Raalte, Albert van

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Raalte, Albert van

Raalte, Albert van , Dutch conductor; b. Amsterdam, May 21, 1890; d. there, Nov. 23, 1952. He studied at the Cologne Cons. with Bram Eldering (violin) and Baussnern (theory), and later in Leipzig with Nikisch and Reger. He was a theater conductor in Brussels (1911) and Leipzig (1912; 1914–15), then at the Dutch National Opera in The Hague, where he formed his own opera enterprise. He remained in the Netherlands during the German occupation. He conducted the radio orch. at Hilversum. He was sent to a concentration camp as a person with Jewish associations. After the liberation in 1945, he returned to his post at Hilversum, building the radio orch. to a high degree of efficiency.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire