Henriëtte Bosmans

Henriëtte Bosmans was a Dutch pianist and composer of the early 20th century known for her songs, chamber music, and concertos. Her style initially utilized the aesthetics of the romantic era, and her later modern style embraced polytonality, the colorful harmonies of impressionism, and unexpected metric modulations. She was born in Amsterdam in 1895 and both of her parents were prominent musicians. Her mother, Sara Bosmans-Benedicts, was a piano professor at the Amsterdam Conservatory, and her father Henri was principal cellist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, but he passed away when she was nine months old. Bosmans began studying piano with her mother when she was very young, and she was likely in contact with other musicians in her mother’s circle. She became very interested in composing in her teens and studied with Jan Willem Kersbergen. After she finished her schooling, she attended the Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst in Utrecht and earned her piano teaching certificate in 1912. She taught and performed, and she composed keyboard and chamber music beginning in 1914. Her Violin Sonata from 1918 was premiered in 1919, and she quickly became very well known as both a composer and a performer. She studied instrumentation with <a href="spotify:artist:1jdE2ROxb4I509ZLW86jK2">Cornelis Dopper</a> from 1921 to 1922, which led to more expansive works like the Cello Concerto No. 1 and Poème for cello and orchestra. Her Cello Concerto No. 2 from 1923 was dedicated to her partner, cellist Frieda Belinfante, and they also performed together in the Amsterdamsch Trio with flutist Johan Feltkamp. After she studied composition with the Dutch composer <a href="spotify:artist:7ilZR3G7jelNCAOLmTkmyJ">Willem Pijper</a> in the late 1920s, her style became less romantic and more modern. Her Concertino for Piano from 1928 reflects these stylistic developments, and it was chosen for the 1929 Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Geneva, with Bosmans as the piano soloist. In 1935, her fiancé, violinist Francis Koene unexpectedly passed away just months after they announced their engagement. They were unable to get married, and the piece that she composed for Koene, Concert Piece for violin and orchestra, was premiered by Louis Zimmerman in 1935. Her grief at the loss of Koene, combined with the stifling pressure from Nazi forces, drove her to temporarily stop composing. Although her music was banned from being performed by the Nazis because she was half-Jewish, Bosmans supported herself during this time with private performances. She resumed composing in 1946, and in 1948 she became acquainted with mezzo-soprano Noémie Perugia and they became very close. Their relationship inspired Bosmans to compose several songs, and they frequently performed together. However, it was also around this time that she began suffering from stomach cancer, which was initially misdiagnosed as ulcers. In 1951, she was appointed a knight in the Dutch Order of Orange-Nassau, but by this time her cancer had progressed, and she was unable to perform or compose. Bosmans passed away in 1952 and was buried at the Zorgvlied Cemetery in Amsterdam. Her music has seen a revival since the 2010s, and has been recorded by artists such as Doris Hochscheid and <a href="spotify:artist:369p8KtUNlrC31AnPNfnxi">Mayke Rademakers</a>, and it was featured on the 2023 albums Femmes and This Island. ~ RJ Lambert, Rovi