On Sunday, May 14, 2023, the North Drenthe chamber orchestra Divertimento, together with the North Netherlands Orchestra, is organizing a music day for violinists, violists, cellists and double bassists from Drenthe and neighboring provinces.

The music fits the theme “Mother’s Day” and is written specifically for string players. There will be played surprising works by the composers Rosy Wertheim, William Grant Still and Clara Schumann. Coaching by string players from the NNO and the whole is under the artistic direction of Kees van der Harst. Starts at 10:30 am and ends with a public concert at 4:00 pm.

Rosy Wertheim, a composer from the first half of the 20th century, one of the first Dutch women to receive professional music training.

Rosy Wertheim was socially involved, in addition to her piano lessons at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum, she also taught working-class children, conducted a children’s choir in a working-class neighborhood in Amsterdam, and the Jewish women’s choir of the Religious Socialist Association in Amsterdam. Around the age of thirty she left for Paris, where her house became a meeting place for leading Parisian composers, including Honneger, Ibert, Jolivet and Messiaen. She then settled in Vienna and then New York, returning to Amsterdam in 1937. During the Second World War, Wertheim had to go into hiding because of her Jewish origins, managed to survive, but died of cancer in 1947.

When Wertheim skewed the Lanceloet, three preludes is not exactly known, but we assume that she wrote this music in Paris. The original is for flute, violin, viola and cello. Wertheim also made a version of the piece for piano, and 2 versions for string orchestra.