34 - Rosy Wertheim

Summary

Rosy Wertheim was one of the first Dutch women composers who completed a professional music education and gained international acclaim. Next to music, she was deeply committed to social causes. She lived in Paris for seven years, and for some time in Vienna and New York; her home was a meeting point for artists. Her compositions were performed nationally and internationally, and she worked as a correspondent for several newspapers and magazines. She was in the Netherlands when the Second World War broke out, and survived by going into hiding. She left a varied and interesting oeuvre of some 80 works.

Rosalie (Rosy) Marie Wertheim was born on 19 February 1888 into an affluent Jewish family. Her grandfather, Abraham Carel Wertheim (1832–97), was a famous philanthropist, politician (member of the Senate) and board member of numerous social and cultural organisations – the Wertheimpark in Amsterdam was named after him for his services to the city. Rosy was raised in an artistic, assimilated and religiously non-observant environment. Her father, Johannes Gustaaf Wertheim, was a banker, and her mother, Adriana Roza Enthoven, was a gifted singer, pianist and painter. Rosy and her brother Bram (Abraham Carel, born in 1889) received a thorough musical education. In her own words:

Bram and I were just nine and ten, when we constructed a glockenspiel of the various glasses from our doll-size tableware; we filled these with water to different levels to tune them. Then my brother tapped the glasses with a bone spoon and I accompanied him on the piano. My first composition was a little dance for this glockenspiel ensemble. We fantasised a lot together, devised complete operas! He sang and I played piano.

About her piano studies she said, ‘I hated practising piano and preferred improvising, but I needed harmony lessons before I could write down my ideas’. After high school, Rosy wanted to attend the School of Social Work; she felt it was her calling. However, as she explained:

My parents were strongly opposed, because they didn't want me to be confronted with unpleasant things. They sent me to a boarding school in Neuilly where I learned French perfectly, but more importantly: I had excellent piano lessons, which made me decide to proceed further with music.