Eduard Van Beinum
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Eduard Alexander van Beinum (; 3 September 1900 – 13 April 1959) was a Dutch conductor.


Biography

Van Beinum was born in
Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...
,
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, where he received his first violin and piano lessons at an early age. He joined the Arnhem Orchestra as a violinist in 1918. His grandfather was conductor of a military band. His father played the double bass in the local symphony orchestra, the Arnhemse Orkest (later Het Gelders Orkest). His brother Co van Beinum was a violinist, and the two brothers performed as a violin-piano duo in concerts. As a student at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, van Beinum gained conducting experience with several concerts by amateur ensembles in Schiedam and Zutphen. He also conducted concerts by the choir of the church of St. Nicholas in Amsterdam. He took his first conducting post with the ''Zutphensche Orkest Vereeniging'' and ''Toonkunstkoor'' in Zutphen in 1925. From 1927 to 1931, van Beinum was the conductor of the Haarlem Orchestral Society.


Professional career

In 1929, van Beinum first guest-conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra. He became second conductor of the orchestra in 1931, under the supervision of
Willem Mengelberg Joseph Wilhelm Mengelberg (28 March 1871 – 21 March 1951) was a Dutch conductor, famous for his performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler and Strauss with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...
. In 1938, the orchestra named him co-principal conductor, alongside Mengelberg. During World War II, according to Kees Wisse, van Beinum "detested the Nazis and kept himself as aloof as he could." Van Beinum refused to conduct a 1943 benefit concert for the Nazis, and threatened to resign as co-principal conductor if forced to conduct that event. After World War II, Mengelberg was dismissed as principal conductor because of controversy over his (still-disputed) behavior and attitude towards the Nazi occupiers in the Netherlands. Van Beinum did receive a reprimand after the post-war de-Nazification activities, but this was not so severe as to keep him from his post with the Concertgebouw. Van Beinum remained as sole principal conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra after the war. His recordings with the Concertgebouw Orchestra remain available on the
Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...
and
Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...
labels. In 1947, van Beinum became principal conductor of the
London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...
(LPO), but left after two successful seasons. According to Michael Kennedy in his biography of Sir
Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was a British conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...
, van Beinum "was not well", which led the LPO to seek Boult as a successor to him. In general, van Beinum suffered from health problems, including a heart condition, which left him unable to conduct for much of the 1950–1951 season of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1954, van Beinum made his US guest-conducting debut with the
Philadelphia Orchestra The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscription concerts, n ...
. He took the Concertgebouw Orchestra on its first U.S. tour later in 1954. In 1956, the year of van Beinum's 25th anniversary with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, he was invested as a Grand Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau, and also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam. Outside of the Netherlands, he also served as music director of the
Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...
from 1956 to 1959. On 13 April 1959, van Beinum suffered a fatal heart attack on the Concertgebouw podium while rehearsing the orchestra for a performance of
Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...
' Symphony No. 1. He was buried in Garderen, in the
Veluwe The Veluwe () is a forest-rich ridge of hills (1100 km2; 420 sq. mi.) in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The Veluwe features many different landscapes, including woodland, heath, some small lakes and Europe's largest sand ...
region, where he maintained a residence. After his death, the Eduard van Beinum Foundation was established in 1960. The ''Openbare Basisschool Eduard Van Beinum'' in Rotterdam is named in his honour. Van Beinum was married to Sepha Jansen, a violinist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. The couple had two sons, Eduard and Bartholemeus ('Bart'), both of them musicians. In 2000, Bart van Beinum published a book about his father, ''Eduard van Beinum, over zijn leven en werk''. In 2004, Truus de Leur published her biography of van Beinum, ''Eduard van Beinum, 1900-1959 – Musicus tussen musici'' ('Eduard van Beinum, 1900-1959 – Musician among musicians'). In the course of her research, de Leur commented on her research to look for negative as well as positive aspects about van Beinum's personality: : "''Ik heb echt gezocht, ook al omdat mijn redacteuren mij waarschuwden dat het geen hagiografie mocht worden. Maar ik heb niets kunnen vinden. Over van Beinum kom je alleen maar positieve dingen tegen''." : ("I really searched, also because my editors warned me that it should not be a hagiography. But I couldn't find anything. You only come across positive things about van Beinum.")


References


External links


Robert Benson, 'Conductor Eduard van Beinum and his Recorded Legacy'. Classical CD Review, August 2001 (revised February 2005)

Dutch National Archive, search for photographs related to Eduard van Beinum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Beinum, Eduard Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra chief conductors Principal conductors of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Music directors of the Los Angeles Philharmonic 1900 births 1959 deaths Dutch male conductors (music) Musicians from Arnhem Conductors (music) who died while conducting 20th-century Dutch conductors (music) 20th-century Dutch male musicians