Johannes Josephus Hermanus Verhulst (March 19, 1816, in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

– January 17, 1891, in The Hague) was a Dutch

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 ...

and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

. As a composer mainly of

songs A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usuall ...

and as administrator of Dutch musical life, his influence during his lifetime was considerable.

Life

As a boy, Verhulst sang in a Catholic choir; here he distinguished himself by his gift for music. In his teens, he succeeded in becoming a first violinist in the court chapel of King William I. In 1836,

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

, who was on holiday in

Scheveningen Scheveningen () is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict () of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is popular ...

, was shown an overture written by Verhulst, and took him as a pupil; he began studying with Mendelssohn in 1838.Grove, George; Fuller-Maitland, John Alexander; Pratt, Waldo Selden; Boyd, Charles Newell (1910). . The Macmillan Company. page 261. In

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Verhulst was appointed as conductor of the Euterpe orchestra, for which he wrote his ''Symphony in E minor''. King William II urged him to return to The Hague in 1842, where he dedicated himself to the writing of Dutch songs for some time. Six years later, he became the chief conductor of the Rotterdam Music Society (''Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst''). For the celebration of its fifty-year anniversary in 1854, he succeeded in engaging many prominent musicians, such as

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

. The following years would bring a number of other appointments: 1860 as conductor of concerts at the scientific society Diligentia Society in

, and 1864 at both the orchestral society Caecilia and the Felix Meritis Society 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 ...

. By accepting these positions, Verhulst had acquired a great amount of power and influence on Dutch music life. However, his conservative taste led to an increasing amount of criticism, particularly his refusal to endorse or execute performances of the music of

Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

, and most of all

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

. If orchestra directors wished to see works by these composers performed, they had to handle the organisation themselves and engage a guest conductor - and risk the wrath of Verhulst, which could be considerable. This led to a public backlash, and in 1883 Diligentia imposed Richard Hol as a substitute conductor for performances of Wagner. In 1886, Verhulst was appointed an honorary member of Diligentia on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, but the membership was revoked after less than three months. Hereupon he withdrew from his other positions and from public life.Baker, Theodore; Slonimsky, Nicolas (1900). . G. Schirmer. pages 599-600. He died in the town of Bloemendaal, aged 74.

Work

Verhulst wrote dozens of songs in the tradition of

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

and

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

, usually on texts provided by the Dutch author J. P. Heije. The textual quality of these songs is doubtful, but no-one can question the appropriateness of Verhulst's music. Key features of his works are a typical use of

chromaticism Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic scale, diatonic pitch (music), pitches and chord (music), chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. In simple terms, within each octave, diatonic music uses o ...

and long preludes and epilogues. His best songs approach the level of his idol,

. He also wrote sacred music (e.g. the (at least) 3 Masses, Opus 20, 50 and 55), chamber works including three string quartetsat least the third has been broadcast. The first two were published by Hofmeister of Leipzig as his opus 6 around 1839, according to Hofmeisters Monatsberichte, HMB 1839 p. 147 and HMB 1840 p. 19 - early 1840 receipt, so probably published 1839. The third, his opus 21 in E-flat, was published by 1845 (HMB 1845, p.82.)

IMSLP The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a subscription-based digital library of public domain, public-domain sheet music, music scores. The project use ...

has material for quartets 1 and 3. and orchestral music (several overtures, among which the ''Gijsbrecht van Aemstel overture'', and a Symphony in E minor, Opus 46). Most of his compositions stem from the time before his activities as a conductor and organiser. Robert Schumann's '' Overture, Scherzo and Finale'' is dedicated to Verhulst.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Verhulst, Johannes 1816 births 1891 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century conductors (music) Dutch classical composers Dutch conductors (music) Dutch male classical composers Dutch Romantic composers Honorary members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Dutch male conductors (music) Musicians from The Hague Pupils of Bernhard Klein String quartet composers