Coenen, Frans

views updated

Coenen, Frans

Coenen, Frans, Dutch violinist, pedagogue, and composer, brother of Willem Coenen; b. Rotterdam, Dec. 26, 1826; d. Leiden, Jan. 24, 1904. After making his public debut as a violinist in 1838, he studied with Molique in Stuttgart (1840–42) and Vieuxtemps in Brussels (1842–3). He then taught violin in Rotterdam. Following a major tour of the U.S. (1848–50), he toured Mexico, Venezuela, and the West Indies with Henri Herz. From 1851 to 1854 he toured South America with Ernst Lübeck. He then went to Amsterdam, where he founded his own string quartet in 1856; he also played in orchs. and in 1871 became director of the choral societies Amstel Mannenkoor and Vereeniging tot Beoefening van Oude Muziek. In 1877 he remained director of the latter until his retirement in 1895. He composed a Sym., chamber music, piano pieces, including popular mazurkas in a salon style, two oratorios, choral works, and songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire