Mengelberg, Willem (EN)

Mengelberg Willem, *28 March 1871 Utrecht, †22 March 1951 Zuort (Canton of Graubünden), Dutch conductor. He studied music at the Cologne Conservatory as a student of F. Wüllner (conducting), J.W Seiss (piano) and G. Jensen (composition). From 1891 to 1894 he was conductor of the Lucerne orchestra, and in 1895 he directed the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, which position he held until 1945, transforming it into one of Europe’s leading orchestras. Mengelberg worked with many foreign ensembles: from 1907 to 1920 he headed the Museumskonzerte in Frankfurt am Main, in the years 1921–1929 he conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (in the last season he shared the podium with A. Toscanini), with which he also toured. He invited B. Walter, C. Muck, P. Monteux, among others, to join his home ensemble at this time. In 1929 he returned to the Netherlands; in 1933 he created a faculty of music at the University of Utrecht. His pro-Nazi stance during the war resulted in him being banned from conducting in his homeland after 1945, so he left the Netherlands to settle permanently in Switzerland, where he remained for the rest of his life. Mengelberg’s repertoire was very wide, ranging from Vivaldi and Bach to 20th century music; he favoured the works of German composers, especially Mahler and R. Strauss. He paid tribute to Mahler, whom he had met in 1902, during the 25th-anniversary celebration of their collaboration with the Concertgebouw (1920), performing all of Mahler’s symphonies in nine concerts. He has given many world premieres of works by R. Strauss (including Ein Heldenleben [“A Hero’s Life”], 1898, dedicated to Mengelberg) and M. Reger (Konzert im alten Stil, 1912), O. Respighi (Concerto in modo misolidio, 1924), D. Milhaud (Carnaval d’Aix, 1926), Z. Kodály (Háry János — Suite, 1927), P. Hindemith (Der Schwanendreher, 1935; Violin Concerto, 1940), B. Bartók (String Quartet No. 2, 1939). He preferred Dutch music, performing works by B. Zweers, A. Diepenbrock, W. Pijper and H. Badings (Symphony No. 1, 1930; Symphony No. 3, 1935).

Literature: A. Van Den Boer De psychologische betekenis van Willem Mengelberg als dirigent, Amsterdam 1925; E.R. Sollitt Mengelberg and the Symphonic Epoch, New York 1930, the Dutch edition entitled Mengelberg spreekt, The Hague 1935; K.Ph. Bernet Kempers Mahler und Willem Mengelberg, in the report on the congress [‘Bericht über den internationalen musikwissenschaftlichen Kongress’], Vienna 1956; W. Papp Willem Mengelberg, Amsterdam 1960; R. Hardie The Recordings of Willem Mengelberg, Nashville 1972.