Flipse first had to appear before an honour court to account for his actions during the occupation years: for the concerts he had given for the German Wehrmacht, the recordings at the German Odeon company, his overly zealous cooperation with the Department of Public Information and Arts (DVK), and finally for his attitude towards the Jewish members of the orchestra who were ‘not welcomed with open arms after the liberation, but were appointed for a probationary period’.

he was banned from working in his profession for three years.

Despite the exculpatory evidence – Flipse had done his utmost to keep the number of concerts for the occupier to the minimum; he maintained contacts with the DVK as business director of the orchestra after the entire board of the orchestra had resigned; he worked exclusively for Dutch artists and Dutch music during the occupation – the Honour Court’s judgement was harsh. Flipse was not allowed to conduct for some time:

An official appeal against the honour court’s verdict could only be launched in the spring of 1946. The Central Honour Court thoroughly investigated the conviction and, in the autumn, arrived at the conclusion that no evidence had been found to support the accusations. There were not even any grounds for a reprimand, the Central Honour Court judged. Subsequently, Flipse was completely rehabilitated.

Immediately after the verdict, a storm of protests erupted among the Rotterdam audience. A committee called ‘The Seven Thousand’ supported a request to review the conviction by organizing a signature collection. Seven thousand was the goal, seventy thousand was the result. The orchestra, including its Jewish members, reacted indignantly and protested strongly against the conviction. The former administration demanded in a letter to the Minister that the sentence be reviewed at the earliest opportunity on the grounds of Flipse’s ‘conduct, which demonstrated courage and patriotism’.

AN EXCEPTIONAL ORCHESTRA

he was banned from working in his profession for three years.

The Rotterdam Philharmonic

From Local Hero to Global Player