Emmy Heil Frensel-Wegener (14 June 1901 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

– 11 January 1973 in Laren (North Holland) was a Dutch

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

Life and career

Wegener was the daughter of composer Bertha Frensel Wegener-Koopman and American insurance agent John Frensel-Wegener. She studied at the music school in

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and then in England, then continued her studies at the Conservatory in Amsterdam where she received a degree in violin with Felice Togni. She also studied composition with

Sem Dresden Samuel "Sem" Dresden (April 20, 1881 in Amsterdam – July 30, 1957 at The Hague) was a Dutch conductor, composer, and teacher. Life Dresden was born into a Jewish diamond-broking family and initially studied musical theory with Fred Roeske and ...

, clarinet with Willem Brohm and

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe dur ...

. In 1926 Wegener married Jan Heil, but the couple divorced in 1932. In 1934 she served on the jury for the evaluation of vocal quartet a cappella compositions for the Dutch Association for Contemporary Music, along with Hendrik Andriessen,

Henk Badings Henk Badings (hĕngk bä'dĭngz) (17 January 190726 June 1987) was an Indo-Dutch composer. Early life Born in Bandung, Java, Dutch East Indies, as the son of Herman Louis Johan Badings, an officer in the Dutch East Indies army, Hendrik Herman Ba ...

Anthon van der Horst Anthon may refer to: * Anthon (given name) * Anthon (surname) * Anthon, Iowa, United States * Anthon, Isère, a ''commune'' of the Isère ''département'', in France See also *Anthon B Nilsen, Norwegian investment company * Anthon Berg, Danish ch ...

and Daniel Ruyneman, but the jury awarded no first prize, finding no "composition of exemplary meaning" among the 47 submissions. In 1935 Wegener experienced a serious illness that progressed to paralysis by 1950. She wrote at least one poem which appeared in

De Nieuwe Gids ''De Nieuwe Gids'' (meaning ''The New Guide'' in English) was a Dutch illustrated literary periodical which was published from 1885 to 1943. It played an important role in promoting the literary movement of the 1880s. Its contents covered a wide ...

. The city of

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named a street after her.

Works

Wegener composed works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, piano and voice, which ''The New Grove'' described as "in a dissonant, neo-classical style." Her works date mainly from 1925 to 1935, when illness reduced her output. Selected works include: *1925: Sonate *1925: Suite voor twee violen *1926: Hobosuite (ooit uitgevoerd door Jaap Stotijn en Gerard Hengelveld) *1927: Sonate in een deel voor cello en piano *1927: Sextet (fluit, hobo, klarinet, fagot, hoorn en piano) *1928: ''Ik zag Cecilia'' voor zangstem en begeleiding *1928: ''Gekwetst'' ben ik voor drie sopranen, twee alten, twee tenoren en twee bassen *1929: Suite voor orkest *1929: Drie stukken voor viool en piano *1929: Strijkkwartet *1929: Menuetto voor hobo en piano *1930: Rapsodie voor piano en orkest *1930: Twee stukken voor piano solo *Suite voor klarinet en piano, dat tot in Boedapest te horen is geweest *Toccata voor piano solo *1929: Dans voor klarinet en orkest, uitgevoerd in Geneve onder leiding van

Ernest Ansermet Ernest Alexandre Ansermet (; 11 November 1883 – 20 February 1969)"Ansermet, Ernest" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 435. was a Swiss conductor. Biography Ansermet ...

tijdens het ISCM *1932: Shakespeare-suite, op 7 februari 1932 uitgevoerd door het

Concertgebouworkest The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklĳk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the " ...

onder leiding van

Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in ...

. *1949: Donumus

References

Emmy Frensel Wegener
at nl.muziekencyclopedie.nl 1901 births 1973 deaths Dutch women classical composers Dutch classical composers Dutch classical violinists 20th-century classical composers Musicians from Amsterdam Conservatorium van Amsterdam alumni 20th-century classical violinists Women classical violinists 20th-century women composers {{violinist-stub