Emmy Heil Frensel-Wegener (14 June 1901 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

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

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

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

Bussum Bussum () is a commuter town and former municipality in the Gooi region in the south east of the province of North Holland in the Netherlands near Hilversum. Since 2016, Bussum has been part of the new municipality of Gooise Meren. Bussum had a ...

and then in England, then continued her studies at the Conservatory in Amsterdam where she received a degree in violin with

Felice Togni Filitz Charles Antonius "Felice" Togni (Zwolle, 3 October 1871 – Haarlem, 31 October 1929) was a Dutch violinist and violin pedagogue. Life Togni was the eldest son of Anton Albertus Felix Simonius Togni and Anna Maria Hubertina de France, ...

. She also studied composition with Sem Dresden, clarinet with

Willem Brohm Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, Gu ...

and

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...

. 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 Hendrik Franciscus Andriessen (17 September 1892 – 12 April 1981) was a Dutch composer and organist. He is remembered most of all for his improvisation at the organ and for the renewal of Catholic liturgical music in the Netherlands. Andries ...

Henk Badings Henk Badings (hĕngk bä'dĭngz) (17 January 190726 June 1987) was an Indonesian-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 Her ...

, Anthon van der Horst and

Daniel Ruyneman Daniël Ruyneman (8 August 1886 – 25 July 1963) was a Dutch composer and pianist, and inventor of the Electrophone. Career Ruyneman was born in Amsterdam and travelled to India in his early years. He took piano lessons as a child but, intended ...

, 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 (from Dutch: ''The New Guide'') 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 range of topics, extend ...

. The city of

Gorinchem Gorinchem ( ), pronunciation respelling, also spelled Gorkum, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. It had a population of in . The munici ...

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 Anserme ...

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

Concertgebouworkest The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, established in 1888 at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). It is considered one of the world's leading orchestras. It was known as the Concertgebouw Orchestra u ...

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 1 ...

. *1949: Donumus

References

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