General
Julius Röntgen, a prolific composer, was born on May 9, 1855 in Leipzig (Germany). He was the son of the violin player Engelbert Röntgen and the pianist Pauline Klengel. He grew up with the strong musical tradition of this city, where his father played in the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Julius died on September 13, 1932 in Utrecht (The Netherlands).

Education
From 1869 to 1873, Röntgen studied piano with Louis Plaidy and Carl Reinecke in Düsseldorf. He ended his studies with the Munich composer Franz Lachner and with the cantor and theory teacher Ernst Friedrich Richter in Leipzig.

Career
After spending his childhood in Leipzig, he accepted a position as a head teacher at the Muziekschool of the Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst Amsterdam (Music school of the Society for the Promotion of Music, Amsterdam) in 1878. He has left a mark on Dutch musical life as a composer, pianist, conductor, organiser of concerts and teacher ever since. During the next 28 years, Röntgen organized “Soirees voor Kamermuziek” (Soirees for Chamber music) in the building Felix Meritis.

In 1884, he co-founded the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music and first worked for this institute as a teacher and later on as managing director (1912).

As pianist, Röntgen played all piano concerts of Ludwig van Beethoven with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Willem Kes, in the season 1893/1894. Also, he organised a Grieg Festival in 1897 and a Brahms festival in 1898.

Furthermore, he worked together with the bass John Messchaert, the cellist Pablo Casals and the violinist Carl Flesch. With his two oldest sons, he constituted the Röntgen Trio in 1912. His years of friendship with Edvard Grieg is documented in the correspondence, which was published by Röntgen in 1930.

In 1924, he retired from Amsterdam musical life and moved to Bilthoven in order to commit himself entirely to composing.

Compositions
Julius’ extensive body of work, containing more than 600 compositions, consists of symphonies, concertos, chamber music in various settings, songs, works for choir and operas.

His first compositions were published in 1871. From 1892, Röntgen spent most of his summers in Denmark. The Norwegian folklore can be heard in his works, such as the suite ‘Aus Jotunheim’ (1892, originally for violin and piano, and also for orchestra).

During the last period of his life, from 1924 until 1932, he wrote in excess of two hundred works, including 18 symphonies.

Awards
On the occasion of his 75th birthday, Julius Röntgen was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Edinburgh. At an homage in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, he played his sixth and seventh piano concerto.

In 2007, Jurjen Vis graduated at the University of Utrecht with the Dutch biography “Gaudeamus: het leven van Julius Röntgen (1855-1932), componist en musicus” (“Gaudeamus: the life of Julius Röntgen (1855-1932), composer and musician”). The book was published by Waanders in Zwolle.

General
Leo Smit was born to a wealthy, non-orthodox Portuguese Jewish family, on May 14, 1900 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Together with his wife he was deported by the Germans in 1943, via Westerbork to Sobibór extermination camp. Upn arrival, they were immediately annihilated.

Education
From 1919, Leo Smit studied piano and composition at the Amsterdam Conservatory with Sem Dresden and Bernard Zweers. In 1924, he became the first student at this conservatory to achieve the grade cum laude for composition in his final exams.

Career
After his graduation, Smit became a teacher in analysis and harmony at the Amsterdam Conservatory.

He went on to live for 10 years abroad – mostly in Paris and one year in Brussels, but returned to Amsterdam in 1937, where he gave private lessons in piano, music theory, analysis, and composition.

Compositions
Leo Smit composed in a neoclassical style, often in C major. He was also inspired by the new music of his time: many of his works contain the jazz rhythms and harmonies that he enjoyed so much. Smit’s style also has French influences, reminiscent of Ravel and Debussy; but there is also something of Hindemith in the ‘Concerto‘ for viola; and Stravinsky, in the ‘Clarinet Trio‘. Altogether, his music is warm, melodious, full of variety, classical in form, and has interesting harmonies.

Leo wrote his first composition when he was sixteen years old. Unfortunately, all of his works written before 1922 have been lost.
In 1925, his first orchestral work, ‘Silhouetten‘, (Silhouettes) was premiered by the Amsterdam Conservatory under Isaac Mossel and, three years later, performed by the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Cornelis Dopper. The review in Het Volk said, “Throughout the whole suite the composer makes use of the unusual sounds produced by a black jazz band.”

Leo Smit became well-known with several “scene musics” for student associations, such as the ‘A-Z game’ for Leiden.
Like many other Dutch composers, Smit was attracted to the new wave in French music, and in 1927 he went to Paris, where he stayed for nine years. Nevertheless, he retained strong connections with Holland. In 1929, the Concertgebouw Orchestra played his ballet music, ‘Schemselnihar‘.

In the following years, Leo Smit wrote three major works featuring the harp: a ‘Trio‘ (for flute, viola and harp), a ‘Quintet‘, (for flute, string trio and harp) and a ‘Concertino‘ (for harp and orchestra). He wrote all three for Rosa Spier; she played the ‘Concertino‘ in 1934 with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Eduard van Beinum.

With the German invasion of Holland in the Second World War, the situation deteriorated for everyone, including musicians. By 1941, Jewish musicians were no longer allowed to perform in public; later they were entirely prohibited from exercising their profession. In spite of the difficult situation, Smit continued to write music; his last composition is the wonderful ‘Sonata‘ for flute and piano, which he completed in February 1943.

General
Anthon van der Horst was born on June 20, 1899 in Amsterdam and died on March 7, 1965 in Hilversum.

His father Hendrik was organist and conductor of an amateur orchestra. At age four, Anthon and Hendrik played the romantic symphonic repertoire with four hands on piano. The great musical talent of Anthon was soon evident.

Education
In 1915, Anthon van der Horst started to study composition with Bernard Zweers and organ and piano with Jean Baptiste Charles de Pauw at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He graduated cum laude in his organ studies.

Career
He was a famous organist at home and abroad, mainly due to his concerts. At age fifteen, Van der Horst became the organist of the Walloon Church in Amsterdam. He had also been an organist at the English Church in Amsterdam (1918-1941), the Nederlandse Protestanten Bond (Dutch Federation of Protestants) in Hilversum (1944-1955), the Big Church in Naarden (1955-1964). Moreover, he participated in the furst Dutch improvisationconcert in the Dom Church Utrecht (1938) and made concert tours to a.o. Venezuela, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles.

In 1921, Van der Horst was involved in the foundation of the Amsterdam Music Lyceum, where he was also appointed as a lecturer. Six years later, he became director of the Hilversum Music Lyceum. In 1935, Van der Horst is appointed as head teacher of organ at the Amsterdam Conservatory. A few years later, he was also appointed as head teacher choral and orchestral conducting. He continued to hold this position, until shortly before his death.

In 1931, Anthin van der Horst became the conductor of the Dutch Bach Society. Under his leadership, the annual performances of the ‘St. Matthew Passion’ and the ‘Hohe Messe’ by Johann Sebastian Bach in Naarden grew into an institution of Dutch musical life. He continued to conduct these concerts until just before his death.

Compositions
Nevertheless, he believed composing was the most important expression of his musical talent. He wrote more than a 100 works, extensive compositions for orchestra, choir and orchestra, songs, organ works and chamber music.

In the musical language of Anthon van der Horst, an eight tone scale plays an important role, the Modus conjunctus, which was employed for the first time in the ‘Suite in modo conjunctio‘ (1943). Van der Horst’s interest for organ constrcution and contemporary experiments in the area of acoustics and physics of music made him obviously interested in the ideas of Adriaan Fokker and his 31-tone organ (‘Suite voor 31-toonsorgel‘, 1953).

Awards
In 1919, Van der Horst received the Prix d’Excellence for organ, as the first in the Netherlands to do so. For his merit as interpreter and expert on liturgical music of Bach, the University of Groningen gave him an honorary doctorate in theology in 1948. Two years later, he was appointed Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau.

Gert Oost finished the biography “Anthon van der Horst 1899-1965. Leven en werk” in 1992 (Canaletto, Alphen aan den Rijn).