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Oscar van Hemel
Oscar van Hemel (1962)
Born(1892-08-03)3 August 1892
Antwerp, Belgium
Died9 July 1981(1981-07-09) (aged 88)
Hilversum, Netherlands
Education Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp
SpouseAnna Johanna (Anneke) Wouters
Children6 daughters, 4 sons

Oscar van Hemel (3 August 1892 – 9 July 1981) was a Dutch-Belgian violinist, music teacher and composer of contemporary classical music. His work includes two operas and symphonies.

Life and education

Van Hemel was born in 1892 in Antwerp, Belgium, where he studied with August de Boeck and Lodewijk Mortelmans [1] at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp. [2] During World War I he was wounded at the Battle of Halen. With the help of the Red Cross, he fled in May 1915 to Roosendaal in the Netherlands during the bombardment of Antwerp. [3] He subsequently played violin in the orchestra of the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam. [4] [5]

In 1918 he moved to Bergen op Zoom, where he became a teacher of violin, piano, and music theory at the municipal music school. [4] Here, he also met his future wife, Annie Wouters, whom he married in August 1923. Together they eventually had 10 children. [2] From 1931 to 1933 he studied music composition with Willem Pijper in Rotterdam. [2] [4] In 1949, van Hemel and his family moved to Hilversum, where the Katholieke Radio Omroep (Catholic Radio Broadcasting) commissioned an opera, Viviane on a libretto by Louis Lutz, to celebrate its 25th jubilee. [2]

Works and reception

Van Hemel composed chamber music, sacred music, songs and choral music, music for orchestra, including symphonies, and for concert band, and two operas, Viviane [6] and De prostituée (The Prostitute). [7]

Van Hemel's music was at times praised as "lovely" and spontaneous, albeit at times "constructed". His Pianokwartet was praised as "powerful, quirky interbellum music". [8] Others were more critical and lamented a lack of originality. [5] Nevertheless, in the 1950s, van Hemel's music was very popular in the Netherlands. [5]

In 1962, van Hemel received the ANV-Visser Neerlandiaprijs [ nl] for his Quartetto di strumenti ad arco no. 6. [4] In the same year, he was knighted in the Order of Orange-Nassau. [4]

References

  1. ^ Romijn, Clemens (2001). "Hemel, Oscar van (1892–1981), composer". Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.12762.
  2. ^ a b c d "Biografie". www.oscarvanhemel.nl (in Dutch). Stichting Oscar van Hemel. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
  3. ^ "Oscar van Hemel" (in Dutch). Donemus Publishing House of Contemporary Classical Music. November 2016. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Oscar van Hemel". Muziekencyclopedie van Beeld en Geluid (in Dutch). Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
  5. ^ a b c Samama, Leo (2006). Nederlandse muziek in de 20-ste eeuw: voorspel tot een nieuwe dag (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 139–142. ISBN  9789053568620.
  6. ^ "Munich Invites 300 To Attend Opera Festival". Victoria Daily Times. No. 147. 1951-06-23. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
  7. ^ "Werken". www.oscarvanhemel.nl (in Dutch). Stichting Oscar van Hemel. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
  8. ^ van der Waa, Frits (2018-05-31). "In het werk van Oscar van Hemel hoor je de opkomst en ondergang van het modernisme terug (****)". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 2019-01-01.

Further reading

External links

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