related works
Forbidden Music Regained : Volume 4
Genre:
Unknown
Ode to happiness : for ensemble / Chiel Meijering
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
fl fg mel pf vl
Trois visions tantriques : pour harpe et quatuor de saxophones, 2006 / Carlos Micháns
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
4sax hp
Ghaf : ensemble, 2003 / Klaas de Vries
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
composition
Roemeense melodie (Hebreeuwse melodie) : Version for clarinet, cello and piano / Dick Kattenburg
Other authors:
Leo Smit Stichting
(Curator)
Kattenburg, Dick
(Composer)
Description:
Dick Kattenburg was born in Amsterdam on November 11, 1919. Composer Hugo Godron, teacher at the music school in Bussum, gave Dick his first violin lessons, and mentored him in his first steps as a composer. After high school, Dick studied at the Collège Musical Belge, a private music school in Antwerp. At the age of 17, he obtained his music theory and violin diplomas. In 1940 the war broke out. Dick succeeded in passing the Dutch state exams for violin and theory under Willem Pijper’s guidance.
Immediately following German occupation in May 1940, all sorts of laws excluded Jews from public life. Dick Kattenburg went into hiding in order to escape deportation. He continued to compose and took lessons with Leo Smit. In total, he wrote 36 compositions.
The autograph is dated 27th November 1941 and signed ‘K. van Dunsen’, an alias that he used for safety reasons. The accompanying parts for violin and cello are titled ‘Hebrew Melody’ and signed ‘Dick Kattenburg’. In Hebrew writing is added ‘Mene ha-be-ivriet’ (Hebrew Melody) as well as the composer’s Hebrew name Levi Kattenburg and the month of composition ‘Tevet’.
The autograph was found on an attic by a family member of Dick Kattenburg, together with a number of other unknown compositions. The trio was first performed in public in Amsterdam at the Uilenburg Concert Series of the Leo Smit Foundation on 17 October 2005 by Marijke van Kooten (violin), Michael Stirling (cello) and Marcel Worms (piano).
Dick Kattenburg was arrested late April, early May 1944, possibly during a raid in a movie theater. From transit camp Westerbork, he was deported to Auschwitz on 19 May 1944. He died ‘somewhere in Central Europe’ on 30 September that same year. For more information on Dick Kattenburg see www.forbiddenmusicregained.org
This trio was originally composed for violin, cello and piano, but is very suitable for ensembles with flute or clarinet. Editions for flute, cello and piano and clarinet, cello and piano were prepared with permission of Kattenburg’s heirs.