Contemporary
In the spotlight
Life as a game
Composer Hans Osieck: a reappreciation
By: Paul Janssen | 22 November 2010 | 7:15
Translation: Hilary Staples
Around the Second World War Hans Osieck’s works were performed regularly. Now, ten years after his death, the composer seems no more than a footnote in a history book. This does not do justice to his ‘concise, smooth performance pieces’. Osieck’s playful music is meant to be listened to, to liven things up. A reappreciation of the music of a ‘homo ludens in optima forma’.
It is often through ignorance that the works of composers such as Hans Osieck have disappeared from the stage. His works are played now and then by only a few people: one of them is the pianist Frans van Ruth. As a teenager this pupil of Osieck gave the first public performance of his Piano Sonatina no. 2 (1965) and he has continued to perform the piece ever since.
It is no wonder that Osieck, who was born on 25 January 1910 in Amsterdam and died ten years ago, wrote for the piano. He was first and foremost an excellent pianist. Osieck studied in Stuttgart, Germany, where he graduated with distinction in 1934. The same year he achieved success in the Netherlands with a piano concerto. It was not long before he withdrew the concerto because he considered it an immature youth work. It did, however, attract the attention of conductor Carl Schuricht. He was very impressed by the composition and incidentally gave Osieck the most important composition lesson of his life. ‘You should be able to blow through it,’ he said when he noted that the orchestration was much heavier than the spirit of the music.
Osieck, who had studied in Germany against his will – his parents believed that music education was better abroad –, took the advice to heart. The tone of works such as Fantasie over In een blauw geruite kiel (Fantasy on In a Blue Chequered Smock, 1936), the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1943) and the Second Piano Concertino (1950) is lighter. Because of this tone Wouter Paap observed a few years later that his music was ‘of the non-problematical kind’. They are ‘concise, smooth performance pieces, aimed at the musician and virtuosically executed’. This is true, yet as usual it does the composer an injustice. The Sonata for Piano Solo (1939), for example, does in actual fact reflect the spirit of the time. Varsovie accuse for piano, written in 1946 after the destruction of Warsaw, also shows the composer’s involvement.
Nevertheless, according to Frans van Ruth, ‘ideology and intellectualism hardly played a role in his work. In his most carefree and inspired works, such as the Piano Sonatina no. 2 and the Sonatina for Oboe, Violin, Viola and Cello (1961), he is the homo ludens in optima forma.’
Osieck, who for decades was a piano teacher at the music school in Eindhoven, was often inspired by observations of his surroundings. ‘They don’t really matter anymore for the musical result, but they are nice to know,’ says van Ruth. ‘For example, the third movement of the Piano Sonatina is a proper 'jeu d’enfants'. Osieck was living temporarily in Heeze Castle when from his room he saw and heard how the daughter of the house pestered her little brother with a rather provoking tune, and how this turned into a real fight until the father appeared and ended it with a firm remark. The tune became the theme, while a free counterpoint, which is already a kind of game, depicts the children’s playing that gets out of hand.’
This uninhibited ‘musician-like spirit’ can also be found in, for example, the Acht korte Karakterschetsen (Eight Short Character Sketches) for piano four hands, which he orchestrated in 1975. These are eight short musical portraits of piano pupils with titles such as Stille wateren hebben diepe gronden (Still Waters Run Deep) and Wel goed maar niet gek (Nice but not a Fool). It is well composed music, often with a French undertone and a remarkable lightness. Music which, even in a time when everything appears hard and difficult, says that life should be fun. And even nowadays, in 2010, that message cannot be conveyed often enough.
More music?
Concert
Tuesday 7 December 2010, 12:30- 13:00
Nederlands Muziekinstituut
Location: Foyer Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Den Haag (next to Centraal Station). Free admission.
Hans Osieck (1910-2000)
- Piano Sonatina no. 2 (1965); Frans van Ruth, piano
- Sonatina for oboe, violin, viola and cello (1961); Paloma de Beer, oboe, Sjaan Oomen, violin, Hannah Strijbos, viola, Doris Hochscheid, cello
Of the above music, Music Center the Netherlands has published new editions.
Concerts
8 October 2010, Sweelinckzaal Conservatorium van Amsterdam: Frans van Ruth, piano and Doris Hochscheid, violoncello perform works by Hans Osieck
7 December 2010, Nederlands Muziek Instituut The Hague: Osieck concert.
Music Encyclopedia on Hans Osieck
Music Information Center
Sheet music library, audio, video screening and listening? By appointment at the MIC, Amsterdam.
Paul Janssen is a musicologist, music journalist and writer. He regularly writes for Dutch music periodicals such as Luister, Klassieke Zaken, Preludium and Tijdschrift Oude Muziek. He has also written 'Kofi Annan – zijn leven, zijn werk' (Kofi Annan – His Life, His Work) and '100 % passie-Klassiek' (100% Passion-Classical).
In the spotlight
Current musical events in and from the Netherlands, put in the spotlight by renowned Dutch music journalists.
