Jan Hendrik (Jan) Koert (6 November 1853, in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

– 2 February 1911, in

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

) was a Dutch-born musician, a leading solo

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 of his day in America, and

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German language, German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (UK) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (clarinet or oboe in a concert band). After the Conducting, conductor, the concertma ...

for some of the world's greatest orchestras.

Life and career

Koert was born in Rotterdam, where he studied the violin. There, in the beginning of the 1880s, he joined the Bilse Orchestra of

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

as second concertmaster. After moving to Paris, he briefly joined the

Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He was the elder brother of Nikolai Rubinstein, who founded the Moscow Conservatory. As a pianist, Rubinstein ran ...

Quintet with which he toured Europe. In June 1889, he moved to the United States where he played with the Theodore Thomas Orchestra of Chicago. The following year, he married

Moritz Moszkowski Moritz Moszkowski (23 August 18544 March 1925) was a German-Polish composer, pianist, and teacher.Selma Kronold Selma Kronold (18 August 1861 — 9 October 1920) was an American operatic soprano and pianist. Her repertoire included more than forty-five operas in three different languages. She took part in the musicals '' The Magic Melody, or Fortunnio's So ...

(1861–1921), but divorced her after ten years of married life due to their conflicting careers. Koert also played with the Seidl and Damrosch Orchestras of New York. In 1892, he began studying at the National Conservatory of Music in New York, which at the time was directed by

Antonin Dvorak Antonin may refer to: People * Antonin (name) Places ;Poland * Antonin, Jarocin County, Greater Poland Voivodeship * Antonin, Kalisz County, Greater Poland Voivodeship * Antonin, Oborniki County, Greater Poland Voivodeship * Antonin, Ostr� ...

, and playing second violin with

Adolph Brodsky Adolph Davidovich Brodsky (, ''Adolf Davidovič Brodskij''; – 22 January 1929) was a Russian violinist who later moved to the United States. He enjoyed a long and illustrious career as a performer and teacher, starting early in Vienna, going o ...

of the Brodsky String Quartet. Between 1894 and 1898, he joined the

New York Symphony Orchestra The New York Symphony Orchestra was founded as the New York Symphony Society in New York City by Leopold Damrosch in 1878. For many years it was a rival to the older Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York. It was supported by Andrew Carnegie, w ...

, and from 1900 to 1908 the violin section of 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 ...

, where he became second concertmaster in his second season, and principal viola for the remaining six seasons. He died in Atlantic City on 2 February 1911.

References

1853 births 1911 deaths Dutch classical violinists Musicians from Rotterdam 19th-century classical violinists Male classical violinists 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century Dutch male musicians 19th-century American male musicians Musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra {{Classical-musician-stub