Mengelberg, Karel (Willem Joseph)

Mengelberg, Karel (Willem Joseph), Dutch composer and conductor, father of Misha Mengelberg and nephew of (Josef) Willem Mengelberg; b. Utrecht, July 18, 1902; d. Amsterdam, July 11, 1984. He studied with Pijper and later took a course at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. He conducted theater orchs. in provincial German towns and was a musician with Berlin Radio (1930–33); subsequently was conductor of the municipal band in Barcelona (1933); then went to Kiev, where he was in charge of the music dept. in the Ukrainian film studio. He returned to Amsterdam in 1938. In addition to his own compositions, in 1961 he completed the revision, with a simplified orchestration, of Willem Pijper’s 2^nd Sym. (Pijper’s own rev. score was destroyed during a Nazi air raid on Rotterdam in May 1940).

Works

dramatic: ballet:Bataille (1922); Parfait amour (1945). orch.: Requiem (1946); Divertimento for Small Orch. (1948); Horn Concerto (1950); Anion, symphonic sketch (1950); Serenade for Strings (1952); Suite for Small Orch. (1954); De bergen (1982). chamber: String Quartet (1938); Sonata for Solo Oboe (1939); Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Bassoon (1940); Toccata for Piano (1950); Soliloquio for Flute (1951); Ballade for Flute, Clarinet, Harp, and String Quartet (1952); Soneria, Romanza e Mazurca for Harp (1958). vocal: 3 songs from Tagore’s “The Gardener” for Soprano and Orch. (1925); Jan Hinnerik for Chorus (1950); Recitatief for Baritone, Viola da Gamba, and Harpsichord (1953); Roland Hoist, cantata for Chorus and Small Orch. (1955).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire