About this work:
The summer of 2022, violinist Ursula Schoch and pianist Marcel Worms were given the score of a previously unpublished sonata for violin and piano from the hand of composer Henriëtte Bosmans. They were immediately captivated by this inspired early work of the composer. When they realised that in the course of their working together they had more often played music by female, Dutch composers, the plan arose to record all these 20th-century pieces on a CD.
Listen on:
Album Transcript:
Henriëtte Bosmans – Sonata for violin and piano (1918)
The violin sonata had lain unnoticed in the archives of the Netherlands Music Institute in The Hague for almost a century. The sonata is openly late-romantic and the relatively long opening movement in particular seems to be influenced by César Franck and his violin sonata. A feather-light Scherzo and a solemn Adagio form the prelude to the finale, in which Bosmans’ lessons in counterpoint are audibly put into practice: a cautiously deployed fugue serves as the introduction to an exhuberant conclusion of the sonata.
Agnes Jama – Suite for violin and piano (1952)
Pianist and composer Agnes Jama was open to music from all cultures, but in her own music the Slavic influence is particularly strong. That influence is understandable: she was born in Dürnstein an der Donau in the former Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy, and her father was the well-known Slovenian painter Matija Jama. In her twenties, by then residing in The Hague, she received the Dutch nationality. Her Suite for violin and piano was premiered by violinist Theo Olof and pianist Luctor Ponse and brought her the prestigious Johan Wagenaar Prize.
Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman – Sonata for violin and piano (1923)
The 1923 Sonate pour violon et piano was written in a period when Bordewijk-Roepman (wife of writer Ferdinand Bordewijk) was still actively experimenting. The sonata became a solid piece, with both earnest depth and humour.
Majoie Hajary – Serenade and Tango
For this CD, we will for convenience consider pianist and composer Majoie Hajary to be Dutch. She was born in Paramaribo, at that time the capital of the Dutch colony of Suriname. At a young age she came to the Netherlands to study piano with Willem Andriessen at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where she was the first Surinamese student. In her piano recitals she played mostly her own work. In it, a connection can be heard between classical music and jazz, and with the multi-coloured music of Suriname. This cross-over we hear clearly in the two short compositions on this CD, a Serenade and a Tango.
Rosy Wertheim – Sonata for violin and piano (1931)
Rosy Wertheim’s violin sonata has a traditional three-movement structure, but musically it has a more modern feel. The French influences (especially those of Debussy and Ravel) are unmistakable, in particular in the harmonies used. This is not surprising: Rosy Wertheim was living in Paris at the time, where her house quickly became a meeting place for composers and performing musicians. Lyricism and poetry are paramount, but especially in the last movement, the rhythmic element is prominent.
Meet the artists:
Jakko van der Heijden
Producer
