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Journal of the 

Department of Music 

Tydskrif van die 

Departement Musiek 

CONTENTS INHOUD 

Editorial/Redaksioneel 

Chronicles/Kronieke 

Of violins, violas and others (2) Rupert Mayr 

Music prize and bursary winners during 2001/ 

Musiekprys- en beurswenners gedurende 2001 

Die Vierde Unisa Internasionale Strykerskompetisie Stefans Grové 

Twenty years of International Music Competitions at Unisa John Roos 

Music Examinations/Musiekeksamens 

Die 2001 Unisa Suid-Afrikaanse Musiekstudiebeurskompetisie 

The 2001 Unisa Overseas Music Scholarship Competition 

Hennie Joubert Merietepryse/Merit Prizes 2001 

Roll of Honour of Outstanding Achievers 2001/ 

Ererol van Uitblinkers 2001 

Merit certificates to Music Teachers 2001/ 

Merietesertifikate aan Musiekonderwysers 2001 

Candidates who obtained the Unisa Licentiate in Music in 2001/ 

Kandidate wat die Unisa Lisensiaat in Musiek in 2001 verwerf het 

Teaching Aspects/Onderwysaspekte 

Volume 30.1 2002 

Piano Questions (11)/Klaviervrae (11) Joseph Stanford 90 

Gedagtes oor die skryf van melodieë Paul Loeb van Zuilenburg 95 

Slow practising: techniques, processes and 

strategies 

Graham Fitch 107 

3 

5 

45 

54 

56 

59 

67 

74 

79 

87 

89 

1

Personalia 

Profile: Unisa Music Examiner (21) Diane Coutts 

Ricordare XXX Joubero Malherbe 

Michael Blake 50 

Miriam Makeba 70 

Stephanus Muller 

Mimi Coertse 70 Riek van Rensburg 

Lloyd Strauss-Smith 80 Barry Smith 

Virginia Fortescue 80 André Serfontein 

Hubert du Plessis 80 Edward Aitchison 

Stefans Grové 80 Henk Temmingh 

Jan Bouws 100 Reino Ottermann 

Victor Hely-Hutchinson 100 John Hely-Hutchinson 

In memoriam 

Margaretha Johanna Visser Herbst (20.10.1910–28 .7.2001) Ian Smith 

Yonty Solomon 

Artimisio Paganini (25.3.1926–28.9.2001) Celia Woodland 

Roelof Willem Temmingh (18.4.1913–8.10.2001) Albert Troskie 

Reviews/Resensies 

New music publications/Nuwe musiekpublikasies Johann Potgieter 

CD reviews/CD-resensies Stefans Grové 

Original composition/Oorspronklike komposisie 

Twee preludes vir klavier Ben Schoeman 

2 

112 

116 

119 

127 

129 

131 

133 

137 

139 

140 

142 

149 

152 

153 

155 

168 

173

Editorial Redaksioneel 

While I was working on this edition of Musicus we 

had the privilege of listening to many talented violinists 

and cellists from all over the world who were 

taking part in the 4th Unisa International String 

Competition at the Old Mutual Hall in Pretoria. 

These young artists enhanced our lives by playing a 

grand selection from the standard repertoire, interesting 

lesser-known works as well as specially 

commissioned South African works. Four South African 

composers created these compositions: for 

violin Harvest Moon Eclogues No.1 (Bongani 

Ndodana) and Tarantula (Thomas Rajna), and for 

cello Concert Piece (Alan Stephenson) and I Can 

hear a Swan Sing (Jaco van der Merwe). 

As usual this issue is primarily devoted to the various 

prize winners of competitions hosted by Unisa 

as well as others institutions/organisations. We congratulate 

them on their success and wish them well 

for the future. 

Rupert Mayr continues his series ‘Of violins and 

others’, Graham Fitch expresses his views on slow 

practising, Joseph Stanford answers piano questions 

and Paul Loeb van Zuilenburg pens his ideas about 

melody writing. 

In the Personalia section tribute is paid to prominent 

South African music personalties – past and 

present: composers, Victor Hely-Hutchinson, Stefans 

Grové, Hubert du Plessis, Michael Blake; musicologist, 

Jan Bouws; singers, Lloyd Strauss-Smith, 

Miriam Makeba, Mimi Coertse and pianist Virginia 

Fortescue. Over many decades they have enriched 

the musical heritage of the country immensely with 

their diverse talents. 

Die Unisa Internasionale Musiekkompetisies is 

vanjaar 20 jaar oud. John Roos skryf oor hierdie 

gebeurtenis en interessantheidshalwe word al die 

foto’s van die vorige wenners ook gepubliseer. 

Stefans Grové resenseer nuwe CD’s met ’n Suid- 

Afrikaanse konnotasie. Die oorspronklike 

komposisie wat geplaas word, is Twee Preludes vir 

Klavier deur Ben Schoeman, ‘n eerstejaar 

musiekstudent aan die Universiteit van Pretoria. 

The following musicians were born 100 years ago: 

• French composer and organist Maurice Duruflé 

was born in Louviers on 11 January 1902 and 

died in Paris on 16 June1986. 

• English composer Sir William Walton was born 

in Oldham on 29 March 1902 and died in Ischia 

on 8 March1983. 

• Italian conductor Mario Rossi was born in Rome 

on 29 March 1902. 

3

• Austrian conductor Joseph Krips was born in 

Vienna on 8 April 1902 and died in Geneva on 

13 October 1974. 

Twenty five years ago: 

• Pierre Boulez leaves his post as Music Director 

of the New York Philharmonic to become Director 

of the Institut de Recherche et de Coordination 

Acoustique/Music (IRCAM) in Paris on 30 

May 1977. 

4 

• American singer Elvis Presley was born in East 

Tupelo, MS on 9 January 1935 and died in Memphis 

on 16 August 1977. 

Geniet die uitgawe! 

Enjoy this issue!

Chronicles Kronieke 

Of violins, violas and others 

Aspects of scoring in the symphonic 

works of the Great Masters (part 2) 

The Symphonies of Beethoven (1) 

Rupert Mayr 

For most of the eighteenth century, orchestral scoring continued along lines established during the late 

Baroque and early Classical Eras. Concurrent with the development of classical forms, strings assumed a 

leading position, with competition in woodwind instruments arising only later. For a long time, composers 

still needed to adjust their scores to available sources rather than follow their own preferences. Thus it was 

only late in the eighteenth century that scoring technique began to consider and utilise sound qualities 

specific to the various instruments and instrumental combinations. Once again, as in the days of Monteverdi, 

operatic demands facilitated experiments and innovations. The sound of cymbals, triangle and side-drum in 

Mozart’s Il Seraglio, for example, immediately suggests an Oriental background. While trombones accompanying 

the Commander’s voice in the Cemetery Scene from Don Giovanni enhance the ghostly atmosphere, 

the simple duet of clarinets in Cosi fan tutte amusingly portrays the naïvety of the two sisters. Such 

effects, however, are not restricted to opera but abound in Haydn’s Oratorios, where specific instrumental 

combinations portray the various scenes as, for example, a group of lower strings which accompany the 

blessing of fish and birds. (Example 1.) 

Example 1: J Haydn – Extract from the Creation No. 16 

5

Perfectly fitting the particular occasion, a scoring of this type also reflects the growing interest composers 

took in exploring the full potential of the string section. Still avoiding risky excursions into higher positions, 

initial attention focused on the lower register of the available spectrum. The separation of cello and 

double-bass, as witnessed in the later symphonies of Joseph Haydn, merely paved the way for other, farreaching 

changes Beethoven introduced in his symphonies each of which not only presents a unique solution 

to aspects of form and style but an equally individual approach to orchestral sound. Disregarding a 

degree of idiomatic affinity to Mozart and Haydn, even his early symphonies display such idiosyncrasies as 

a liking for powerful sounds, off-beat sforzandos or sudden changes of mood. At times, technical demands 

are considerably increased as in this passage from the Finale of Symphony No. 2 which, though not difficult 

to finger, requires a firm control of bowing movements. (Example 2.) 

Example 2: Beethoven – Symphony No. 2, fourth movement, bars 289 to 294 

Equally demanding is the transparent interaction of different lines in the Finale from Symphony no l which 

needs secure and precise timing. (Example 3.) 

Example 3: Beethoven – Symphony no l, fourth movement, bars 270 to 284 

6

New ideas show in many details. In the introductory bars of Symphony No. 1, for example, strings are limited to 

pizzicato chords, while an ensemble of wind instruments secures continuity of sound. (Example 4.) 

Example 4: Beethoven: Symphony No. 1, first movement, bars 1 to 5 

The prominence given to wind instruments in those few bars, continues throughout the work and foreshadows 

the role wind instruments were to play as an integral part of the compositional texture. Often they 

echo strings as, for example, in bars 8 to 12 from the same movement. (Example 5.) 

Example 5: Beethoven – Symphony No. 1, first movement, bars 9 to 12 

7

Combinations of this kind are a favourite device to achieve contrast of sound. They recur also in later works 

as, for example, in the Finale from Symphony No. 3, with woodwinds echoing the strings in their statement 

of the first main theme, and as in the Finale from Symphony No. 5, where accelerating echoes by wind 

instruments facilitate the change from Allegro to Presto. Placed on off-beats they help to confirm an 

important cadence point or increase expectation as in this extract from Symphony No. 2. (Example 6.) 

Example 6: Beethoven, Symphony No. 2, first movement, bars 96 to 101 

More important than mere echo affects are colour changes within thematically important lines. Occasionally 

used by Mozart, they are a favourite device of Beethoven’s and, among his early works, underlie the 

subsidiary subject of the first movement from Symphony No. 1 (bars 53ff) (Example 7) and the transition 

theme of the second movement from Symphony No. 2 (bars 32ff), in both instances their individual phrases 

being shared by woodwinds and strings. 


8

Scoring of this nature culminates in the Scherzo from the same work where sounds differ from bar to bar. 

(Example 8.) 

Example 8: Beethoven – Symphony No. 2, Scherzo, bars 1 to 16 

9

Changes of colour often coincide with changes of range. This method is particularly favoured within development 

sections when a single motif migrates from instrument to instrument, usually in an upwards progression. 

(Example 9.) 


Woodwind instruments, often together with horns, also play a major role in passages of greater length and, 

apart from adding extra colour to the overall texture, participate in presenting and developing thematic 

material. In the first movement from Symphony No. 2, for example, woodwinds introduce the fore-phrase 

of the subsidiary subject, the after-phrase of which is then taken up by strings. (Example 10.) 


10

A similar scoring also underlies the subsidiary subjects of Symphonies Nos 3 and 4. At this stage it is 

important to note, however, that in both instances clearly phrased periodic themes (often referred to as 

‘second subjects’) are preceded by other thematic material already on the new tonal level, but immediately 

undergoing further development. 

Symphony No. 3 

Together with other innovations, structural changes of this kind make Symphony No. 3 an important landmark 

in Beethoven’s symphonic oeuvre. This symphony also marks a major step in orchestral scoring with 

wind instruments gaining increasing prominence. Woodwinds, whether as a group or in solo passages, 

frequently add special colour to the ensemble, often enriching the upper range. They also have their share 

in introducing and developing thematic material as, for example, early in the first movement, where flute, 

clarinet and horn continue the gradual unfolding of the main subject, started in the cellos. (Example 11.) 


Following trends mentioned earlier, woodwinds alternating with strings also present the transition subject. 

A most striking and colourful innovation, however, is the combination of flutes, oboes, bassoons and strings 

used for the new subject entering at the climax of the development. (Example 12.) 

11


Woodwinds hold an equally prominent position in the second movement by either repeating entire thematic 

phrases (bars 8–16 and 37–56) or by introducing new melodic lines over a gentle string accompaniment 

(bars 69–75). In both instances their sound quality introduces a colour which strongly contrasts with 

that of the strings. While flute passages inevitably brighten and/or soften an existing sound, melodic lines 

played by the oboe illustrate the ability of that instrument to change its character according to circumstances, 

at its first entry in bar 8, it continues the subdued, mournful mood of the preceding string passage. 

In bar 69, as the music changes into the major mode, its sound is equally suitable to introduce a brighter 

tone. In the early stages of the Scherzo it is also the clear sound of oboe (played staccato) and flute rather 

than that of first violins which draws attention to the new theme. Wind instruments, led by the first oboe, 

also introduce the second main theme of the Finale, the individual halves of which are then repeated by the 

strings. They retain considerable prominence throughout the movement by adding counter-motives or 

thematic fragments to the polyphonic texture. A particularly interesting passage begins in bar 175 where 

the first flute joins the strings in their harmonically varied statement of the second main theme. From bar 

183 onwards, initially supported only by oboes and first violins, it assumes total prominence, freely con- 

12

tinuing the same phrase before eventually ending in almost cadenza-like figurations. (Example 13.) 


The prominence woodwind instruments enjoy throughout the symphony has a parallel in the growing 

importance of brass instruments. Horns, in particular, form part of the compositional plan for the entire 

symphony, a choice that may well have been influenced by their historic connection to ‘heroic’ figures and 

legends. Equally important, however, is the triadic structure of several important themes which renders 

them ideally suitable for the natural range of trumpets and horns. The ‘dissonant’ horn entry in bars 394/5 of 

the first movement which anticipates the capitulation, is followed, only a few bars later, by a longer solo by 

the first horn, now changed to a ‘Horn in F’. Horns also open the closing portion of the Coda to announce 

the ‘final’ and complete version of the triadic theme, later to be repeated by trumpets. Beethoven’s 

careful attention to detail also shows in the second movement where first and second horn change their 

13

fundamental to C. This allows them, together with trumpets, to add their power to the C-major climax at 

bars 96 to101. The third horn, however, remains in E Flat to support the clarinets at the entry of the fugue 

subject in bar 135, a support all the more important as the entry has to compete with counter-lines in the 

strings. (Example 14.) 

Example 14: Beethoven – Symphony No.3, second movement, bars 135 to 140 

Following the practice of the preceding symphonies, wind instruments dominate the Trio. At this point the 

inclusion of a third horn finds its ultimate justification as its presence is essential to musical material 

surprisingly close to traditional hunting fanfares. (Example 15.) 

Example 15: Beethoven – Symphony No. 3, Trio, bars 167 to 176 (horns only) 

With wind instruments being actively involved throughout the Finale, it is hardly surprising that a wind 

ensemble also opens the Andante. Yet once again it is left to the horn – though combined with clarinets, 

14

assoons and lower strings – to lend emphatic support to the final statement of the ‘Prometheus Theme’ 

which brings the movement to its ultimate climax. 

Far-reaching changes also occur in the scoring for strings, technical demands on which are considerably 

increased. Quick scales, triadic and other figuration patterns, wide jumps, articulation ranging from staccato 

to extended legatos and an equally wide dynamic range with frequent sforzati and other abrupt contrasts 

abound in practically all parts of the score and require a high degree of agility. 

The separation of cello and bass, started in Haydn’s last symphonies, assumes greater importance from 

Symphony No. 2 onwards. Here, departing from long-established practice, the principal subject of the first 

movement enters in cellos and violas with upper strings merely providing a simple accompaniment. The 

opening bars of Symphony No. 3 go one step further when the cellos introduce the first statement of the 

main subject. At the same time, the separation of the two parts results in a new awareness for the unique 

sound produced by powerful entries of the double-basses. Once again it is in Symphony No. 2 where this 

effect is utilised for the first time: in bars 198 to 203 of the second movement ‘forte’ and ‘sforzato’ doublebass 

entries drastically change the hitherto lyrical mood. (Example 16.) 

Example 16: Beethoven – Symphony No. 2, second movement, bars 197 to 207 

15

In the fugato section of the slow movement from Symphony No. 3, double-basses suddenly joining the 

strings in bar 126 strongly support the entry of the fourth voice. Later in the movement, double-basses and 

cellos produce a most powerful effect in their sudden fortissimo entry in bar 158. Its impact is all the 

greater as it follows a ‘sotto voce’ passage terminating on a single note. (Example 17.) 


In Beethoven’s time the range of the double-bass never went below the low ‘E’. Occasional references, in 

early scores, to notes below this compass are purely erroneous as the composer was fully aware of the 

existing limitations which he carefully observed. However, in bars 557 to 562 of the first movement, the 

sound of low notes is essential to the effect of the stepwise descending major chords on D Flat and C 

respectively. To solve the problem, Beethoven uses a device well known to organists as the ‘acoustic 16foot’, 

which utilises the ‘difference tone’ emerging from any simultaneously played fifths in a lower range. 

(Example 18.) 

Example 18: Beethoven – Symphony No. 3, first movement, bars 557 to 565 (strings only) 

16

It is, however, the entire ensemble of strings which substantially contributes to the intensification of sound 

needed to accommodate the equally intensified emotional language. To this end the scoring relies on: 

(1) An altogether higher dynamic level with extended fortissimo passages and sforzati, often on off-beats. 

(2) Increased use of higher positions in the parts for first and second violins to utilise the bright sound 

produced by the ‘e-string’. 

(3) Multiple stops, especially at points of climax. 

(4) Compositionally motivated, single-beat units allowing for powerful down-bows in fairly quick succession. 

(5) Contrapuntal textures to increase ‘density’ of sound. 

(6) Tremolos in various speeds and contexts. 

Tremolos, well known as an operatic device, originally entered symphonic music to create a rich, harmonic 

background to other musical events. At first they merely shortened the time values of slower moving 

accompaniment patterns but, especially in some of Mozart’s later symphonies, also helped to intensify the 

brilliance of chordal or scalar unisono runs moving towards a cadential point. Adding tremolos to harmonic 

progression of a more complex nature, not only increases drive and tension but also allows for a degree of 

dynamic variation. Particularly effective in this respect, is the extended crescendo towards the end of the 

development (bars 334–366) where an originally syncopated accompaniment pattern in the upper strings 

changes into a tremolo that gradually increases its dynamic level from piano to fortissimo. The passage is 

all the more interesting as most of the thematic development takes place in the wind section, an internal 

balance that, by totally inverting the old tradition, exemplifies Beethoven’s drastically innovative approach 

to orchestral sounds. (Example 19.) 


17

Equally interesting is the prolonged diminuendo immediately following the point of climax. Once again, 

wind instruments dominate the scene with strings merely answering the repeated chords and eventually 

abandoning motivic figuration in favour of single pizzicatos and gentle tremolos to prepare for the recapitulation. 

Most tremolos use semiquavers. Occasionally, however, the score refers to demisemiquavers as, for example, 

in the scalar and triadic runs of the Presto section at the end of the symphony. Six-duplet 

demisemiquaver tremolos occur in bars 76/77 and 98/99 of the second movement. At their first entry they 

merely increase the effect of a powerful fortissimo preceded by only a short crescendo. At their second 

entry, however, they follow an extended build-up, doubling the speed of an established triplet-semiquaver 

pattern. The combination of fast tremolos, multiple stops and upper strings placed in a high position adds 

great brilliance to the powerful sound of the full wind ensemble and results in one of the major climaxes of 

the entire symphony. (Example 20.) 

18

Example 20: Beethoven – Symphony No. 3, second movement, bars 94 to 104 (strings only) 

Sounds of a totally different nature are produced by the quickly moving pianissimo and staccato progressions 

that occupy a large portion of the Scherzo. The particular effect of this passage includes a slight but 

inevitable degree of mechanical noise. (Example 21.) 

Example 21: Beethoven – Symphony No. 3, third movement, bars 1 to 9 (strings only) 

One of the most important innovations, however, is the systematic use of sound qualities specific to the 

lower strings of the violins as in the ‘Marcia Funebre’. Marked ‘sotto voce’, using open strings in first and 

second violins, and short up-beat runs in the basses, the first few bars create a pale, almost expressionless 

colour. (Example 22a.) 

19

Example 22a: Beethoven – Symphony No. 3, second movement, bars 1 to 8 

At the beginning of the second phrase, legato bowing and an increased dynamic level result in the rich and 

intense sound usually associated with ‘sul g’ indications. With the gradual move into a higher range, dark 

sounds give way to the brighter colour of the upper strings. (Example 22b.) 

Example 22b: Beethoven – Symphony No. 3, second movement, bars 17 to 26 

20

The significance of this scoring can hardly be overestimated. Over and above a general trend that merely 

reflects the sound consciousness typical of the newly emerging romantic era, it introduces a compositional 

process that no longer considers musical substance an abstract material to be ‘orchestrated’ but rather a 

congruous unit, conceived, from its very beginning, on the basis of its sound. 


Compared with the revolutionary spirit permeating Symphony No. 3, Symphony No. 4 returns to principles 

of a classical nature. Its language is lyrical rather than heroic–emotional and its scoring favours bright and 

transparent textures rather than heavy blocks of sound. In many respects, the work stands close to the spirit 

of Haydn. Apart from the similarity of its slow introduction to that of Haydn’s Clock Symphony, it also 

displays a touch of Haydnesque humour such as the sudden change from a serious to a light-hearted mood 

at the opening of the first movement, the playful lingering on but a few notes to introduce modulatory 

passages, the restless drive of the last movement and, in particular, the unexpected stops delaying the final 

chords. Reminiscences of this kind, however, never detract from the prominence of all the other features 

commonly associated with Beethoven’s personal idiom. Even though suggesting a return to ‘pre-Eroica’ 

transparency, the scoring abounds in new ideas and combinations. Once again, specific sound qualities play 

a major role. In the Adagio introduction, for example, wind instruments alternate between sustained and 

short pianissimo notes, an effect that has its parallel in the changes between pizzicato and legato bowing in 

the string section. In addition, systematic use is made of differences in texture and range with the dark 

sound of lower strings finding opposition in the brighter colour created by high-pitched flute and other 

wind instruments. Moreover, the short, floating sounds, interrupted by moments of silence create a sensation 

of wide-open space that is further enhanced by low-range entries of celli and double-basses in bars 9/ 

10 and 21/22. (Example 23.) 

Example 23: Beethoven – Symphony No. 4, slow introduction, bars 1 to 17 

21

Contrasts of this kind appear in various places. Early in the development of the first movement, for example, 

predominantly bright colours briefly give way to a low-pitched pianissimo ‘interlude’ by first violins 

and cellos (bars 203–213). Later, the same material underlies one of the most innovative passages of the 

movement where a diminished seventh chord shared by first and second violins (bars 269–276), leads into 

an extended and nearly static section (bars 277–331) that eventually terminates with the powerful entry of 

the recapitulation. Beginning in bar 294 a single melodic line, passed on from violins/violas to cellos, 

descends over more than four octaves before ascending into an arpeggiated and sustained harmony, a 

scoring that introduces a typically pianistic device into orchestral idiom. (Example 24.) 


22

An enharmonic change in bar 302 followed by a progression into an inversion 6/4 chord then leads into an 

extended passage, the effect of which relies particularly on the prolonged drum-roll supporting the gradual 

build-up from a ‘sempre pianissimo’ to the bright fortissimo at the return of the B Flat harmony. 1 

Pianistically influenced figures are equally obvious in the Adagio where innovative scoring reaches particular 

heights. To counteract the slow pace of the melodic progressions, two differently shaped short-phrased 

accompaniment patterns provide rhythmic continuity and harmonic background. Owing to its strictly retained 

dotted rhythm, the first pattern also serves as a unifying element of major importance.(Example 

25a.) 


The second pattern opens with widely swinging ‘pianistic’ arpeggios by violins, violas and cellos which, 

together with offbeat accentuated chords in wind instruments, create a rich and sonorous sound ideally 

suited to support the modulatory after phrase leading to the Dominant. (Example 25b.) 


23

The passage closes with the first violins dissolving a basically simple melody into a richly embroidered line 

that subsequently continues in second violins and lower strings, at the same time changing from legato to 

staccato bowing. (Example 25c.) 

Example 25c: Beethoven – Symphony No. 4, second movement, bars 21 to 24 

Even though both the modulation to the dominant key and the entry of a new melodic phrase in the 

clarinet imply the start of a subsidiary section, the modulatory effect is considerably weakened by an 

24

arpeggiated diminished seventh chord immediately following the point of cadence and a harmonic vagueness 

prevailing throughout the clarinet solo. The clarinet, in its progressions towards a second cadence 

point is accompanied by strings and bassoons which are later joined by the full woodwind ensemble and the 

horns. The crescendo effect of this passage rests not only on individually increased dynamics but also on a 

scoring for strings that gradually changes from single pizzicato notes to bowed staccato and an eventual 

legato. Equally important is the change from an initial three-part texture to the rich and full harmonies of 

the closing bars. (Example 25d.) 

Example 25d: Beethoven – Symphony No. 4, second movement, bars 25 to 34 

25

Richly ornamented lines migrating from cellos to violins not only counterbalance the harmonic simplicity 

of the next few bars but also prepare for the return of the main theme in bar 42, now embroidered in the 

manner of traditional variation technique. Progressions are interrupted, however, by a development-like 

insert which begins with a move into darker regions the impact of which rests equally much on a sudden 

change of mode as on the heavy accents emphasising the stepwise descending progression. To achieve a 

high intensity of sound, tremolos, including initial octave jumps, are added to violas, cellos and eventually 

also to violins. If not erroneous, a division in bar 53/54 extending the double-basses beyond their normal 

compass, is an adjustment from later times. (Example 26.) 


First and second violins then lead into a free and colourful passage with pianissimo strings accompanying a 

sequence of solos by high-pitched bassoon, clarinet, double-basses and a final combination of two horns and 

timpani which prepares for the return of the main theme. (Example 33.) 

26


The richly ornamented lines first introduced in bar 34 return in bar 89, closing the recapitulation. However, 

they depart from the model of the exposition, however, and continue for three more bars, though in 

a downward direction and over a static harmonic basis. This not only results in an arch-like symmetry, but 

also allows for a quite unique scoring that, in addition to inevitable changes of instrumental colour also 

utilises the spatial effect created by the interaction of differently placed instrumental groups. (Example 

27.) 


27

After a short reference to the main theme, figurative play continues with a hoquetus-like succession of 

horn, violin, clarinet and flute that terminates in a great climax by the full orchestra. A short drum solo 

finally prepares for the closing chords. 

Throughout the Scherzo, wind instruments occupy an important position by frequently alternating with 

strings and/or participating in the development of short motifs. Once again, they dominate the Trio. 

Owing to their flexibility, strings hold the leading position in the final ‘moto perpetuo’. The quick pace, in 

turn, substantially increases demands on intonation, agility and precision of ensemble, particularly in unisono 

passages that also involve the lower strings. Wind instruments, nevertheless, play an important role by 

adding complimentary phrases, introducing episodic material and providing harmonic background. In addition 

and following common practice, bassoons occasionally double the bass-line. Throughout the movement, 

the score pays careful attention to string-specific aspects affecting the actual sound. In bar 12, for 

example, initial detached bowing, essential for precise semiquaver figurations, gives way to legato phrasing 

to achieve the gentle sound associated with the lyrical mood of the newly entering melodic line in first 

violins and woodwinds. Colour contrasts, coupled to contrasts in range, once again appear in various places 

of the movement. The dark sounds produced by strings in bars 66 to 69, for example, find immediate 

contrast in the bright and high-pitched sounds of the ensuing bars.(Example 28.) 


28

At the return of the same passage in bars 243 to 251, a ‘sul G’ instruction on top of the fist violins secures 

a similar affect even though the higher range would no longer necessitate the use of the G string. Similar 

attention to detail also shows in bars 120 to 131. Detached bowing prevailing from the end of the exposition 

up to bar 119, gives way, in bar 120 to legato bowing which continues up to bar 126. In bars 127 and 

129 to 130, concurrent with the appearance of a motif associated with the semiquaver runs, legato phrasing 

changes into staccato to avoid a premature return to energetic bowing. (Example 29.) 


Several innovations introduced in this symphony provide the basis for further development especially in 

Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6. Even though chains of melodic ornamentation were a well-known device of 

variation technique, they usually affected only the first violins. In Symphony No. 4, however, their range is 

expanded into the domain of lower string instruments. It is also in this region, where they reappear in the 

variation movement of Symphony No. 5. Slowly moving figurative string passages also dominate the slow 

movement from Symphony No. 6 where they are essential to the ‘pastoral’ character of the work. In turn, 

the colouristic effects in the same work have their origin in the solo passages especially for flute, clarinet 

and bassoon that figure so prominently in the second movement from Symphony No. 4. One of the most 

important innovations, however, is the increased use of the drums that not only follows earlier experiments 

in Symphony No. 1 but foreshadows the ever-growing role drum -passages were to play in future symphonies. 


Symphony No. 5, is undoubtedly the most classical and strictly structured of all the symphonies, its individual 

movements tied together by a pronounced rhythmic pattern that reappears throughout the work. In 

addition, special relationships exist between first and third and second and fourth movement. Side by side 

with aspects of form, the work is equally important as a perfect example of an emotional curve often 

considered typical of Beethoven’s defiant attitude towards the tragedy of his personal life. It was probably 

also in this connection that popular commentators developed a rather stereotyped and unfortunate pattern 

to explain practically any symphonic work as a symbol of some heroic struggle eventually finding triumph 

and success. 

On account of its thematic importance in the cyclic plan of the symphony, the first movement in particular 

required utmost clarity of scoring: hence a more frequent use of unisono or unisono-like passages and for 

most of the time a transparent texture, occasionally condensed into two energetically stated main lines 

(see bars179–195 and 398–439). 

29

Owing to the characteristic shape of its opening motif, the main theme of the first movement dominates 

the musical scene and secures clarity of structural events. Unisono statements at the beginning of the 

movement change into simple heterophony at the start of the recapitulation (bars 248–252) as well as in 

the Coda (bars 478–481) where first flute and oboe, horns, trumpets and timpani do not participate in the 

falling thirds. This change secures the powerful input of the drum and at the time compensates for the 

inability of horns and trumpets to participate fully in the second of the falling thirds. Except for the horn 

‘signal’ in bars 59 to 62 and some solo utterances by woodwinds, strings introduce and develop most of the 

thematic material. With crescendo passages being an integral part of the overall design, scoring pays 

careful attention even to smaller details in order to achieve the desired effect. In the passage preparing for 

the subsidiary theme, for example, second violins double the first violins at the lower octave from bar 48 

to bar 56 and finally join them in their double-octaves. A series of drum beats provides additional strength. 

An even more elaborate scoring underlies the continuous crescendo in bars 83 to 93 where, to counterpoise 

the drag of ever longer legato phrases, first violins are joined by second violins and high-pitched 

cellos, the latter contributing the rich tone specific to their first string. Once the fortissimo is reached and 

the music changes its character (bar 94), cellos resume their normal position and second violins join first 

violins at the same level. In bar 101, and again to retain the desired fortissimo, clarinets briefly support the 

violins over the length of their legato phrase. (Example 30.) 


30

Wind instruments assume greater importance in the development section where they collaborate with strings 

to create regular symmetrical phrases. Beginning at bar 195 collaboration changes into opposition, with 

different bodies of sound alternating with one another in a pattern which at first still suggests a definite 

phrasing but later restricts itself to single chords. This scoring, incidentally, follows lines first introduced at 

the end of the development in the first movement of Symphony No. 3 (bars 366ff). (Example 31.) 


31

Disregarding occasional opposition of this nature, the almost monomotivic structure of the movement has 

its parallel in an underlying uniformity of scoring that favours the brilliant sounds produced by high-pitched 

flutes, oboes, violins and trumpets. 

The second movement, by contrast, introduces two fundamentally different ideas: 

(1) A regularly phrased main theme which quietly encircles its central notes, and 

(2) An ascending progression successively placed on tonic and mediant level .2 

To portray the polarity of thought, basic scoring either favours the quieter sounds of strings and woodwinds 

or increases upwards drive by the assertive power of horns and trumpets. This, however, in no way implies 

exclusiveness or interference with the normal interaction of the different groups. In bars 10 to 15, for 

example, a woodwind ensemble including clarinets and bassoons helps to expand the limited range of the 

main theme to cover a wider compass. In bars 23 to 26, however, clarinets and bassoons introduce the first 

strain of the subsidiary theme. A few bars later, at the fortissimo repeat of the same phrase on Mediant 

level, oboes join forces with horns and trumpets to aid the brilliance of sound. Violins too, by merely 

changing their phrasing, either intensify sonority (bars 15–19) or provide powerful rhythmic support, (bars 

32–37). (Example 32a.) 


32

Immediately following the tonally indecisive close of the subsidiary theme, a series of slowly moving 

harmonies reestablishes the Tonic and, played in utmost pianissimo and obvious ‘non-vibrato’ in strings, 

effectively counterbalances the power of the preceding bars. To achieve a smooth transition, diminuendos 

in oboes and trumpets terminate in bar 38 while those in the horns expand to bar 39, where, by unobtrusively 

overlapping with strings, their fading sound secures the desired effect. (Example 32b.) 


Some scoring changes, introduced in subsequent variations, merely help to colour or intensify an already 

existing model. More important are changes affecting the range of a theme (bar 106) or its phrasing and 

mode (bars 166–176) as they not only interfere with an established character but also with existing sound 

qualities. In bar 106, for example, the sudden move of the first theme into the range of violins results in a 

drastic change of mood and sound, which even a short-stretched return to lower strings cannot reverse. 

After ascending unisono scales by winds and strings, terminating in a short pause, a new link, expanding 

various motivic fragments, prepares for the final entry of the second theme now played by all the wind 

instruments as well as by first and second violins. The resulting intensity of sound not only marks the climax 

of the movement but also draws attention to the importance of these bars within the entire symphonic 

cycle: besides anticipating the even greater power at the opening of the final movement, the fanfares 

actually foreshadow the triadic shape of the later theme. (Example 33.) 

33

Example 33: Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, second movement, bars 148 to 158, fourth movement, bars 1 to 4 

Right from his first symphony onwards, Beethoven began transforming the traditional Menuet into a movement 

closer to his own concept of a symphonic cycle. During his early studies with Gustav Neefe, himself 

a pupil of C P E Bach, he was bound to absorb the negative attitude held by composers of the German pre- 

Classical School towards the inclusion of a dance movement in Sonatas and Symphonies. With the Menuet 

about to be replaced with the quicker German dance an even more obvious intrusion of popular music was 

going to affect the basically serious character of a symphony. 

First changes thus began with the faster speed in the Menuetto of Symphony No. l and the subsequent 

replacement of the Menuet with a Scherzo in Symphony No. 2. In neither of the two works, however, the 

movements underwent any structural changes. The Scherzo of Symphony No. 3, by contrast, no longer 

resembles the former dance and rather provides a bridge from the tragic mood of the ‘Marcia Funebre’ to 

the ‘heroic’ message of the Finale. In Symphony No. 4, a repeat of both Scherzo and Trio followed by a 

short Coda lends greater weight to the movement. The interlocking of the third and fourth movement in 

Symphony No. 5, finally, follows a similar line of thought and is realised in a compositional concept which 

34

(1) reduces the impact of the third movement by polarity of thematic substance and a lower than usual 

dynamic level and 

(2) increases the impact of the fourth movement by a powerful, almost uniform thematic substance and a 

high dynamic level over longer than usual periods. Consequential to the polarity between phrases of a 

questioning and phrases of an affirmative nature, 3 the scoring of the Scherzo oscillates between sections 

primarily dominated by lower strings and sections primarily dominated by horns, woodwinds and higher 

strings. Once again, scoring pays careful attention to finer details of sound. At the first statement of the 

questioning phrase, strings are joined in a successive order by horns, bassoons and clarinets – a scoring that 

guarantees a soft and subdued colour. At its second entry solo flute, clarinet and bassoon add a totally 

different and brighter colour to the sound of the strings.(Example 34a.) 

Example 34a: Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, third movement, bars 1 to 18 

The energetic affirmatic phrase, however, starts with horns supported by short, single-bow chords in the 

strings, and continues with unisono woodwinds and strings eventually followed by parallel thirds to increase 

density of sound.(Example 34b.) 

35

Example 34b: Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, third movement, bars 19 to 37 

Even though the usual repeats are omitted, they are compensated for by a varied return of the first part and 

a development-like treatment of the second part which terminates with final statements of the affirmative 

phrase. 

By anticipating mode, mood and certain motivic elements of the fourth movement, the Trio marks the first 

stage in the process of interlocking the two movements. Side by side with a fugato opening and quickly 

ascending lines, the change of mood is greatly aided by double-basses and cellos which by their very nature 

contribute heavy rhythmic pulses that instil this section with a highly energetic character. (Example 34c.) 

Example 34c: Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, third movement, bars 141 to 149 

An immediate repeat of the first part adds further impetus to the passage. The repeat of the second part, 

beginning in bar 198, totally changes the character even though phrasing and melodic lines are maintained. 

An initial diminuendo in bars 200 to 201, followed by a ‘sempre piú piano’ beginning in bar 210 coincides 

with a reduced texture and a total change of instrumental colouring with strings giving way to woodwinds. 

Finally, a descending arpeggio and a short pizzicato link by cellos and basses lead to the return of the 

Scherzo. Played pianissimo and, for most of the time with pizzicato in all strings, this repeat not only 

further weakens the Scherzo but, owing to lack of colour and expression, practically abolishes the last 

traces of thematic polarity. The absence of double-basses as well as a prevailing discontinuity of sound only 

occasionally bridged with brief motivic utterances by clarinet, oboe and horn, further contribute to the 

gradual dissolution of musical activity. A degree of harmonic background is provided by bowed chordal 

grace notes in first violins and violas. (Example 35.) 

36

Example 35: Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, third movement, bars 263 to 282 

Eventually, all progressions stop while bowed strings provide a static background to isolated drum beats 

that gradually change into a continuous pattern. An ascending line in first violins, still in pianissimo, 

prepares for a crescendo that leads into the final movement. At this point, a piccolo flute, a double-bassoon 

and three trombones are added to the existing ensemble. While the piccolo flute increases brilliance in the 

upper register, the double-bassoon secures a better definition of low-range bass-lines. (Example 36.) 


37

Far more important, however, is the addition of trombones as they expand the typical ‘brass’ colour into a 

range hitherto covered by bassoons and cellos. Moreover, not being limited to specific fundamentals, they 

are fully capable of presenting and/or supporting any melodic line in a range not available on horns. 

(Example 37.) 


38

The true significance of all those additions, however, is the emergence of a totally new internal balance 

with full complements of wood and brass-wind instruments finally joining the string instruments on an 

equal basis. In fact, an ensemble of this kind is an essential prerequisite for a movement largely dominated 

by powerful harmonic blocks. The opening bars, for example, owe their impact to the doubling of harmonic 

progressions by nearly the entire ensemble with trumpets, horns and trombones holding a central position 

(example 33). As the theme unfolds scoring clearly differentiates between melodic lines and harmonic 

backing. While the brilliant sounds of piccolo, flute and oboes double the violins in their presentation of 

the melody, clarinets, bassons, double-basson and trombones double second violins, violas and basses. 

Horns and trumpets provide rhythmic accents. (Example 38.) 


39

A powerful unisono then leads to a new thematic phrase, the first part of which is presented by horns, 

doubled by oboes, clarinets and bassoons (bars 26–34), while the second part appears in first and second 

violins (bars 35–43). Strong contrasts also characterise the subsidiary theme with its important triplet 

upbeats (bar 45ff). It not only alternates in its dynamics but also in its instrumental colouring which at first 

changes between strings and woodwinds (with double-thirds in flutes, oboes and bassoons), and later between 

upper and lower strings. 

Doubling of lines by the entire ensemble is particularly effective at the repeat of the epilogue theme in bar 

72, where tremelos in the upper strings and short utterances by the piccolo flute provide additional brilliance. 

The passage begins in bar 64 with a scoring that, by favouring sounds of a mellow nature, contrasts 

strongly with the preceding as well as the ensuing bars. (Example 39a.) 

Example 39a: Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, fourth movement, bars 64 to 73 

40

In the recapitulation, the shift to a higher range (bars 273–280) necessitates a different scoring to compensate 

for the loss of the original sound quality in the violas. Thus oboe and horns are added to clarinets and 

bassoons. At the same time, the new key allows for the augmented fifth (formerly D Sharp in 2nd violins) 

to gain greater intensity by being moved into the range of the more sonorous G-string. (Example 39b.) 

Exercise 39b: Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, fourth movement, bars 272 to 278 

41

The repeat of these bars by the full orchestra leads to one of the most powerfully scored climaxes of the 

entire movement. (Example 39c.) 

Example 39c: Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, fourth movement, bars 285 to 293 

The static force of harmonic blocks finds strong opposition in the dynamic drive of the short-phrased triplet 

figures, first introduced in the subsidiary subject but gradually gaining increasing importance. They dominate 

the development, where they freely move from one instrument to the other, and eventually instil 

internal drive into an otherwise only slowly moving harmonic block. (Example 40.) 

42

Example 40: Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, fourth movement, bars 136 to139 

This block also prepares for the brief return of the Scherzo. Though retaining the pizzicato effect among 

the strings, woodwinds and bowed violas bridge the empty spaces to secure a quick return to the full 

ensemble which, except for short solos by bassoons and horns or piccolo, oboe and horn respectively, 

dominates the rest of the movement. 

The unique structural design of Symphony No. 5 has a stylistic parallel in a development that systematically 

leads from monomotivic linearity to massive chordal sounds and terminates in a veritable orgy of C major 

chords, obviously enjoying the sensation of this ‘most perfect natural harmony’, to quote Paul Hindemith’s 

well-known words. From such natural harmony it was but one step to the ‘harmony of nature’ as portrayed 

in Symphony No. 6, the Pastoral. This, however, is a different story warranting another chapter. 

43

Notes 

1 The passage has an interesting parallel in the first movement of the Piano Sonata in B Flat Major, Op. 

22, where thematic development gradually dissolves into progressions of purely harmonic interest and 

eventually settles on a static dominant seventh chord that prepares for the beginning of the recapitulation. 

2 In their shape and balance the two melodies resemble the traditional characteristics of plagal and 

authentic modes respectively. 

3 Some commentators refer to a close relationship of the opening theme to that from the Finale of 

Mozart’s Symphony K550. In addition, however, there also exists an earlier forerunner in the F-minor 

Allegretto from Piano Sonata in F Major, Op. l0/2. Last but not least, the ascending C minor triad 

seems to be foreshadowed in the closing bars of the preceding movement where special emphasis is 

given to triadic figurations elaborating an ascending A Flat major harmony. (See bars 213–218). 

Professor Rupert Mayr, former Head of the Department of Music and Musicology at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, is now living in 

retirement in Port Elizabeth 

44

Music prize and bursary 

winners during 2001 

Musiekprys- en beurswenners 

gedurende 2001 

A. NASIONALE KOMPETISIES 

1 SANLAM MUSIEKKOMPETISIE VIR LAERSKOOLLEERLINGE 

Eerste prys Megan-Geoffrey Prins (Klavier) Onderwyser: Mario Nell 

Tweede prys Franke Horton (Blokfluit) Onderwyser: Amanda Low 

Derde prys Mathilda Mennen (Klavier) Onderwyser: Claudine van Breda 

Kategoriewenners: 

Klavier Megan-Geoffrey Prins Onderwyser: Mario Nell 

Strykers Avigail Bushakovitz (Viool) Onderwyser: Jack de Wet 

Blaasinstrumente Adriaan Esterhuizen (Saxofoon) Onderwyser: Ceri Moelwyn-Hughes 

Ander instrumente Franke Horton (Blokfluit) Onderwyser: Amanda Low 

Belowendste deelnemer, 

10 jaar en jonger Daniel Tai (Klavier) Onderwyser: Ella Fourie 

Tygerbergprys Morné Giani (Klavier) Onderwyser: Cheryl George 

Beste uitvoering van ’n Suid- 

Afrikaanse komposisie Angelica Charilaou (Klavier) Onderwysers: Ella Fourie, 

A M Klopper 

• Kontakpersoon: Martie de Lange (021) 947 5174 

2 HUGENOTE KOMPETISIE 

Eerste prys Hanrich Claassen (Tjello) Onderwyser: Magdalena Roux 

Tweede prys Paul Theron (Klarinet) Onderwyser: Leon Hartshorne 

Derde prys Ilse Minnie (Perkussie) Onderwyser: Suzette Brits 

• Kontakpersoon: Rensche Janse van Rensburg (028) 316 2957 

3 ATKV PRELUDE KOMPETISIE 

Algehele wenner Birgit Seifart (Viool) Onderwyser: Louis van der Watt 

Kategoriewenners 

Blasers Paul Theron Onderwyser: Leon Hartshorne 

Kamermusiekensemble Hugo Lambrechts (Slagwerkensemble)Onderwyser: Suzette Brits 

Klawerbord Ben Schoeman (Klavier) Onderwyser: Joseph Stanford 

Ander instrumentalis Helen Goldberg (Sang ) Onderwysers: Anneke du Plooy en 

Wilhelm Theunissen 

Strykers Birgit Seifart (Viool) Onderwyser: Louis van der Watt 

Beste vertolking van ’n 

Suid-Afrikaanse werk Bruce Williams (Klavier) Onderwyser: Isabella Stengel 

• Kontakpersoon: Ilse Schürmann (011) 886 4888 

45

4 ATKV FORTE KOMPETISIE 

46 

Algehele wenner Maria Reinders (Klarinet) Onderwyser: Jim Reinders 

Kategoriewenners 

Klawerbord Ashan Peiris (Klavier) Onderwyser: Joseph Stanford 

Kamermusiekensemble Boulevard Harmoniste 

Laura Paune en Cara Hesse 

(Klavierduet) Onderwyser: Marija Bajalica 

Strykers Polina Burdukova (Tjello) 

Blasers Maria Reinders (Klarinet) Onderwyser: Jim Reinders 

Beste vertolking van ’n 

Suid-Afrikaanse werk Merryl Neille (Fluit) Onderwyser: John Hinch 

• Kontakpersoon: Ilse Schürmann (011) 886 4888 

5 ABSA NATIONAL YOUTH MUSIC COMPETITION 

Overall Winner Chi-Chun Huang (Piano) Teacher: Francois du Toit 

Category Prizes Renata van der Vyver (Viola) Teacher: Louis van der Watt 

Jeremy Holdcroft (Clarinet) Teacher: Allan Thompson 

Ilse Minnie (Percussion) Teacher: Suzette Brits 

Category Runners-up Bruce Williams (Piano) Teacher: Isabella Stengel 

Ben Schoeman (Piano) Teacher: Joseph Stanford 

Dorette Roos (Cello) Teacher: Arend Brink 

David Solomon (Trombone) Teacher: Paul Loeb van Zuilenburg 

Rebekah Carr (Flute) Teacher: John Hinch 

Marina Solomon (Harp) Teacher: Ventura Rosenthal 

The Petronel Malan Prize Thabo Mokonenyane Teacher: Erina Bezuidenhout 

Parsons Prize for the best 

performance of a 

South African Composition Nadine Holemans (Piano) Teacher: Ella Fourie 

Classical work Jeremy Holdcroft (Clarinet) Teacher: Allan Thompson 

Romantic work Sylvia Jen (Piano) Teacher: Ella Fourie 

Baroque work Bruce Williams (Piano) Teacher: Isabella Stengel 

Impressionistic work Julia Hong (Piano) Teacher: Tessa Rhoodie 

• Kontakpersoon: Marian Lucouw (041) 504 2508 

B KOMPETISIES BEPERK TOT ’N SPESIFIEKE STREEK 

VODACOM YOUTH MUSIC COMPETITION 2001 

Laerskool Instrumentaal 

Eerste prys Nancy Cheng (Klavier) Onderwyser: Petro Ferreira 

Tweede prys Haejin Chumng (Klavier) Onderwyser: Shane Goodall 

Derde prys Andrea Bassingthwaighte 

(Saksofoon) Onderwyser: Colet van Zyl 

Hoërskool Instrumentaal 

Eerste prys James Bester (Klavier) Onderwyser: Erika Bothma 

Tweede prys Melody Sun (Klavier) Onderwyser: PetroFerreira 

Derde prys Marelize Muller (Blokfluit) Onderwyser: Erna Cloete

Hoërskool Vokaal 

Eerste prys Lize Terblance Onderwyser: Reinette Cerff 

Tweede prys Linmarco Hoffman Onderwyser: Rita Veldtman 

Derde prys Amy Larter Onderwyser: Margaret Lotze 

• Kontakpersoon: Widor du Toit (043) 748 3167 

C MUSIEKBEURSE BY UNIVERSITEITE, TECHNIKONS EN MUSIEKSENTRUMS 

1 UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN 

Alfred Libochowitz Prize Fiona Gray 

Meyer Levinson Prize Jane Price 

Peter Klatzow Prize Carlos Escalante-Macaya 

Anton Rupert Prize James Skinner 

Stephanie Garnett Memorial Prize Anneke van der Merwe 

Lesley Arnold Award Jean-Pierre Gabriels 

Professor W H Bell Prize Dmitri Roussopoulos 

Percy Ould Memorial Prize Patrick Goodwin 

Music Second Year Prize James Skinner 

Erik Chisholm Memorial Prize Phandulwazi Masetti 

Zook Fields Piano Prize Paula Spiegel 

Gregorio Fiasconaro Pirze Philisa Sibeko 

Ruth Ormond Prize Magdalene Minaar 

Scott/Tippett Composition Prize (Scores) Zanele Stipp 

Priaulx Rainier Prize Braam du Toit 

2 UNIVERSITY OF NATAL 

Phil Harber Scholarships for Jazz Lebohang Mothabeng, Shephard Mhlongo 

Barbara Aitchison Viola Bursary Handel Faya 

Classical Music Scholarship Sibusiso Sibisi 

Fulbright Scholarships Magheshen Naidoo, Bronwyn Forbay 

Cecil Renauad Trust Bursary Thando Nobongoza 

Ronnie Madonsela Scholarships for Jazz Xoli Nkosi, McDonnald Setlotlo, Aubrey Skalkie, 

Lebohang Mothabeng, Nkosinathi Duma, 

Mzwakhe Makhoba 

Paulos Msimango Memorial Scholarships Zinhle Mthembu, Gibson Mtshali, Thulani Khalala, 

Thandiwe Mazibuko, Sifiso Zondi 

UND Graduate Award Katheryn Olsen 

UND Academic Scholarship Astrid Treffrey-Goatley 

Candide Trust Opera Scholarships Bonginkosi Cingani, Zanele Gumede, Luvo Matshoba, 

Menzi Mbonambi, Bheki Mkhize, Sibusiso Mkhize, 

Smangele Mkhize, Lwazi Ncube, Mninikhaya Njube, 

William Silk, Ntokozo Xaba, Bongani Zondi, Busisiwe 

Khuzwayo, Thembelani Luwaca, Khetiwe Memela 

National Arts Council Scholarships McDonnald Setlotlo, Aubrey Skalkie, Thandiwe 

Mazibuko, Michael Mogorosi, Shadrack Motlhamme 

Classical Performers Competition Prize Filip Kormuth 

Old Mutual Jazz Encounters Competition Roland Moses, Natalie Rungan, Bongani Sokhela 

47

3 UNIVERSITEIT VAN DIE VRYSTAAT 

48 

FAK–UV Musiekbeurse Wandie Kramer, Chester Meyer 

Ou Presidensie-Stigtingprys 

(beste derdejaar student met ’n 

orkesinstrument as hoofrigting) Jana van der Merwe (Kontrabas) 

Ou Presidensie-Stigtingprys vir die 

beste nagraadse student Monique Rode 

Departementele Merieteprys vir die 

beste nagraadse student Tessaleigh van Vuuren 

Fanie Beetge Merieteprys vir 

Musiekopvoedkunde Maritsa Barlow, Wandie Kramer 

Margaret van der Post-beurs vir Sang Leendert de Jager, Tshepiso Letooane 

4 UNIVERSITEIT VAN PORT ELIZABETH 

Charles Bryars-beurse Wenner Nicolette Venter 

Tweede plek Margaux Lamont, Danèl Bower 

Derde plek Taryn Karg 

Verdere beurse Ciska de Lange, Jovan Heynsen, Justin Stone, 

Lynne Bartle, Joni Wilkè, Michael Tshesejani, 

Tracy Kendall, Amanda du Plessis, 

Frances Bezuidenhout, Gareth Williams 

5 POTCHEFSTROOMSE UNIVERSITEIT VIR CHRISTELIKE HOËR ONDERWYS 

M C Roode Gedenkbeurs Charl Louw 

Rina Hugo Beurs vir Sangers Jacques Imbrailo 

Universiteitsmusiekbeurse Rachelle Elmes, Anja Engelbrecht, Jorica Hurn, Katrien 

Jooste, Lesley-Ann Mathews, Jacomien Pretorius 

Orrelbeurs geskenk deur die Finansiële 

Steunburo (PU vir CHO) Wynand de Villiers 

Maria Coertse Sangbeurs Mandie de Villiers 

Van Zyl Houghbeurs vir strykers Katrien Jooste 

Departement Musiek Ensemble-beurs Charl Louw, Rachelle Elmes 

Millie van der Merwe Merietebeurs Catrien Mulder 

UDM Merietebeurs Tina Tshupane 

6 UNIVERSITEIT VAN PRETORIA 

Pretorium Trustbeurse Thomas de Bruin, Lee-Ann Harty, Eugene Joubert, 

Grethe Nöthling, Ben Schoeman, Mareli Stolp, Inette Swart 

Oppel Greeff-prys Merryl Neille 

7 RHODES UNIVERSITY 

Betty Shuttleworth Scholarship for Piano Sarah Wolff 

Charles Bryars Scholarship for Organ Hanneke Els, Sarah Wolff, Philip Burnett 

Robert B Lloyd Bursary Donovan Wynne 

Rupert Onderwysstigting Prize Donovan Wynne 

Grahamstown Training College Fund Bursary Lyndelwa Dalamba 

Rhodes University Choir Bursary Donovan Wynne

8 UNIVERSITEIT VAN STELLENBOSCH 

Hans Endler-beurs Michelle Goodburn 

Charles Johnman-prys Daniell Fourie 

Dorothy Johnman-prys Anjulie de Vos 

Molteno-beurs Daniell Fourie 

P S du Toit Musiekprys Tara Elliot 

Pieter de Villiers Musiekprys Arno Jones 

J C Coetzee Musiekbeurse vir 

Kerklike Orrelspel Serena Swartz, Egbertus Hanekom, Erik Dippenaar, 

Sonja van der Linde 

Myra Chapman Musiekbeurse Jolanda Amoraal, Elizabeth Blanckenberg, Thomas 

Channell, Chris Coetzee, Santie de Jongh, 

Roché Fourie, Jolene McCleland, Marisa Tolken, 

Nellie von Gordon 

Anton Hartman Musiekbeurse Carina Bruwer, Linda de Villiers, Michelle Goodburn 

Hilda Hendrikz Musiekbeurse Chris Coetzee, Lizé-Lotte Costandius, Jolene 

McCleland, Vanessa Tait, Wendy Wolmarans 

Esther Mentz-beurse Christine Theunissen, Thomas Channell, 

(Gideon Roos-beursfonds) Adéle van Niekerk, Christo Viljoen 

H A Molteno Nagraadse Musiekbeurse Hanrich Claassen, Stefan Grové, Wiaan van Zyl 

Elise de Villiers Musiekprys Emile De Roubaix, Renée Hayward 

Betsie Cluver Musiekbeurs Thomas Channell 

US Vrouevereniging Musiekbeurs André van Daalen, Johanna Tredoux 

Mabel Quick Musiekbeurse Esté Visser, Jolene McCleland, Petro Engelbrecht 

FAK-beurse Danette Brink, Magtildie Thom 

J L M Franken Musiekbeurs André van Daalen 

Het Jan Marais Nationale Fonds beurse Erik Dippenaar, Inge Pietersen, Corine Sanderson, 

Anneke Blatherwick, Adéle van Niekerk 

Vereniging vir Volksang en -musiek Marisa Tolken 

Stellenbosch Boere-orkes beurs Christine Theunissen 

Anna Pretorius Musiekbeurse Tessa van der Walt 

Edna Elphick Stefan Grové 

Lionel Bowman Beethovenprys José Dias, Daniell Fourie 

9 UNIVERSITEIT VAN SUID-AFRIKA 

Departement Musiek 

P J Lemmer Oorsese Musiekstudiebeurs 

vir Voordraerslisensiaat Maria Reinders (Klarinet) Onderwyser: Jim Reinders 

D J Roode Oorsese Musiekstudiebeurs vir 

Onderwyserslisensiaat Stephen Pierce (Klavier) Onderwyser: Joseph Stanford 

Stephanus Zondagh Oorsese 

Musiekstudiebeurs vir Orrel Rudolph de Vos (Orrel) Onderwyser: Wim Viljoen 

SAMRO-prys (beste vertolking van ’n 

Suid-Afrikaanse komposisie) Stephen Pierce (Klavier) Onderwyser: Joseph Stanford 

Gertrude Buchanan Gedenkprys Ashan Peiris (Klavier) Onderwyser: Joseph Stanford 

Unisa Suid-Afrikaanse Musiekstudiebeurs 

asook die Hennie Joubert 

Musiekvriendekringprys 

Eerste prys Birgit Seifart (Viool) Onderwyser: Louis van der Watt 

Tweede prys Jacques Imbrailo (Sang) Onderwyser: Werner Nel 

Du Toit–Van Tonder Musiekstudiebeurse Ilse Minnie (Slagwerk) Onderwyser: Suzette Brits 

Grethe Nöthling (Klavier) Onderwyser: Ella Fourie 

49

SAMRO–Vladimir Viardo klavierstudiebeurs 

(beste pianis onder ouderdom 20 jaar) Grethe Nöthling Onderwyser: Ella Fourie 

SAMRO–UNISA–Deon van der Walt 

Vokale Studietoekenning Jacques Imbrailo Onderwyser: Werner Nel 

SAMRO-prys (beste vertolking van ‘n 

Suid-Afrikaanse komposisie) Grethe Nöthling (Klavier) Onderwyser: Ella Fourie 

10 COLLEGE FOR THE ARTS, WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA 

50 

The First National Bank 

Prize for Excellence Jacobus Krige 

11 PRETORIA TECHNIKON 

Ed Morrison Bursary and Trophy Alta van Huyssteen 

Friends of the Opera Timothy Bull and Tshepo Motjotji 

Opera School Bursaries Rudolph Maré, Phindile Mpetshwa, 

Deirdré van Schalkwyk 

Pretorium Trust Tsakane Maswanganyi 

Johan Botha Trophy Alta van Huyssteen 

12 VRYSTAAT MUSICON 

Musicon Solistekompetisie 2001 

Kategoriewenners: 

Koperblaas Yvonne-Marie Brand (Trompet) 

Houtblaas Enelle Steenkamp (Fluit) 

Strykers Dorette Roos (Tjello) 

Musicon Klavierkompetisie 2001 

Senior Hoërskool Somé Saaiman 

Junior Hoërskool J P Calitz 

Senior Laerskool Maryke Zietsman 

Junior Laerskool Robyn Reed 

13 MUSIEKSENTRUM HUGO LAMBRECHTS 

Beste Junior Student Annelle de Jager Onderwyser: Leonore Ehlers 

Beste Ensemble Slagwerk Ensemble Onderwyser: Suzette Brits 

Koperblaasbeker Damian Tomboer Onderwyser: Johan Pretorius 

Houtblaasbeker Paul Theron Onderwyser Leon Hartshorne 

Slagwerkbeker Grant Jansen Onderwyser: Suzette Brits 

Strykersbeker Mareli la Grange Onderwyser: Madelein van Rooyen 

Prestige Trofee 

(uitstaande prestasie) Paul Theron Onderwyser: Leon Hartshorne 

Student van die Jaar Ilse Minnie (Slagwerk) Onderwyser: Suzette Brits

D ANDER BEURSE/OTHER BURSARIES 

1 Southern African Music Rights Organisation, Limited (SAMRO) 

1.1 SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Awards (2001) for Keyboard Players 

Serious Music 

Winner Salome van der Walt University of Pretoria/Amsterdamse 

Hogeschool voor de Kunsten 

Runner-up Kathleen Tagg University of Cape Town/ 

Mannes College of Music, New York 

Best Performance of the 

Prescribed work Salome van der Walt University of Pretoria/Amsterdamse 


SAMRO/Fisher Keyboard 

Study Award Salome van der Walt University of Pretoria/Amsterdamse 


SAMRO/Flink Piano 

Study Award Kathleen Tagg University of Cape Town/ 

Mannes College of Music, New York 

Merit Award Niel du Preez University of Stellenbosch/ 

University of Karlsruhe, Germany 

Incentive Award Sophia Grobler Potchefstroom University/ 

Youngstown State University, Ohio 

Jazz/‘Popular’ Music 

Winner Jason Reolon University of Cape Town 

Runner-up Charl du Plessis University of Pretoria 

Best performance of the 

prescribed work Jason Reolon University of Cape Town 

Merit Award Nell Gonsalves University of Natal 

SAMRO/Fisher Keyboard 

Study Award Nell Gonsalves University of Natal 

Merit Award Mark Fransman University of Cape Town 

Incentive Award Mohau Kekana Technikon Pretoria 

Incentive Award Roland Moses University of Natal 

1.2 SAMRO Southern African Music Study Bursaries 

1.2.1 Bursaries for General Music Study in Southern Africa 2001 

Serious Music Jan T Alkema University of Cape Town 

Hilary A Paterson University of Cape Town 

Katherine Roussopoulos University of Cape Town 

Naomi Tagg University of Cape Town 

Christo Viljoen University of Stellenbosch 

Clauthilda L Arendse University of Stellenbosch 

Gert D V Dippenaar University of Stellenbosch 

Marisa Laidlaw University of Stellenbosch 

Christoffel R Viljoen University of Stellenbosch 

Donovan Wynne Rhodes University 

Lizelle Gouws University of Port Elizabeth 

Jõvan J Heynsen University of Port Elizabeth 

David S Santi University of Port Elizabeth 

Andiswa Mungeka University of Fort Hare 

Ross L Butcher University of Natal 

Sibusiso G Mkhize University of Natal 

Derrick M Mkhwanazi University of Zululand 

51

52 

Vuyo Njongwe University of Zululand 

Lynette Avenant University of the Orange Free State 

Leendert J J de Jager University of the Orange Free State 

Lorette M Lourens University of the Orange Free State 

Lisa Willcocks University of the Witwatersrand 

Mariza Beetge Technikon Pretoria 

Tsakani Maswanganyi Technikon Pretoria 

Tshepo J Motjotji Technikon Pretoria 

Phindile Mpetshwa Technikon Pretoria 

Gretha Nöthling University of Pretoria 

Kirsten O Sayers University of Pretoria 

Robert J Strijdom University of Pretoria 

Etienne Viviers University of Pretoria 

Liezl Burger University of South Africa 

Charlene J Murugen University of South Africa 

Zandi Visagie Potchefstroom University 

Jazz/‘Popular’Music Kelly S Bell University of Cape Town 

Moloko R Kgomo University of Cape Town 

Lindiwe B Maxolo University of Cape Town 

Nombuso Tshabalala University of Cape Town 

Lindelwa Dalamba Rhodes University 

Siyavuya Makuzeni Rhodes University 

Patrick T Khalala University of Natal 

S’khumbuzo Khumalo University of Natal 

Shepherd Mhlongo University of Natal 

Nkosinathi Ntshangase University of Natal 

Nomagugu Cebekhulu Technikon Natal 

Cynthia Z Masimula Natal Technikon 

Admiral S Mavuso Natal Technikon 

Nina P Mkhize Natal Technikon 

Duane Nichols Natal Technikon 

Sisa M Sopazi Natal Technikon 

Anton Beukes Technikon Pretoria 

Stefan Joubert Technikon Pretoria 

David S Phashe Technikon Pretoria 

1.2.2 Bursaries for Music Education Study in Southern Africa 2001 

Serious Music Nicole A Doherty University of Cape Town 

Melanie L Drake University of Cape Town 

Michelle J I Fine University of Cape Town 

Yolandi la Grange University of Cape Town 

Lynn P Wheatley University of Cape Town 

Tara Elliot University of Stellenbosch 

Mignon Roux University of Stellenbosch 

Christine Theunissen University of Stellenbosch 

Johanna E Tredoux University of Stellenbosch 

Mlondolozi I Mini University of Port Elizabeth 

Thanduxolo C Ngqobe University of Port Elizabeth 

Charlene May University of Natal 

Nthoamehla E Phooko University of Natal 

Cindy C Smythe University of Natal 

Janice Robertson University of Pretoria 

Charlene J Murugen University of Pretoria 

Sandile P V Cele Potchefstroom University 

Bongile R Foloti Potchefstroom University

Zanele E Mtshali Potchefstroom University 

Johannes C Papasha Potchefstroom University 

Motheo A Seemane Potchefstroom University 

Jazz/‘Popular’ Music Bronwyn J Tosh University of Cape Town 

Nomakay V Kuhlane University of Fort Hare 

Monwabisi S Tame University of Fort Hare 

Mlungisi Xipu University of Fort Hare 

Buhle Mamane University of the Transkei 

Kgosietsile M Setlotlo University of Natal 

Edlyn N Govindasamy University of the Witwatersrand 

1.2.3 Bursaries for Music Composition Study in Southern Africa 2001 

Serious Music Chris R Coetzee University of Stellenbosch 

Lloyd T Prince Rhodes University 

Andile W Khumalo University of Natal 

Jazz/‘Popular’ Music Roland H Moses University of Natal 

Natalie Rungan University of Natal 

Amos Levin University of the Witwatersrand 

1.2.4 Bursaries for Indigenous African Music Study in Southern Africa 2001 

Traditional/ Makhosazana P Humbane University of Natal 

Serious Music Dumisani J Chabalala University of the Witwatersrand 

Edward Lebaka University of Pretoria 

Sipho P Mandlazi University of Pretoria 

Madikgane F Masha University of Pretoria 

53

54 

Die Vierde Unisa 

Internasionale 

Strykerskompetisie 

Wenners: Grigory Alumyan en Mikhail Ovrutsky 

Die Vierde Unisa Internasionale Strykerskompetisie 

het gekom en gegaan. Soos gewoonlik was die groot 

aantal aanvanklike deelnemers oor drie rondes 

uitgedun tot slegs die begenadigde sestal wat 

toegelaat was om aan die pryspoorte op 8 en 9 

Februarie te klop. 

Soos gebruiklik in die verlede, was die deelnemers 

in al die rondes op hart en niere takseer, en nie 

slegs op hul laaste prestasie met orkes nie. 

Die maatstawwe wat op strykers van toepassing, is, 

is hoofsaaklik drieledig: 

(1) hul vertolkingsvermoë 

Stefans Grové 

(2) die onberispelike tegniese onderbou (met 

intonasiesuiwerheid) wat die vertolking 

rugsteun 

(3) die musikale persoonlikheid wat die spel 

deurstraal sonder om die karakter van die 

musiek te skend. 

Benewens hierdie drie hoofmaatstawwe betrek 

iedere beoordelaar nog sub-elemente in sy/haar eie 

waardebepaling, met die resultaat dat daar 

vanselfsprekend meningsverskille tussen die 

jurielede ontstaan. 

Die belangrikste sub-element is veranker in 

persoonlike smaak en voorkeure wat op subjektiewe 

fondamente rus, en wat so dikwels nugtere 

oordeelvermoëns omnag. 

Vanjaar se jurielede was die Suid-Afrikaners Marian 

Lewin, Michael Masote, Walter Mony en John Roos, 

sowel as die volgende buitelanders: Lin Yao-ji van 

die Volksrepubliek van China, Leslie Parnas van die 

Verenigde State van Amerika, Edith Peinemann van 

Duitsland, Riitta Pesola van Finland en Maria 

Tsjaikowskaja van Rusland. Japie Saayman het as 

Uitvoerende Direkteur en nie-stemgeregtigde 

Voorsitter van die Jurie opgetree. 

Die Eerste Prys vir vioolspel is verower deur die 

21-jarige Amerikaner van Russiese oorsprong, 

Mikhail Ovrutsky, wat vir sy optrede met orkes die 

Vioolkonsert, Op. 99 van Dmitri Sjostakowitsj gekies 

het. Ovrutsky het hierdie vierdelige werk met so

’n verbluffende insig, hoë graad musikaliteit en ewe 

verbluffende tegniese begaafdheid uitgevoer, dat 

die indruk gewek is dat hy deur die komponis self 

afgerig is. Sy sterk interpretatiewe persoonlikheid 

het ook sy daarstelling van die werk deurstraal. 

Die eersteprysbekleër in die afdeling Tjello, was 

die 26-jarige Rus Grigory Alumyan wat die 

Tjellokonsert, Op. 104 van Antonín Dvorák gekies 

het. In groter (en soms dooier) akoestiese ruimtes 

is ’n sterk resonante tjello ’n noodsaaklike vereiste, 

want, as laagliggende instrument gebeur dit so 

dikwels, veral in optredes met orkes, dat die 

laerliggende registers balansgewys in die skadu 

gewerp word. Alumyan se tjello is ’n sagsprekende 

instrument wat hom miskien meer leen tot die 

inniger stemminge van die Dvorák-konsert as tot 

die opruiender gedeeltes. 

Alumyan se musikaliteit het in sy uitvoering van 

hierdie werk besonder sterk deurgestraal. Ook kon 

hy in hierdie oorbekende werk ’n sterk musikale 

persoonlikheid laat deurskemer. 

Wat ’n mens lank na afloop van die aand nog bygebly 

het, was sy onvergeetlike soepel nuansering. 

Die 21-jarige Duitse violiste, Sophia Jaffé, was die 

ontvanger van die Tweede Prys. Sy het die 

Vioolkonsert, Op. 47 van Jean Sibelius as haar 

vertoonstuk gekies. Anders as die ander Sibeliusvertolker, 

Alissa Margulis, se siening die aand 

tevore, het Jaffé die voorsprong gehad in dié sin 

dat haar instrument akoesties sterker spreek. By 

vergelyking met Margulis was haar intonasie 

onberispelik, en ook haar vertolking minder 

droomgebonde maar meelewender. 

Maar tog kon sy die poëtiese boodskap van hierdie 

werk suksesvoller oordra, en kon haar daarstelling 

as’t ware vryer asemhaal. 

Graf Mourja, die 28-jarige violis wat as 

Derdepryswenner aangewys is, het die Vioolkonsert, 

Op. 35 van Pyotr Ilich Tsjaikowski vir sy slotoptrede 

gekies. Van al die strykers het sy instrument die 

beste toonkwaliteit. Mourja is ’n uitmuntende 

tegnikus en hy verbind die gevoelsaspek van die 

musiek op soomlose wyse met sy tegniese beheer. 

Hy is nie alleen ’n navolger van die tradisionele 

vertolkingsplan nie, maar hy plaas ook sy eie 

musikale siel in die wese van sy weergawe van 

hierdie musiek. Veral opvallend was sy soepel 

frasering in die langsame deel. 

Die Vierdepryswenner was die 24-jarige Duitse tjellis 

Sebastian Klinger, wat met sy uitvoering van Dmitri 

Sjostakowitsj se Tjellokonsert Nr. 1, Op. 107 ’n 

sterk indruk gelaat het. Sy instrument is resonanter 

as dié van Alumyan, en hy het hierdie neo-klassiekverankerde 

werk sonder interpretatiewe 

bykomstighede vergestalt. In die kadens het hy sy 

verbluffende tegniese vaardighede met ’n 

indrukwekkende uitdrukkingsvermoë verbind. 

Die 21-jarige Duitse violiste Alissa Margulis het as 

vyfdepryswenner die Vioolkonsert, op 47 van Jean 

Sibelius as haar konsertkeuse aangebied. Sy beskik 

oor meer vertolkingstalent as intonasiesuiwerheid, 

en haar beskouing van hierdie werk is interessant 

in dié sin dat sy dit as ’n geleidelike poëtiese 

gevoelsdeining aanbied, soms as droomherinneringe 

wat skielik hartstogtelik gesteunde werklikhede 

word. Sy kon ook by tye die krag van haar instrument 

ontbloot, maar ongelukkig met onsuiwere 

intonasieresultaat. 

Die Johannesburgse Filharmoniese Orkes het die 

deelnemers op professioneel fyngeslypte wyse 

bygestaan, en dirigent Christopher Dowdeswell het 

die soliste, met gevoelige oor, medevertolkend 

gesteun. 

Professor Stefans Grové is bekende komponis en resensent en 

verbonde aan die Universiteit van Pretoria 

55

56 

Twenty years of International 

Music Competitions at Unisa 

Hennie Joubert 

During the celebration of the twentieth anniversary 

of the Unisa International Music Competitions, 

with the 4th Unisa International String Competition 

proudly sponsored by Vodacom, the organisers 

should like to pay homage to the founder of these 

events, the late Prof Hennie Joubert. 

Throughout history great achievements have been 

triggered by an idea conceived by a particular individual 

destined to turn inspiration into a reality. 

This is also the case in the field of international 

music competitions. Fanny Waterman, in her book 

about the history of the famous Leeds International 

Piano Competition, describes how she woke her 

husband one morning early with the announcement 

that they were going to organise and present an 

international piano competition right there in Leeds. 

The Leeds International Piano Competition is currently 

recognised as one of the leading events of its 

kind in the world. 

The same is true of most other big international 

music competitions, such as the Van Cliburn Inter- 

John Roos 

national Piano Competition in Fort Worth (Texas), 

established in 1962 after Van Cliburn’s spectacular 

victory in the famous Tchaikovsky International Piano 

Competition in Moscow. Other examples are 

the International Music Competition in Viña del Mar 

(Chile), which was established in 1974 by Dr Luis 

Sigall, and the Sydney International Piano Competition 

founded by Claire Dan in 1977. 

In 1978 Prof Hennie Joubert, as Director (Professional) 

of the Unisa Department of Music Examinations 

(currently known as the Department of Music) 

was invited to Uruguay to act as juror at the 

now defunct Montevideo International Piano Competition. 

Upon his return to South Africa he immediately 

began negotiations with the management 

of Unisa and with officials of the former Department 

of National Education with a view to establishing 

an international music competition in South 

Africa. Prof Joubert, who was the senior Unisa music 

examiner, was convinced that South Africa had 

the necessary musical talent and infrastructure to 

present such an event. His dream was eventually 

realised when the International Pianoforte Competition 

Pretoria was hosted in 1982 supported by 

Unisa, the Department of National Education, the 

City Council, the State Theatre and Adcock Ingram 

as major sponsor. The Canadian pianist Marc-André 

Hamelin won the competition and has since established 

himself as an internationally sought-after 

concert pianist, performing all over the world and 

releasing award-winning compact discs. 

The encouraging success of the first piano competition 

spurred Prof Hennie Joubert and his organising 

team on to include a singing competition with the 

piano competition in 1984. After Prof Joubert’s 

tragic death in a car accident in 1986, a string competition 

was introduced in 1988 (alongside the piano 

competition). The competitions became officially 

known as the ‘Unisa International Music Competitions’. 

In 1991 Transnet, South Africa’s transport 

conglomerate, joined these events as its ma-

jor sponsor. In the same year, the World Federation 

of International Music Competitions accepted the 

Unisa International Music Competitions as its only 

member on the African continent. Representatives 

of Unisa’s competitions served on the committee 

of this federation in Geneva for two consecutive 

terms. Transnet remained the major sponsor until 

1996. 

A milestone in the history of the Unisa International 

Music Competitions was the Concours Panafricain 

de Musique presented at Unisa in 1995 which, apart 

from a competition for vocal ensemble and for solo 

piano, included an international guitar competition. 

Owing to economic considerations, the pattern of 

organising two international competitions every two 

years was broken in 1998 with the presentation of 

the 1st Unisa International Organ Competition. 

Vodacom became involved in these projects by sponsoring 

the prize money. Vodacom was the major 

sponsor of the 9th Unisa International Piano Competition 

in 2000 and in 2001 the company committed 

itself not only to sponsoring the 2003 Unisa 

I st International Singing 

Competition (Lieder) - 1984 

Cornelia Kallisch - Germany 

2 nd International Singing 

Competition (Lieder) - 1986 

André Howard - South Africa 

I st International Singing 

Competition (Opera) - 1984 

Marion Moore - USA 

4 th International Piano 

Competition - 1988 

Marcus Thomas - West Germany 

National Piano Competition, but also the 2004 Unisa 

International Piano Competition. 

Long live the Unisa International Music Competitions 

as a catalyst for excellence in all professions in 

South Africa! 

John Roos is director of the Unisa Music Foundation of the 

University of South Africa 

Winners: 1982 to 2002 

I st International Piano 


Marc-André Hamelin - Canada 

3 rd International Piano 


Orazio Maione - Italy 

I st International String 

Competition (Cello) - 1988 

Yvonne Timoyanu - Romania 

2 nd International Piano 


Hiromi Okada - Japan 

2 nd International Singing 


Soo Kyong Jo - South Korea 


Competition (Violin) - 1988 

Marco Rizzi - Italy 

57


Competition (Viola) - 1988 

Hideko Kobayashi - Japan 

58 



Francois Guy - France 

4 th International Singing 


Askar Abdrazakov - Russia 

I st International Organ 


Waclav Golonka - Poland 



Oliver Cazal - France 

2 snd International String 


Alexander Knyasev - Russia 

3 srd International String 


Jérôme Pernoo - France 



Dimitri Vorobiev - Russia 

3 rd International Singing 


Aleksandrina Pendatchanska-Bulgaria 

2 snd International String 


Bartlomiej Niziol - Poland 

3 srd International String 


Dmitri Makhtine - Russia 

4 th International String 


Grigory Alumyan - Russia 



Andrei Pisarev - Russia 



Laura Mikkola - Finland 



Albert Tiu - China 

4 th International String 


Mikhail Ovrutsky - USA

Music Examinations/Musiekeksamens 

Die 2001 Unisa Suid-Afrikaanse 

Musiekstudiebeurskompetisie 

In 2001 is 20 kandidate uitgenooi om deel te neem 

aan die Unisa SuidAfrikaanse Musiekstudiebeurskompetisie 

wat op 18 en 19 Oktober 2001 in die 

Ou Mutualsaal van Unisa in Pretoria plaasgevind het. 

Hierdie kandidate is op grond van hul prestasie in 

die Graad 8 praktiese musiekeksamens van die 

Universiteit van Suid-Afrika deur die onderskeie 

musiekeksaminatore aanbeveel om aan die 

Musiekstudiebeurskompetisie deel te neem. Hulle 

het om beurse en pryse ter waarde van R39 400 

meegeding. Die getal deelnemers per instrument 

was as volg: slagwerk – een; fluit – twee; tjello – 

een; klavier – nege; sang – twee; kitaar – een; viool 

– drie en blokfluit – een. Die ouderdomme van die 

kandidate het gewissel van 18 tot 23 jaar. 

DEELNEMERS AAN DIE UNISA SUID-AFRIKAANSE MUSIEKSTUDIEBEURSKOMPETISIE 

Vlnr: Birgit Seifart, Lisa Jane Thom, Betty Chen, Charl Louw, Lise Fourie, Jaques Imbrailo, Renée Hayward, 

Anne Marshall, Nico de Villiers, Ilse Minnie, Adéle Schoeman, Grethe Nöthling, Stefan Joubert, Chalice Koen, 

Riana Jansen van Vuuren, Margaux Lamont, Theresa Burger, Christof Spies, Amoré Steyn, Vanessa Tait 

59

Beurse en pryse 

Die kandidate het om die volgende beurse en pryse 

meegeding: 

• Twee Unisa Suid-Afrikaanse Musiekstudiebeurse, 

naamlik R7 500 vir die wenner 

en R6 000 vir die naaswenner. 

Hierdie studiebeurse word deur die Departement 

Musiek, Unisa, beskikbaar gestel. Die wenner en 

die naaswenner het ook elkeen ’n Hennie Joubert 

Musiekvriendekring-prys van R700 ontvang. 

Hierdie pryse word sedert 1987 deur die Hennie 

Joubert Musiekvriendekring bewillig. Hierdie 

organisasie beywer hom vir die uitvoering van die 

ideale wat Hennie Joubert (1926–1986) gekoester 

het vir die verhoging van die standaard van 

musiekbeoefening onder die Suid-Afrikaanse jeug. 

• Twee Du Toit–Van Tonder Musiekstudiebeurse 

van R4 000 elk 

Dié beurse word beskikbaar gestel uit die rente op 

’n nalatenskap van Cecil Henry du Toit (1937–1985) 

en word sedert 1986 toegeken. 

• Robert Clough Musiekstudiebeurs van R5 000 

Die Robert Clough Musiekstudiebeurs word 

beskikbaar gestel uit die rente op ’n nalatenskap 

van Robert Clough (1936–1987). Dit word sedert 

1989 jaarliks toegeken. 

• SAMRO/Vladimir Viardo Klavierstudiebeurs 

van R5 500 

Hierdie studiebeurs is deur die Suider-Afrikaanse 

Musiekregte Organisasie, Beperk (SAMRO) geborg, 

deur sy Steunfonds vir die Nasionale Kunste en word 

aan die beste jong pianis onder die ouderdom van 

20 toegeken. 

• SAMRO/Unisa/Deon van der Walt Vokale 

Studie-toekenning van R3 000 

Hierdie toekenning is moontlik gemaak deur die 

opbrengs van ’n galakonsert wat Deon van der Walt 

60 

in 1997 in samewerking met SAMRO en Unisa by 

die Staatsteater in Pretoria aangebied het. Hierdie 

beurs word aan die beste Graad 8 sangkandidaat 

toegeken. 

• SAMRO-prys van R3 000 

Die SAMRO-prys is deur die SAMRO geborg, deur 

sy Steunfonds vir die Nasionale Kunste en word 

toegeken aan die deelnemer wat die beste 

uitvoering van ’n Suid-Afrikaanse komposisie lewer. 

Dié prys word sedert 1994 toegeken. 

DIE WENNERS WAS SOOS VOLG: 

• Unisa Suid-Afrikaanse Musiekstudiebeurse: 

Wenner: Birgit Seifart (Viool) van Bellville 

Onderwyser: Louis van der Watt 

Naaswenner: Jacques Imbrailo (Sang) van 

Potchefstroom 

Onderwyser: Werner Nel 

• Twee Du Toit-Van Tonder Musiekstudie-beurse: 

Wenner: Ilse Minnie (Slagwerk) van Bellville 

Onderwyser: Suzette Brits 

Wenner: Grethe Nöthling (Klavier) van Pretoria 

Onderwyser: Ella Fourie 

• Robert Clough Musiekstudiebeurs: 

Wenner: Renée Hayward (Viool) van Durbanville 

Onderwyser: Louis van der Watt 

• SAMRO/Vladimir Viardo Klavierstudiebeurs: 


Onderwyser: Ella Fourie 

• SAMRO/Unisa/Deon van der Walt Vokale 

Studie-toekenning: 

Wenner: Jacques Imbrailo (Bariton) van 

Potchefstroom 

Onderwyser: Werner Nel 

• SAMRO-prys: 


Onderwyser: Ella Fourie

Birgit Seifart 

Violin 

Birgit Seifart (18) started her violin tuition with 

Madelein van Rooyen and is currently studying with 

Louis van der Watt. 

Birgit was the overall winner of both national mu- 

WENNERS 

Vlnr: Renée Hayward, Birgit Seifart, Jacques Imbrailo, Ilse Minnie, Grethe Nöthling 

sic competitions for primary and high school pupils. 

For all her Unisa examinations, she has been 

placed on the Roll of Honour having been awarded 

the Hennie Joubert Merit Prize on four occasions. 

In 1994, aged 10, Birgit made her début with the 

Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and has since 

performed on numerous occasions (as soloist) with 

various orchestras. At the age of 13, she participated 

in the Margess International String Players 

Course in Switzerland, receiving tuition from 

Pauline Scott (Guildhall School of Music, London) 

and performing in ensemble and orchestra concerts 

throughout the country. In 1998 and 1999 Birgit 

attended master classes with Maestro Alberto Lysy 

(director of the International Menuhin Music Academy) 

at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. 

Birgit has been the leader of numerous orchestras 

since the age of nine, for example, the Hugo 

Lambrechts Symphony Orchestra, Concert Orchestra 

of the National Youth Orchestra Course and in 

2000, aged 16, leader of the National Youth Orches- 

61

tra. At present she is first violinist of the University 

of Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestra, Collegium 

Musicum, ad hoc member of the Cape Town Symphony 

Orchestra and member of the Seidici Trio, 

which won the National Ensemble Competition in 

September 2001. Birgit was also the overall winner 

of the 2001 ATKV Prelude Competition. During the 

English Chamber Orchestra’s recent visit to South 

Africa, she was one of only a few young musicians 

invited to perform with them. 

Birgit plays on an eighteenth-century Mathias Klotz 

violin (1723) loaned by the SAMRO Endowment for 

the National Arts. 

Competition Repertoire 

Bach Loure, Gavotte and Rondeau from 

Partita No. 3 in E (BWV1006) 

Beethoven Sonata No. 4 in a, Op. 23 

Ravel ‘Tzigane’ 

Bloch ‘Nigun’ from Baal Shem 

Piano: Philippus Hugo 

62 

Jacques Imbrailo 

Bariton 

Jacques Imbrailo (23) matrikuleer met vier 

onderskeidings aan die Afrikaanse Hoërskool 

Kroonstad en is van 1990 tot 1993 lid van die 

Drakensbergse Seunskoorskool waar hy in 1993 in 

die VSA die Des Moines International Children’s 

Choir senior solo kategorie wen met die aria ‘Der 

Hölle Rach’ van die Koninging van die Nag uit Mozart 

se Towerfluit. 

In 1998 wen hy die seunskategorie van die Werner 

Nel Panasonic Nasionale Sangkompetisie. Hy verwerf 

in 1999 ’n BA-graad (regsvakke) aan die 

Potchefstroom Universiteit vir Christelike Hoër 

Onderwys (PU vir CHO) waar hy vir ’n aantal jare 

lid is van die Universiteitskoor sowel as die Boulevard 

Harmoniste wat in 1999 ’n konserttoer na 

Europa onderneem. Aan die PU vir CHO verwerf hy 

verskeie beurse en speel hoofrolle in verskeie 

musiekblyspele en operaproduksies. Saam met Erika 

Eloff bied hy in 2000 ’n liedervertoning op die Klein 

Karoo Kunstefees aan. 

In 2000 ontvang hy ook meesterklasse van Helmut 

Deutch in die liederkuns. Hy sing die bariton aria 

van die Magnificat van Bach op twee geleenthede 

saam met die Drakensbergse seunskoor en die 

Natalse Filharmoniese orkes in 2000. Hy word 

gekies vir die Wêreld Jeugkoor in 2000, en 2001 

en vir die Wêreld Jeug Kamerkoor in 2000. Hy tree 

op by twee geleenthede by konserte van die Suid 

Afrikaanse Komponiste Vereniging en maak ook 

opnames vir hulle van Jaco van der Merwe se In 

Transito. 

Jacques tree ook op as gaskunstenaar in die 

Technikon van Pretoria se produksie van Rita deur 

Donizetti. In Junie 2001 ontvang hy meesterklasse 

van die Internasionale bariton Marten 

Koningsberger. Tans is hy besig met ’n BMus graad 

aan die PU vir CHO waar hy vir die afgelope paar 

jaar sangonderrig van Werner Nel ontvang. 

Kompetisierepertorium 

Händel Resisatief: ‘It must be so’ en Aria: 

‘Pour forth no more unheeded 

prayers’ uit Jephta 

Beethoven ‘Adelaide’, Op. 46 

Strauss R ‘Traum durch die Dämmerung’, 

Op. 29 Nr. 1 

Fauré ‘Chanson d’amour’, Op. 27 Nr. 1 

Head ‘The sea Gipsy’ 

Klavier: Bernard Kruger

Ilse Minnie 

Slagwerk 

Ilse Minnie (19) neem sedert 1994 slagwerk by die 

Musieksentrum Hugo Lambrechts onder Suzette 

Brits. 

In 1999 en 2000 in sy kategoriewenner by die ABSA 

Nasionale Jeugmusiekkompetisie. By die Hugenote 

kompetisie behaal sy die derde plek in 1999 en die 

tweede plek in 2000. In 1999 word sy aangewys as 

algehele wenner van die ATKV Prelude-kompetisie. 

Sy ontvang ook die prys vir die beste vertolking 

van ’n Suid-Afrikaanse werk. By die Gladwell 

Musiekbeurskompetisie behaal sy ’n derde plek in 

2001. 

Ilse is die afgelope twee jaar aangewys as die 

Musieksentrum Hugo Lambrechts se student van die 

jaar. Sy het al as solis saam met die Kaapse 

Filharmonie, die Kwa-Zulu Natal Filharmoniese 

Orkes en die Oos-Kaap Filharmoniese Orkes 

opgetree. 

In 1998 word Ilse deur prof Tresselt 

(slagwerkdosent aan die Hochschule für Musik in 

Stuttgart, Duitsland) ’n beurs aangebied om na haar 

skoolloopbaan by hom te studeer. Sy word na afloop 

van ’n toelatingseksamen (2001) gekeur om haar 

musiekstudies aan die Hochschule te begin. 

Ilse tree gereeld landwyd as solis op. 


Beck Snare Drum Solo, ‘Colonial Capers’ 

Beck Three movements for five Timpani 

Gomez ‘Gitano’ 

Klatzow ‘Inyanga’ (‘Die Toordokter’) 

Grethe Nöthling 

Klavier 

Grethe Nöthling (19) begin haar musiekstudie op 

vyfjarige ouderdom by Ella Fourie en studeer steeds 

onder haar leiding as eerstejaarstudent BMus aan 

die Universiteit van Pretoria. 

Op sewejarige ouderdom word haar eerste 

klavierconcerto saam met die Johannesburgse 

Simfonieorkes, gebeeldsaai. Sy speel nog verskeie 

concerti saam met die Transvaalse-, Kaapstadse en 

Kwa-Zulu Natalse Filharmoniese orkeste, die 

Nasionale Simfonieorkes en Simfonia Juventi. 

In 1994 is sy die algehele wenner van die Sanlam 

Musiekkompetisie vir Laerskoolleerlinge. In 1998 

is sy klavier kategoriewenner van die ABSA 

Nasionale Musiekkompetisie vir Hoërskoolleerlinge. 

In 2000 is sy die algehele wenner van die Hennie 

Joubert Nasionale Klavierkompetisie asook die 

wenner van die ATKV Prelude. 

Gedurende 2001 ontvang sy die Pretorium Trust 

beurs en SAMRO beurs. Sy het reeds verskeie radio 

optredes en onderhoude gehad. Verskeie solokonserte 

is landwyd gelewer. 

63

Sy ontvang meesterklasse van Vladimir Urgin- 

Klevke, Andrzej Jasinski, Joseph Banowetz, Eric 

Larssen en Frank Heneghan. Sy slaag die finale 

viooleksamen van die Royal Schools of Music in 1999 

met eervolle vermelding en is tans lid van die Artium 

Simfonieorkes van die Universiteit van Pretoria. 


Bach Prelude en Fuga in f, WTCII/12 

Franck Prélude, Choral et Fugue 

Liszt ‘Au bord d’une source’ uit Années 

de Pèlerinage, Première année, 

Suisse 

Zaidel-Rudolph Virtuoso 1. 

64 

Renée Hayward 

Viool 

PANEEL VAN BEOORDELAARS 

Renée Hayward (20) begin in 1988 met 

vioolonderrig by Louis van der Watt aan die 

Musieksentrum Hugo Lambrechts, waar sy ook leier 

van die Jong Strykers was. Sy verskyn twee maal op 

die Unisa ererol en word in 1994 gekies om aan die 

Sanlam Nasionale Laerskole Kompetisie deel te 

neem. 

Sy word later medeleier van die Hugo Lambrechts 

Simfonie Orkes en leier van die Senior Strykorkes. 

Sy is sedert 1998 lid van die Nasionale Jeugorkes. 

Renée het reeds verskeie male as solis saam met 

die Cape Town Baroque Ensemble en Hugo 

Lambrechts Senior Strykorkes opgetree. In 2000 

ontvang sy meesterklasse in ensemblespel by die 

Jerusalem String Quartet. Sy is ook tans die medekonsertmeester 

van die Universiteit van 

Stellenbosch Simfonie-orkes. 

Renée gee vioolonderrig by die MTN 

gemeenskapsmusiekprojek in Kaapstad. 


Bach Bourrée en Double 

uit Partita Nr. 1 (BWV1002) 

Grieg Sonate Nr. 2 in G, Op. 13 

Pugnani-Kreisler Praeludium en Allegro 

Bloch ‘Simchas Torah’ uit Baal Shem 

Klavier: Philippus Hugo 

Agter: Hubert van der Spuy, John Roos 

Voor: Marian Friedman, Susan Steenkamp-Swanepoel, Chatradari Devroop

2001 KONSERTPROGRAM 

65

66 

SOSIAAL TYDENS DIE SUID-AFRIKAANSE 

MUSIEKSTUDIEBEURSKOMPETISIE 

Diane Heller en Robert Buning 

David Venter, Gudrun en Antony Melck 

Bernard Kruger, Jacques Imbrailo, 

Mimi Coertse en Werner Nel 

Suzette Brits, Ilse Minnie en John Roos 

Verona Heymans en Japie Saayman 

Grethe Nöthling en Ella Fourie 

Charl Louw, Etienne Malherbe 

en Chats Devroop 

Birgit Seifart, Louis van der Watt 

en Renée Hayward 

Louis van der Watt, Annette Emdon en Werner Nel

The 2001 Unisa Overseas Music 

Scholarship Competition 

In 2001 nine candidates who performed exceptionally 

well in Unisa’s Teacher’s and Performer’s Licentiate 

examinations were invited to participate 

in the Unisa Overseas Music Scholarship Competi- 

THE PARTICIPANTS 

tions which took place in the Old Mutual Hall at 

the University of South Africa from 25 to 26 October 

2001. The competitors competed for a total of 

R154 000 in prize money. 

Back: Sonia Hwang, Laetitia Feldtmann, Charl du Plessis, Madeleine du Toit, Mareli Stolp 

Front: Rudolph de Vos, Stephen Pierce, Prof Louis Molamu (Registrar [Academic]), Maria Reinders, Ashan Peiris 

67

Prizes and winners 

• The P J Lemmer Overseas Music Scholarship 

for Performers (R50 000) was awarded to 

Maria Reinders (Clarinet) of Stellenbosch. Her 

teacher is Jim Reinders. 

68 

The winner of this bursary will be invited to give 

a recital at Unisa. This concert will be presented 

by the Unisa Music Foundation. 

• The D J Roode Overseas Music Scholarship 

for Teachers (R50 000) (the Tertia Franzsen 

Trust contributes R9 000 to this scholarship) was 

awarded to Stephen Pierce (Piano) of Pretoria. 

His teacher is Joseph Stanford. 

• The Stephanus Zondagh Overseas Music 

Scholarship for Organ (R45 000) was awarded 

to Rudolph de Vos of Pretoria. His teacher is 

Wim Viljoen. 

• The SAMRO Prize (R5 000) was made available 

by the Southern African Music Rights 

Organisation, Limited, and was awarded to 

Stephen Pierce (Piano Teacher) of Pretoria for 

the best performance of a South African composition. 

His teacher is Joseph Stanford. 

• The Gertrude Buchanan Memorial Prize (R1 

000) enables the winner to compete again in 

2001 in the Unisa Overseas Music Scholarship 

Competition, and was awarded to Ashan Peiris 

(Piano Performer) of Pretoria. His teacher is 

Joseph Stanford. 

WINNERS, ADJUDICATORS WITH PROFESSORS MELCK AND MOLAMU 

Back: Heinrich Armer, Hugo Schreuder, Daleen Kruger, Prof Antony Melck (to whom the concert was dedicated), Hubert van der Spuy, 

Johann Potgieter Front: Rudloph de Vos, Stephen Pierce, Prof Louis Molamu (Registrar: Academic), Maria Reinders, Ashan Peiris

WINNERS 

Maria Reinders 

Klarinet – Voordraer 

Maria Reinders (23) het grootgeword en gestudeer 

op Stellenbosch waar sy haar BMus-graad cum laude 

verwerf het in 1999. Gedurende haar studiejare het 

sy verskeie pryse en beurse ontvang, 

merietetoekennings vir elk van haar studiejare, die 

Moltenoprys vir die beste eerstejaar musiekstudent, 

die J M Franken en Myra Champman beurse en die 

Konservatoriumstipendium vir die beste algehele 

musiekstudent. Sy het ook die Vrouevereniging en 

Mabel Quick kompetisies, verbonde aan die 

Universiteit van Stellenbosch, gewen. 

Maria was vir drie jaar die hoofklarinetspeler van 

die Universiteit van Stellenbosch Simfonieorkes en 

het ook by verskeie geleenthede as solis saam met 

hierdie orkes opgetree. Sy het ook as solis met die 

Kaapse Filharmoniese orkes opgetree. In 1999 is 

Maria aangewys as hoofklarinetspeler van die 

Nasionale Jeugorkes. In dieselfde jaar het sy die 

eerste prys in die Hugenote musiekkompetisie 

verwerf, sowel as die tweede prys in die Sasol 

kompetisie. 

In 2000 is Maria aanvaar vir nagraadse studie aan 

die Manhattan School of Music, New York, waar sy 

aangewys is as hoofklarinetspeler van dié skool se 

simfonieorkes en kamerorkes. Hier het sy gewerk 

met wêreldberoemde dirigente soos Kurt Masur. 

Maria het ook gestudeer aan die Utrechtse 

Konservatorium in Nederland. 

In September vanjaar het Maria die blaserskategorie 

van die ATKV se forte kompetisie gewen en sy is 

ook aangewys as die algehele wenner. Sy is al die 

afgelope ses jaar ‘n leerling van haar man, Jim 

Reinders. 


Rossini Inleiding, Tema en Variasies 

Brahms Sonate Nr. 2 in E-mol, Op. 120 

Debussy Première Rapsodie 

Nielsen Concerto, Op. 57 

Martino ’n Set vir klarinet 

Stephen Pierce 

Piano – Teacher 

Stephen Pierce (22) is currently a fourth-year BMus 

(Performing Arts) student at the University of 

Pretoria (UP) where he is a piano pupil of Joseph 

Stanford. In 1996 he was a finalist at the Hennie 

69

Joubert Piano Competition and the following year 

matriculated from Pro Arte Alphen Park High School, 

receiving the award for the best music pupil. That 

same year he also won the piano and percussion 

sections at the Beeld Pretoria Eisteddfod and played 

as a soloist with both the National Symphony and 

Natal Philharmonic Orchestras. 

In 1998 Stephen won the Unisa South African Music 

Scholarship Competition and received the SAMRO– 

Vladimir Viardo Scholarship for the best pianist 

under 20 years of age at the same event. He has 

also been awarded bursaries by SAMRO (1998), the 

University of Pretoria (1998–2001) and Pretorium 

Trust (1998–2001). 

In 1999 and 2000 Stephen performed as a soloist 

with the UP Symphony Orchestra while in May 2000, 

he was invited to give five performances of 

Schostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Pro 

Musica Orchestra under Weiss Doubell. Stephen also 

attended the Advanced Piano Workshop in Kromeri• 

in the Czech Republic during July. While there, he 

was selected to perform at the Archduke Rudolph’s 

Castle, Hradek nad Moravici. 

Stephen has received master classes from, among 

others, Marion Lapsansky, Andrzej Jasinski, Noel 

Flores, Joseph Banowetz, Adam Wodnicki, Radoslav 

Kvapil, Jan Kadlubiski and Gustavo Romero. He 

teaches percussion at Pro Arte Alphen Park High 

School. 


Bach Prelude and Fugue in b flat, 

WTC1/22 

Szymanowski Etude in b flat, Op. 4 No. 3 

Prokofiev Sonata No. 7 in B flat, Op. 83 

Klatzow ‘Impundulu’ from From the Poets 

70 

Rudolph de Vos 

Orrel – Voordraer 

Rudolph de Vos (22) begin op sesjarige ouderdom 

klavier speel onder Pauline Nossel. Hy begin op 

tienjarige ouderdom orrel speel en ontvang onderrig 

van wyle Stephanus Zondagh. Tydens die Suid- 

Afrikaanse Musiekstudiebeurskompetisie in 1997 

ontvang hy die Du Toit–Van Tonder 

Musiekstudiebeurs. 

Sedert 1998 ontvang hy verskeie beurse van onder 

andere die FAK, SAMRO, Universiteit van Pretoria 

en Pretorium Trust. Hy was ook wenner van die 

ATKV Forte Klawerbordkategorie in 1999 en 2000. 

Hy het al saam met die Kwazulu-Natal Filharmoniese 

Orkes sowel as die Artium Simfonie Orkes opgetree. 

Hy beskik oor drie lisensiate naamlik ‘n 

Onderwyserslisensiaat in Klavier en Orrel en ‘n 

Voordraerslisensiaat in Orrel. 

Rudolph ontvang tans onderrig in orrel en klavier 

van Wim Viljoen en Joseph Stanford onderskeidelik 

en is ‘n vierdejaar BMus student aan die Universiteit 

van Pretoria. 


Bruhns Praeludium in G Nr. 3 

Bach Trio Sonate Nr. 2 in c (BWV526)

Bach Prelude en Fuga in D (BWV532) 

Franck Koraal Nr. 1 in E 

Duruflé Prélude et Fugue sur le nom 

d’Alain, op 7 

Ashan Peiris 

Piano – Performers 

Ashan Peiris (29) started playing the piano at age of 

four under Mary Billimoria in Colombo, Sri Lanka 

where he gave his first radio broadcast on the ‘Talent 

Quarter’ at the age of fve years. In 1981 he was 

judged the Most Outstanding Child Musician of the 

Year” and in the same year went on to win first prize 

in the Junior division of the International 

Tchaikovsky Competition held in Sri Lanka – it was 

sponsored by the Soviet government and the Soviet 

cultural association for talented youth representing 

over 40 countries. As a result of this competition 

he was awarded a scholarship to study piano 

with Magarita Federova in Moscow. 

At the age of 18, Ashan was awarded a scholarship 

by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of 

Music to study piano with Australian concert pianist 

Piers Lane and violin with Clarence Myerscough 

and Jean Harvey at the Royal Academy of Music in 

London. While at the Academy, Ashan won many 

awards including the prestigious Harold Craxton 

chamber music prize, the Leslie England Piano 

prize, Frederick Jackson Piano prize and the Helen 

Eames Piano prize for the works of Brahms. 

Since leaving the Royal Academy in 1997 Ashan has 

studied with Maria Curcio in London and with 

Evelyne Brancart and Menahem Pressler at Indiana 

University. He has attended masterclasses with 

Alfred Brendel, Emmanual Ax, Vladimir Ovchinikov, 

Imogen Cooper, Hamish Milne, Martin Roscoe, Robert 

Levine, Joseph Banowetz, Adam Wodnicki, 

Radoslav Kvapil, Christopher Elton and Alexander 

Kelly. 

Competition successes include Second Prize at the 

Indianapolis Young Artist competition in 1998, 

Special Prize at the Royal Overseas League competition 

for the most talented artist in London, UK in 

1998. Ashan has performed extensively in the UK, 

Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, India, Sri Lanka, 

Gibraltar, Bulgaria, the Caribbean and the United 

States of America. 

In July 2001 Ashan represented the University of 

Pretoria at the International Symphonic and Piano 

summer music course held in Kromeri• in the Czech 

Republic where he won the concerto competition 

performing the Schumann Concerto with the festival 

orchestra and as a result has been contracted to 

play a series of concerts in the Czech republic. In 

August, he was the piano category winner of the 

ATKV Forte Competition. 

Ashan is at present completing his Masters degree 

at the University of Pretoria and studies piano with 

Joseph Stanford. 


Scarlatti Sonatas in B flat (K544), E (K380), 

D (K161), d (K9) and C (K159) 

Beethoven Sonata in E, Op. 109 

Chopin Scherzo in b flat, Op. 31 

Liszt ‘Funérailles’ from Harmonies 

poétiques et religieuses 

Roosenschoon ‘Fingerprints’ 

71

72 

CONCERT PROGRAMME

SOSIAAL TYDENS DIE UNISA OORSEESE MUSIEKSTUDIEBEURSKOMPETISIE 

Mattie Verwey, mnr en mev AP Shutte 

(voormalige Registrateur Finansies van Unisa) 

Susan Becker, Alexander Johnson, Wim Viljoen 

en Dawie Erwee 

Charl du Plessis, Elsa Cilliers en Heinrich 

Armer 

Joubero Malherbe, Sonia Hwang, 

Rudolph de Vos, Eugene Joubert en Pieter Grobler 

Willie Steyn, Verona Heymans, Madeleine 

Short en Dina Nezar 

Prof Louis Molamu (Registrateur - Akademies), 

Nettie Immelman, Hugo Schreuder en Heinrich Armer 

John Roos en Mimi Coertse Hubert van der Spuy, Bonnie en 

Dieter Osterhoff 

Johan Joubert, Dorien van Delen, Charl du 

Plessis, Ilze Myburgh en Nataniël 

Claudine van Breda, Diane Heller, 

en Stefans Grové 

Gudrun Melck, Daleen Kruger, Japie Saayman 

en Louis Molamu 

Chris Walton, Antony en Gudrun Melck en 

Japie Saayman 

73

74 

HENNIE JOUBERT 

Merietepryse/Merit Prizes 

2001 

Die Hennie Joubert Merietepryse word sedert 1987 

toegeken aan kandidate wat jaarliks die hoogste 

punte behaal van al die kandidate in die Department 

Musiek se praktiese en skriftelike eksamens. 

Die pryse word toegeken aan die twee 

toppresteerders vir voorgraad 1 tot graad 7 praktiese 

eksamens en graad 3 tot graad 7 teoretiese 

eksamens. Die pryse wissel van R220 tot R580. Die 

name van die wenners vir die praktiese eksamens 

verskyn ook op die Ererol van Uitblinkers. 

As in ag geneem word watter groot aantal kandidate 

jaarliks vir die eksamens inskryf, is dit ‘n besondere 

prestasie om een van hierdie pryse te verwerf. Die 

redaksie van Musicus wens graag die wenners en 

hulle onderwysers van harte geluk. 

Die besonderhede van die kandidate wat op grond 

van hulle 2001-eksamenprestasie pryse verwerf het, 

Particulars of the 2001 prize winners and their teachers appear below 

Leana Alkema (14) 

Klavier graad 5, Bloemfontein 

(Mev B J Immelman) 

Franeli Benade (17) 

Musiekteorie graad 3, Pretoria 

(Mev E M Zeeman) 

verskyn hieronder met die name van hulle 

onderwysers. 

Since 1987 the Hennie Joubert Merit Prizes have 

been awarded to candidates who obtained the highest 

marks in the annual practical and theory examinations 

conducted by the Department of Music. The 

prizes are awarded to each of the top two achievers 

in the practical (Pregrade 1 to Grade 7) and theory 

of music (Grades 3 to 7) examinations. The names 

of the winners for the practical examinations also 

appear on the Roll of Honour of Outstanding Achievers. 

The prizes vary from R220 to R580. 

It is an exceptional honour to be awarded one of 

these prizes, bearing in mind the large number of 

entries received for these examinations. The editorial 

committee of Musicus sincerely congratulates 

these candidates and their teachers. 

Zoë Beyers (19) 

Musiekteorie graad 7, Kaapstad 

(Mnr J J Weyers)

Bronwyn Elizabeth Bosch (11) 

Piano Grade 2, Durban 

(Mrs O L Strahlendorf) 

Anne Che (18) 

Theory of Music Grade 6, Johannesburg 

(Mr B R Verity) 

Helena Charlotte du Plessis (12) 

Klavier voorgraad 1, Humansdorp 

(Mev A M M Smit) 

Ammiel Issaschar Bushakovitz (15) 

Classical Guitar Grade 7, Stellenbosch 

(Mr D J Wagner) 

Milica Conkic (10) 

Piano Grade 1, Johannesburg 

(Mrs J Conkic-Dedic) 

Hendrik Joachim Johannes Espag (14) 


(Mev C M Roux) 

Ariella Rosanna Caira (14) 

Tjello graad 6, Stellenbosch 

(Mej A van der Westhuizen) 

Wilhelmus Hendrikus Delport (16) 

Musiekteorie graad 5, Kimberley 

(Mev E M Ford) 

Franke Horton (13) 

Blokfluit graad 5, Pretoria 

(Mej A M Low) 

75

76 

Magdalena Maria Kotze (12) 

Klavier graad 4, Somerset-Wes 

(Mev S J Louw) 

Ernst Gottfried Landsberg (16) 

Blokfluit graad 7, Stellenbosch 

(Mev M S Landsberg) 

Jeanne Marié le Roux (11) 

Klavier graad 1, Johannesburg 

(Mev J Esser) 

Hester Krüger (14) 

Musiekteorie graad 3, Pietersburg 

(Mnr E Jacobs) 

Nico Laurens (15) 

Musiekteorie graad 6, Naboomspruit 

(Mev E de Kock) 

Tina Marié Lippstreu (15) 

Theory of Music Grade 4, Cape Town 

(Mrs I H K Arzul) 

Pierre la Grange (13) 

Tjello graad 3, Parow 

(Mej L Ehlers) 

Sheree Theodora Leong (10) 

Piano Grade 2, Pretoria 

(Mrs I H de Andrade) 

Karina Maria Loffler (11) 

Piano Pregrade 1, Johannesburg 

(Mrs I A McKee)

Mathilda Christina Mennen (13) 

Klavier graad 4, Pretoria 

(Mev C H van Breda) 

Marieke Mollentze (18) 

Fluit graad 7, Bloemfontein 

(Mev W Haller) 

Olga Rademan (14) 


(Mev P Nossel) 

Mariechen Meyer (12) 


(Mev B Oberholzer) 

Ngqibeko Peter Ncanywa (13) 

Piano Grade 2, Dragon Peaks 

(Mrs M M de Beer) 

Natasha Smith (9) 


(Mej J Erasmus) 

Misha Meyer (11) 

Klavier graad 3, Pretoria 


Lizette Posthumus (21) 


(Mev M I Skeen) 

Marike Steyn (9) 

Blokfluit voorgraad 1, Pretoria 

(Mev A E van der Merwe) 

77

78 

Suzaan Steyn (9) 

Blokfluit voorgraad 1, Pretoria 


Elzanne Vosloo (16) 

Viool graad 7, Bloemfontein 

(Mev E Vosloo) 

Iek Hou Zhang (9) 


(Miss M L Friedman) 

Judith Maria Dorothea van der Wat (14) 



Ichizu Wakabayashi (17) 


(Ms R van Staden) 

Shu-Chun Hsu (26) 

Theory of Music Grade 7, Johannesburg 

(Mrs S Douwes Dekker) 

Yvette Viljoen (12) 


(Mev C F Scott) 

Jane-Ann Christina Wilson (11) 

Klarinet graad 1, Empangeni 

(Mev M S Lotz)

Roll of Honour of Outstanding 

Achievers 2001 

Ererol van Uitblinkers 2001 

Hieronder volg ’n naamlys van kandidate wat vir 

die Ererol van Uitblinkers kwalifiseer. Om op 

hierdie lys te kan verskyn moes ‘n 

eksamenkandidaat in die praktiese musiekeksamen 

wat deur die Departement Musiek aan die 

Universiteit van Suid-Afrika (Unisa) afgeneem is, 

minstens 90 uit 100 (vir voorgraad 1– graad 7) 

behaal het. Kandidate se name verskyn alfabeties 

onder die sentrums waar hulle geëksamineer is. 

Die name van hulle onderwysers verskyn tussen 

hakies. Baie geluk aan hierdie kandidate en hulle 

onderwysers met baie mooi prestasies. 

NOORD-KAAP/ 

NORTHERN CAPE 

CALVINIA 

Irma Engelbrecht 

Klavier graad 2 

(Mev M van der Merwe) 

Clarise Lucille Jooste 


(Mev R Louw) 

Anene Visser 

Klavier voorgraad 1 

(Mev M van der Merwe) 

KIMBERLEY 

Nicola Anderson 


(Mev E Vorster) 

Lizelle du Plessis 


(Mev M D Smith) 

PRIESKA 

Hermann Marshall 


(Mev A Marshall) 

SPRINGBOK 

Tania Groenewald 

Klavierduet voorgraad 1 

(Mev G A van den Heever) 

Jorietha Smit 


(Mev GA van den Heever) 

UPINGTON 

Sharon Coetzee 


(Mnr J S Taute) 

OOS-KAAP/ 

EASTERN CAPE 

A list of names of candidates who qualify for the Roll 

of Honour of Outstanding Achievers is published below. 

To be included in this list, a candidate must 

have obtained at least 90 out of 100 (for Pregrade 1 

– Grade 7) in the practical music examinations of 

the Department of Music. Candidates’ names appear 

in alphabetical order under the centres where they 

were examined. The name of the teacher appears in 

brackets. Congratulations to these candidates and 

teachers on their achievements. 

ALIWALNOORD 

Maritza Schuin 

Blokfluit voorgraad 1 

(Mev H Engelbrecht) 

BURGERSDORP 

Elizabet Smit 


(Mev S Maritz) 

GEORGE 

Learoy Joseph Alcock 

Pianoforte Pre-grade 1 

(Mrs J H Essel) 

Christy Leanne Edwall 

Pianoforte Grade 6 

(Mrs J A Frehse) 

Joel Nathaniel Edwall 


(Mrs G Botha) 

79

Willene Josephine Grimsell 


(Mrs A E Terblanche) 

Mandy Rose King 


(Mrs G Botha) 

Comine Labuschagne 


(Mev E Koorzen) 

Carla Ann Marsilio 


(Mrs M Venter) 

Danel van der Merwe 

Blokfluit graad 6 

(Mnr P J Dippenaar) 

LADY GREY 

Wessel Michael Jacobus Odendaal 

Orrel graad 6 

(Mnr B V Gresse) 

PORT ELIZABETH 

Engelien Susan Coetzer 


(Mev E H Swart) 

Frances Coetzer 



Helena Charlotte du Plessis 


(Mev A M M Smit) 

Winand Bernard Grundling 


(Mev M Gerber) 

Petrus Stephanus Meyer 


(Mev H E Steenkamp) 

Annika Pieterse 



Louis van der Walt 


(Mev M Booyens) 

Maryna van Vuuren 


(Mev E T Conradie) 

Gareth Johan Williams 

Klarinet (B-mol) graad 7 

(Me B Latsky-Campbell) 

80 

WES-KAAP/ 

WESTERN CAPE 

BELLVILLE 

Tiaan Johannes Gerber 


(Mev M E Payton) 

Chantel Hans 


(Mrs T du P Jonck) 

Adriaan Joubert 


(Mev E K Botha) 

Marsanne Olivier 


(Mej C M Steenkamp) 

Lize Swarts 


(Mej C M Steenkamp) 

Elmien Truter 


(Mev M H Muller) 

Stephanie Marguax Williams 


(Mej B Mouton) 

BRACKENFELL 

Johanna Christina Maria Saayman 

Orrel graad 6 

(Mev M Steyl) 

BREDASDORP 

Eloise Fortuin 


(Mev M G Fortuin) 

Brenton Christopher Maarman 


(Mev M G Fortuin) 

Johanna Hendrina Vertue 


(Mej S Human) 

DURBANVILLE 

Seth James Heynes 

Recorder Pre-grade 1 

(Miss A Dippenaar) 

Robyn Jollands 


(Mrs E Rossouw) 

Robyn Milne 


(Mrs E Rossouw) 

Bianca Helga Muller 


(Mev E Brand) 

Carli Louise Neveling 


(Mev F Stassen) 

Jeanie Lynn Neveling 


(Mev J Hartshorne) 

Robyn Hayley Pretorius 


(Mrs F Stassen) 

KAAPSTAD/CAPE TOWN 

Kirsten Abel 


(Mrs K van Wyk) 

David Bester 


(Mrs E S Smit) 

Marike Louise Botha 


(Mev K van Wyk) 

Jeanri Bruwer 


(Mej A Dippenaar) 

Alida Katharien de Villiers 


(Mej A E van Rooyen) 

Catherine Judith Dollman 


(Miss A Dippenaar) 

Madri Gerber 


(Mev E S Smit) 

Fritz Laubscher 


(Mej M J Rosenstrauch) 

KUILSRIVIER/ 

KUILS RIVER 

Michelle Nicola Christine Bam 


(Mev J G Spangenberg)

MONTAGU 

Kirstin Christie Bevisschallinor 


(Mr G J Beeslaar) 

MOSSELBAAI/ 

MOSSEL BAY 

Gayree Faith Gertse 


(Mej C Marais) 

Barbara Johanna Janse van 

Rensburg 


(Mev M M Janse van Rensburg) 

Jolette Roodt 

Orrel graad 4 

(Mej C Marais) 

Jolette Roodt 


(Mev J H Scheepers) 

OUDTSHOORN 

Willem Lombard Schoeman 


(Mev S C Meijer) 

Jacobus Petrus Snyman 


(Mej C Gouws) 

PAARL 

Alexandra Bohmer 


(Mrs J L Hayman) 

Odille Candice de Villiers 


(Mev J L Hayman) 

Cornelis Uys Lourens Fick 


(Mnr L A Wentzel) 

Lise Lombard 


(Mev H J Koekemoer) 

Erna Steenkamp 


(Mev L Stofberg) 

Maria Dorothea Thom 


(Mev E W Thom) 

Thomas Weighill 


(Mrs C M Bosman) 

PAROW 

Hannah Botsis 

Violoncello Grade 6 

(Miss L Ehlers) 

Ariella Rosanna Caira 


(Miss A van der Westhuizen) 

Lisa Conradie 


(Mej C M Verster) 

Wendy Lee Craythorne 

Fluit graad 2 

(Mej T Driver) 

Cara Dewar 

Violin Grade 3 

(Miss E Krijnauw) 

Claudia du Plooy 

Fluit graad 3 

(Mev J Myburgh) 

Nina Ursula Evans 


(Mrs M van Rooyen) 

Sameul Marthinus Gerhardus 

Grobler 


(Mev M den Haan) 

Ariadne Kellerman 

Viool graad 3 

(Mej M C Louw) 

Elzaan Krijnauw 

Slaginstrumente graad 3 

(Mnr L A Hartshorne) 

Pierre La Grange 

Tjello graad 3 

(Mej L Ehlers) 

Odile Marissa Lesch 


(Mrs I H K Arzul) 

Lise Morrison 


(Mej C M Verster) 

Vela Mrdjen 


(Miss L Ehlers) 

Callen Petersen 


(Miss E Krijnauw) 

Jacobus Swart 

Tenoorsaxofoon graad 6 

(Mej S M Voges) 

Paul Stephan Theron 


(Mnr L A Hartshorne) 

Caren van Houwelingen 

Viool graad 3 

(Mev M van Rooyen) 

SOMERSET-WES/ 

SOMERSET WEST 

Magdalena Maria Kotze 



Jacques Hendrik Kritzinger 


(Mev M L Carstens) 

Ninette Lorenzen 


(Mrs S J Louw) 

Annerine Susanna Smit 



Soleille van der Merwe 



STELLENBOSCH 

Ammiel Issaschar Bushakovitz 

Guitar Grade 7 

(Mr D J Wagner) 

Arno Jones 

Singing (Tenor) Grade 6 

(Mrs M J Oosthuizen) 

Carla Kriek 


(Mev C Struthers) 

Ernst Gottfried Landsberg 


(Mev M S Landsberg) 

Menanteau Eleonora Moolman 


(Mev G M Knipe) 

81

Gretchen Viljoen 

Klavier graad 

(Mev A Kotze) 

Michael John von Horsten 

Viola Grade 7 

(Prof E Rycroft/Ms M Louw) 

NOORDELIKE PROVINSIE/ 

NORTHERN PROVINCE 

PHALABORWA 

Hendrik Stefan du Plooy 


(Mev E Engelbrecht) 

PIETERSBURG 

Anna Lerm 

Fluit graad 5 

(Mev M E Linde) 

Esmari Linde 


(Mnr E Jacobs) 

Susanna Fredrika Aletha Venter 


(Mev J P Dippenaar) 

POTGIETERSRUS 

Jonathan du Toit 


(Mev E Coetzee) 

NOORDWES/ 

NORTH WEST 

KLERKSDORP 

Isabelle Louise van Rensburg 

Orrel graad 5 

(Mev W H S Bogenhofer) 

LICHTENBURG 

Marika Swart 


(Mej M Groenewald) 

POTCHEFSTROOM 

Carline Bakker 


(Me M C van Rensburg) 

Minette Dippenaar 


(Mev E P Jooste) 

82 

Guk by Sim 


(Mrs J H van Rooy) 

RUSTENBURG 

Janeska Bartmann 


(Mev M M Coetzer) 

Barbara Christina Kriel 


(Mev M M Ryan) 

Sarah Anne Meek 


(Mrs M M Ryan) 

Janette Richter 

Viool graad 7 

(Mev C Richter) 

Isolde Schutte 


(Mev M Boshoff) 

Nicolaas Johannes Steenekamp 


(Mev M M Ryan) 

MPUMALANGA 

BELFAST 

Thelma Steyn 

Orrel graad 5 

(Mev S J Grobler) 

ERMELO 

Francois Wilhelm Davel 


(Mev W C Davel) 

NELSPRUIT 

Loricia Bruwer 


(Mev A M Riekert) 

Katherine Grace Hall 


(Mrs A J E Malherbe) 

Patricia Norris 


(Mev K H Erasmus) 

Michelle Rossouw 


(Mev S M D de Jongh) 

Eben Harm Verster 


(Mev S M D de Jongh) 

PIET RETIEF 

Maricia Ehlers 


(Mnr T C Botha) 

SECUNDA 

Enez Bruwer 


(Mev I C Retief) 

Brechtje Sophia Odendaal 


(Mev J W Pienaar) 

Anel van de Venter 


(Mev B E van de Venter) 

GAUTENG 

ALBERTON 

Chanteleze Benade 


(Mev L Barnard) 

Mar-Louise van der Merwe 


(Mev A P Le Roux) 

BOKSBURG 

Jolanthe Klingenberg 


(Mev C M Dercksen) 

CENTURION 

Aidan Hugh Davies 


(Mrs H P Kruger) 

Maria Elisabeth Piek 


(Mev S D Oosthuizen) 

Johan van Huyssteen 


(Mev S D Oosthuizen) 

Elnie Verwey 


(Mev C J Keyter)

GERMISTON 

Bruno Jorge Ferreira Alves 


(Mr A B Graham) 

Tatjana Irena Laric 


(Mrs L Barnard) 

JOHANNESBURG 

Frans De Wet Beukes 

Alto Saxophone Grade 2 

(Mr M Campbell) 

Lukie Cornelia de La Rey Blignaut 


(Mev G C Fourie) 

Mishka Dominique Blondeel 


(Mrs M L Roode) 

Dirk Jacobus Botha 


(Mev D M Holm) 

Ursula Philipa Botha 


(Mev T L Lategan) 

Pei Ying Chung 


(Mrs B Richter) 

Milica Conkic 


(Mrs J Conkic-Dedic) 

Daniel Antony Cucukovic 


(Miss M Hodgson) 

Lidia de Klerk 


(Mev HN Swart) 

Mariette de Klerk 


(Mev H N Swart) 

Este Hester de Villiers 


(Mev S J Jacobs) 

Hanrie Sara de Villiers 



Jonathan Jeffrey Hauyoon 


(Mrs P Nossel) 

Chantelle Carina Ho 


(Mej M Wentzel) 

Jeanne Marie Le Roux 


(Mev J Esser) 

Sophia Maria Louw 


(Mev A W C Fourie) 

Tamsin Madden 


(Mrs H W Stuart) 

Tebogo Brian Melatoe 

Trumpet (B Flat) Grade 4 

(Mr T B Melatoe) 

Sebolecwe Melia Moagi 


(Mr F H A Jervis) 

Tshegohaco Moagi 


(Mr F H A Jervis) 

Ramon Carlo Pedregal 


(Mr MJ Sheehan) 

Petrus Jacobus Pienaar 



Ame Raath 


(Mev R K de Villiers) 

Olga Rademan 



Chloe Redelinghuys 


(Mej D B Coutts) 

Anje Danielle Retief 



William Frederick van Coller 

Reyneke 



Lauren Bonita Sandham 


(Mr C J C Henn) 

Alicia Tamahny Swart 


(Mev G C Fourie) 

Carolina Augusta Taljaard 


(Mej M Wentzel) 

Carla van den Berg 


(Mev H N Swart) 

Izaan van der Merwe 


(Mev T L Lategan) 

Judith Maria Dorothea van der Wat 


(Mrs P Nossel) 

Filipa van Eck 

Singing (Soprano) Grade 5 

(Ms E Chopin) 

Helani van Zyl 



Karlien van Zyl 



Yvette Viljoen 


(Mev C F Scott) 

Ichizu Wakabayashi 


(Ms R van Staden) 

Engela Maria Wessels 

Kitaar graad 4 

(Mev E M Wessels) 

Lynette Aletta Wingard 



Suzie Xiao Xu 


(Mrs R Liebman) 

Iek Hou (Angel) Zhang 


(Miss M L Friedman) 

Emile Zitzke 


(Mev G Benade) 

83

KEMPTON PARK 

HenryJohn Burchell 

Viool graad 5 

(Mev L Burchell) 

Lisemarie de Coning 


(Mev L Senekal) 

Ernstine Adelheid Hauptfleisch 


(Mev E M Swanepoel) 

Alecia Pienaar 


(Mev J W Vorster) 

Elaine Pienaar 



Jacqui van der Vyver 



KRUGERSDORP 

Eddie Nieuwenhuizen 


(Mev E Wentzel) 

PRETORIA 

Melanie Isabelle de Vries 


(Mev G W Scriba) 

Pierre du Plessis 

Kitaar graad 5 

(Mnr A P J Jordaan) 

Marianne Aubine Flentge 



Elizabeth Geldenhuys 



Alice Maria Grabe 


(Mev E A Feldtmann) 

Catharina Grabe 



Jean-Philip Grobler 

Singing (Tenor) Grade 7 

(Mr M A Stenhouse) 

84 

Franke Horton 


(Mej A M Low) 

Franke Horton 


(Me C Strauss) 

Juanette Klopper 



Elmirie Herma Kruger 



Elmirie Herma Kruger 



Anelle Le Roux 


(Ms C Strauss) 

Marizanne Le Roux 


(Ds C McLachlan) 

Willem Cornelius Le Roux 


(Mev J H Ferreira) 

Louri Lemmer 


(Mrs M C Kemp) 

Sheree Theodora Leong 


(Mrs I H de Andrade) 

Siobhan Denise Lloyd-Jones 

Recorder Grade 6 

(Miss A M Low) 

Siobhan Denise Lloyd-Jones 


(Mrs M E Pretorius) 

Caiphus Tony Lodi 



Karina Maria Loffler 


(Mrs I A McKee) 

Olga Lombard 


(Mev P Welgemoed) 

Mathilda Christina Mennen 


(Mrs C H van Breda) 

Misha Meyer 



Albert Richard Monteith 


(Mev A M Rudolph-Henn) 

Emmerentia Maria Mostert 

Fluit graad 4 

(Mev A Muller) 

Lesego Rantebeng Mosupyoe 

Flute Grade 3 

(Mrs A Muller) 

Puseletso Thato Motlhamme 

Clarinet (B Flat) Grade 1 

(Mrs K de la Rouviere) 

Marlene Murphy 

Fluit graad 4 

(Mev E Koppers) 

Vincent Ndala 



Catharina Neethling 



Marizaan Neethling 



Nicola Newman 

Piano Duet Pre-grade 1 

(Mrs G W Scriba) 

Daniel Jurgen Nowack 



Daniel Jurgen Nowack 



Stephanie Katharina Nowack 



Zoltan Papp 


(Me B van Schoor) 

Andrea Claudia Pike 



Goitseone Tebatso Pooe 


(Mrs K de la Rouviere)

Anandi Reitmann 



Claire Anne Josephine Spector 


(Mr M F du Plessis) 

Catharina Maria Steenkamp 


(Mev H B van Sittert) 

Sulani Steenkamp 



Marike Steyn 



Suzaan Steyn 



Ming Yan Sung 


(Mrs C H van Breda) 

Reabetswe Robin Merriam Thipe 


(Mrs A Lewkowicz) 

Denielle van der Merwe 



Inge van der Merwe 



Susara Johanna Susanna van der 

Merwe 

Fluit graad 1 

(Mev C A van der Watt) 

Bernhard Alexander van Renssen 



Shauneen von Caues 


(Mnr W F Joubert) 

Elizabeth Maria Walters 


(Mej A M Low) 

Marilize Suzaan Wood 

Klavierduet Voorgraad 1 


VEREENIGING 

LiezlMari Nienaber 


(Mnr G A N Muller) 

VRYSTAAT/ 

FREE STATE 

BETHLEHEM 

Angelica Charilaou 


(Mev A M Klopper) 

Abel Jacobus Knobel 


(Mej W Vermaak) 

Wessel Marthinus Oosthuizen 


(Mev B van Aswegen) 

Robyn Raddon Reed 


(Mrs B van Aswegen) 

Madri van Zyl 


(Mev J A Reed) 

Maryke Zietsman 


(Mev B van Aswegen) 

BLOEMFONTEIN 

Leana Alkema 



Harry Brian Attwood 


(Mev A D Brink) 

LizeMari Booyens 


(Mev A L Dippenaar) 

MariLize Booyens 


(Mev A L Dippenaar) 

Dina Gertruida Bruwer 



Luigia Casaleggio 


(Mnr S J Alkema) 

Hendrik Johannes Dippenaar 


(Mev A E Heunis) 

Lizanne Dippenaar 



Mable Constance du Toit 


(Mev M S Venter) 

Marco Grobbelaar 


(Mev M R Fourie) 

Stephanie Juane Janecke 


(Mev L Liebenberg) 

Aliza Janse van Rensburg 



Elsje Dorothea Janse van Rensburg 



Monica Janse van Rensburg 


(Mev J M Smit) 

Chrisna Jooste 


(Mnr H C Armer) 

Sanli Jooste 


(Mev J M Smit) 

Justine Charmaine Khoury 


(Mrs M M Visser) 

Dominique Irene Le Riche 


(Mrs R M le Riche) 

Jana Marx 



Mariechen Meyer 



Marieke Mollentze 

Fluit graad 7 


Benjamin Christiaan Nel 


(Mev A E Heunis) 

85

Willem Stegmann Oosthuysen 



Michelle Rowe 

Pianoforte Pregrade 1 

(Mrs M O X Johnson) 

Natasha Smith 



Jeanette Stassen 



Hendriena Petronella Steenkamp 

Fluit graad 7 


Constanze Steyn 


(Mev C S H Rothmann) 

Mine Steyn 



Sanet Steyn 


(Mev C S H Rothmann) 

Zorada Swart 


(Dr P J Krige) 

Maria Petronella Taute 


(Mev M S Kruger) 

Leandri van den Berg 


(Mev P Fourie) 

Naude van der Merwe 

Fluit graad 6 

(Mej P La Musse) 

Marna van der Westhuizen 

Fagot graad 7 

(Mej M C van Staden) 

Rensche van Rensburg 


(Mev A G Grove) 

Elzanne Vosloo 

Viool graad 7 

(Mev E Vosloo) 

86 

CLOCOLAN 

Belinda Le Roux 


(Mev D M van Aswegen) 

KROONSTAD 

Barbara Cipriana Dykman 



Keanetse Cheryl Fothoane 


(Mrs I Geldenhuys) 

Andre Fourie 


(Mnr C N Steyn) 

Johannes Prinsloo 



Jurie Hendrik Swart 



Lara Wessels 



VIRGINIA 

Mart-Ane Beyers 


(Mev Y Erasmus) 

Christel Liebenberg 


(Mev Y Erasmus) 

WELKOM 

Line de Wet 


(Mev H M Bothma) 

Elinde Emslie 



Lleneke van Rensburg 



KWAZULU-NATAL 

DRAGON PEAKS 

Andries Daniel Butzbach 

Sang (Tenoor) graad 5 

(Mev M M de Beer) 

Ngqibeko Peter Ncanywa 


(Mrs M M de Beer) 

DUNDEE 

Jeantelle Theron 


(Mev M C Steenkamp) 

DURBAN 

Bronwyn Elizabeth Bosch 


(Mrs O L Strahlendorf) 

EMPANGENI 

Sheree Celeste Gray 


(Mrs M S Lotz) 

Amy Ruth Hall 

Flute Grade 1 

(Mrs H Mans) 

Jane-Ann Christina Wilson 


(Mrs M S Lotz) 

NEWCASTLE 

Anne Petronella Basson 


(Mev A Scheepers) 

Catherine Elizabeth Esterhuyze 


(Mrs A Scheepers) 

Ane Grobler 


(Mev A Scheepers) 

Yi-Hsuan (Cindy) Ho 

Recorder Grade 2 

(Mrs A Scheepers)

Merit Certificates to Music 

Teachers 2001 

Merietesertifikate aan 

Musiekonderwysers 2001 

Die Komitee vir Musiekeksamens het tydens sy 

vergadering in 1998 besluit om erkenning aan 

musiekonderwysers te verleen wie se kandidate 

buitengewoon presteer het in óf die praktiese óf 

die teoretiese musiekeksamens. Elke onderwyser 

wat minstens 10 praktiese of 10 teorie kandidate in 

’n betrokke jaar vir die Unisa musiekeksamens 

inskryf en waarvan die beste 10 in ’n kategorie 

(prakties of teorie – nie ’n kombinasie van die twee 

nie!) ’n gemiddelde onderskeidingspunt behaal, 

ontvang ’n merietesertifikaat. 

VAN HARTE GELUK aan al die onderstaande 

onderwysers vir hul besondere prestasie! 

Merietetoekennings vir Praktiese Onderwys – 2001 

Merit Awards for Practical Teaching – 2001 

Mev M M de Beer, Winterton 

Mej A Dippenaar, Durbanville 

Mej J Erasmus, Fichardtpark 

Mev I Geldenhuys, Kroonstad 

Mev M M J van Rensburg, Hartenbos 

Mev S A Krige, Worcester 

Miss A M Low, Moreletapark 

Mev S Maritz, Burgersdorp 

Ds C McLachlan, Lynnwoodrif 

Mev B Oberholzer, Danhof 

Mev C Richter, Proteapark 

Mev M M Ryan, Rustenburg 

Mev G W Scriba, Die Wilgers 

Mev J M Smit, Fichardtpark 

The Committee for Music Examinations decided at 

its 1998 meeting to give recognition to music teachers 

whose candidates did exceptionally well in either 

the practical or theoretical music examinations. 

Each teacher who enters at least 10 practical or 10 

theory of music candidates for Unisa music examinations 

in a particular year and where at least 10 

candidates in each category (practical or theory – 

not a combination of both!) obtain an average merit 

mark, receives a certificate of merit. 

CONGRATULATIONS to all the teachers listed below 

on their excellent achievement! 

Mev H N Swart, Albertskroon 

Mev K van Wyk, Goodwood 

Mev B van Aswegen, Bethlehem 

Mev C H van Breda, Waterkloof 

Mev M van Rooyen, Bellville 

Mev J W Vorster, Aston Manor 

Mnr L A Wentzel, Noorder-Paarl 

87

Merietetoekennings vir Musiekteorie Onderwys – 2001 

Merit Awards for Theory of Music Teaching – 2001 

Mev L Barnard, Germiston 

Mev P Bell, Highveld 

Mej N Botha, Bellville 

Mrs L L Boyd, Southfield 

Mnr J E Brand, Boksburg-Noord 

Mev A Cloete, Lydenburg 

Mev L E Coetzee, Port Elizabeth 

Mev J M Coffee, Bloemfontein 

Mrs J C Davies, Allen’s Nek 

Mev M M de Beer, Winterton 

Mev S M D de Jongh, Witrivier 

Mev S J de Villiers, Wilropark 

Mev A J Dijkstra, Groblersdal 

Mej A Dippenaar, Durbanville 

Mev M M du Plooy, Somerstrand 

Mev A du Plessis, Bellville 

Mev J H Essel, Uniondale 

Mev J Esser, Parklands 

Mev E A Feldtmann, Sinoville 

Mev M J Filmalter, Riversdal 

Mev I Geldenhuys, Kroonstad 

Mev A Genis, Gobabis 

Mrs C D George, Brackenfell 

Mr K Gordon, Durban 

Miss B Grobler, Ferndale 

Mej M Groenewald, Lichtenburg 

Mr W G Haese, Centurion 

Mev S C Hein, Moreleta Plaza 

Mev H Hough, Florida-Noord 

88 

Mev O E Jacobs, Middelburg 

Mnr E Jacobs, Pietersburg 

Mev A J van Rensburg, Windhoek 

Mev A Kotze, Hermanus 

Mev C E S Kruger, Melville 

Mev C R Labuschagne,Carletonville 

Mev N Lamprecht, Hartenbos 

Mev A le Roux, Durbanville 

Mev L Liebenberg, Bloemfontein 

Mev H E Louw, Glenstantia 

Mev A M Louw, Bethal 

Mev M Moen, Eldoraigne 

Mev M H Muller, Durbanville 

Mev J A Muller, Kleinzee 

Mev K Netley, George 

Mev M E Nolte, Pietersburg 

Mev C Reitz, Parkview 

Mev A M Riekert, Karino 

Mev M M Ryan, Proteapark 

Mev H Schoeman, Gezina 

Mev J A Schoonees, Vredenburg 

Mr M-J Sheehan, Benmore 

Mev S A Smit, Kimberley 

Mev J M Smit, Fichardtpark 

Mev E S Smit, Parow 

Mej I Smit, Parow 

Mrs T A Smith, Bertsham 

Ms I Y Solomon, Rondebosch East 

Mev E Spies, Hartbeespoort 

Mev H A Stander, Lichtenburg 

Mev H C Steenkamp, Montana 

Ms C Strauss, Pretoria 

Mev B van Aswegen, Bethlehem 

Mev M C E van Zyl, Bloemfontein 

Mev K van Wyk, Goodwood 

Mev C H van Breda, Waterkloof 

Mev M van Rooyen, Bloemfontein 

Mev L Victor, Wingatepark 

Mev M Viljoen, Elarduspark 

Mev A J Viljoen, Koue Bokkeveld 

Mev M M Visser, Extonweg

Candidates who have obtained the 

Unisa Licentiate in Music in 2001 

Kandidate wat die Unisa Lisensiaat in 

Musiek in 2001 verwerf het 

Teacher’s Licentiate 

Onderwyserslisensiaat 

FLUTE/FLUIT 

Verwey, Marlene* 

PIANOFORTE/KLAVIER 

Cownie, Vivienne Elizabeth Stockton 

Huang, Li-Li* 

Kirstein, Magdalena 

Lourens, Alta Gerbrecht 

Pierce, Stephen Ross* 

Schmidt, Edith Matilda 

Stolp, Mareli* 

Thuys, Enrico Joseph 

Walters, Louis Jacobus 

RECORDER/BLOKFLUIT 

Honeyborne, Danel 

VIOLIN/VIOOL 

Retief, Werner Adriaan 

Performer’s Licentiate 

Voordraerslisensiaat 

COR ANGLAIS/ENGELSE HORING 

Blanckenberg, Elizabeth* 

CLARINET (B FLAT)/KLARINET (B-MOL) 

Reinders, Maria Wilhelmina* 

FLUTE/FLUIT 

Muller, Anna-Maria* 

* Pass with distinction/Slaag met lof 

ORGAN/ORREL 

De Vos, Rudolph Bodes* 

Stofberg, Louna* 

Notley, Francois 

PERCUSSION/SLAGWERK 

Minnie, Ilse Nadine* 

PIANOFORTE/KLAVIER 

Bloem, Terence Patrick 

Du Plessis, Charl* 

Du Toit, Madeleine Hanlie* 

Gouws, Jan Walter 

Hwang, Sonia* 

Jankowitz, Christo* 

Norton, Lucy Barbara 

Odendaal, Gerrit Benjamin 

Peiris, Ashan Ramesh* 

Venter, Nicolette 

RECORDER/BLOKFLUIT 

Van Schalkwyk, Cornelia Andaleen 

SINGING/SANG 

Wiesner, Elmarié* 

VIOLIN/VIOOL 

Le Roux, Welhelmina Magretha* 

VIOLONCELLO/TJELLO 

Knox, Sean* 

VOCAL ACCOMPANIMENT 

VOKALE BEGELEIDING 

Du Plessis, Charl* 

Swart, Esta Heleen 

Young, Hanlie 

CONCERT DIPLOMA/KONSERTDIPLOMA 

Burdukova, Polina (Violoncello/Tjello) 

89

Vraag 1 

90 

Piano Questions (11) 

Klaviervrae (11) 

In die huidige Klavierlyste is daar verskeie komposisies van Hans Roosenschoon opgeneem. In die vorige 

klavierleerplan was‘Kriek’ baie gewild. Is daar ander klavierkomposisies van Roosenschoon in druk 

beskikbaar? 

Antwoord 

Hans Roosenschoon het pas sy vroeë werk met rekenaarprogram versorg en die volgende klavierkompsisies 

is beskikbaar: 

Juvenilis (‘Kwinte’, ‘Rêverie’, ‘’n Smurf leer dans’, ‘Koraal’, ‘Rooidag’ en ‘Mars’) 

Drie Klavierstukke (1970) (‘Fiasko’, ‘Beton’ en ‘Ido’) 

Agurk (1972) 

Goggaboek (1972) (‘Kriek’, ‘Spinnekop’, ‘Vlooi’, ‘Wurm’ en ‘Mier’) 

Miniature (1973) (vyf stukke) 

Sonatine (1974) 

Credo (1975). 

Al hierdie stukke asook ‘Bepeinsing’ vir tjello en klavier (1973), ‘Tarantella’ vir viool en klavier (1973) en 

Suite (Sarabande, Gavotte, Air, Gigue) vir hobo en klavier (1973) is verkrygbaar vanaf: Hans Roosenschoon 

Publishing, 8 Oevertuyn, Noordwal West, Stellenbosch 7600 

Vraag 2 

My graad 7- en 8-leerlinge vind dit altyd moeilik om die ‘draainote’ (aangedui in die notevoorbeeld) in 

dubbelnoottertstoonlere netjies te speel. Kan u enige voorstelle maak om die probleem te bowe te kan 

kom? 

Antwoord 

Teaching Aspects / Onderwysaspekte 

Joseph Stanford 

Die volgende antwoord het betrekking op C, G en F majeur. Die ‘draaipunte’ wat u meld, is natuurlik groot 

lastighede. Hierdie plekkies verlang hoogs behendige laterale aanpassings vanaf die polsgewrig. ’n Goeie 

alternatief wat die probleem dadelik oplos, is ’n alternatiewe vingersetting. Bekyk die alternatiewe 

vingersetting. Bekyk die volgende moontlikhede:

Wanneer hierdie toonlere oor twee oktawe gespeel word, moet die leerling egter ’n flinkdinker wees 

omdat die vingersetting verskillend by die verskillende oktawe sal wees: 

Vraag 3 

My graad 8-leerlinge vind dit altyd fisies moeilik om die duime na mekaar te gebruik by E en F, asook B en 

C in die toonleer wat ek hieronder gee. Is daar dalk ’n opsionele vingersetting wat hierdie probleem sal 

uitskakel? 

(Dieselfde geld vir die afgaande toonleer) 

Antwoord 

’n Eenvoudige oplossing sal wees om van ’n ‘gly’-vingersetting gebruik te maak. Ek haal slegs die fragmente 

aan waar van toepassing: 

In afgaande toonlere moet die vingersetting aangepas word - dis vanselfsprekend dat ’n mens slegs kan ‘gly’ 

van ’n swart na ’n wit klawer: 

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Vraag 4 

Harlebush: Scherzo (nuwe graad 4 album) 

In hierdie pragtige stuk is daar slegs een werklike probleem - u sal seker met my saamstem dat dit die 

lastige spronge in mate 11 en 12, asook mate 27 en 28 is: 

Antwoord 

Ek wil graag die volgende verdeling tussen die hande voorstel. Artikulasie en vingersetting word bygevoeg. 

Hierdie handverdeling en vingersetting skakel die probleem grootliks uit. In die ooreenkomstige voorbeeld 

in mate 27 en 28 sal dit wenslik wees om 4 3 te gebruik vir die linkerhand. 

Vraag 5 

W F Bach: Allegro (nuwe graad 4 album) 

Ek wonder dikwels of ’n mens vingersettings (soos gepubliseer) mag verander. Ek het ’n leerling wat 

byvoorbeeld die vingersetting in maat 2 (RH) en in maat 11 (LH) ongemaklik vind – dit het waarskynlik te 

doen met ontoereikende vaardigheid. Wat is u mening hieroor? 

Antwoord 

Ek stem volkome saam met u. Wanneer vingersetting aangepas/verander kan word om ’n beter klankresultaat 

te kan verkry, moet die moontlikhede gewis ondersoek word. Ek vind dit altyd van die interessantste 

aspekte in my eie onderwys. 

Ek wil graag die volgende voorstelle maak in verband met die voorbeelde wat u in u vraag aanhaal: 

(a) Maat 2 (RH) 

Ek wil die volgende ‘sterk’ vingers voorstel vir die slotnote: 

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(b) Maat 11 (LH) 

Om hierdie ongemaklike grepe uit te skakel, wil ek voorstel: 

* 

Die derde vinger by * is ietwat ongewoon maar eintlik is dit baie maklik om die langer derde vinger bo-oor 

die korter vierde vinger te plaas – veral vanaf ’n wit na ’n swart klawer. 

U sal miskien die vingersetting oor die laaste vyf note vreemd vind. Die duim word in hierdie ‘stadige 

triller’ gebruik om sodoende te voorkom dat die duim styftrek. Die gebruik van die duim verseker dat die 

hand kompak en dus ontspanne bly. 

Na aanleiding van die voorgenoemde kommentaar oor die duim wil ek ook u graag verwys na die openingsnote 

van Myslivecek se Menuet (graad 4). Volgens die gepubliseerde vingersetting word die duim (RH) vir die 

eerste keer in maat 3 gebruik: 

Vir die jonger speler is dit nie aan te bevele om vir ’n té lang tyd sonder die duim te speel nie. Die 

volgende vingersetting sal meer gemaklik deur ’n gemiddelde leerder hanteer word: 

Vraag 6 

Grieg: ‘Aan die Lente’ (graad 7) 

In ’n vorige artikel het u ’n opmerking gemaak oor resonansiegapings. U het verwys na areas waar die 

demperpedaal gebruik word – en dan word dit skielik afgewissel met gedeeltes waar die pedaal glad nie 

aangewend word nie. Na aanleiding van die voorafgaande kommentaar sou ek graag u mening wou inwin 

oor ’n soortgelyke probleem in hierdie stuk – of dink u dat die pedaal streng gebruik moet word soos dit 

in die musiek aangedui is? 

Antwoord 

In hierdie stuk sal beslis ’n probleem ontwikkel met betrekking tot resonansiegapings indien die 

gepubliseerde pedaalaanwysings slaafs gevolg word. Ek wil graag u vraag beantwoord deur ’n paar grepe vir 

die musiek ter illustrasie aan te haal: 

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(a) In die volgende notevoorbeeld (mate 23 en 24) word die gepubliseerde pedaalaanwysings met (a) 

aangedui, my voorgestelde pedaalaanwysings met (b): 

(b) Mate 1 tot 8: Dis belangrik dat die begeleidingsakkoorde deurgaans dieselfde artikulasie behou. 

Die pianis is dus genoodsaak om op dieselfde manier hierdie akkoorde te ‘pedalleer’. 

94 

Professor Joseph Stanford is verbonde aan die Universiteit van 

Pretoria waar hy hom op klavier- en gevorderde musiekteorie-onderrig toelê

Inleiding 

Gedagtes oor die 

skryf van melodieë 

Paul Loeb van Zuilenburg 

Gedurende meer as 25 jaar het ek ondervinding opgedoen met Unisa Musiekteorie-vraestelle, grade 6 en 

7, waarin van kandidate verwag is om ‘sinvolle en singbare melodieë’ te skryf. Die openingsmotief is deur 

die eksaminator verskaf. 

Daar was in dié tydperk slegs ’n handjievol kandidate wat met ’n redelike melodie vorendag kon kom. 

Ek het tot die slotsom gekom dat musiekleerlinge en selfs voltydse musiekstudente nie ’n goeie begrip 

het van wat van hulle verwag word ten einde ’n suksesvolle melodie te skryf nie. Die mees elementêre 

‘reëls’ van goeie smaak en balans, logiese opeenvolgings en oplossings is blykbaar onbekend. Soos by taal, 

is daar ook by musiek sekere riglyne wat gevolg moet word om verstaanbare kommunikasie te bewerkstellig. 

Kreatiwiteit en oorspronklikheid kan dan op ’n deeglike basis ‘blom’. 

In hierdie artikel probeer ek om op ’n praktiese manier leiding aan musiekteoriekandidate te verskaf. Daar 

is baie min handboeke wat oor hierdie onderwerp geskryf is, en met rede. Dis moeilik om aan ’n leerling 

te verduidelik waarom die een wending beter is as die ander, ook al lyk hulle op die oog af amper dieselfde. 

Ek sal my hoofsaaklik beperk tot Musiekteorie graad 6 en aspekte soos styl, ritme en melodie bespreek. 

Aan die hand van voorbeelde sal ek algemene foute illustreer. 

Instrumentaal of Vokaal? 

Tradisioneel word daar ’n onderskeid getref tussen instrumentale en vokale melodieë. Die verskil tussen 

die twee lê egter in ’n ‘grys area’: die meeste ‘mooi’ melodieë is gewoonlik sowel instrumentaal as vokaal. 

Dis daarom beter om aan kontoer en omvang te dink by die skryf van ’n melodie en minder aan ‘instrumentale’ 

of ‘vokale’ eienskappe. Dit moet ‘singbaar’ bly, al is dit slegs in die verbeelding. 

Dit is belangrik om te bepaal vir watter instrument of stem die melodie bedoel is. Vanselfsprekend raak 

mens dikwels ‘meegesleur’ deur die melodiese lyn, met die gevolg dat die melodie buite die omvang van 

’n instrument of stem beland. 

Vir die omvange van instrumente en die toepaslike sleutels moet na handboeke van Algemene Musiekleer 

of Orkestrasie/Instrumentasie verwys word. Wat die stemme betref, kan ’n mens natuurlik ook daar inligting 

vind, maar ter wille van die leser word die omvange hier gegee. 

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Sopraanstem: c 1 – g 2 

Altstem: g – c 2 

Tenoorstem: c – g 1 

Basstem: G – c 1 . 

(Hierdie benoeming van toonhoogtes berus op die volgende sisteem: 

CC-C-c-c1-c2-c3-c4-c5 waarby c1 middel C is.) 

Dit is praktiese omvange wat maklik onthoubaar is. Natuurlik sal ’n mens afwykings vind in koormusiek en 

vokale kunsmusiek. Ook is daar baie tussenstemme soos mezzo-sopraan en bariton. Vir ons doel is dit 

egter die beste om die omvange van die vier hoofstemsoorte goed te onthou. 

’n Ongeoefende sopraan kan dus nie hoër as g2 sing nie.’n Geoefende sopraan kan ook nie aanhoudend naby 

daardie toonhoogte sing nie. Dit geld ook vir die onderste grense van die omvange. ’n Mens sing die beste 

êrens in die middel van die stemomvang. 

As ’n mens dus ’n ‘vokale’ melodie skryf, moet die singbaarheid in alle opsigte dopgehou word, sowel wat 

toonhoogte as intervalverloop betref. Ons weet almal hoe moeilik dit in koorsang is om ongemaklike 

spronge baas te raak. Dieselfde geld natuurlik ritmes in die algemeen. 

Styl 

Dit is nie altyd maklik om van die gegewe opening in ’n eksamenvraestel af te lei watter styl verlang word 

nie. Die gegewe note is waarskynlik universeel bruikbaar in die meeste bekende style. 

Dit is dus nodig om kortliks by styl stil te staan. Ek beperk dit tot ’n kort bespreking van drie beskikbare 

style: Barok, Klassiek en Romanties. Die openings leen hulle meestal nie tot enige Impressionistiese of 

Ekspressionistiese behandeling nie. 

Kortliks kan ’n mens Barok styl definieer as motifiesgekonstrueerde melodiek. Die openingsmotief word 

voortgesit, uiteindelik met ’n aanvanklike aanvulling, en die geheel bly berus op gevarieerde herhaling van 

een gedagte. 

Die Klassieke model berus op frase- en volsinkonstruksie. Volledige frases word gebou tot volsinne wat in 

balans met mekaar moet wees. 

Die Romantiese melodie soek progressiwiteit, kontras en spanning, en bevat sowel motifiese as 

volsinkonstruksie. 

Die kandidaat moet dus besluit tot watter kategorie hy/sy die meeste aangetrokke voel en of die gegewe 

opening tot een van hierdie drie melodietipes aanleiding kan gee. As die eksaminator ’n Ländler verwag, 

sal die styl outomaties klassiek moet wees. In die Barok vind ons nie eintlik die tipe dans nie. Die persoon 

wat ’n melodie skryf, moet dus wel deeglik besluit watter styl hy/sy wil gebruik. Hy/sy sal dus ook geoefen 

moet wees in al drie benaderings. 

Hieronder volg ’n voorbeeld van ’n gegewe opening ontleen aan ’n Musiekteorie-vraestel, graad 6:1, Oktober 

1999. Dit word op drie maniere voortgesit in min of meer die drie genoemde style. Die bedoeling is 

96

natuurlik dat hierdie melodieë innerlik gesing moet kan word om die verskille goed te kan aanvoel. 

Voorbeeld 1 

Lengte 

’n Mens kan sekere gevolgtrekkings maak uit die eksaminator se gegewe opening. As net ’n klein aantal 

mate verwag word, sal die inhoud daarvan belangrik moet wees en dus ’n taamlike groot aantal note bevat. 

As ’n lang melodie verwag word kan die maatinhoud kleiner wees. 

Die volgende afleidings kan gemaak word uit die aantal mate wat voorgeskryf is: 

• ’n 16-maat melodie bestaan meestal uit twee volsinne van 8 mate, elk met ’n voorsin van 4 mate en ’n 

nasin van 4 mate. Die voorfrase hoef nie duidelik te eindig nie, maar kan soos in voorbeeld 2 voortlei na 

die na-frase. Die vormstruktuur van so ’n 16-maat melodie het dikwels die skema a a b a, die sogenaamde 

‘volkslied’ vorm. Die vormskema vind ’n mens dikwels in die tema van Tema en Variasies in die Klassieke 

tydperk. 

• ’n 12-maat melodie sal meestal bestaan uit drie frases van 4 mate. In dié geval is dit dikwels ’n a-b-a 

struktuur. Dit kan egter ook opgelos word deur van twee 6-maat frases uit te gaan. Die 4-maat frases 

moet dan verleng word tot 6-maat frases. Of twee korter frases van 3 mate elk kan gebruik word. 

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Kortliks: ’n mens kan frases verleng deur 

(i) herhaling en/of sekwense 

(ii) voorvoegsel, tussenvoegsel en agtervoegsel (die voorvoegsel is natuurlik nie op eksamensvraestelle 

van toepassing nie!) 

(iii) vergroting 

(iv) ‘voortspin’ (Klaas van Oostveen 1980). 

’n Mens kan frases verkort deur 

(i) weglating 

(ii) verkleining. 

Sien voorbeeld 2. 

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Ritme 

Dikwels is daar aanduidings (clues) in die gegewe opening wat die motiefkeuse en die ritmekeuse beïnvloed. 

Met ritme word in hierdie verband bedoel die totale ritmiese verloop van die frase en die volsin. Met 

motief word bedoel die boustene waaruit die ritmiese geheel bestaan. In voorbeeld 1 kan ’n mens sien dat 

daar in Barok melodievorming meer op motifiese herhaling gekonsentreer word. By Klassieke vormgeving 

word die voorsin as’t ware voltooi waarna die nasin in balans met die voorsin gebring word. In Romantiese 

melodieë is daar meestal ’n uitbreiding van die ritmiese materiaal en effens vryer hantering. Tog bly ook 

in dié styl ’n grondbeginsel van alle komposisie van krag: eenheid in afwisseling. 

Melodie 

By die vorming van enige melodie is dit belangrik om die begrip kontoer in gedagte te hou. Daarmee word 

bedoel die toonhoogteverloop sonder om die ritme in aanmerking te neem. Wat ookal die melodie se 

ritmiese inhoud is, die kontoer sal die singbaarheid en skoonheid bepaal. Dit is veral belangrik sodra ’n 

mens met modulasies probeer om die melodie interessanter te maak. Dan kom ’n mens agter dat die 

natuurlike verloop van die ‘wysie’ geweld aangedoen word en die kontoer onooglik raak. Met die oog op 

die verskynsel dat daar ’n neiging is om melodieë te sien as open neergaande ‘slingers’, wil ek graag die 

opmerkings van ’n spesialis op die gebied van melodie-skryf aanhaal. 

Klaas van Oostveen (1969) het ’n skema voorgestel om kontoertipes te beskryf. Alhoewel geen melodie 

streng aan hierdie beginsels gehoorsaam bly nie, is dit tog insiggewend om op dié wyse na melodietipes te 

verwys. 

Hy onderskei: 

(i) klimaks-tipe 

(ii) antiklimaks-tipe 

(iii) omgekeerd klimaks-tipe 

(iv) omgekeerd antiklimaks-tipe 

(v) ‘slinger’of guirlande-tipe. 

By (i) is daar ’n duidelike positiewe klimaks by die einde van die melodie. By (ii) is daar ’n duidelike 

negatiewe klimaks by die einde van die melodie. By (iii) is die positiewe klimaks by die begin van die 

melodie. By (iv) is daar ’n duidelike negatiewe klimaks by die begin van die melodie. Die guirlande-agtige 

melodie mis ’n duidelike klimaks en beweeg ‘op en neer’. Dit wil glad nie sê dat ’n guirlande-tipe melodie 

noodwendig minderwaardig is nie. Geensins. Groot komponiste soos César Franck of Sergei Rachmaninof 

het dikwels sulke melodieë gebruik. ’n Mens moet egter ’n besluit neem en die kontoer kies wat by die 

gegewe pas en dan in een styl probeer werk. 

99

As vervolg op ’n gegewe opening word vyf volsinne nou gekonstrueer wat die bostaande vyf tipes illustreer: 

Voorbeeld 3 

Harmonie 

Ernest W Mulder (1952) verwys na ‘het harmonisch fundament’. Hiermee bedoel hy die onderliggende 

harmoniese grondtone waarop die melodie as’t ware rus. Aan die einde van die melodie is dit altyd die 

grondtoon van die tonika akkoord; aan die einde van die voorsin is dit dikwels die grondtoon van die 

dominant of relatiewe majeur toonsoort se tonika akkoord. 

In voorbeeld 3 se Ländler melodieë eindig (i) tot (iii) se voorsinne in die relatiewe majeur toonsoort en is 

die fondament daar dus B-mol. In (iv) en (v) eindig die voorsinne in die dominant en is die fondament dus 

’n D. Al die melodieë eindig in die tonika toonsoort met fondament G. 

By die skryf van melodieë – in watter styl ookal – is dit sinvol om telkens die fondamente dop te hou en die 

logiese verloop daarvan te kontroleer. Hoe nader die fondamente aan bekende kadensformules bly, hoe 

logieser word die melodieë. Dink dus in terme van: volmaakte, plagale, onvolmaakte en onderbroke kadense 

met geskikte akkoorde wat dit voorafgaan. Die leser sal hierdie opeenvolgings ongetwyfeld ken. Raadpleeg 

in dié verband Unisa se Musiekteorieleerplan bladsye 27 tot 30. Die fondament verwys slegs na die grondtoon 

van die onderliggende akkoordstruktuur en ignoreer omkerings. 

100

By eksamens vir grade 6 en 7 word ‘geskikte modulasies’ verwag. Daarmee word bedoel modulasies na 

verwante toonsoorte. Modulasie moet in hierdie verband gesien word as ‘uitwykings’ na ‘verbygaande 

aanlandingspunte’ eerder as volledige toonsoortveranderings. ’n Mens doen dus hawens aan, maar emigreer 

nie na ander lande nie! Dit is ook nie nodig dat modulasies ‘sigbaar’ moet wees nie. Uitwykings kan net 

‘implisiet’ wees. Die opening wat in Musiekteorie Vraestel 6:1, Oktober 1995, gegee is kan nou tot ’n 16maat 

melodie met geskikte modulasies uitgebrei word. 

Voorbeeld 4 

Foute wat algemeen voorkom 

Onervare komponiste van melodieë is geneig om telkens dieselfde foute te begaan. In daardie opsig is daar 

niks nuuts onder die son nie. Mozart het al met sulke foute gespot in sy Sekstet in F, die sogenaamde 

‘Musikale Grap’. 

Foute kan soos volg opgesom word (hierdie volgorde is willekeurig): 

(i) ritmiese behepthede. 

(ii) melodiese intervalle. 

(iii) omvang. 

(iv) vormgewing. 

(v) slordighede: sleutels, toonsoorttekens, maatsoorttekens, ruste, nootplasings, aantal note in mate en 

skryfmateriaal (bv penne en potlode). 

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(i) Daar is ’n angs waarneembaar om ’n ritme letterlik te herhaal. Hoekom? Groot komponiste soos 

Beethoven of Tsjaikofski was glad nie bang om iets te herhaal nie. Inteendeel; dit gee eenheid aan 

hulle musiek. 

Dit is absoluut nie korrek om ’n jambiese ritme te vervang deur ’n trogeïese ritme in dieselfde 

melodie nie. In voorbeeld 4 moet ’n mens die opmaat-karakter dus handhaaf. Ook die verdeling van 

die tweede telling in agstes is essensieel vir die styl van die melodie. ’n Mens moet in dié verband dit 

vermy om kwart agste-agste te verander na agste-agste kwart (q ee en nie eeq ). Helaas dink kandidate 

dat dit juis blyk gee van hulle kreatiwiteit! Dit gee egter eerder blyk van ’n mate van onmusikaliteit. 

(ii) Ook al sondig baie komponiste, veral dié uit die musikale blyspele en operette-wêreld teen die 

volgende beginsels, sal dit tog goed wees om daarvan kennis te neem. Dié soort werkreëls is blykbaar 

vir die meeste kandidate heeltemal onbekend. 

102 

• Alle intervalle groter as ’n vyfde moet deel uitmaak van een akkoord en die akkoord moet sin 

maak in die harmoniese struktuur van die melodie. 

• Na ’n sprong van meer as ’n derde, moet die melodie voortgesit word in teenoorgestelde rigting 

van die sprong. 

• Vergrote vierdes moet vermy word. 

• Verminderde vyfdes kan dalend gebruik word mits die laaste noot ’n tweede op beweeg. 

• Vergrote tweedes is nie toelaatbaar nie (omdat dit moeilik is om te sing, nie omdat dit regtig lelik 

is nie). 

• Leitone moet stygend werklik oplos na die betrokke tonika-note. 

• Onsinnige chromatiek moet vermy word. 

• Daar moet balans wees tussen trapsgewyse beweging en spronge (tussen konjunkte en disjunkte 

beweging). 

• Moenie ’n trapsgewyse beweging in dieselfde rigting voortsit met spronge nie. 

Sien voorbeeld 5 (dus hoe om dit nie te doen nie!) Die opening is weer eens gegee. 

Voorbeeld 5

Dis beter om maar te verduidelik watter foute na ons mening in hierdie vervolg van die openingsmotief 

begaan word om ’n volsin van 8 mate te vorm. Moenie dink dis oordrewe nie. Dit is soos die gewone 

antwoorde lyk! 

(a) ’n Sprong van ’n mineur sewende is sinloos want geen septiem-akkoord is hier denkbaar nie. 

(b) Na die sprong van ’n sewende gaan die melodie boontoe sonder rede. 

(c) By (c) is die ritme verander. Trouens in die volgende maat ook. 

(d) ’n Dalende vergrote vierde word gevolg deur ’n vergrote tweede. 

(e) Dan volg in dieselfde rigting ’n verdere sprong van ’n verminderde vierde! 

(f) Dit is ’n mooi voorbeeld van ‘sinlose chromatiek’. Die gegewe gee glad nie aanleiding daartoe 

nie. 

(g) Weer ’n dalende vergrote vierde. 

(h) ’n Majeur sesde dalend na die ‘sub-tonika’(die sewende trap sonder leitooneienskappe) wat nouliks 

’n logiese verklaring kan kry. 

(i) Verandering van die karakter van die melodie deur onnatuurlike herhalings. 

(j) ’n Stygende verminderde vyfde wat voortgaan na ’n majeur derde in dieselfde rigting. 

(k) Vergrote tweede. 

(l) Weer die sesde sprong, nou sonder dat die leitoon verhoog is. (Sommige kandidate dink één 

verhoging (van die leitoon) geld vir alle gelyknamige note in ander oktawe!) 

(iii) Baie kandidate skryf gans te hoog of te laag en steur hulle min aan die stemtipe waarvoor hulle skryf. 

Dis meer dikwels in die hoër registers as in die laer. 

(iv) Omdat kandidate gehoor het van vorm in musiek, is hulle geneig om ’n losstaande melodie te verwar 

met ’n komposisie wat uit verskeie melodieë bestaan. Hulle soek dan na twee- of drieledige vorm en 

probeer veels te groot kontras maak tussen die verskeie frases. Die bedoeling is eenheid binne die 

melodie soos by ’n onderdeel van ’n langer stuk. 

(v) Dit klink amper banaal, maar die volgende sake verdien meer aandag: 

• ’n Mens skryf die sleutel voor elke notebalk. 

• ’n Mens skryf die toonsoortteken aan die begin van elke notebalk. 

• ’n Mens skryf die maatsoortteken net aan die begin van die melodie agter die toonsoortteken. Baie 

kandidate herhaal die maatsoortteken aan die begin van elke notebalk! Dit lyk baie snaaks. 

• Elke maat moet volledig wees. Moenie ruste uitlaat nie. 

• Moenie te min of te veel note in mate skryf nie. Probeer eweredig volgens nootlengtes skryf. 

• Gebruik goeie skryfmateriaal. Potlood word toegelaat, maar moenie met 2H skryf nie! Maak die 

potlood skerp. Skryf note, nie kolletjies nie. Skryf note in hulle normale formaat. Nootstele is 

ongeveer drie spasies lank. Nootkoppe is ongeveer een spasie dik. Gebruik ’n goeie uitveër – nie 

een wat swart merke maak nie! Hou die vraestel so netjies as moontlik. 

• Probeer onnodige rofwerk op die vraestel vermy. Daarvoor is daar ’n ekstra vel papier aangeheg. 

103

Inwendige gehoor 

Om ’n goeie melodie te skryf moet ’n mens inwendig probeer hoor hoe die toonhoogtes en die ritme 

klink. Ongelukkig is daar maar een manier waarop hierdie vermoë ontwikkel kan word en wel deur oefening. 

’n Mens kan met reg vra: ‘Watter oefening dan?’ Die antwoord is baie eenvoudig: deur bladsang te beoefen 

en veral bladsang met behulp van sol-fa name. 

Daar is mense wat die vermoë om inwendig te hoor by geboorte gekry het. Altans, dit lyk so. In feite het 

hulle onbewus die vaardigheid ontwikkel en meestal kan ook diegene wat gemaklik inwendig hoor, deur 

oefening dit nog baie opskerp en verbeter. 

Almal van ons kan inwendig hoor. Die meeste mense hoor wat hulle lees. Letters is ook maar simbole vir 

klank. Musieknote het presies dieselfde funksie en is niks anders as toonhoogte- en ritmesimbole nie. Soos 

kinders moet leer ‘klank’ as hulle begin lees, so moet ook die beginner-skrywer van melodieë eers hardop 

‘sing’ en later saggies om by onhoorbaar te eindig. 

Onderwysmetodiek en Beplanning 

In metodiek is daar grootliks twee benaderings: van klein na groot en van groot na klein. Wat ons onderwerp 

betref, dus van die kleinste motiewe na die volledige melodie of omgekeerd; van die geheelkonsep na die 

kleiner onderdele toe. 

Ek glo aan albei. Deur die kennis van clichés kan ’n mens maklik gedagtes aaneenryg. ’n Globale benadering 

is egter ewe vrugbaar omdat dit verbrokkeling teenwerk en die kontoerbegrip bevorder. 

Vir hierdie globale benadering is die ritmiese basis dikwels primêr. Die leerling moet eers ’n ritmiese 

opeenvolging probeer aanvoel en dit dan van toonhoogtes voorsien. Dit kan met baie klein eenhede geoefen 

word in die vorm van vraag-en-antwoordspeletjies. Op dié manier ontwikkel ’n mens ’n gevoel vir ewewig. 

Hierdie vermoë word deur Edwin Gordon (1965) selfs as ’n basiese maatstaf vir musikale aanleg beskou. 

Dit is vanselfsprekend dat ’n mens nie by 8-, 12- of 16-maat melodieë sal begin nie maar kleiner eenhede 

sal aanpak soos 2- en 4-maat frases. In sulke frases sal ’n mens ’n studie maak van openings- en 

sluitingselemente. Eenvoudige reëls sal eers geleer word, soos die volle beginmaat bly in die tonika drieklank. 

Die eindmaat bevat die tonika-noot. In die voorlaaste maat sal die dominant akkoord (fondament) laaste 

kom. Die eindnoot sal voorafgegaan word deur die dominant, supertonika of leitoon. 

J J Quantz (1752/1965) gee in sy ‘Versuch ’ reekse voorbeelde van sulke algemeen voorkomende sinswendings 

sodat die fluitspeler, as hy wil versier, kan terugval op ’n hele aantal bekende draaitjies. Dit is ’n gesonde 

uitgangspunt: die skrywer van melodieë moet kan terugval op ’n hele aantal aan hom bekende 

nootopeenvolgings. 

Hieronder volg ’n aantal kort wysies in vierslag, drieslag en tweeslag maatsoorte waarin geykte formules 

toegepas is. Dit is verstandig dat kandidate sulke kernmelodieë memoriseer. 

104

Voorbeeld 6 

Vanselfsprekend is hierdie voorbeelde nie volledig nie. Dit wil net ’n idee gee van die beginstyl waarin 

gewerk moet word. ’n Mens kan selfs met kleiner eenhede werk deur byvoorbeeld net die kadense se 

eienskappe aan te leer. 

By die beplanning van onderrig kan ons nie te sistematies probeer wees nie. Die verskille in aanleg van 

elke leerling is té groot om presiese riglyne te gee. Musiekonderrig op hierdie gebied bly individueel. Vir 

die een leerling sal dit noodsaaklik wees om openingsmate aan te leer en die kadense uit te werk. Ander 

leerlinge kan eers hulle eie pogings daarstel en van daaruit kan ’n mens die leerling in ‘die regte bane lei’. 

Die twee beginsels bly in elk geval van krag: ’n mens kan van die klein eenhede uitgaan om groter gehele 

te vorm, of ’n mens kan van ’n globale poging uitgaan en van daaruit die norm probeer bereik. 

’n Goeie onderwyser is nie iemand met ’n vooropgestelde sisteem nie, maar iemand wat maksimale prestasies 

uit die leerling kan haal – dit geld alle praktiese vakke. Melodieskryf is nie net ’n teoretiese aspek nie. Dit 

105

gaan oor improvisatoriese vermoë en die tegniek om dit in notebeeld vas te lê. Spontane sang en spel is ’n 

eerste vereiste vir suksesvolle komposisie. Inwendige gehoor is die vervolg daarop. 

Soos Lovelock (geen datum) tereg gesê het in sy inleiding tot sy leerboek oor fuga-skryf, dit verstandig 

om van ’n goeie beplanning (‘set plan’) uit te gaan en om te oefen om volgens die plan te werk. 

So ’n beplanning kan soos volg daar uitsien: 

• Hou die eerste maat in die tonika toonsoort. 

• Beweeg deur modulasie of met ’n half-slot (onvoltooide kadens) na dominant (in majeur toonsoort) 

of relatiewe majeur (in mineur toonsoort) aan die einde van die voorsin (meestal dus 4 mate) of 

aan die einde van die eerste volsin (dus na 8 mate). 

• Vervolg met uitwykings na verwante toonsoorte meestal met behulp van sekwense. 

Sorg daarvoor dat voor die terugkeer van die dominant toonsoort, die sub-dominant (of sy vervanger) 

bereik word. 

• Die laaste vier mate behoort aan die dominant-tonika verwantskap gewy te word, byvoorbeeld 

deur middel van ’n uitgebreide kadens (bv. I vi IV ii I6/4 V I). 

Dit spreek vanself dat dinge nie altyd uitwerk soos ’n mens dit beplan het nie. Elke begin het ’n ander 

vervolg. Elke tempo het ander vereistes. Sonder oefening kan ’n mens natuurlik niks vermag nie. Dit geld 

alle aspekte van musiek en komposisie in die besonder! 

Aantekeninge 

Klaas van Oostveen. 1980 (MS). ‘Fortspinnung’, The Art of Melody Writing. p 33. 

Klaas van Oostveen. 1969. Persoonlike mededelings. 

Ernest W Mulder, Harmonie. Vol II. Utrecht 1952. p 5. 

Edwin Gordon, Musical Aptitude Profile. New York. 1965. 

Johann Joachim Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversière zu spielen, 1752 vert J W Lustig, 

1754, (herdruk). Utrecht,1965. Tab VIII-XII. 

William Lovelock, The Examination Fugue. London, nd. p 8. 

106 

Dr Paul Loeb van Zuilenburg, bekende komponis, is sedert 

1974 eksaminator vir die musiekeksamens van Unisa. Hy is 

woonagtig in Stellenbosch

Slow practising: techniques, 

processes and strategies 

Most writers on piano playing confine themselves 

to an often exhaustive analysis of technique, their 

particular physical approach to the instrument, and 

how to train this. Surprisingly few have spoken about 

the nuts and bolts of practising, those processes and 

strategies that might be called ‘techniques of learning’. 

This article attempts to take one aspect of 

practising universally acknowledged as a cornerstone 

of our day-to-day routine - slow practising – and to 

look into when and how it might be applied. 

As teachers, we always hear the results of rushed or 

ineffective practising. It is human nature, especially 

for the younger student, to want to play through 

pieces rather than summon the effort to practise; 

to spend rather than to invest. So often when I ask 

a student to demonstrate his/her slow practice 

tempo, it is rarely slow enough, usually just a grudging 

nod in that direction. As to an appropriate tempo 

for slow practising, I can do no better than to quote 

a paragraph from Abram Chasins’ inspiring book 

‘Speaking of Pianists’, 1 the part where he recalls a 

time with Rachmaninov: 

Rachmaninov was a dedicated and driven perfectionist. 

He worked incessantly, with infinite patience. 

Once I had an appointment to spend an afternoon 

with him in Hollywood. Arriving at the designated 

hour of twelve, I heard an occasional piano sound as 

I approached the cottage. I stood outside the door, 

unable to believe my ears. Rachmaninov was prac- 

Graham Fitch 

tising Chopin’s etude in thirds, but at such a snail’s 

pace that it took me a while to recognise it because 

so much time elapsed between one finger 

stroke and the next. Fascinated, I clocked this remarkable 

exhibition: twenty seconds per bar was 

his pace for almost an hour while I waited riveted 

to the spot, quite unable to ring the bell. Perhaps 

this way of developing and maintaining an unerring 

mechanism accounted for his bitter sarcasm toward 

colleagues who practised their programmes ‘once 

over lightly’ between concerts. 

I think it is safe to assume that Rachmaninov – after 

all a great pianist – knew this particular study well 

and had already performed it publicly many times 

before. Slow practising is thus not only, in Stewart 

Gordon’s words, a ‘first-stage technique’. 2 Slow practising 

is as much a tool for refining and for maintaining, 

as for the initial note learning (when accurate, 

up-to-speed playing is often simply not possible). 

It is very much an on-going procedure, one 

that we use right up to the day of the performance. 

Let us start with the initial stages of learning a new 

piece. The intelligent student will see the need for 

breaking the music up into sections and for studying 

each hand alone, but will need to call upon his/ 

her sense of inner discipline to do the slow work 

slowly enough and for long enough. How many of 

our students abandon slow work when they sense 

the beginnings of fluency! The temptation to ‘try 

107

out’ at speed what they have spent a few minutes 

working on slowly is too great unless we as teachers 

have instilled a sense of craftsmanship, an appreciation 

that such premature run-throughs can 

wipe out the effects of careful practising. The satisfaction 

at this stage has to come from ‘doing the 

work’: leaving a new piece alone after the slow practice, 

then resuming it the following day, and the 

day after that, requires trust in the process. We have 

to foster this attitude in our students: it is not just 

their fingers that need training. 

So how do we communicate the need for time spent 

practising this way, and how do we make it enjoyable 

and meaningful to our students? I often use 

the analogy of the photographic enlargement: the 

more we blow up a photograph, the greater the 

detail we can perceive. The slower we play, the more 

we see and hear. We have the opportunity to think 

ahead as well as to evaluate what we have actually 

done, because the brain is moving faster than the 

fingers. Rather like a painter, who will need to alternate 

close-up work on a small corner of his canvas 

with stepping back to see how this fits in with 

the overall picture, and then make the necessary 

adjustments, we rely on many different tempi for 

practising. If slow work enables us to concentrate 

on every single detail, then its drawback is that we 

might not ‘see the wood for the trees’ and thus 

lose the overall sweep of the music. Too much playing 

of fast passages at speed will adversely affect 

our motor control and we lose finesse. Both slow 

and fast are necessary: it is a question of keeping 

the two in balance. 

It is of course the ultra-slow tempo that is so hard 

to commit to, because the musical meaning is 

changed. For this to be effective, we already have 

to have a good idea of the musical content, and to 

draw on our reserves of concentration (which need 

to be considerable here). Practising a slow movement 

twice as fast may seem perverse or even sacrilegious, 

but the greater perspective gained by the 

108 

time shrinkage between one phrase and the next 

will be tangible after doing this just once. Josef 

Lhevinne used to have four different tempi: very 

slow, then a little faster, then still faster, then finally 

the most uncomfortable tempo which he would 

stick to until it became comfortable! 3 A performance 

tempo is not an absolute and we gain much flexibility 

by knowing a piece at many different tempi. 

If we agree that slow practising is a process where 

the conscious mind trains the fingers and the ear, 

then we have to know as clearly as possible what it 

is we expect of them. Often, just getting the correct 

notes, in the correct rhythm and with the correct 

fingering is enough with which to start. Phrase 

shaping and other attributes of artistic playing may 

come 

later. A process where the tempo is slow enough to 

allow us to think about each note before we play it, 

then to evaluate what we have done immediately 

after, might be represented by the following flow 

chart: 

Thus, potential errors can be avoided before they 

occur, or eliminated before they have a chance to 

become habitual. To make the practising highly effective, 

if the response in the final (‘post’) stage is 

‘wrong’, feed the correction back into the first (‘pre’) 

stage so that on the next repetition, the mind may 

command the fingers to produce exactly the intended 

result. I am sure this is what Theodor 

Leschetizky meant when he said ‘think ten times 

and play once’. 4 We can thereby avoid mindless ‘hit 

and miss’ repetitions, where the student will get it 

wrong several times, then right on the last attempt, 

and is content with that. Little wonder the passage

folds under the pressure of a performance: what they 

have actually practised is getting it wrong nine times 

and right on the tenth attempt. A moment or two 

of reflection before the repetition, becoming as 

conscious as possible as to why we are playing that 

part again can save us not only time, but more importantly 

from the futile exercise of attempting to 

‘perfect imperfection’ (Cecile Genhart’s phrase5 ). 

Later, the finer points of phrasing can be built in 

using the same approach. Instead of evaluating the 

result as merely right or wrong, one can be discerning 

as to gradations in crescendo, qualities of touch 

and so on. To return to Chasins’ description, 

Rachmaninov would presumably have been attending 

to such matters as precision in attack and tonal 

balance of every single pair of double thirds in the 

right hand, and might have been asking himself 

questions such as: ‘did the notes sound exactly together?’; 

‘did both fingers play from the surface of 

the keys?’; ‘was the upper note slightly stronger 

than the lower?’; and so on, quite apart from the 

demands he would have been making of the left 

hand and the pedal. This is surely maintenance practice 

at its most demanding. 

I have attempted to categorise slow practice into 

four main areas, which will inevitably overlap. 

Slow and mechanical 

When the average student thinks of slow practising 

what usually comes to mind is ‘note bashing’ (a drilling 

of the fingers at a slow speed) with no real attention 

to sound, phrasing, or indeed any other 

musical qualities. While there is a place for a type 

of practising that deals with pure mechanics, this is 

not the only way and will need more sparing application 

than one might think. If overused, it can do 

more harm than good as it tends to cause physical 

tightness, a stifling of the imagination, and (worse) 

a gradual deadening of the ear to the subtleties of 

timing and colouring in the music. This sort of work 

is best used in alternation with ‘slow and musical’, 

about which more later. 

Mechanical practice is basically technical practice, 

a way of forming and strengthening the conditioned 

reflexes. To build speed and brilliance, for example, 

into passagework, we can prepare each finger before 

each note, and release effort the moment the 

finger senses that the key has reached the keybed. 

So often with the intermediate student, we need 

to train this principle of ‘effort and release’. This is 

often more obviously called for in loud and fast playing, 

which, as Heinrich Neuhaus points out, 6 is the 

most difficult thing to do on the piano. At a very 

slow tempo, it is possible to concentrate on this 

point of release after each and every note, thus 

building it into the reflex arc. This technical skill 

can only be acquired at a very slow tempo, with full 

concentration. As such, we form good habits. We 

may practise with high fingers (to develop key 

speed); with fingers close to the keys (for economy 

of movement); with a legatissimo touch (to develop 

strong legato connections); pianissimo, using ‘fingers 

only’ and listening for complete evenness (for 

superfine control), and so on. Even a half-hour dose 

of ‘slow and firm’ can do wonders to secure a troublesome 

passage and make it feel easy. 

Slow and musical 

In this particular form of slow work, it is the ear 

and the mind (rather than the fingers) that are in 

charge. It is more a musical process than a technical 

one, where we attend to quality of sound, every 

single detail of phrasing, articulations, tonal gradations, 

chord balances, pedalling, lengths of notes, 

dynamic shadings, and so on. This kind of practising 

makes us acutely aware of every detail of the piece, 

and the results are far more extensive than if we 

concern ourselves with mere finger dexterity. The 

concentration needed to sustain this type of listening 

is intense and presupposes certain decisions on 

109

the student’s part as to interpretation: this process 

will tend to reveal much. There is no place for the 

metronome here, as all the subtleties of timing (in 

exaggerated form) will need to be present. It is the 

ear and the ‘inner judge’ that are doing the work, 

and not the fingers. In the words of pianist Claude 

Frank: 

There is absolutely no substitute for slow practice. 

Let me embellish this by saying that, ninety-nine 

times out of a hundred, this slow practice should be 

very musical. There are very few instances in which 

slow mechanical 

practice is beneficial. Musical slow practice is the 

key7 . 

Slow yet fast 

While this may appear a contradiction in terms, in 

this particular type of practising it is the tempo that 

is slow (the slower the better) and the motions that 

are fast (the faster the better, provided these are 

done without jerkiness). This process is especially 

useful in passages where the hands move quickly 

from one position to another, where we need to 

build in speed and precision in measuring these distances. 

It is only possible to control such matters 

when the tempo is slow; at a faster tempo, the ‘automatic 

pilot’ kicks in, allowing the fruits of our 

labour just to happen. Thus, for example, in the 

opening of the rondo from Mendelssohn’s Andante 

and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 14, a metronome speed 

of quaver = 60 allows us to cover each new hand 

position extremely quickly. 8 As soon as each key is 

released, the hand/arm travels directly to the next 

position (dead centre of the key) and remains there 

(loosely!) until needed. This process builds in both 

extreme precision and speed in the ever-moving 

hand positions. 

There comes a time, in the secondary stages of learning, 

when we will need to listen in phrases and para- 

110 

graphs (rather than syllabically), when slow practice 

is actually an impediment to gaining speed. It 

is especially important in this transition stage to 

remember that for a couple of days, the ‘little bits 

fast’ process (see below) will challenge us and we 

may find ourselves resorting to our security blanket 

of ‘slow’. This will only interfere with our 

progress: after the reflexes for up-to-speed playing 

have been developed, both fast and slow speeds may 

be used alternately but at this point omit the slow 

work altogether. 

After a bout of slow practice, the passage often just 

seems to ‘come right’ and we find we can play it at 

speed effortlessly. Sometimes we need a bridge 

between slow work and up-to-speed playing. A tried 

and tested method, which hardly needs any explanation, 

is to increase the speed gradually, by increments 

with each repetition, until the ideal speed is 

reached. Another more neglected way is to take 

little snippets of the music at performance tempo. 

Little bits fast 

The benefit here is that one is practising a performance 

– tiny samples of one – rather than going 

through the motions mechanically. In this process 

we include every aspect of performance (the proper 

dynamic/expressive range, feeling, energy, as well 

as tempo) but play just a short burst of the performance. 

The segment can be just a few notes to start 

with, then we add more notes until we have whole 

bars and then phrases. If we change the starting and 

stopping places each time (moving the goal posts), 

the stops will not have the chance to become ingrained. 

As one proceeds with this approach, the 

segments can be longer until we can play whole 

sections, at full speed and with all nuances. 

In the case of a very fast or agile passage, if the 

practice tempo range exceeds the intended performance 

tempo, the reflexes will be even stronger

and results even more secure. I liken this to the 

athlete ‘running the extra mile’, so that the eventual 

distance seems easier. The more we exceed 

the intended tempo, the softer and lighter we will 

need to play (‘fast and light’). 

In a performance, we are not thinking about the 

‘how’ of the playing: like the surfer on the wave, 

we perform best if we can simply allow ourselves to 

be carried along by the rhythm and flow of the music, 

feeling rather than thinking. Slow practice is a potent 

discipline in the training regime for developing 

memory, musical awareness as well as muscular 

control. As appropriate for the seasoned concert 

artist as for the beginner (and all levels in between), 

we never outgrow it. Slow practice is basically conscious 

practice. 

Notes 

1 Chasins, Abram. 1967. Speaking of Pianists. New 

York: Knopf, 44. 

2 Gordon, Stewart. 1995. Etudes for Piano Teachers: 

Reflections on the Teacher’s Art. Oxford: University 

Press, 73. 

3 Marcus, Adele. Great Pianists Speak with Adele 

Marcus. Neptune, New Jersey: Paganiniana Publications, 

48. 

4 Brée, Malwine. 1997. The Lescherizky Method: 

A Guide to Fine and Correct Piano Playing. New 

York: Dover, 57. 

5 Gordon, 83. 

6 Neuhaus, Heinrich. 1973. The Art of Piano Playing. 

London: Barrie and Jenkins: 84. 

7 Marcus, 51. 

8 I am not necessarily suggesting that one practises 

with the metronome, Ideally, it should be 

used as a guide: switched on before playing the 

passage, switched off for the actual playing, and 

referred to again afterwards, to make sure the 

initial tempo has been maintained. 

Bibliography 

1 Chasins, Abram. 1967. Speaking of Pianists. New 

York: Knopf. 

2 Gordon, Stewart. 1995. Etudes for Piano Teachers: 

Reflections on the Teacher’s Art. Oxford: University 

Press. 

3 Marcus, Adele. Great Pianists Speak with Adele 

Marcus. Neptune, New Jersey: Paganiniana Publications. 

4 Brée, Malwine. 1997. The Lescherizky Method: 

A Guide to Fine and Correct Piano Playing. New 

York: Dover. 

5 Neuhaus, Heinrich. 1973. The Art of Piano Playing. 

London: Barrie and Jenkins. 

Graham Fitch is Associate Professor and Head of Piano of the 

South African College of Music, University of Cape Town 

111

112 

Personalia 

Profile: 

Unisa Music Examiner (21) 

Diane Coutts 

My life was born in song . . . 

I was my mother’s firstborn – expected at a time 

when my father was away from home due to his 

work with the South African Air Force. I am told 

that my parents communicated by post almost daily 

trying to decide on my first name. Fortunately, I 

was a lazy baby-to-be and I delayed my birth from 

10 December (the doctor’s ‘last possible date’) to 

Diane Coutts 

5 January, thus giving them more time to make 

this important choice. After many suggestions, and 

rejections, my father wrote that he fancied Diana, 

to which my mother replied ‘No! but what about 

Diane?’ as this was a new song release which she 

loved. At last they reached consensus, and so I was 

named after a song. My middle name had to be 

Burdett as this was a family name from the Coutts 

side and it was supposed to be given to the firstborn. 

Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts, born in 1814, 

into the banking family known as Coutts’ Bank in 

London, and now known as the Queen’s Bank, was a 

famous philanthropist from whom I received my 

name. She is buried in Westminster Abbey, and if 

my memory is correct, next to Georg Frederic 

Händel. I have several books about the Coutts 

family including two volumes of letters written by 

Charles Dickens to Angela Burdett-Coutts. They had 

met at a dinner party in 1835 and it was the beginning 

of a close relationship in which they worked 

together for the public welfare and founded a home 

in Shepher’s Bush for ‘fallen young ladies’. There is 

the story of Dickens who had received a letter from 

an outraged contributor to their scheme on hearing 

that some of the funds had been ‘squandered’ 

on the purchase of a piano for the young women. ‘I 

wish’ he wrote to Baroness Burdett-Coutts, ‘that I 

could have truthfully replied that we had bought 

not just one piano for the whole house, but a piano 

for each individual inhabitant.’

From that illustrious background, my own life and 

that of my parents, has been contrastingly simple. 

My father was born in Eshowe of British and Dutch 

parents, and my mother was born in Durban from a 

Welsh father (I have a gold medal that he won for 

singing), and a mother of German Jewish background. 

Neither of my parents were musicians but 

they had vowed to save for the purchase of a piano 

so that their children could have the opportunity to 

learn. My father played the drums - he was selftaught, 

in a jazz band and he was often away on 

Saturday evenings enjoying his music-making. 

My two Dutch great aunts in Eshowe were both 

church organists but I never had the opportunity to 

hear them play. My Auntie Maisie (Cornelia 

Berendina Wantink) had a grand piano in her lounge 

and no one was allowed to touch it. The story is 

told that when I was about three years old she observed 

me tip-toeing up to the piano and gently 

depressing a key. She noticed the look of absolute 

bliss that came over my face as I listened to that 

note, and this convinced her that I was musical and 

that I should learn to play – but sadly, she did not 

live long enough to hear the fruits of my practising. 

As a child, I lived on the Bluff in Durban with my 

parents and younger sisters Felicity and Janet. My 

friend Maureen lived opposite us, and her mother 

was a singer – Gloria Tesoriere – who often used to 

sing with the then Durban Municipal Orchestra conducted 

by Edward Dunn. Maureen and I both attended 

the Holy Family Convent in Russell Street 

and we began piano lessons at the school but that 

did not last as we missed too many school classes. 

Then Maureen’s mother suggested that we go to 

her friend Mr Hollier who was a viola player in the 

orchestra. He taught at Cuthberts Buildings which 

was quite an art centre. I was rather terrified by my 

teacher and I obtained a low pass mark in my Trinity 

College Initial examination. Eventually, Mr 

Hollier suggested to my mother that maybe a woman 

teacher would be better, because although I had 

talent, he was not the person to develop it. 

On my way home from school one day, I noticed a 

house nearby with new occupants and a board in 

the garden saying : ‘Elizabeth Sivertson – Teacher 

of Pianoforte’. She was to be the answer to my 

dreams. This young and newly married teacher was 

perfect for me and within a year I played a concerto 

with the Durban Philharmonic Orchestra and so my 

career, at 10 years of age, was launched. For the 

following ten years I was taught and guided by Miss 

Sivertson and then she felt that I was ready to face 

the musical world on my own two feet and with my 

own ten fingers. In the meantime I had also studied 

the flute and recorder with Joseph Slater, and the 

organ with Errol Slatter. 

Ivey Dickson was an Associated Board Music Examiner 

who toured South Africa in 1964. The South 

African Society of Music Teachers (SASMT) in Durban 

organised a function in her honour and I was invited 

to play. She was impressed and invited me to come 

to London and study with her. So the following year 

I had an intensive course with her at the Royal 

Academy of Music and also flute tuition with Norman 

Knight which she had also arranged. 

My broadcasting career had begun with a ‘young 

South African’ programme playing both piano and 

flute solos. Charles Oxtabry, who was the Organiser 

of Music for the South African Broadcasting Corporation 

(SABC) in Durban, felt that I was too advanced 

for the youth programme and he had the recording 

re-auditioned for the Artists’ List for which I was 

accepted. I really loved this form of performing but 

I still did not know that this was where my future 

career was to be. 

As a child I had always enjoyed sight reading, and 

the exciting part of examinations was to see what 

113

the examiner had chosen for me to read. I found 

that singers had begun asking me to accompany 

them at concerts and competitions, and I was already 

accompanying my sister Janet (5) who was an 

oboist, recorder player and singer. I remember when 

I was almost 15 competing at the Natal Eisteddfod 

in a sight-reading class and the adjudicator wrote 

on my report: ‘I really hope that you are going to 

be an accompanist as you have all the skills.’ That 

was Nan Griffen from East London who had predicted 

my future career. Sight reading is a vital part 

of accompaniment because so often you have very 

little time for preparation and must rely on your 

reading ability. 

In 1969, Peter John Carter, who was Head of Music 

at the Natal Performing Arts Council (NAPAC), rang 

me and said that the SABC accompanist position in 

Johannesburg was becoming vacant and that I should 

audition for the post. With the help of Ronald 

Charles at the SABC in Durban, all was arranged 

and I finally auditioned. Surprisingly, I made it onto 

a short list of six pianists and had to present myself 

in Johannesburg for a final audition. This entailed 

the playing of solo works, sight reading, transposition 

and prepared programmes with Jossie Boshoff 

(soprano) and Annie Kossman (violin). How I really 

loved this preparation realising that this was what I 

wanted to do with my musical life. 

I was so bitterly disappointed when I was placed 

second to Sini van den Brom, and I returned home 

feeling as if the end of the world had finally come. 

To console myself, I decided that I would buy a grand 

piano. My first piano had been a Wurlitzer upright, 

graduating – on my teacher’s advice – to a Haegele, 

and then my choice of a Petrof. I ordered a Yamaha, 

and am still using that piano today loving its tone 

quality and action. 

I no sooner had the piano than the SABC telephoned 

114 

and proposed that without any further testing and 

as a result of my Johannesburg audition, I be appointed 

as the official accompanist in Durban as 

Constance Brothwood was retiring. What joy I felt 

– this was the job I had prayed for – it was now 

mine and I could remain in Durban. And so began 

my SABC career. I had eight wonderful years at the 

Old Fort Road Studios learning so much about broadcasting, 

recordings with so may artists, and forming 

a great piano duo with Ronald Charles - not only 

was he my SABC supervisor and colleague, but he 

became my friend and we spent may happy laughter-filled 

hours whilst playing two-piano works. In 

1979 I was transferred to Johannesburg as Sini van 

den Brom was retiring. So that had been God’s plan 

all along: eight years earlier I had been too young 

and inexperienced to cope successfully with the 

prime position, but through the training I had received 

in Durban, and the chance to learn more 

repertoire – I realise now – God had been grooming 

me for the tougher life in Johannesburg. 

All in all I spent 27 years at the SABC having a 

wonderful musical life – I worked with the orchestra 

under many famous conductors, and appeared 

on television on numerous occasions. I accompanied 

every instrument (from a piccolo to a tuba) 

and every voice, and played in chamber music ensembles, 

and did solo organ and piano recordings 

winning two Artes Awards for the best performance 

in Serious Music on Radio playing Prokofiev’s Visions 

Fugitives and Hindemith’s Ludas Tonalis. 

I joined the SABC as a pianist but I became a musician. 

It was with tremendous sadness that I left due 

to their closing of the music departments throughout 

the country, and the eventual retrenchment of 

the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) and the 

remaining music staff. 

I began my Unisa examining career in 1975 when

Hennie Joubert, the then Director of Music Examinations, 

had asked me if I was interested in examining. 

The assessment of performance had always fascinated 

me, so I agreed to some training and testing. 

After a trial period I was accepted as an examiner, 

and I have travelled to many parts of South 

Africa and Namibia doing this work which I love and 

enjoy. Apart from Grade and Licentiate examining 

I have also, by invitation, been on the panel of adjudicators 

for the South African and Overseas Scholarships, 

and was part of the screening jury for the 

1996 Unisa International Piano Competition, as well 

as a member of the jury for the first Nederburg– 

Unisa National Piano Competitions. 

I have accompanied at all the Unisa Singing and 

String Competitions working with exceptionally 

talented young musicians. In 1986, Marilyn Mims, 

the American soprano whom I accompanied, won 

the Second Prize and I believe that she is now singing 

at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 1992, 

Tomas Varga, a Hungarian cellist I played for, also 

won the Second Prize and the SAMRO prize for the 

best rendering of a prescribed South African work. 

Another Hungarian, the soprano Marta Fers, who 

reached the semi finals in 1994, won the prize for 

the best performance of Lieder in the First Round. 

At the 2002 4th International String Competition, 

I accompanied the Chinese cellist Dong Yao who 

won the prize for the performance of a South African 

Composition, ‘I Can Hear a Swan Singing’ by 

Jaco van der Merwe. 

These competitions are so inspiring and stimulating 

and it has been a privilege to communicate 

musically with so many international artists. 

I lead a simple life that is filled with music. I am a 

church organist, having played at the Bluff Methodist 

Church, Umbilo Road Methodist Church, St 

Joseph’s Catholic Church and the Emmanuel Ca- 

thedral in Durban, and since 1979 at St Bonafatius 

Deutschsprächize Katholisches Kirche in Honeydew. 

For 37 years I have shared my home and life with 

Pug dogs – my present adored companions being 

Oliver and Caleb. I also have two cats and I love 

working in the garden, growing my own vegetables 

and baking my own bread. 

I thank God every day for His bounteous blessings 

and the gift of music He bestowed on me. 

115

116 

Ricordare XXX 

Rudi Neitz 

Die foon lui. Dis Helen Strauss, sangdosent aan die 

Normaalkollege in Pretoria. ‘Haai Joubie, ek het ’n 

groot guns om te vra. Weet jy, ek het die 

wonderbaarlikste stem ontdek, ’n volbloed bas. Kan 

hy nie een aand by julle huis kom sing nie? Ek wil 

so graag hê die musiekmense in Pretoria moet hom 

hoor,’ en ’n borrelende Helena Strauss vertel verder 

hoe musikaal hy is, hoe hy op Brits waar hy groot 

geword het in talle konserte nie net gesing het nie, 

maar sy moeder wie ook gesing het, begelei het. 

‘Om alles te kroon’, las Helena toe so ewe by, ‘sy 

naam Rudi Neitz is net reg vir ’n wêreldsanger.’ 

Joubero Malherbe 

So het Rudi dan kom sing en almal verstom. Helena 

het gestraal en het Rudi se ouers, wat ook 

teenwoordig was, probeer oortuig dat hierdie seun 

met die buitengewone stem as ’n professionele 

sanger ’n loopbaan kon volg. 

Rudi, gebore op 28e Desember 1934, was lid van 

die vyfde geslag Neitze wat na Suid-Afrika gekom 

het. Die voorvaders kon aanspraak maak op adellike 

herkoms met die wit swaan as familiewapen. Volgens 

Germaanse oorkondes uit die elfde of twaalfe eeu, 

sou dié wit swaan die weg oor die stormagtige meer 

van die lewe aandui, en jou vergesel na die ewige 

oewer. Die Neitz vesting was die kasteel Schloss 

Detzel in Pruise. 

Gedurende sy skooljare presteer Rudi op verskeie 

gebiede soos atletiek, tennis (kaptein) en sang. 

Tydens skooloptredes sing hy saam met baie jong 

soprane: Greta Jones (9 jaar oud), Marie Erasmus 

en Michelle Jordaan, dogter van Barbara 

Veenemans, bekende sangeres. 

Na matriek, met onderskeidings in Wiskunde en 

Duits, studeer hy eers aan die Normaalkollege 

Pretoria (THOD onderwysdiploma in Musiek) en 

later aan die Universiteit van Pretoria (UP) vir BA, 

MA en later doktorsgrade. In Duitsland by die 

Goethe-instituut in Beiere (Achenmühle) en die 

Universisteit van München, woon hy lesings by. 

Gedurende sy eerste jaar aan die Normaalkollege 

kry hy die hoofrol in ’n operette Jarrijago. Hierdie 

operette, geskryf deur Coenie Rudolf en getoonset

deur die bekende Prof Gerrit Bon, was opgevoer 

om die 50-jarige bestaan van die Kollege te gedenk. 

Ek onthou nog daardie opvoering in die kerksaal 

langs die NG Kerk by die plein so goed. Rudi as 

Jarrijago moes die studentegees weerspieël. Hy was 

soos ’n hofnar aangetrek en moes talle bokspronge 

uitvoer terwyl hy sing. Soos verwag was hy ’n 

reusesukses – sy stem het almal oorrompel, selfs 

koerante was gaande oor die nuutgevonde ‘ster’. 

Daar het nog optredes as student gevolg, naamlik 

toere met die operettes Kunstenaars en Hekse en 

Hoe Kaler Jonker en konserte. 

Sy eerste onderwyspos was aan Gerrit Maritz 

Hoërskool en later Lyttelton Hoërskool in Pretoria 

omgewing. 

In 1959 het Bakkies, sy vrou soos hulle spottenderwys 

vertel, na vyf jaar kuier en twee jaar se verlowing, 

hom eindelik voor die kansel gesleep. Uit die 

huwelik – waar Rudi natuurlik vir haar gesing het – 

is twee seuns gebore; Erdi en Werner. Iemand het 

eenkeer vir hom gevra waar hy die graagste optree. 

Sonder om te aarsel was sy antwoord: ‘op troues’. 

Na vyf jaar in die onderwys word Rudi lektor aan 

die Universiteit van Pretoria; sy vak, Duits. 

Intussen was hy oral in aanvraag om op te tree. Die 

SAUK het in daardie jare transkripsie plate gemaak. 

Van Rudi is daar bykans 130 snitte. Intussen in die 

jare 1958–9 was Con Lamprecht ywerig aan die werk 

as hoof van die destydse Afrikaanse Ligte-musiek. 

Talle opnames is gemaak van sanggroepies. Die 

Kampvuursangers was een van die gewildste groepe. 

Vir hierdie groep was Rudi die permanente bas. 

Ander lede was bekendes soos Gert Potgieter 

(tenoor), Wolfgang Anheisser (bariton) (tragies 

gesterf in ’n opera), Josef Jansen (tweede tenoor), 

André Brink (bariton) (van die Dag Ouma, dag Oupaprogram) 

en Bob Borowsky (bariton). 

Rudi, wat dikwels gedig het, het só geskryf oor 

hierdie groepie wat ná werk, tot soms elf, twaalf 

ure geoefen en opgeneem het in die ou 

Commissionerstraat SAUK-gebou: 

Sit saam hier by my Kampvuur 

droomlag tot trane rol 

sing ou bekende liedjies 

en skink jou beker vol. 

In 1960 word die Towerfluit van Mozart opgevoer 

in Afrikaans en Rudi maak sy debuut as Sarastro. 

Oliver Walker was ’n kritikus wat verdoemende 

kritiek kon lewer – maar vir Rudi se optrede was 

daar net die hoogste lof. Hierna het talle rolle na sy 

kant gekom. 

In Nabucco van Verdi skitter hy en wie sal nie sy 

Jas-aria in La bohème van Puccini onthou nie? Vele 

optredes volg: Aida (Verdi), Simone Boccanegra 

(Verdi), Don Giovanni (Mozart), Peter Grimes 

(Britten), Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Norma 

(Bellini) and La traviata (Verdi) om maar net ’n 

aantal te noem. Hier kon hy saam met wêreldsangers 

optree en onder leiding van bekende dirigente sy 

kennis verryk; dirigente soos Nicola Samale van La 

Scala Operahuisorkes, Maestro Franco Ferraris en 

Alvin Francis van die Londen Filharmoniese Orkes. 

Maria Hittorf, bekende sangpedagoog, het Rudi 

uitgenooi om as bas in Wenen te sing – maar hy het 

dit van die hand gewys. Miskien was die lewe alreeds 

so vol vir hierdie veelsydige sanger. 

In byna elke oratorio wat uitgevoer is in Gauteng 

waarin daar ’n basrol was, was Rudi die bas. 

Liederaande was een van Rudi se gunstelinge. Ria 

Nel, bekende begeleidster, het hom meestal 

bygestaan. Die bekende siklusse het Rudi sonder 

bladmusiek voor hom foutloos gesing. Baie 

musiekliefhebbers van Lieder sal sy uitvoerings van 

‘An die ferne Geliebte’ (Beethoven), ‘Winterreise’ 

(Schubert) en die kunsliedere van Schumann, 

Brahms, Loewe en Wolf onthou. 

Die aanvraag na konserte was enorm en Rudi het 

die land deurkruis. Die gehore het gewissel van 

kenners tot liefhebbers van ligter musiek. Hy het 

117

esef dat gewilde liedere soos om nou maar ’n paar 

te noem, ‘Ol’ man River’ uit Showboat, ‘Some enchanted 

Evening’, ‘Goin’ Home’ (Dvorák in 

verwerkte vorm) groot byval vind by gehore. Dit 

het hom laat besluit om sulke konserte aan te bied. 

Miskien was nog ’n rede dat sy buurman Ervine Taylor, 

’n uitmuntende pianis, deur Bakkies gevra was 

om Rudi te begelei. So was ’n hegte, suksesvolle 

en gesogte musiekkombinasie gebore wat deur baie, 

vir nog baie jare, onthou sal word. 

Waardering vir hierdie geliefde sanger het uit alle 

oorde gekom, nie net vir sy sang nie, maar ook as 

dosent en waarnemende hoof van die Departement 

Duits aan die Universiteit van Pretoria. Onder sy 

leiding voltooi meer as 300 nagraadse studente hul 

honneurs-, magisteren doktorsgrade. Sy gewildheid 

onder die studente het hom die trotse draer gemaak 

van die gesogte Dux Docens-baadjie van UP. In 1990 

het hy ook die gegraveerde medalje, Pro Munere 

Gratis, van UP ontvang van die Rektor, prof D J 

Joubert. 

In September 2001 was Rudi genooi om in ’n 

konsert van Musica Festiva op te tree in die stadsaal 

van Pretoria. Dit sou ’n konsert met slegs manskore 

en Rudi as solis wees. Om die konsert bekend te 

stel, het Eddie Davey, wat die konsert georganiseer 

het, my genader en so het Rudi, Eddie en ek een 

middag om die mikrofoon gesit en ’n program vir 

Radio Sonder Grense (RSG) opgeneem. Dit was ’n 

heerlike ontspanne opname. Ek onthou nog hoe ek 

aan die einde die twee gaste bedank het en skielik 

kom dit toe onverwags van Rudi in die diepste basso 

profundo ‘Goeie-nag’. Net daar het ek toe uitgebars 

van die lag oor die lug. Daardie middag toe ek luister 

na die opnames van Rudi wat ons voorgespeel het, 

was ek weereens bewus van hierdie unieke 

Godgegewe stem en het ek gewens dat sy opera en 

liederoptredes ook vir ons opgeneem was. Die 

konsert was ’n reusesukses, maar min het ons almal 

geweet dat dit eintlik ’n gepaste vaarwel van Rudi 

sou wees. 

Op 6 Februarie 2002 het ’n virus sy liggaam 

binnegedring en is hy deur die swaan van die 

118 

wapenskild van die Neitze begelei na die ewige 

oewer. 

Laat ons afskeid neem van Rudi in sy eie woorde: 

‘Met my sang, my musiek, staan ek self gebroke in 

Sy diens en mag sing van die ewige stad wat kom 

van U Grootheid en redding, dat ons mag huistoe 

gaan nadat ons deur die tuin van die lewe moes 

wandel.’ 

Joubero Malherbe is ‘n bekend musiekjoernalis 

en aanbieder van die program Musiekposbus 

op Radio Sonder Grense

Michael Blake 50 

(Photo: Catherine Knox) 

Michael Blake was born in Cape Town on 31 October 

1951. He studied at the South African College of 

Music in Cape Town, the University of the 

Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg (BMus) and 

University of London Goldsmiths College (MMus). 

In 2000 he was awarded a doctorate by Rhodes University. 

From 1977 to 1997, when he returned to 

South Africa, he was based in London as composer, 

pianist and teacher. He is Artistic Director of New 

Music Indaba – South Africa’s only new music festival 

– and President of the South African Section of 

the ISCM. This interview was conducted by e-mail 

Stephanus Muller 

from 15 August 2001 to 14 January 2002, during 

which time Michael conscientiously kept sending 

answers from his travels in Argentina, Japan, Europe, 

England and, from time to time, Cape Town. 

Interview with Michael Blake on the occasion of his 

fiftieth birthday 

Stephanus Muller: Tell me about your parents – 

I’m intrigued about the 50 per cent Niewoudt in your 

veins, and also how a ‘Capie’ like you ended up at 

Wits. By the way, where were you born in Cape 

Town? 

Michael Blake: Easy. I was born in Rondebosch, not 

all that far from my Cape Town flat. My mother, 

Mary Niewoudt (her mother was du Plessis), second 

youngest of seven children, corresponded with 

George Blake of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 

(Northumberland) during World War II, and they 

married in Cape Town after the war. My father emigrated 

to South Africa (if you’ve been to Newcastle 

you’ll appreciate the attraction of Cape Town). Towards 

the end of my school career my father changed 

jobs and that entailed a move to Johannesburg. I 

tagged along and decided to stay there for the time 

being and study at Wits. Wits was a small department 

then, with a useless Head of Department 

(whom we eventually got rid off – student power!), 

but some very fine lecturers such as Geoffrey Chew 

(now at Royal Holloway), who introduced me to the 

music of the Middle Ages, Adolph Hallis (one of the 

finest pianists and teachers in South Africa, and with 

119

whom I studied for three of my university years) 

and June Schneider, who was a great inspiration and 

tireless supporter of new music and new ideas. Fellow 

students included people like Kevin Volans. 

SM: How did Hallis teach and what did you learn 

from him? Were you then mainly a pianist, or were 

you already composing? 

MB: Hallis was a link with ‘the great’ piano tradition 

– I know that sounds like a cliché – and I learnt 

a great deal from him about piano technique and 

about playing music of the eighteenth, nineteenth 

and early twentieth centuries. With his Viennese 

background he was also a link with the Second 

Viennese School, and I studied some pieces by 

Schoenberg and Berg with him. He had also been a 

great promoter of new music in his earlier years in 

London, mounting regular concerts of then new 

works at the Wigmore Hall. He also commissioned 

South African composers such as John Joubert and 

was quite a prolific composer himself. I’ve never 

heard anything of his, though I’ve been told it comes 

very strongly from a nineteenth-century (tonal) tradition. 

He was a mischievous, rebellious kind of soul 

and I liked that. We disagreed on certain things like 

Hindemith – I did then, and still do, find Hindemith 

incredibly boring and academic, and thought that 

his piano sonatas were rubbish, whereas Hallis 

thought Hindemith a great twentieth-century composer. 

Once, probably to test his tolerance level, I 

brought Stockhausen’s Klavierstück IX to a lesson 

(that’s the one that starts with a chord repeated 

over a hundred times, then about fifty times, and 

so on), and he stopped me before we got to the end 

of the first hundred and suggested we look at something 

else. I think he dined out on that incident for 

a long time, because I heard about it from many 

people. But he was really the finest teacher in 

Johannesburg at that time, and I was greatly inspired 

by his teaching, knowledge and his philosophy. 

I was already composing, but I suppose I was more 

of a closet composer. I started soon after my first 

120 

piano lesson at the age of ten, but I don’t recall 

anything I wrote until I was well into my teens, and 

those were mostly pieces in the style of Bach, or 

Mozart, or Chopin. And then I discovered twentieth-century 

music when I got to university, and all 

hell was let loose. Some of my early ‘experiments’ 

were piano duos (safety in numbers!) involving everything 

you could possibly do with the instrument, 

not much melody or harmony, but lots of clusters 

and playing on the strings, a cadenza for the pedals, 

and so on – piano hooliganism one might have called 

it. It was also a chance to experiment with the fashionable 

graphic notation of that time. I never wrote 

sonatinas and fugues and song-cycles like all good 

composition students were supposed to do, mainly 

because I never really had a composition teacher. 

Nobody (at Wits) ever showed us how to take all 

the dreary style studies we learnt and become a 

postmodern or even a post-war composer. Somehow 

we had to learn to compose by osmosis. So I 

quietly experimented with all sorts of things, and I 

think it took me longer than many other people to 

find a way to compose with which I was truly comfortable. 

All this time I was playing a lot of contemporary 

piano music (Messiaen, Schoenberg, Webern, 

Stockhausen, Cage, and some South African composers) 

and in my final year at university I started a 

new music group, The Orion Ensemble, which also 

performed Feldman, Bussotti and Ives, among others. 

and my own music. We played in art galleries, 

various university venues, and in 1977 Mannie 

Manim gave us a regular platform at the Market 

Theatre. 

SM: It strikes me that you seemed to have had quite 

a lot of new music to hand in what must have been 

the early seventies. Was the cultural isolation already 

beginning to bite then, or was the music department 

largely isolated from political issues? 

Which brings me to the question of whether you 

were politically involved at all at Wits, and why and 

when did you leave for London? 

MB: Actually playing new music seemed a good way

to engage with the pieces and explore what composers 

were doing elsewhere. The players – from 

orchestras, among other things – were sometimes 

difficult. Some were very interested and supportive, 

many thought I was crazy. There was very little 

money, so I had to find people who would play for a 

few beers and a pizza. 

Being a composer in South Africa was always such 

an isolated thing, and (white) South African composers 

were unpolitical and politically unaware. 

When composers such as Stockhausen and Feldman 

came in the seventies and eighties it gave composers 

a real lift, as did events like the now legendary 

Adcock-Ingram Composers Conference at Wits in 

the early eighties. That’s when the so-called Young 

Turks surfaced. But whatever became of most of 

them? 

Like many of my contemporaries I took part in student 

demonstrations at Wits – against some of the 

most draconian government measures ever – and 

presented or took part in musical events under the 

aegis of Aquarius (the cultural wing of Nusas). 

I was completely unaware of what black composers 

were doing – their work came as a revelation much 

later – though I listened to a lot of black South 

African jazz. In my school days when I was so 

unstimulated by Christian National Education I used 

to listen to the jazz programmes on Radio Bantu 

every day and go to the Cape Town Art Centre in 

Green Point on Sunday nights where one heard 

Abdullah Ibrahim, Winston Mann and others. 

In 1976 I attended the summer courses in Darmstadt 

(with master classes presented by Ligeti, Kagel and 

Aloys Kontarsky) and Dartington (Maxwell Davies 

and Charles Rosen). I remember the thrill of having 

a short piece workshopped by the Fires of London. 

I also got to meet some of the composers I’d 

been playing. I met Stanley Glasser who immediately 

asked me to house-sit for a fortnight while he 

and his family went to France on holiday. It was that 

meeting that led me to study at Goldsmiths eventually. 

In 1977 Kevin Volans came over on his field trips, 

and stayed with me and was very enthusiastic about 

the possibilities for South African composers who 

were interested enough to take a look at African 

music. But almost no one was interested at the time. 

I had been conscripted into the army when I left 

school and was also called up for a number of camps 

during university. In 1976 my unit was on standby 

during the Soweto riots although I was, in fact, out 

of the country, and in 1977 I had an invitation from 

General Magnus Malan to join the ranks of the legendary 

boys on the border. I declined and went into 

exile in October 1977. The last piece I wrote on 

South African soil was called Night Musics. It had 

two performances at the Market Theatre by my own 

ensemble. One day I’ll get it out and dust it off . . . 

I never completed another work in South Africa until 

a few years ago. 

SM: Why did you leave South Africa in 1977? Could 

it have had something to do with 1976? 

MB: As I mentioned before, it was a combination of 

factors, the main one being to escape from a very 

claustrophobic political, social and musical environment. 

The country was completely mad at the time. 

Plus I had the military breathing down my neck. 

Because I was able to take out a British passport 

and because I didn’t have enough in the way of foreign 

languages, Britain was a natural destination. 

Furthermore, as I said before Stanley Glasser had 

encouraged me to come and study in his department 

in London. The musical scene in South Africa 

was very parochial, and in many ways it still is, but 

I really wanted to get out into the wide world, and 

have the experience of meeting and working with 

composers and performers from other countries. 

SM: If you learnt composition by osmosis at Wits, 

did you study composition more formally during your 

20 years in London? 

MB: I never actually studied composition formally 

121

in London, though I attended master classes from 

time to time, and showed my work privately to one 

or two people. At Goldsmiths I did an MMus in 

analysis. I was appointed to the part-time staff to 

direct the Goldsmiths New Music Ensemble, which 

gave students the opportunity to play some of the 

modern classics by Schoenberg, Webern, Ives and 

Varèse as well as more recent work. I also wrote 

them a piece at their request. 

SM: Tell me about London New Music, and also 

what you understand ‘experimental music’ to be? 

MB: There was an ensemble before London New 

Music called Metanoia, which developed from an 

informal duo with a trumpeter, Jonathan Impett 

(who had been a fellow MMus student). Later we 

added clarinet/saxophone, percussion and cello as 

well as a sound technician who was a member of 

the group. Jonathan Impett and I, as co-directors, 

wrote pieces for the group and we commissioned 

people like Michael Finnissy to write new works. 

Although we played twentieth-century solo and 

chamber works for various combinations, our main 

aim was to explore live electronics and pieces with 

pre-recorded tape. I wrote two pieces for the group: 

Taireva which I worked on intermittently between 

1978 and 1983 and Self Delectative Songs dating from 

1986. For the earlier piece I even commissioned a 

kudu horn from Andrew Tracey, which was seized 

by customs at Heathrow Airport as being livestock. 

As you will gather from the titles, in these pieces I 

was exploring African compositional techniques and 

apart from disillusion with the technology of the 

time, I was not able to reconcile the technology 

with what I was doing. I became less and less interested 

in the kind of music we were programming. 

Ensemble politics prompted me to leave the group 

in the summer of 1986 and I immediately began to 

form an ensemble of which I would be sole director 

as well as pianist and which would programme the 

kind of radical, experimental pieces that were not 

being heard at that time, and which would commission 

the kind of composers that I felt needed a platform. 

122 

So by experimental music I mean work which is 

outside of the twentieth-century mainstream and 

which comes principally from or is influenced by 

the ‘American experimental tradition’ – Charles Ives, 

Henry Cowell, John Cage, Morton Feldman, La 

Monte Young, Terry Riley, and so on; and in Britain, 

Cornelius Cardew, Gavin Bryars, Howard Skempton 

and John White. My own work was moving more 

and more in this direction at the time. Kevin Volans 

having rejected the Stockhausen aesthetic after 

many years of study with the man, had been looking 

to Cage and Feldman in the late 1970s (and 

became associated with the New Simplicity movement 

in Germany as a result). A lot of experimental 

music explores only one idea, or one parameter, 

and much of it is non-goal directed, cyclic, minimal, 

postminimal, postmodern, chance, indeterminate, 

and so on. 

London New Music collaborated with many young 

composers and developed long-term relationships 

with a number of them (Matteo Fargion, Chris 

Newman, Christopher Fox, Gerald Barry, Howard 

Skempton, Bunita Marcus, Tom Johnson and Barbara 

Monk Feldman) over a period of ten years. We 

played Cage, Feldman, Ives, Cowell, Christian Wolff 

and the complete music (in four concerts) of Ruth 

Crawford Seeger. For our debut concert in January 

1987 Kevin Volans wrote Into Darkness. Generally, 

we had a good reception from those critics that 

appreciated the experimental aesthetic. We did a 

number of British Council tours to places like Germany, 

the Netherlands and the former Czechoslovakia. 

We made several studio recordings for BBC 

Radio 3 and recorded several film soundtracks. 

There were a number of other composer-run groups 

in London presenting this kind of alternative work 

and I often commiserated with these colleagues 

about the difficulties we encountered. But I felt it 

was essential to promote this aesthetic in a culture 

where all things ‘Thatcherite, glossy and beautiful’ 

were dominating the arts more and more, and going 

down a very depressing and dangerous road. 

Music education was taking a battering too. As Lon-

don musical life became more ‘yuppified’ in the 

late 1980s and the 1990s, it became very difficult 

to get funding from the Arts Council or even to 

hire a high-profile venue unless the programming 

was trendy or ‘sexy’ which was the Royal Festival 

Hall marketing department’s cretinous approach to 

packaging music. 

After ten interesting years I disbanded London New 

Music in 1996, and in 1997 I made two trips back to 

South Africa – the second with a programme of British 

experimental piano music – and as you know 

this led to my eventual permanent return in January 

1998. 

SM: What made you decide to return to South Africa 

permanently in 1997? 

MB: I decided in August 1997 and returned in January 

1998. But perhaps I should just fill in a few gaps 

here, if you don’t mind. As far back as 1989/1990, 

when my first marriage ended, I was thinking of 

leaving England and moving to Europe in search of 

a more inspiring climate for new music, and away 

from the materialistic and mundane place that England 

had become under Thatcher. But I fell in love 

again, with an English pianist, sometime early in 

1991 and so my plans to move to Europe were never 

realised. However, I did leave London for a year in 

1993/4 and lived in Brighton (with quite a bit of 

commuting to London) and during that period I 

embarked on a group of works, all of which featured 

the piano and all of which were written for 

my lover Sally Rose. 

First was a piano concerto in 1993/4 with the title 

Out of the Darkness – taken from a statement made 

by Archbishop Tutu at the time of South Africa’s 

first democratic election (which was when the piece 

was completed). He said something like ‘after four 

decades of repression, we have finally emerged out 

of the darkness’. And although I wasn’t consciously 

writing a political piece, somehow that statement 

resonated with my feelings, and given the optimistic 

mood and upbeat ending of the piece, it seemed 

to be the perfect title. It was premièred in June 

that year with the Brighton 

Chamber Orchestra. It’s never been played since, 

because I’ve been planning to revise it drastically 

ever since then. Perhaps it’ll be ready for 2004 . . . 

Later in 1994 I wrote my (believe it or not) firstever 

large-scale (well large-ish) solo piano piece, 

French Suite, which has become one of my mostperformed 

pieces. After the initial performances by 

the dedicatee, I started playing it myself, and then 

Jill Richards and Chris Duigan have taken it up in 

recent years, as well as John Tilbury and others. 

Finally in 1995/6 I wrote a piece for two pianos 

called Reverie (inspired by Olive Schreiner’s Story 

of an African Farm and San rock paintings). This 

was premiered during the now legendary Africa 95 

Festival in London (which ran on into 1996) at the 

ICA by Sally Rose and another wonderful pianist, 

Australian Tony Gray. I have been lucky to have so 

many fine pianists from all over the world playing 

my piano works. 

At the end of 1996, I was ready to leave England, 

and my preferred destination was South Africa. Early 

in 1997 I made a private visit to South Africa to see 

first-hand what was happening on all fronts. I had 

been yearning for the South African landscape, the 

sunshine, the people – for 20 years! I subsequently 

received invitations to six universities to give a lecture-recital 

that I was doing at the time on experimental 

piano music from Britain (including myself 

as an honorary Brit). I was invited to Rhodes by one 

Professor Christine Lucia who was still in Durban 

and had not even taken up the chair there yet, and 

whom I had never met. But I was invited to spend a 

week as visiting lecturer and as you know we fell in 

love and the rest is history. And that is what made 

me decide to return to South Africa permanently. 

SM: And do you sometimes wish you hadn’t returned? 

(I am thinking here of course of 38a Hill 

Street Blues!) 

MB: Because of the reason that I returned, obvi- 

123

ously not. But Grahamstown is a problematic place. 

It’s quite parochial, and not just musically; it’s very 

conservative and quite disturbingly fundamentalist. 

The university reflects these characteristics too. It’s 

very white, very male and very DP. But there are 

some very good people within its portals. Despite 

the odds, we launched the South African ISCM Section 

there in 1999, and the New Music Indaba in 

2000. The Music Department has finally come into 

the twentieth-century under the guidance of Christine. 

Thirty-eight A Hill Street Blues was written at the 

worst moment in my four years in Grahamstown. 

One of my dearest friends (commemorated in the 

String Quartet) had just died very suddenly in November 

1999, and in December my father’s health 

started deteriorating (he died two months later). 

So we bought a large tent and went camping in the 

desert in Namibia for several weeks away from 

people and the hustle and bustle and that’s where 

the piece was written (on manuscript paper, not 

computer this time). As you may know, I shall be 

leaving Grahamstown by the end of 2001 because 

Christine has been offered the chair of music at 

Wits. 

SM: Your music, it seems to me, depends on repetition 

more than anything else as a form-giving principle. 

At the same time, your melodic contours have 

a kind of organic plasticity to them – they expand 

and contract in the most surprising and delightful 

ways, a characteristic that gives the same kind of 

pleasure to listening to your music that I experience 

with Schubert. This, for me, off-sets most of 

the dangers of repetitiveness. 

MB: It’s a great honour to be compared with 

Schubert. But repetition as a form-giving principle, 

to use your words, is one of the techniques that I 

have learnt from African music. More recently, as 

I’ve got a bit better at composition I’ve realised 

that it enables me to write longer and longer pieces. 

Last year I wrote a 17-minute clarinet and piano 

piece (in one movement), in 2001 the 22-minute 

124 

string quartet (though in two movements), and now 

I’m keen to break the 20-minute psychological barrier 

in one movement in my next piece which is for 

percussion solo and five players. It all goes back to 

the famous waterfall image used by John Blacking: 

African musicians don’t see their music as consisting 

of repetitions, just as they would not refer to a 

particular part of the waterfall being repeated, so 

to speak. It’s all a continuous organic stream. 

SM: Being largely an autodidactic composer, how 

has the compositional process changed for you over 

the years? 

MB: As a ten-year-old I wanted to write piano music 

like Bach. As a teenager I wanted to write piano 

music like Mozart and Chopin. In my late teens, 

having just discovered twentieth-century music, I 

wanted to write like Schoenberg and Webern and 

Ives and Stravinsky. But as a student I was always 

looking for a system. I started composing seriously 

at a time when it was very fashionable or even 

obligatory that one had a system – like serialism – 

to be taken seriously. Then one could analyse one’s 

music with lots of diagrams to illustrate the systems 

and that often made the music look far more 

interesting than it actually sounded. I think this was 

a moment in the history of music when the idea 

and the sound completely lost sight of each other. 

So the experimental music movement of the 1950s 

and 1960s (with its roots way back in the early part 

of the century) which started in America (e.g. Cage, 

Morton Feldman, Steve Reich, Terry Riley and Alvin 

Lucier) and then reached England (e.g. Cornelius 

Cardew and Howard Skempton) and finally mainland 

Europe in the 1970s (e.g. Walter Zimmermann 

and even Kevin Volans), which went back to the 

basic materials of music, and spawned the ‘new tonality’ 

and ‘new simplicity’ was very much an anti- 

Darmstadt movement. 

The role of the composition teacher is very different 

to that of the piano or voice teacher, because as 

has so often been said, you cannot really teach com-

position. You can teach some aspects of craft like 

traditional harmony and counterpoint, in the hope 

of course that interesting young composers will reject 

it. Some say you can only teach orchestration. 

The only twentieth-century technique you can probably 

really teach is serialism. And of course you can 

learn the workings of the electronic music studio. 

So listening to recordings or performances and 

analysing scores is the way that composers have always 

learnt about composition. As a student studying 

the works of Bartók, Webern, Feldman, 

Stravinsky, Ligeti, Messiaen, Berio and Maxwell 

Davies. was what initially gave me ideas for trying 

to forge a ‘compositional style’. These influences 

are there in my pieces from the 1970s, the ones 

that don’t get outings any more. 

Coming into contact with the work of Reich, Riley, 

Cardew, Skempton, John White, Walter 

Zimmermann and so on, and getting to meet some 

of them, was what really helped me to find a route 

through the débris of the mid-twentieth-century. 

The way I worked from the late 1970s onwards was 

strongly informed by their aesthetics. Then of course 

African music and aesthetics had a far-reaching influence 

on the pieces I wrote in the 1980s, both 

explicitly in pieces like Taireva (unpublished), Let 

Us Run out of the Rain, Self Delectative Songs and 

The Seasons, and in a more processed way in pieces 

that I wrote in the 1990s like French Suite, Reverie, 

Honey Gathering Song and San Polyphony, to mention 

a few. 

I still regularly listen to music that I’ve never encountered 

before, and try to get hold of the scores 

and analyse them. That includes music for which 

there may not be any scores - African music, rock 

music, and so on. I’m also completely fascinated by 

technology both as a compositional tool and in performance, 

and I think this is going to play an important 

part in some forthcoming works. If I really get 

stuck, I’ll call up another composer and ask for some 

help. As with any other musicians and other kinds 

of artists, the process of learning goes on forever. 

As a creative artist one needs renewal regularly. 

Which was why I was somewhat puzzled by an English 

composer who once told me he had studied 

all the scores he felt he needed to do as a student 

some 20 years before and did not indulge in that 

activity anymore; this was reflected in his output. 

Stravinsky is perhaps our best model here, if one 

looks at the process of renewal throughout his creative 

life. He was one of the last people of that 

generation to come to serialism, but what fascinating 

things he did with it, and this the man who was 

the proto-postmodernist. 

SM: Which parameters of music occupy most of your 

attention when you compose? 

MB: Money, primarily! Then, of course, the performers. 

I find it difficult to work if I don’t know who 

I’m writing for, and – if I haven’t already – I try to 

get to meet and become acquainted with the performers 

and their particular qualities and personalities 

before I put pen to paper. Composers have 

been working like this for centuries and the process 

is therefore much more of a collaborative one, 

which is ultimately what composing is. I think many 

performers take greater responsibility for music 

which is tailor made for them, as it were, and endeavour 

to programme such works whenever they 

can. Ultimately, the work will have a life beyond 

the performers for whom it was written, but it is 

very important for a piece – like a child – to have a 

good start in life because it will affect the rest of 

its life to some extent. 

People often comment on the rhythmic parameter 

of my music in the first instance, and certainly for 

the last 20 years or so I can safely admit that rhythm 

has occupied an important place in the compositional 

process for me. It would be easy enough to 

say that, as a composer whose music is influenced 

to a large extent by an African aesthetic, that is not 

125

surprising. It is probably less to do with ‘African 

rhythm’, whatever that is, and more to do with the 

presence of greater rhythmic activity in relation to 

say harmonic activity – as one finds in the music of 

Steve Reich for example. Similarly, we are talking 

about rhythmic processes, as in composers such as 

Reich and Glass, not just rhythms per se, which are 

the essence of the rhythmic parameter in Western 

classical music. But then in the second movement 

of my recent String Quartet, for example, the music 

is almost static with very long silences. That is another 

kind of rhythm. 

Which leads me to the parameter of silence – one 

that I recently suggested to my composition students 

they could now add to the customary repertoire 

of melody, timbre, among other things. You 

could say I came to silence late. Although I have 

enjoyed listening to silence for most of my life, and 

find it harder and harder to locate any these days 

unless I go deep into the Karoo or down to the coast. 

I think Cage probably had a monopoly on it for many 

years. But as I said earlier, the long (though exactly 

measured) silences play a crucial part in my String 

Quartet in Memory of William Burton, which probably 

also has something to do with the memorial 

nature of the piece. 

Other than that, I am always searching for ways to 

construct very simple tunes or melodic fragments 

using only a few notes and constantly rearranging 

them into new patterns. I have no interest in trying 

to draw even more angst out of the chromatic scale; 

it deserves a rest after the ‘chromatic abuse’ of the 

twentieth-century in particular. Sometimes I start 

working with melodic material, sometimes with 

harmonic material; rarely do I start with rhythm, 

unless I am working with untuned percussion. Again 

with harmony, I am far more interested in a small 

body of chords that I can keep recycling and using 

cyclically, than every chordal variant and inversion 

in the book. With Stimmung (now thirty years old), 

Stockhausen gave us a remarkable model for what 

126 

could be done with only one chord, and Zulu and 

Xhosa bow music has been created for far longer 

using only two. 

I never honed my skills as a painter, but I have always 

been absorbed by painting, and the thrill of 

inventing textures and mixing colours (or not) are 

two more parameters that I love indulging in when 

I compose. So many things, like trying to keep the 

surface of the music uncluttered for example, can 

be learnt from painting. I wrote a piece for Robert 

Pickup and Jill Richards just over a year ago, which 

I’m looking forward to hearing sometime in 2002, 

for a medium is largely unsuited to the kind of music 

I normally write. So working with mostly one bit of 

material (and mostly one chord), and modifying it 

rhythmically, texturally and timbrally, I ended up 

with a 17-minute movement which relies to a large 

degree on the performers’ abilities to elicit as many 

different colours from their instruments as they 

possibly can. I think of it as quite a painterly piece, 

and appropriately it’s called Untitled, but only because 

I really didn’t have one at the time. 

One parameter that I keep very fluid is that of form. 

I usually have no idea whether a piece will end up 

in one or several movements, and how long individual 

movements will be, indeed how long the 

piece will be (though money ultimately has some 

influence here). I’m not great on formal pre-planning, 

I find that it can be inhibiting. But I do make 

sketches – both graphic and in musical notation – 

and juggle these around to try and find a satisfying 

sequence and eventually a form. For the same reason 

I also cut and paste a lot when I’m working on 

the computer. Well, those are my trade secrets . . . 

 

Stephanus Muller is ’n deeltydse senior lektor in Musikologie aan 

die Universiteit van die Vrystaat

Miriam Makeba: 

Musical seductress and 

activist turns 70 

Miriam ‘Mama Afrika’ Makeba seduced the world 

with her dulcet African rhythms such as ‘Pata Pata’ 

at the height of apartheid in South Africa. Once the 

West was hooked on her catchy lyrics, she had her 

platform to campaign for the liberation of fellow 

blacks who faced the harsh realities of forced racial 

segregation back in her home country. 

Nearly five decades later and as a legendary inter- 

national diva and a local struggle icon, Mama Afrika 

continues to use her musical talent as more than a 

mere means of entertainment. A few days before 

her seventieth birthday (on 4 March 2002), the 

singer/songwriter, activist, actor, author and great- 

grandmother took to the stage to lend her voice to 

yet another worthy cause – a United Nations (UN) 

campaign against hunger. 

In the early 1960s she earned international acclaim 

with ‘Pata Pata’, the first recording by an African 

singer to feature on the United States (US) Top 

Ten charts. The song, originally penned and recorded 

in 1956, and the ‘Click Song’ that followed remain 

popular locally with several young kwaito and town- 

ship pop artists queuing up to record their own ver- 

sions. 

Makeba is one of several exiled former ‘celebrities 

against apartheid’ who have returned home since 

the advent of democracy. She and jazz maestro Hugh 

Masekela - another widely known and respected 

musician – are said to have heeded former South 

African president Nelson Mandela’s request at the 

dawn of a new dispensation in the early 1990s to do 

so. 

127

Makeba, the daughter of a Xhosa traditional healer 

mother, was born in Johannesburg on 4 March 1932. 

She showed an aptitude for music at a very young 

age and her career began as a vocalist for a local 

jazz outfit, the Manhattan Brothers, at a time when 

black urban music in South Africa took its inspira- 

tion from prevailing African-American culture. 

After a brief spell as a vocalist-cum-actress, Makeba 

was lured overseas – first to Europe, then to the 

United States. She forfeited her right to return home 

after appearing in an anti-apartheid documentary 

and she was officially banned under strict internal 

security laws in 1960. 

In the US she met ‘Calypso King’ Harry Belafonte 

who helped launch her international career. In 1965 

a collaboration between the two, an album titled 

An Evening with Harry Belafonte earned her a 

Grammy award. 

Makeba left the US in 1968 in the wake of a fuss 

over her marriage to African-American activist 

Stokely Carmichael. She settled in Guinea in west 

Africa although, as she has put it, she became ‘a 

citizen of the world’ in the years of touring that 

followed until her return to South Africa at the end 

of 1990. 

Today, Makeba, a UN Food and Agriculture 

Organisation ambassador, devotes much of her time 

to humanitarian affairs and charity projects in South 

Africa and other parts of the continent. She has won 

various awards for her contributions under apart- 

heid and in the field of human rights including the 

128 

Dag Hammerskjold prize for peace in 1986 and 

Germany’s Otto Hahn award for 2001. 

She also continues to give joy and hope to those 

who love her music. ‘I would sing even if I was sit- 

ting in a wheelchair,’ she declared in Berlin recently 

(Sapa-DPA ).

Mimi Coertse 70 

Met die skrywe van hierdie artikel (Maart 2002) 

het Mimi Coertse pas in Stellenbosch weer ’n 

sanguitvoering gelewer. Hierdie begenadigde 

sopraan wat op 12 Junie 70 geword het, het 

derhalwe ’n amptelike loopbaan van 50 jaar agter 

die rug. 

Toe Mimi haar opsienbarende debuut in 1956 in 

die Weense Staatsopera as Koningin van die Nag 

maak, was dit die begin van ’n glansryke vertolker 

Riek van Rensburg 

van Mozart: Konstanze, die Gravin, beide die 

Donnas, Fiordiligi en Pamina. Naas Mozart het sy 

uitgemunt in Richard Strauss. In die Italiaanse opera 

het sy veral Violetta en Gilda in Verdi en Liu en 

Musetta in Puccini deurlopend gesing. Sy het ook 

verrassend baie kontemporêre opera gesing. 

In operette was Mimi weergaloos. Reeds in 1956 

toe sy Lehár se Hanna Glawari op plaat opgeneem 

het, het sy haar kleim as vertolker van hierdie 

enigmatiese genre afgesteek. Idiomaties beskou, 

het sy hierdie eg Weense kunsvorm nie net 

bemeester nie, maar vervolmaak. Toe sy 50 jaar 

gelede haar verhoogoptrede in Pierre Malan se 

Freule Marike maak, was dit juis in operette. In 

musiekblyspele het sy ewe oortuigend gevaar. So 

vroeg soos 1951 het sy Sally in Lilac Time gesing. 

Toe Mimi in 1951 die eerste keer in die Messias 

opgetree het, was dit die aanloop tot ’n ryk 

ontginning van die grootse gewyde werke van die 

meesters van die Westerse beskawing. 

Die kunslied het prominent in Mimi se loopbaan 

gefigureer. Nie alleen het sy die Europese verken 

nie, maar het sy pionierswerk gedoen wat die 

Afrikaanse lied betref. Haar naam het, trouens, 

sinoniem met die vertolking van die Afrikaanse lied 

geword. 

Hier volg ’n lys van die werke, die kunslied 

uitgeslote, wat Mimi Coertse in haar repertorium 

opgeneem het: 

129

BACH J S 

Mattäuspassion (Sopraan) 

Johannespassion (Sopraan) 

Mis in B-mineur (Sopraan) 

Magnificat in D (Sopraan) 

Weinachtsoratorium (Sopraan) 

BEETHOVEN, L von 

Mis in C-mineur (Sopraan) 

Missa Solemnis (Sopraan) 

Simfonie nr. 9 Koraal (Sopraan) 

Christus am Ölberg (Sopraan) 

BELLINI, V 

Norma (Norma) 

BERNSTEIN, L 

Candide (Kunigunde) 

BIZET, G 

Carmen (Frasquita) 

BRAHMS, J 

Ein Deutches Requiem (Sopraan) 

BRITTEN, B 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania) 

BRUCKNER, A 

Te Deum (Sopraan) 

DAVID, J N 

Essolied (Sopraan) 

DONIZETTI, G 

Lucia di Lammermoor (Lucia) 

Rita (Rita) 

EGK, W 

Irische Legende (Cathleen) 

FLOTOW, F 

Martha (Martha) 

GLUCK, W von 

Echo et Narcisse (Echo) 

GOUNOD, C 

Faust (Marguerite) 

St Ceciliamis 

HANDEL, G F 

Alcina (Alcina) 

Judas Maccabeus (Sopraan) 

Julius Caesar (Cleopatra) 

Messias (Sopraan) 

Samson (Sopraan) 

Saul (Merab) 

Solomon (Sopraan) 

Xerxes (Romelda) 

HAYDN, J 

Heiligemesse (Sopraan) 

Die Jahreszeiten (Sopraan) 

L’Incontro Improviso (Prinses Reiza) 

Il Ritorno di Tobia (Raffaelle) 

St Ceciliamis (Sopraan) 

Die Schöpfung (Sopraan) 

Stabat Mater (Sopraan) 

130 

HONEGGER 

Totentanz 

Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher 

HUMPERDINCK, E 

Hänsel und Gretel (Gretel) 

IBERT, J 

Angélique (Angélique) 

KORNGOLD, E W 

Die Ring der Polykrates (Laura) 

LEHAR, F 

Die Lustige Witwe (Hanna Glawari) 

LEONCAVALLO, R 

I Pagliacci (Nedda) 

MAHLER, G 

Simfonie nr. 2 (Sopraan) 



Das Klagende Lied (Sopraan) 

MALAN, P 

Freule Marike (Marike) 

MENDELSSOHN, F 

Elia (Sopraan) 

MOZART, W A 

Bastien und Bastienne (Bastienne) 

Cosi fan tutte (Fiordiligi) 

Don Giovanni (Donna Anna, Donna Elvira) 

‘Exultate Jubilate’ 

Die Entfüührung aus dem Serail (Konstanze) 

Le Nozze di Figaro (Contessa) 

Mis in C-mineur (Sopraan) 

Requiem (Sopraan) 

Der Schauspieldirektor (Madame Silberklang) 

Vesperae solemnes de confessore (Sopraan) 

Die Zauberflöte (Königin der Nacht, Pamina) 

NICOLAI, O 

Die Lustige Weiber von Windsor (Frau Fluth) 

OFFENBACH, J 

Les Contes d’Hoffmann 

(Antonia, Giuletta, Olympia, Stella) 

ORFF, C 

Carmina Burana (Sopraan) 

Catulli Carmina (Lesbia) 

PERGOLESI, G 


PFITZNER, H 

Palestrina (Engel) 

PUCCINI, G 

La Bohème (Mimi, Musetta) 

Manon Lescaut (Manon) 

Suor Angelica (Suor Angelica) 

Turandot (Liu) 

RAVEL, M 

L’Heure Espagnole (Conception) 

RODGERS, W 

The Sound of Music (Mother Abbess) 

ROMBERG, S 

Lilac Time (Sally) 

ROSSINI, G 


SCHISKE, K 

Vom Tode (Sopraan) 

SCHMIDT, F 

Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln (Sopraan) 

SCHOENBERG, A 

Erwartung (Frau) 

Moses und Aaron (Mädchen) 

SCHUBERT, F 

Lazarus (Sopraan) 

STOLZ, R 

Frühjarsparade (Hansi Gruber) 

STRAUSS, J II 

Die Fledermaus (Rosalinde) 

STRAUSS, R 

Ägyptische Helena (Aithra) 

Arabella (Fiakermilli) 

Ariadne auf Naxos (Zerbinetta, Najade) 

Daphne (Daphne) 

Die Schweigsame Frau (Aminta) 

STRAVINSKY, I 

Les Noces (Sopraan) 

SYZMANOWSKI, R 

Stabat Mater (sopraan) 

THOMAS, A 

Mignon (Philene) 

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, R 

A Sea Symphony (Sopraan) 

VERDI, G 

Don Carlos (Elisabetta) 

Falstaff (Alica) 

Rigoletto (Gilda) 

La traviata (Violetta) 

Il trovatore (Leonora) 

Messa di Requiem (Sopraan) 

VIVALDI, A 

Gloria (Sopraan) 

WAGNER, R 

Parsifal (Blumenmädchen) 

Siegfried (Waldvogel) 

ZELLER, C 

Der Vogelhändler (Kurfürstin) 

Riek van Rensburg is die klassieke musiek 

resensent van die dagblad, Pretoria News

Lloyd Strauss-Smith 80 

Sometimes we South Africans tend to forget all too 

easily some of our singers who pioneered a place in 

world music, especially in an age where we seem to 

recognise younger talent that has ‘made good’ 

abroad quickly. One of these much neglected figures 

is the tenor, Lloyd Strauss Smith, who turned 

80 on 31 January 2001. Part of this neglect is possibly 

due to the fact that the most active part of his 

career was spent in England and that, although he 

Barry Smith 

sang in more than 80 operas, he was primarily an 

oratorio and Lieder singer, a field which attracts 

less attention than that of the opera world. Born in 

Lichtenburg in 1921, the young Lloyd and his family 

moved to Johannesburg when his father died in 

the early 1930s and was educated at Parktown Boys 

High. At an early age he knew that his career would 

inevitably be in music and his early musical training 

came from books found in libraries. The information 

he found in them taught him much of what 

he needed to know and by the age of 16 he had 

already written a symphony. 

He had sung since boyhood and whilst working in a 

building society began taking singing lessons with 

the noted teacher, the British contralto Aimee 

Parkerson, who later also taught Mimi Coertse. 

When the war broke out Lloyd enlisted in the South 

African Medical Corps and saw service in North Africa, 

mostly in Egypt. It was here that he gained his 

early experience in the regular series Music for All, 

which was largely masterminded by Clifford Harker 

who was later to have a distinguished career as organist 

of Bristol Cathedral. Here he sang a great 

variety of music, both popular and serious, ranging 

from Gilbert and Sullivan to the first performance 

of Handel’s Messiah in Cairo. 

131

On his return to Johannesburg in 1945 he became 

principal tenor with John Connell’s National Opera 

Company of South Africa thus gaining further wideranging 

experience in operas such as Rigoletto, The 

Barber of Seville, Madame Butterfly and Carmen. 

He also took the principal role in a production of 

Lohengrin – a remarkable achievement for a singer 

still in his mid-twenties. By 1947 he had made the 

decision to move to London to gain further experience 

and to try his wings in the international scene. 

As luck would have it, he landed a part in Sir Thomas 

Beecham’s recording of Delius’s A Village Romeo 

and Juliet for HMV which proved to be the break he 

had been hoping for. He was soon on the books of 

London’s leading agent Ibbs and Tillett, and a regular 

broadcaster for the BBC. 

During his 20 years of singing in England he performed 

with some of the greatest conductors of the 

time, including Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Pritchard, 

Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir David Willcocks, Rafael 

Kubelik, Rudolph Kempe, Ernest Ansermet, Herman 

Scherchen, Willem van Otterloo and Thomas 

Schippers. He also performed under the baton of 

such famous composers as Benjamin Britten, Ralph 

Vaughan Williams, Gina-Carlo Menotti, Luigi 

Dallapiccola and Nono Rota, and with orchestras 

such as the Philharmonia, the London Symphony, 

London Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, the Royal 

Philharmonic and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw 

and Philharmonic orchestras. Colleagues on stage 

and concert platform included such glitterati as 

Kathleen Ferrier, Dame Joan Sutherland, Dame 

Janet Baker, Leontyne Price and Sir Geraint Evans. 

Highlights in his career included the first British 

performances of Jana…ek’s Jenufa and Nino Rota’s 

I Due Timidi, the first BBC TV opera production of 

Menotti’s The Saint of Bleecker Street and Verdi’s 

132 

Macbeth at the 1965 Glyndebourne Opera Festival. 

During his time abroad he returned to South Africa 

on several occasions to sing in operas for the performing 

arts boards, operas such as Mozart’s Il Seraglio 

and The Magic Flute as well as Die Fledermaus 

and The Bartered Bride. In 1967 he decided to return 

to South Africa to take up a post as lecturer in 

singing at the University of Cape Town (UCT) College 

of Music where he taught a number of devoted 

students until 1977. Before his recent retirement 

from public singing he was a frequent performer in 

Cape Town and other parts of the country, singing 

in countless oratorios, passions and masses as well 

as giving Lieder recitals and broadcasts. A notable 

achievement was a recital in a packed Baxter Concert 

Hall of Schubert Lieder on his seventieth birthday 

which coincidentally happened to be the same 

date as Schubert’s birthday. He still teaches singing 

and has in the past examined for Unisa. 

Barry Smith was Associate Professor at the South African College of 

Music, University of Cape Town, and is Organist and Master of the 

Choristers at St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town

Virginia Fortescue 80 

A tribute to a great lady 

It is one of my life’s great pleasures to write this 

very personal tribute to the Scottish pianist, Virginia 

Fortescue, who turns 80 on 20 May 2002. 

I had the great privilege of studying with Virginia 

during my BMus years at the University of Port Elizabeth 

(UPE) where she was Senior Lecturer. Let me 

immediately hasten to add that not by any stretch 

of the imagination was I ever remotely regarded as 

one of her star pupils. However, through the years 

André Serfontein 

we slowly forged a steady friendship that continue 

to this very day. I remember this onset very vividly: 

She was, at first, slightly annoyed with this rather 

unsophisticated scruffy boy from the farm. On our 

first out-of-town concert (for the Knysna Music Society), 

I proudly donned my father’s tuxedo to play 

J S Bach’s Fantasia in c. She remarked: ‘Oh Andrè, 

I’m so glad. At least you’ve made an effort to comb 

your hair’! Gradually I became her ‘official’ pageturner 

during her innumerable chamber music concerts 

in the Eastern Cape. One day I said to her: 

‘Miss Fortescue, I’m so upset: my father (who decided 

to move into a flat after my mother’s death) 

gave all my marbles to our domestic’s children! 

Immediately we struck a nerve: it became evident 

that both of us, during those solitary moments of 

our childhood, would play or invent games with our 

marbles, even giving them individual names! 

Virginia was born in Marycueter near Aberdeen, 

Scotland, and distinguished herself at an early age 

at both the Aberdeen and Edinburgh Festivals. On 

leaving school, she enrolled at the Royal Academy 

where, as a pupil of Frederic Moore, she obtained 

the Performer’s LRAM during her first term. Her 

studies were interrupted during World War II by her 

joining the Entertainments National Service Association 

(ENSA). She toured India and Ceylon for 

two years playing to the forces. Upon her return to 

133

London she worked with Frieda Kindler (a pupil of 

Busoni) for three years before giving the first of 

several recitals at the Wigmore Hall. This recital 

made a big impression as Felix Aprahamian wrote 

in the (London) Sunday Times: ‘A purposeful musical 

intelligence controlling an enviable technique’ 

and continued: ‘if the recitals of all débutantes were 

as enjoyable as this one, critics would trip down 

Wigmore Street more gaily’! Since then she has 

appeared in recitals and with the leading orchestras 

in London and throughout Britain, and has been 

broadcasting since the age of 13. 

She came to South Africa in 1955 to take up an 

appointment at University of Cape Town and in 1971 

was appointed Senior Lecturer in piano at the 

University of Port Elizabeth. 

The name Virginia Fortescue is known to South African 

music lovers mainly through her many radio 

broadcasts and talks, in recital, as well as through 

her Virginia Fortescue Trio (with Pierre de Groote 

(violin) and Granville Britton (cello)) and appearances 

with the leading orchestras often conducted 

by overseas conductors such as Louis Fremaux, 

Constantin Silvestri and Pavo Berglund. 

I personally only heard her play with a full symphony 

orchestra three times: the Mendelssohn Capriccio 

Brillant, a very lyrical Chopin F Minor Concerto 

and an exiting reading of the Bartók Third, 

conducted by the distinguished German conductor, 

Werner Andreas Albert. Conductor David Tidboald 

told me how it was absolute heaven conducting her 

in the Chopin as her playing was logical and clear 

with finely shaped rubati – a strong contrast to a 

very sloppy and erratic reading of the Chopin E 

Minor, played by an eminent French pianist earlier 

that month. 

134 

The Bartók, however, was not without some controversy. 

The scheduled works for this concert, which 

included the Francaix Symphonic Suite (with Barry 

Smith at the organ) and Tschaikovsky’s Third Symphony 

was rather unknown and there were many 

empty seats in the city hall that night. C E 

Stevenson’s, from Camps Bay, was amongst the letters 

appearing in the press. Writing in the ‘tonight’ 

section of the Cape Argus he stated that the ‘privileged 

few’ who possess season tickets, ‘perpetrated 

the perfect snub to one of the finest conductors’ 

and that ‘it is their loss that they missed a concert 

with fine musical performances from conductor, 

soloists and orchestra’. He further lamented the 

‘shabby treatment (that) was afforded such wonderful 

artists’ and concluded by expressing his warmest 

thanks and apologised ‘for the selfishness and 

rudeness of a certain section of the music lovers of 

Cape Town.’ 

Of this performance critic John Benson wrote in 

the Cape Times : ‘Virginia Fortescue made a powerful 

impact with her performance of Bartók’s Third 

Piano Concerto. South Africans would do well to 

remember what a sound and fiery pianist we have 

in Miss Fortescue. Not only did she encompass the 

technique of pianism, but communicated the essential 

wistfulness of this late composition.’ The 

following Sunday she played the Mozart K503 conducted 

by David Tidboald and Patrick Wise wrote in 

The Argus ‘her playing had all the delicacy and sensitivity 

that Mozart demands: and she maintained a 

brilliant fluency in the finale.’ 

I can remember reviews of her concerto performances 

appearing on the Conservatoire bulletin 

board: ‘Grieg with Romance’; . . . ‘die krag van ’n 

man met die verfyning van ’n vrou’ (for Beethoven’s 

Emperor concerto); ‘delicate and caressing Chopin 

playing’ (for the Chopin E Minor) and Neville Cohn

heads his review about her Beethoven Third (with 

Spanish conductor Enrique Garçia Ascencio) : 

‘Fortescue: no fuss, no frills’ and the opening line: 

‘this was a completely unaffected, straightforward 

music making without a trace of fussy mannerisms 

or unnecessary frills.’ 

Despite her full teaching schedules at UCT and UPE 

an additional challenge for Virginia was partnering 

prominent international musicians during South 

African tours. These included violinists Ernst 

Kovacic, Maurice Hasson, Mark Kaplan, Peter Csaba, 

Elizabeth Connell (soprano) and George Zukerman, 

the Canadian bassoonist with whom she toured for 

the fifth time in April 2002. She also toured alone 

in East Africa and Madagascar. Her duo with flautist 

Eva Tamassy performed in Vienna and Budapest, and 

broadcast on the Hungarian Radio. 

It is as a soloist and chamber musician that I will 

always esteem and cherish Virginia Fortescue: for 

instance, her illuminating lecture/recital (from 

memory) of the Debussy Preludes still remains one 

of my greatest musical treasures. Her performance 

of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, played in the beautiful 

Goodnow Hall, Wellington, on a perfect, 

windstill autumn evening; the even-toned first 

movement wonderfully contrasting the demonic 

third movement – a superb reading – made an unforgettable 

impression. 

And what a sight-reader! She had no scruples accompanying 

students (those were the days before 

resident accompanists) or even appearing in concert 

with them. Personally, I recall her sailing 

through the tricky accompaniments (especially the 

thirds in the finale) of C M Weber’s Grand Duo 

Concertant for clarinet and piano or the Brahms 

Clarinet Sonatas. Years later, when I mentioned to 

her that I was studying the Debussy Proses Lyriques, 

she calmly sat down and sight-read this fiendishly 

difficult piano accompaniment! Cellist Daniel Neal, 

who these days run the Arts Cape Library as well as 

the old Cape Town Symphony Orchestra (CTSO) – 

archives (and incidently was a great help in locating 

the quoted newspaper clippings) quite frankly 

states that she is one formidable lady: no fuss and 

bother – the minimum rehearsal time as she is always 

well prepared and ready to go. 

She also championed the music of South African 

composers (notably Priaulx Rainier amongst others), 

often giving first performances or radio broadcasts, 

thus ensuring its introduction to a wider audience. 

Virginia’s influence on my life extends further than 

mere music-making. She irritated us students by 

insisting that we watch the BBC screenings of Kenneth 

Clark’s Civilisation series by and even at one 

stage forced me to enroll in a course of ancient 

Greek History. At the time this was regarded as a 

definite bore, but today I am extremely grateful. 

Her teaching not only encompassed playing the piano, 

but also made one aware of all that constitutes 

art and literature in general. No student could ask 

for more. 

Since settling in Normandy, her life has been everything 

but quiet and relaxed! Her chamber music 

activities continue with the young Pavao Quartet: 

in 2001 they played the Schumann Piano Quintet 

^ 

and this year they are performing the Dvorák Piano 

Quintet. In the eight years since her permanent 

settlement in the picturesque surroundings near the 

village of Cerissy la Salle, her recital output has 

not diminished – certain recitals were rather special 

occasions: they include recitals at the Maison 

du Departement; Saint Lô (assisted by clarinettist 

John Ashton Jones, former Director of Music to the 

City of Port Elizabeth, who also lives in Normandy) 

135

to celebrate 50 years since her London début; at 

Dinard (where the review headline read: ‘Virginia 

Fortescue enflamme l’auditoire’); at the beautiful 

Chateau de Boucëel, celebrating the 90th birthday 

of the owner Comte de Roquefeuil; and a return 

recital at the Chateau with David Juritz, the South 

African leader of the London Mozart players. 

There are also some amusing anecdotes: Lyn Jones, 

wife of John Ashton Jones, relates how they once 

enjoyed an excellent sea-food lunch at a sea-side 

tavern. The maitre d’ when learning that Virginia 

was a pianist, asked her whether she would play 

something on his piano – it turned out to be a honkytonk, 

but Virginia calmly sat down and tossed off 

Chopin’s ‘Revolutionary’ Etude. Even a nearby group 

of French children were silently spellbound! 

When I told Virginia that I was writing this tribute, 

she asked me to include an expression of her gratitude 

to South Africa and all its audiences to whom 

‘I owe so much of my musical development.’ A gesture 

from the South African side was made in May 

2002, when, during the 10th National Hennie 

Joubert Piano Competition, Virginia was presented 

with a Ben Merito medal by the Wellington Music 

Society as a thank her for all the pleasure she has 

provided South African audiences during her sojourn 

in the country. 

A certain quality of Virginia regarding her professional 

life is the utmost humility with which she 

serves her art. When I read the autobiography of 

that great German Soprano Lilli Lehmann whose 

musical and vocal feats astonished the musical world 

on both sides of the Atlantic at the turn of the previous 

century, one of her mottos reminded me so 

much of Virginia: ‘Strive not for the noisy plaudits 

of the crowd but for the deepest insight and the 

utmost perfection.’ 

136 

Now, when I fondly think of Virginia, certain images 

fill my mind’s eye: the ritual of washing her 

hands before she opens a manuscript to reveal an 

alternative cadenza to the Chopin Op. 9 No. 2 Nocturne 

as well as a little message written in Chopin’s 

hand (in pencil) to one of his students (the story of 

this manuscript was published in an earlier edition 

of Musicus ); her svelte figure appearing with the 

other adjudicators at the Unisa International Piano 

Competition in 2000; her wonderful mop of red hair 

against her viola when playing in the Port Elizabeth 

Municipal Orchestra; her wonderful dress sense and 

delicious food and I recall the closing stanza of a 

poem Songe by Remy de Gourmont: 

. . . Et les jours passeraient, aussi beaux que des 

songe, 

Dans la demi clarté d’une soirée d’automne, 

Et nous dirons tout bas, car le bonheur étonne: 

Les jours d’amour sont doux quand la vie est un 

songe.’ 

[‘And the days would pass, as beautiful as dreams, 

in the half light of an autumn evening 

and we would say, very softly, for happiness astonishes: 

the days of love are sweet when life is a dream’] 

André Serfontein is on the academic staff of the Cape Technikon and 

is Chairperson of the National Hennie Joubert Piano Competition

Hubert du Plessis 80 

Op 7 Junie 2002 het die alombekende Suid- 

Afrikaanse komponis, Hubert du Plessis, sy tagtigste 

verjaarsdag gevier. Sedert sy aftrede 20 jaar gelede 

as senior lektor aan die Departement Musiek van 

die Universiteit van Stellenbosch bly hy aktief op 

verskeie fronte. 

Wat komposisie betref, voltooi hy in Augustus 1983 

die koorwerk Krokos Op. 48 ’n opdragstuk vir die 

destydse Suid-Afrikaanse Uitsaai Korporasie (SAUK). 

Dit is ’n toonsetting van nege Boerneef tekste en is 

opgedra aan die Universiteitskoor Stellenbosch wat, 

onder leiding van Johan de Villiers, die eerste 

Edward Aitchison 

uitvoering daarvan in 1984 gee. In Desember 1983 

voltooi hy ook sy toonsettings van drie Duitse verse 

van Christian Morgenstern. Die Drei Komische- 

Lieder Op 49 is aan die Suid-Afrikaanse mezzosopraan 

Renée Rakin opgedra. Nog ’n SAUK 

opdragwerk ’n Klein hulde aan Bach Op. 50 word in 

Maart 1984 voltooi. Dit is ’n kort fugale trio vir 

twee hobo’s en fagot en is opgedra aan ’n oud-student 

Petrus Krige. 

Twee jaar later kom die opdrag van die Hugenotekomitee 

vir ’n grootskaalse werk ter viering van 

die Hugenotejaar. In sy uitgebreide programnotas 

skryf Du Plessis onder andere: 

Ek het aan myself die volgende eise gestel: geen 

resitatiefpassasies nie; die gebruik van ’n orkes met 

’n oorwegende barokklank (klarinette en horings is 

dus afwesig en ook pouke – klokke was uiteraard 

noodsaaklik); soveel kontraste as moontlik; spesiale 

aandag aan die solo-alt. Benewens wou ek 

oorwegend eenvoud nastreef; die musiek 

verteenwoordigend van sowat tien eeue. Die 

invoeging van bestaande komposisies, ten volle of 

gedeeltelik, was vir my ’n vereiste ter wille van hul 

simboliese trefkrag. Die keuse van ’n toepaslike 

Hugenote-psalm vir elk van die drie dele – 

Vervolging (Ps 68), Vlug (Ps 51 – in frigiese modus), 

Vestiging (Ps 89) was uit die staanspoor 

vanselfsprekend. 

Die Hugenote-kantate Op. 51 vir vier soliste (SATB), 

gemengde koor en orkes word in Maart/April 1988 

in Pretoria, Johannesburg (onder leiding van David 

Tidboald) en Kaapstad (onder leiding van Richard 

Cock) uitgevoer. 

137

Die spel van die Stellenbosch tjelliste Anmari van 

der Westhuizen het so ’n indruk op Du Plessis 

gemaak dat hy sy solo Tjellosonate Op. 52 – voltooi 

in Maart 1991 en hersien in 1994 – aan haar as eerste 

uitvoerder opgedra het. 

Soos my Altvioolsonate van 1977 is die Tjellosonate 

’n seriële komposisie. Die drie dele van albei werke 

is streng gegrond op nootreekse met ’n 

onderliggende verwantskap. Dit veroorsaak 

vanselfsprekend ’n onderlinge verband tussen die 

drie dele. 

My eerbied in Bach se onbegeleide Suites vir Tjello 

(sowel as my Sonates en Partitas vir Viool) blyk 

duidelik uit Deel I: dis feitlik ’n huldebetoon aan 

Bach. 

Deel II assosieer ek met die aanvangswoorde van 

die magistrale tiende-eeuse Cantus Planus: Media 

vita in morte sumus (‘Terwyl ons leef is die dood 

met ons’). Die musiek bevat sinspelinge op Bach 

en Chopin. 

Aan die begin van Deel III verskyn die derde reeks 

van 12 note in die gebruiklike vier vorme van seriële 

komposisie in dié volgorde: direk, in omkering, in 

terugwaartse omkering, in direkte omkering. Daarna 

volg ’n stel Variasies en ’n Coda met ’n laaste 

Variasie as slot. 

In die jare negentig begin Du Plessis om sy 

jeugherinneringe in detail op te teken: ‘Sedert ek 

nie meer komponeer nie het die skryfkuns my meer 

beetgepak.’ 

Hierdie baie persoonlike memoirs word later 

aangevul met afsluitingspunt 31 Desember 2001. 

Dit sal eers na sy dood vir moontlike publikasie 

oorweeg word. Hy werk ook die afgelope paar jaar 

aan sy Anekdotes/Anecdotes en verwys daarna as 

‘work in progress’. Dit is ’n versameling van insidente 

en sêgoed van, soos hy dit stel, ‘interessante en nie 

altyd só interessante mense, figure met Afrikawaarde’. 

Dié versameling sal ook eers na sy dood 

vir publikasie oorweeg word want ‘baie van die 

mense leef nog en die anekdotes is nie altyd so 

vleiend nie’. En dan is daar nog sy reekse komiese, 

138 

satiriese, filosofiese rympies wat hy heel 

grappenderwyse in twee groepe verdeel: Fatsoenlike 

Verse/Pure Verse en Onfatsoenlike Verse/Impure 

Verse. ‘Dit hang af van die mense se geaardheid 

watter hulle die interessantste sal vind.’ 

As voorbeeld van eersgenoemde: 

Hubert du Plessis 

As a 20 th century composer 

how odious of me 

almost always to write melodiously. 

April 1998. 

Vir ’n smakie van die tweede groep sal die leser 

maar moet wag . . . 

Du Plessis het altyd ’n besondere belangstelling in 

die filmkuns gehad en praat steeds met gesag oor 

die vroeë twingtigste-eeuse meesterwerke. In sy 

Londen-jare was hy ’n aktiewe lid van die Royal Film 

Society. Deesdae beperk hy hom tot die televisie: 

7de Laan is sy gunsteling. ‘Ek mis nie ’n sekonde 

daarvan nie – elke karakter is presies reg.’ 

In die jare negentig het Du Plessis toenemend las 

met sy oë. Na talle ‘traumatiese’ operasies om 

katerakke te verwyder het hy sedert Mei 1995 net 

die gebruik van een oog. Gelukkig kan hy wel nog 

lees – iets wat hy nog baie graag doen. Wat sy 

algemene gesondheid betref gaan dit baie goed, 

‘disgustingly so’. 

In Desember 1989 word die graad DMus (honoris 

causa) deur die Universiteit van Stellenbosch aan 

hom toegeken. In 1992 volg toekennings van die 

FAK, ’n Oorkonde van SAMRO en die Orde (goud) 

vir Voortreflike Diens van voormalige President 

F W de Klerk. 

Edward Aitchison is ’n lektor in musiekopvoedkunde aan die 

Universiteit van Stellenbosch

Stefans Grové 80 

’n Enkele woord van ’n oud-student 

en oud-kollega, namens almal 

As ’n bekende persoon 60 word, verskyn daar 

moontlik êrens ’n vriendelike artikeltjie waarin sy 

of haar kwaliteite en eienaardighede op simpatieke 

wyse vermeld word. Op 65 ‘tree’ jy ‘af’, op sy beste 

met applous, handdrukke en ’n geskenk. As jy daarna 

nog êrens kom, weet die jongeres nie wie jy is nie 

en sal die oueres, dié wat jou vroeër wel geken 

het, hoogstens onder mekaar ’n enkele opmerking 

oor jou gryser hare, aarselender gebaar en derglike 

maak – ou mense se rolletjies is uitgespeel en 

gelukkig is daar baie jonger mense om oor te neem. 

As jy op 70 nog so ’n bietjie sou kon voortskuiwel, 

Henk Temmingh 

praat die paar ingewydes al van ‘kranig’ en ‘sies 

tog’. En op 75 . . . , ag . . . 

Hoe gehéél en al en toetentaal anders is dit met 

prof. Stefans Grové! As tagtigjarige werk hy met 

dieselfde ywer as vroeër en steeds met groot 

vakmanskap en fyn artistisiteit aan sy komposisies; 

is sy gees steeds spits, sy houding fier en sy tred 

lig; deel hy immer geïnspireerd en inspirerend sy 

bykans onuitputlike kennis met sy studente en is 

hy by almal in die musiekwêreld, van hoog tot laag 

en van oud tot jonk bekend, geliefd en 

gerespekteerd. Huldeblyke, vererings, toekennings, 

pryse, opdragte – dit het alles oorvloediglik na hom 

gekom en kom nog steeds; en heel tereg: daar word 

gepraat van mens sana in corpore sano en ons is bly 

dat die liggaam nog gesond is – maar Stefans Grovéé 

se siel, sy gees, is nie net gesond nie – dit is GROOT. 

Baie geluk van ons almal, professor, met u tagtigste 

verjaarsdag! En onthou: as ons hiep-hiep-hoera’s nie 

hééldag weerklink nie: ons moet darem ’n klompie 

oorhou vir die volgende geleentheid! 

Professor Henk Temmingh was hoof van die Departement Musiek 

aan die Universiteit van Pretoria (UP) vanaf Januarie 1988 tot 

Julie 2000 asook voorsitter van die Skool vir Kunste by UP vanaf 

Januarie 2000 tot Julie 2000 

139

140 

Jan Bouws 100 

Op 28 Julie 2002 sal dit presies honderd jaar gelede 

wees dat Jan Bouws in Purmerend, Noord-Holland, 

gebore is. Alhoewel hy Suid-Afrika vir die eerste 

keer in 1957 besoek het en dan vanaf 1960 slegs 

die laaste agtien jaar van sy lewe in Suid-Afrika 

vertoef het, het sy naam tog vir baie mense 

sinoniem geword met navorsing in die Suid- 

Afrikaanse musiekgeskiedenis en, veral, 

bekendstelling en bewusmaking van die Afrikaanse 

volkslied. Anton Hartman het in 1958 van hom gesê 

dat hy onder die groot aantal Nederlandse vriende 

van Suid-Afrika ’n ereplek inneem. 

Dit is ’n interessante verskynsel dat dit aanvanklik 

Reino Ottermann 

veral persone van buitelandse geboorte was wat ons 

Suid-Afrikaners van ons kulturele erfgoed bewus 

gemaak het, soms selfs teen plaaslike 

beterweterigheid in. So het byvoorbeeld ’n destyds 

vername kultuurman vir Jan Bouws, toe dié van die 

Afrikaanse volkslied gepraat het, kortaf tereggewys 

en gesê: ‘Dit bestaan nie.’ Deur sy vele publikasies 

oor hierdie onderwerp het Jan Bouws later die 

teendeel oor en oor bewys en daarby ook die grond 

gelê vir die sistematiese bestudering van die 

volksmusiek van verskeie ander segmente van die 

Afrikaanse kultuur, byvoorbeeld die Griekwas en die 

Rehoboth Basters. 

Op soortgelyke wyse is ook sy navorsing oor die 

musieklewe in, veral, die ouer Kaapse tyd deur 

sommige Suid-Afrikaanse kultuurmense as van min 

belang of selfs nutteloos beskou. Ons moes ons dan 

kwansuis liewer uitsluitlik besig hou met Bach, 

Beethoven en Brahms, by wyse van spreke. Maar hy 

het hom nie daardeur van stryk af laat bring nie en 

artikels daaroor in Nederlandse, Belgiese, Duitse, 

Franse, Engelse, Switserse, Oostenrykse, Sweedse 

en Hongaarse tydskrifte gepubliseer. Dit het ’n wyer 

internasionale bewuswording van ’n ou en 

gevestigde Westerse musiekkultuur aan die Kaap 

tot gevolg gehad. 

Jan Bouws se belangstelling in Suid-Afrika en, meer 

bepaald, die Afrikaner, het aan sy grootmoeder se 

knie ontstaan waar hy verhale en liedjies oor die 

Anglo-Boereoorlog gehoor het. Reeds as twaalfjarige 

seun het hy vir homself ’n geskiedenis van Suid- 

Afrika sedert 1652 saamgestel, volledig met kaarte 

en portrettekeninge. Nadat hy in Haarlem as

onderwyser opgelei is, het hy vir byna veertig jaar 

in die onderwys gestaan, eers in Oosthuizen en 

daarna, vanaf 1929, in Amsterdam. Die verblyf in 

Amsterdam het dit vir hom moontlik gemaak om 

deeltyds in die musiekwetenskap te studeer, onder 

andere by bekende leermeesters soos proff AÊA 

Smijers, J Smits van Waesberghe en K P Bernet 

Kempers. Ook het hy onder prof N P van Wyk Louw 

die Afrikaanse letterkunde bestudeer, toe dié 

hoogleraar in Amsterdam was. Tegelykertyd het 

Bouws komponiste soos Rudolf Mengelberg, 

Johannes Röntgen, Henk Badings, Wolfgang 

Wijdeveld, Emiel Hullebroeck en Flor Peeters 

aangespoor om liedere op Afrikaanse tekste te 

komponeer. 

Reeds vanaf 1930 publiseer hy artikels in Afrikaans 

in Die Huisgenoot en ander Suid-Afrikaanse 

periodieke publikasies. Vanaf 1935 spits hy hom dan 

toe op die bestudering van die Suid-Afrikaanse 

musiekgeskiedenis en die Afrikaanse volkslied. Vir 

die ouer Nederlandse tyd kon hy veral put uit die 

waardevolle biblioteek van die Nederlands–Suid- 

Afrikaanse Vereniging in Amsterdam. In 1946 verskyn 

dan in Brugge, België, sy boek Musiek in Suid-Afrika. 

Dit is ’n merkwaardige boek: dit is die eerste poging 

tot ’n omvattende musiekgeskiedenis van Suid- 

Afrika, in Afrikaans geskryf deur iemand wat nog 

nooit sy voet op Afrikaanse bodem gesit het nie. 

In 1957 besoek Jan Bouws op uitnodiging van die 

Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurverenigings (FAK) 

Suid-Afrika en lewer op ’n kongres oor volksmusiek 

op Stellenbosch ’n referaat oor die Afrikaanse 

volkslied tot 1940. Ook in 1957 verskyn dan sy boekie 

Suid-Afrikaanse komponiste van vandag en gister 

waarin hy sestien komponiste van Charles Etienne 

Boniface (1787–1853) tot John Joubert bekendstel. 

In 1960 verhuis Jan Bouws en sy eggenote, die 

bedrewe ensiklopedis Juliana Bouws-Van Heyningen, 

na Suid-Afrika waar hy dosent aan die Universiteit 

van Stellenbosch word en ook ’n Instituut vir 

Volksmusiek op die been bring. Aan die universiteit 

het hy die basis gelê vir wyer musiekwetenskaplike 

studies en menige student deur sy of haar magisteren 

doktorstudies begelei. Self het hy in 1965 die 

doktorsgraad behaal met prof K P Bernet Kempers 

van Amsterdam as promotor. Sy oudstudente sal nie 

net sy vakkundige presiesheid onthou nie, maar ook 

sy noulettendheid wat betref taal en styl. Menige 

student het soms moedeloos gesug as dr Bouws die 

inhoud heel goed gevind het maar dan afkeurend 

bygevoeg het: ‘Dit lees nog te rommelrig!’ Jammer 

genoeg het die Instituut vir Volksmusiek, 

destyds gedeeltelik deur die FAK geborg, nie Bouws 

se aftrede oorleef nie. 

Jan Bouws was lid van die Suid-Afrikaanse (SA) 

Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, die Vereniging 

voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis (Amsterdam), 

die Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde 

(Leiden), die Internationale Gesellschaft für 

Musikwissenschaft en die International Folk Music 

Council. 

Dit is hier nie die plek om sy groot aantal publikasies 

en hulle invloed, of sy liedkomposisies (waarvan ‘Op 

my ou ramkiekie’ die mees populêre geword het) 

te bespreek nie. Gelukkig is Jan Bouws gedurende 

sy leeftyd ryklik beloon en vereer. Die SA Akademie 

het in 1959 die erepenning in musiek en in 1967 

die Stalsprys vir kultuurgeskiedenis aan hom 

toegeken. Die Nederlands–Suid-Afrikaanse 

Vereniging in Amsterdam het hom in 1969 met die 

Van Riebeeck-penning vereer en die FAK het in 1972 

in Windhoek ’n spesiale oorkonde aan sy eggenote 

oorhandig wat dit namens hom in ontvangs geneem 

het. 

Jan Bouws is op 26 Januarie 1978 in Kaapstad 

oorlede. Dit is goed dat sy bydrae tot die Suid- 

Afrikaanse musieklewe en musiekkultuur nie 

vergeet word nie. Sy vriende en oudstudente sal 

hom egter veral onthou vir sy minsame 

vriendelikheid en hulpvaardigheid. Om dit in sy eie 

taal te sê: ‘Hij stond altijd voor iedereen klaar.’ 

Professor Reino Ottermann was hoof van die Konservatorium, 

Universiteit van Stellenbosch 

141

142 

Victor Hely-Hutchinson 100 

(1901–1947) 

Victor Hely-Hutchinson was born a century ago. During 

his short life, he developed from a child prodigy 

into one of the most versatile musicians of any era. 

Between the mid-1920s and the mid-1940s he was 

widely known as a solo pianist, accompanist, orchestrator, 

academic, reviewer, administrator, conductor 

and composer, and he achieved these successes 

during a period when an immense number of professional 

musicians were active. According to his 

friends, of whom he had many, his sunny, loyal nature 

and rockhard principles of conduct shone like 

a bright light on a generation shocked, on the one 

hand, by social disasters in the form of two world 

John Hely-Hutchinson 

wars and the great depression, but inspired, on the 

other, by individuals such as Einstein, Fleming, 

Stravinsky, Pavlova, Picasso and Walt Disney. 

Victor was the youngest son of Sir Walter Hely- 

Hutchinson, the last Governor of the Cape Colony, 

in South Africa. At the time of his birth, the South 

African War was in its closing stages, and Britain 

had finally realised that it was not in her interest 

either to crush entirely the spirit of the Boer Republics, 

or to alienate their close relatives in the 

Cape. Sir Walter identified closely with an emerging 

South Africa, and developed a polite and understanding 

rapport with local population groups. When 

a serious outbreak of plague threw Cape Town into 

a panic, Sir Walter and his aides put on their best 

uniforms and walked in slow time through the fever 

wards. 

Lady Hely-Hutchinson played the piano nicely and 

could sing a large repertoire of songs prettily to 

her own accompaniment. Her daughter, Natalie, who 

was a few years older than Victor, played the violin. 

So the family background was well suited to raising 

a musician, and they could exert the social and financial 

influence needed to obtain the best training. 

The Governor’s children were educated in England. 

So, soon after Victor’s birth, on 26 December 

1901, his mother took him to a house in Kent, 

to be near her other sons. Victor became a strong, 

stocky baby and soon developed a violent temper. 

His mother found that the only way to quieten him 

was to play the piano. He sat on her knee, and before 

he could even speak, could sing the notes she 

sang immediately after her. He quickly learnt the 

names of the notes and, in the early summer of

1904, aged two, was heard to say thoughtfully 

‘Cuckoo, E and C’. Perfect pitch was beyond the 

comprehension of the family, who decided to hire a 

professional teacher, Charles Hoby, Director of 

Music of the Royal Marines at Chatham. Hoby quickly 

came to the conclusion that Victor had a remarkable 

general intelligence. At three years old his 

temper had disappeared and he was playing ‘the 

Merry Peasant’ with authority, with his feet on a 

box over the pedals. 

Victor returned to South Africa at the age of five, 

for the last two years of Sir Walter’s term as Governor. 

He could soon simplify orchestral works for the 

piano, and transpose at sight into any key. After the 

Governor had heard him, any extra time he and his 

lady could spare from their official duties was spent 

on helping him develop his talents, even to the 

extent of studying musical theory. They were, however, 

particularly careful to prevent listeners from 

giving Victor a swollen head by showing undue surprise 

at his performances. Victor’s musical education 

was taken over by Dr Barrow Dowling, the organist 

of Cape Town Cathedral, and father of a large 

family. The first serious shock in Victor’s life was 

the death of Dowling’s youngest daughter and he 

sublimated the pain by writing possibly his first serious 

composition. 

One of the Governor’s closest friends was Sir Abe 

Bailey, and the two men possessed two of the first 

automobiles in the Cape. When Sir Walter fell desperately 

ill, the family was taken to stay at 

Muizenberg, but it soon became obvious that he 

would recover only if Victor played the piano to 

him. After his recovery, Sir Walter was so proud of 

the compositions which Victor had completed by 

the age of eight that he had a book of them published. 

During 1909, Sir Walter monitored the new constitution 

of the Union of South Africa, in which, for 

the first time, the former Boer republics were unified 

with the former British colonies. Soon after 

agreement had been reached, he retired to England, 

in order mainly to supervise Victor’s formal education. 

Shortly after their arrival, Victor was taken to 

visit Sir Hubert Parry, who, after hearing Victor’s 

interpretation of Beethoven, recommended that he 

study under Donald Tovey. A school (Heatherdown) 

was chosen near Tovey’s home and thus began a ten 

year association leading to a lifelong friendship. 

Tovey insisted that, even at the age of ten, Victor 

should obtain a thorough grasp of counterpoint before 

moving further into composition. He also introduced 

Victor to the frivolous side of life, by setting 

advertisements to music. Meanwhile Victor 

acted as organist at the local church. 

Heatherdown made full use of his talents as a musician, 

and by now his compositions had become quite 

sensitive. Two songs: ‘A Birthday’ and ‘Dreams’ to 

words by Christina Rosetti, were particularly admired. 

His hands were too small to cope with octaves, 

but he developed a technique of jumping from 

top to bottom of a chord so rapidly that the notes 

sounded simultaneous. When playing the organ, he 

could not reach the pedals, so he used to leave the 

seat and run along them. It was also discovered that 

he could learn and understand his schoolwork much 

quicker than his contemporaries. He had massive 

powers of concentration, and could work while his 

schoolfellows were larking around him. He could, 

by this time, improvise in the style of many different 

composers, and his setting of ‘Old Mother 

Hubbard’ in the style of Handel dates from this period. 

One afternoon he was asked by the headmaster 

to play some music to illustrate the personality 

of a schoolmate. This he did with astonishing skill, 

and then went on to play pieces which illustrated 

the personalities of other boys. So accurately did 

he portray them that all were correctly guessed by 

the staff. 

In 1914, Victor was entered for a scholarship at Eton, 

at the age of 12. He was placed half way up the list 

of successful candidates, in competition with many 

boys a year older than himself. Around this time, it 

was felt by some of the staff at Heatherdown that 

he was straining himself, for in addition to his schoolwork, 

he had written, firstly, a symphony 

and,secondly a mass in memory of his father, whose 

recent death had made a deep impression on him. 

To cap it all, Tovey had arranged a concert in the 

school hall at which Victor played the solo part in a 

Mozart Concerto, accompanied by the London Symphony 

Orchestra. 

143

Boys who had won scholarships to Eton were housed 

in a separate building, known as College. Even in 

such rarified company, he seems to have been regarded 

as out of the ordinary. He remained very 

approachable, and later his juniors in College were 

never frightened of him. He made friends easily, 

yet his contemporaries seemed to feel that they 

could not know him intimately, since he seemed to 

understand them better than they understood him. 

He entered with zest into all activities, including 

sport. He was a good scholar, even by comparison 

with his fellows in College, and ended up about 

fifth in the school. He developed into an amusing 

debater and held decided views on many subjects, 

arguing his case pertinaciously, uncompromisingly, 

always with wit and clarity, never bitter, disgruntled 

or intolerant. He knew how to say seemingly outrageous 

things without causing offence, and his 

candour was disarming because it was never tinged 

with malice. The Precentor of Eton, Dr Basil 

Johnson, was always grateful to Victor for his unfailing 

support during some difficult years, for he 

never mastered the art of controlling masses of boys. 

He was, however, less grateful to Victor for teaching 

his parrot how to swear. 

As a musician, Victor progressed methodically. His 

first task as an organist was to gain independence 

between hands and feet, after which he was able to 

play the most advanced organ works. He also had 

the advantage of lessons in composition from Sir 

Charles Stanford in Windsor. These lessons, after 

the thorough grounding in basic counterpoint by 

Tovey, would have crowned his facility in theory. 

His recitals at school concerts included works by 

Bach, Parry, Schumann, Moskowski, Mozart, Chopin, 

Rheinberger, Brahms and himself. He was ubiquitous 

as a musician, playing the harmonium for college 

prayers, coaxing the old instrument into a new 

lease of life; accompanying the headmaster’s 

daughter’s ’cello; and playing quite exquisitely 

Mendelsohn’s incidental music to a college production 

of Midsummer Night’s Dream. He was at his 

most remarkable accompanying community singsongs, 

in which he exploited his skill at improvisation. 

The accompaniments followed every nuance 

of the words and, in the comic songs, they provided 

an illustrated running commentary based on every 

device of piano technique, the whole thing being 

144 

illuminated by his superb sense of fun. 

Victor’s brother, Christopher, fought through the 

first world war, and Victor regularly attended intercession 

services. His feelings about the war were 

later expressed in three serious compositions: ‘The 

unknown warrior’, ‘The song of the soldiers’ and ‘I 

vow to thee my country’. During his final year, in 

1919, he was prepared for the Nettleship Scholarship 

at Balliol, which he was awarded. The aim of 

the Scholarship is to enable budding musicians to 

broaden the scope of their interests, and Victor 

elected to study modern history, indicating perhaps 

that he wanted to try to build on his studies of ancient 

history at Eton, in order to understand the 

causes of what to many appeared to be a totally 

senseless war. 

It was typical of his respect for others that he initially 

applied for private rooms at Oxford on the 

grounds that his playing might disturb any companions. 

Such, however, was his friendly nature that 

one of his friends prevailed upon him to share lodgings. 

He entered into all college activities, such as 

tennis and swimming, with the same concentration 

he showed when tackling any subject, and he was 

soon recognised as one of the leading undergraduate 

pianists. 

Although his lodgings were on the busy Cornmarket 

Street, nothing could destroy Victor’s concentration, 

especially when he was composing. He joined 

the Nonsense Club, at which members were expected 

to read papers on any subject which made 

no sense. In social life, he was quiet, and not in the 

least selfassertive, and he never thrust his musical 

knowledge into any inappropriate group. Such was 

his general knowledge that he could hold his own 

on most subjects. 

The end of his stay at Oxford came unexpectedly, in 

1921, after only a year, he responded to an invitation 

to teach at the South African College of Music 

in Cape Town, who were short of staff with theoretical 

knowledge. So Victor returned to his roots, 

very near to his birthplace. At the College, he enjoyed 

discussing music in general with Professor Bell 

and Leslie Heward. Heward’s tastes were general, 

Bell’s experimental, while Victor clung to the clas-

sical values. Bell felt that the greatest strokes of 

genius happened by accident, such as chance extraneous 

sounds or mistakes in playing, while Victor 

argued that experiments must be constrained within 

wellestablished structures. ‘You cannot tie balance 

and inspiration down to a set of rules,’ said Bell. 

‘Yet the greatest art, whether in music, sculpture 

or painting is always imagination at its highest held 

within form at its simplest,’ replied Victor, a phrase 

which could be said to epitomise much of the music 

he wrote thereafter. When the three friends 

turned to performing, Bell would play and sing the 

parts (one after another) of some opera he had just 

written, Heward would render on the piano a complicated 

modern orchestral composition he had just 

received in the post, while Victor would produce 

extemporary variations on a theme by, say, Haydn 

or Mozart with an invention and wit that were cool 

and entrancing. 

At this stage, Victor began to crystallise his ideas 

on citizenship, denying that the musician and citizen 

could ever be separated. His/Her duties in the 

home and to the community must always be balanced, 

not overshadowed, by the demands of his/ 

her art. He was meticulous in keeping accounts. 

Bell was worried about Victor’s prospects as a 

teacher, as most of his students were young, frivolous 

women. However, Victor tackled the task with 

his usual thoroughness and dedication, and his immense 

knowledge meant that he could not be 

floored by the trickiest questions. In line with his 

feeling that musicians should serve their communities, 

he and Bell arranged most of the college music 

for female voices and strings, these being in the 

majority. At this time Victor’s compositions were 

fairly modernistic, a good deal more so than in later 

years. Holst and Vaughan Williams seemed to be his 

inspirations, and he was less happy with nineteenthcentury 

music. Dr Bell tried to foster his interest 

in modern developments, and felt that Victor would 

eventually develop a strong personal style. At around 

this time appeared his setting of ‘The Owl and the 

Pussy Cat’ and some of Harry Graham’s ‘Ruthless 

Rhymes’, also his ‘Three Fugal Fancies’. Victor’s 

friendships with other musicians never influenced 

his judgement of their compositions, and he could 

be a severe critic where this was justified. 

Simultaneously, his brother Christopher was working 

on the mines in Johannesburg, and it was possibly 

during a visit to his brother that Victor met 

Hugh Tracey, the musicologist who researched African 

music. When he was taken to see an African 

mine dance, and invited to play the instruments, 

he extemporised some effective music on them, 

much to the surprise of the dancers, bearing in mind 

that the instruments were not tuned to the chromatic 

scale. 

At this time, he met and married his life’s companion, 

Marjorie Hugo, who has been described as one 

of the two most beautiful contemporary women at 

the Cape. Marjorie played the violin, was a talented 

artist and a dedicated ecologist long before the subject 

became fashionable. She was given to strong 

enthusiasms, and never wavered from her reverence 

for Victor, either during their 21-year marriage or 

her 41-year widowhood. During this period, he was 

introduced to broadcasting, and was known ‘Uncle 

Porps’ on Children’s Hour, possibly because of some 

strange instrument he had invented. As a veteran 

broadcaster at the age of 24, he wrote a humorous 

article about radio from the performer’s point of 

view, saying ‘To begin with, I went down to the 

studio in the same sort of spirit as a child swallowing 

gunpowder, to see what would happen.’ These 

experiences made him aware of the broadcasting 

opportunities opening up in Europe, to which he 

returned in 1926. 

His first job in the BBC at Savoy Hill was styled 

officially as musical assistant, and the young 

organisation was so fluid that he found himself doing 

all sorts of musical jobs, such as programme 

building, reviewing, accompanying, conducting and 

arranging, as well as nonmusical jobs such as using 

his general education to edit and write letters on 

behalf of other members of staff. He also contributed 

to Children’s Hour as ‘Uncle Bunny’. Outside 

the BBC, he continued to conduct and play in public, 

and also composed prolifically, including incidental 

music for many plays, some of which is missing, 

because, possibly, it was improvised. In 1927 

he produced his ‘Variation, Intermezzo, Scherzo and 

Finale’, for which he was awarded the Carnegie prize. 

In the same year appeared the Carol Symphony, 

which led to correspondence with Mary Levett, 

145

who, from that time until his death, collected press 

announcements dealing with his platform and broadcast 

performances. According to this collection, 

between October 1930 and August 1933, he played, 

on average, once every 11days and conducted once 

a week. His arrangements were performed four 

times a year, his standalone compositions once every 

three weeks and his incidental music three times 

a year. Over the same period, he attracted 7 biographical 

notes and 25 reviews, and possibly contributed 

as many as 73 programme notes and lectures. 

Victor and Marjorie set up house in Hampstead, and 

it was during this period that his two sons were 

born. He cycled to and from work, tying scores, 

conductor’s batons and other items onto the frame 

with string, and conducting imaginary orchestras 

through the traffic in central London. After cycling 

through the rain, he would hang his shoes and socks 

over the radiator in his office and dictate memos in 

his bare feet. When the BBC moved to Broadcasting 

House, the music department was housed in 

offices on the fifth floor, with a fairly broad ledge 

running under the windows the full length of the 

building. For a bet, Victor hoisted his bicycle outside 

his window and rode it up and down the ledge. 

Shortly afterwards he received a memo stating: 

‘There is no room for bicycles in Broadcasting 

House.’ 

He was continually in and out of other people’s offices, 

relaying, in his rather nasal voice, the latest 

musical joke, such as Sir Henry Wood’s habit of conducting 

rehearsals in his broad cockney accent: Ê‘Na 

then Vi’lins, wot you a doing of, sawin’ away regardless?’ 

In 1933, he felt that BBC music needed co-ordinating 

and suggested that he himself be appointed manager. 

The BBC acceded to his request, but made 

him manager of its Birmingham office, a move that 

developed into a fruitful 13-year association with 

the city. In Birmingham his new secretary, Joan 

Forsyth, confirmed his powers of concentration in 

the midst of noise, his unflappability, the painstaking 

care with which he treated any contact, and his 

rapid transition from a scholarly demeanour to almost 

schoolboy mischievousness. For instance, af- 

146 

ter dictating a particularly difficult memo on some 

high policy matter, he would look at her and say 

‘Selah,’ and with a twinkle ‘May I go home now?’ 

His main achievement was the founding of the BBC 

Midland orchestra. In 1934, he was approached to 

take over the Chair of Music at Birmingham University, 

in succession to Sir Granville Bantock. As a 

composition teacher, he did not drive the students, 

and tended to let them make their own mistakes, 

possibly to see if these ‘mistakes’ were in fact new 

inventions; but any student who approached him 

could tap an inexhaustible well of knowledge. He 

seemed to have an instant grasp of each student’s 

difficulties from the inside. In spite of his 

encyclopaedic knowledge of classical composers, he 

peppered his lectures with illustrations from the 

twentieth century, taking care to avoid his own compositions. 

He made little effort to classify composers 

into say ‘baroque’, ‘classical’ or ‘romantic’, preferring 

to analyse their works according to the harmonies, 

counterpoint and scoring they employed. 

His composition students felt that their work always 

remained their own, even after Victor had made 

helpful, and in some cases radical suggestions. His 

teaching was intensely practical. One of his main 

dicta regarding conducting was: ‘remember, all orchestral 

players are frustrated soloists’, and in writing 

out parts: ‘legislate for idiots’. 

He was always available to accompany sing-songs in 

the Students’ Union, and seemed to be universally 

popular. On the rare occasions when he spoke in 

the senate or the faculty, his grasp of essentials and 

brevity made a deep impression. There was a strong 

movement to make him Dean of Arts, a movement 

which he diverted when it became clear that he 

might soon be offered the Directorship of Music at 

the BBC. Outside the university, he was elected 

President of the Birmingham Brass Bands association, 

was associated with the Bach Choir, often conducted 

the City Orchestra, and was chosen to dedicate 

the Elgar window in Worcester Cathedral. In 

addition to numerous concert programme notes, he 

wrote music for a number of plays for radio, and for 

the new television service, which had started in 

1936. He once visited the studios at ‘Ally Pally’ before 

a circus programme, and was surprised, when 

using the toilet, at being watched from the bath by 

a sealion. He wrote several short orchestral inter-

ludes for variety programmes, at least one 

wellreceived longer work entitled ‘Serenade’, and 

background music for films. Such were the financial 

constraints laid on film music that only 18 musicians 

could normally be employed, and this meant 

only eight strings. Victor found that the general 

tone of the ensemble could be improved by including 

an unobtrusive piano, and he thus could be said 

to have reintroduced a form of continuo after 200 

years. 

He was perhaps at his most relaxed at home, preferring 

intimate company, where he could discuss any 

matters of musical, or of local interest. He was not 

perhaps greatly moved by national issues, since 

musicians were less affected than many professions 

by the great depression, for, in addition to music 

for traditional concerts and recitals, a lot was required 

by the growing radio, television and film 

industries, and the deficiencies of recordings meant 

that much of it had to be played live. Although he 

was also possibly rather incurious about international 

events, he was under no delusions about the horrors 

of war, and foresaw accurately what was likely 

to happen to civilians. After Munich, he moved his 

family out of Birmingham to a rural village, where 

his first job every evening was to pump water from 

the well up to the cistern. In summer, he would 

then happily walk a mile over the fields and along 

the canal to the local, where he was known as ‘The 

gen’lman as loiks ‘is point’. As a father, he took 

care to smooth the paths of his sons through school, 

and also in the neighbourhoods where they lived. 

On the outbreak of war, he immediately enrolled 

as an ARP warden in Birmingham, and spent many 

nights at the post. During one particularly intense 

airraid, the wardens heard the terrifying noise of a 

falling bomb equipped with sirens. ‘Ah!’ said Victor, 

‘That’s exactly the sound I need in my next intermezzo.’ 

In response to an appeal, he also applied to 

join the University Cadet Force. In spite of the misgivings 

of the commandant at appointing a professor 

of music to help organise the force, Victor very 

soon proved his worth, putting his vast concentration 

into a study of military tactics, weaponry and 

organisation, eventually rising to command a company. 

Although he himself was maintained in his university 

post because of his age and seniority, musicians 

were often starved of funds. To raise funds for the 

City of Birmingham Orchestra, Victor gave a series 

of recitals of all Beethoven’s sonatas, which he knew 

off by heart. It was said that he also knew by heart 

all of Bach’s 48. As usual, he entertained his fellow 

cadets along with other troops and civilians, often 

playing on appalling pianos after driving long distances 

through the blacked-out countryside. When 

the conductor of the City Orchestra died, he offered 

to take over the conducting and artistic direction. 

Amid these activities, he felt that his lack 

of formal qualifications might make progress difficult 

later on, so he studied for a Doctorate at Oxford, 

which was conferred on him in 1941. Soon 

after, he repeated his recitals of the Beethoven sonatas 

at Oxford, in support of a memorial to Sir 

Donald Tovey. 

When the call came, in 1944, for him to take over 

the directorship of music in the BBC, Victor, in spite 

of having served his apprenticeship, was, at 42, still 

young. The job was regarded as the most exacting 

musical post in Britain, for broadcast music played 

a massive role in the life of the country. Realising 

that the administrative duties would soon prevent 

him from practising the piano, the BBC, which at 

that time ran the Proms, invited him to play 

Beethoven’s fourth concerto in the Albert Hall, after 

which he was recalled to the platform five times. 

Eight editorials were written about his contribution 

to music in Birmingham, and his presentation 

book was signed by 344 individuals and institutions. 

At the invitation of his successor at BBC midland, 

Hubert Foster Clark, he took his family on an extended 

holiday to the lake district, where he demonstrated 

his physical fitness by scaling Great Gable. 

With typical conscientiousness, before his contract 

with the university expired, he spent many weekends 

at the BBC in London, learning the minutiae 

of the job. His first action on taking up his post was 

to send each of his assistants on leave in turn and 

take over their jobs. There was no musical 

specialisation which he could not fulfil. The Director 

General found him a resourceful administrator, 

but his predecessor, Sir Adrian Boult, found fault 

with him for always leaving his office door open, 

147

and remaining accessible to all comers. He was delighted 

that Joan Forsyth was willing to become his 

secretary again. Victor bought a house in St John’s 

Wood, within walking distance of his offices in St 

Marylebone High Street, and, in spite his £2 000 a 

year salary, gave up his car. Once again, he regaled 

his colleagues with the latest stories, including one 

of the most poignant, about a broadcaster to an 

occupied East European country who could not speak 

English. In order to survive, he was taught phonetically 

how to order meals at the canteen, saying: 

‘Steak and kidney, apple pie.’ After a month he 

became tired of this diet and was taught to say ‘Piece 

of fish, cup of tea.’ A tough-looking waitress, perhaps 

resembling a Gestapo interrogator, asked him 

in a loud voice: ‘Do you want mayonnaise?’ which 

he did not understand, and to which he replied in a 

scared whisper: ‘Steak and kidney, apple pie.’ 

Following the end of the war, his work doubled, for 

numerous musicians who had served their country 

in various capacities needed employment. Victor 

tried to give foreign (including Axis) musicians opportunities 

in England. He was particularly supportive 

of Sibelius, because Finland, since the Russian 

attack, had fought on the side of the Axis. 

It was typical of his careful approach to life that, 

when he was given £10 000 (a fortune in those days) 

by his brother, who had manufactured sandbags, and 

told to go and enjoy himself, he saved it for a rainy 

day, and still did not purchase a car, which might 

have saved his life. Although he did not compose so 

vigorously during this period, he did finish, publish 

and record the full set of Ruthless Rhymes, and combine 

some of the music he had written for films 

into a symphony. He was revising the symphony 

when, at the beginning of 1947, temperatures in 

England plummeted to below freezing point for 

weeks on end, and such was the financial exhaustion 

of Britain that fuel had to be saved. Victor refused 

to switch on the radiators in his office, and 

eventually developed a cold. After returning to his 

office before he was well, he developed pneumonia, 

from which not even his iron constitution could 

protect him, and from which he died in March. A 

memorial service was held, at which Astra Desmond 

sang, and those who attended felt they had lost a 

manytalented, unassuming and constant friend. 

148 

Now that most of his contemporaries have passed 

on, he is remembered mainly in terms of the few of 

his compositions which are still performed. His settings 

of the three nonsense songs of Edward Lear 

remain popular, as does his setting of ‘Old Mother 

Hubbard’ in the style of Handel, and particularly his 

Carol Symphony. Other songs, such as the serious 

‘Song of the Soldiers’, are occasionally heard, as 

are his two children’s operettas: Hearts are Trumps 

and The Charcoal Burner’s Son. His original output 

was however large, possibly 150 works having been 

publicly performed, of which more than 50 were 

published. 

His critics mainly agreed that he was a delightful, 

charming miniaturist and a superb technician. Some 

of his larger designs also attracted a lot of interest, 

but reviewers tended to retain two reservations 

about his style: firstly that he never developed a 

personal idiom, and secondly that he seemed unable 

to create themes striking enough to energise 

a substantial work. With regard to the first reservation, 

however, it might be argued that virtually all 

the musical techniques which could be appreciated 

by intelligent listeners had, by the thirties, already 

been tried out, the last major successful innovator 

being Stravinsky. Nevertheless, the works of several 

midtolate twentieth composers are very popular. 

With regard to the second, the impact of themes 

is, to a certain extent, subject to fashion, which 

normally changes during each generation, three of 

which have passed since the thirties. If his neglected 

works were revived, therefore, many of them might 

again catch the public fancy. 

The writer expresses his sincere thanks to his 

brother Christopher, and to Dr Barry Smith and Ms 

Leslie Hart of the University of Cape Town, for help 

with the data and comments on the material. 

John Hely-Hutchinson, son of Victor Hely-Hutchinson 

lives in Swellendam

In memoriam 

Margaretha Johanna 

(Retha) Herbst 

(20.10.1910 – 28.7.2001) Ian Smith 

Yonty Solomon 

Margaretha Johanna Visser is gebore op 20 Oktober 

1910 te Clanwilliam as die jongste van vyf kinders 

van Frikkie en Anny Visser. By geboorte was sy so 

klein dat sy in ’n skoendoos gepas het. Te midde 

van haar moeder se bekommernis of sy sal bly leef 

is sy deur die bejaarde en beminde huishulp 

meegedeel dat ‘mevrou sal sien hierdie sal mevrou 

se langste kind word.’ Sy was dan ook die langste 

van haar broers en suster. Sy was nie uitsonderlik 

lank nie, maar het met haar skraal lyf en smaakvolle 

kleding altyd die beeld van ’n statige, netjiese en 

waardige persoon uitgedra en het tot aan die einde 

van haar lewe respek afgedwing. 

Retha het groot geword in ’n huis waar daar baie 

geluk, liefde en vreugde was. Haar vader was vir 

ongeveer 25 jaar burgemeester van die dorp en sy 

was gewoond aan ’n vol sosiale lewe. Haar broers 

en suster was almal in staat om die een of ander 

musiekinstrument te bespeel en gevolglik was daar 

nooit ’n tekort aan musiek en sang in hulle huis 

nie. Retha kon al klavier speel voordat sy sterk 

genoeg was om die klavierdeksel op te lig. Daar is 

gereeld saamsing-aande by die huis gereël en op 

gesellighede het die Visser-gesin altyd die musiek 

verskaf. Geen wonder dan ook dat The Poplars, die 

naam van hulle huis, deur vriende spottenderwys 

na The Populars herdoop is nie. 

Nadat sy haar laerskoolopleiding op Clanwilliam 

voltooi, het, is sy na die Hoër Meisieskool La Rochelle 

in Paarl. Hier was sy een van die eerste leerlinge 

wat musiek as vak geneem het. 

Na skool het sy haar in Kaapstad gevestig waar sy in 

orrel, sang en klavier gestudeer het. 

149

Gedurende 1931 verwerf sy ’n Onderwyserslisensiaat 

aan Unisa en verhuis daarna na Clanwilliam waar sy 

haar vestig as musiekonderwyseres en orrelis. 

Sy is op 1 Junie 1936 getroud met ’n bankamptenaar 

Attie Herbst, boorling van Ceres. Sy het nie met ’n 

motor kerk toe gery nie, maar het op ’n rooi mat 

van omtrent 50 meter lank vanaf haar huis na die 

kerk gestap. 

Attie het vinnig vordering gemaak in die bank en 

dit het meegebring dat hulle dikwels verplaas is. 

So was sy dan ook musiekonderwyseres en/of 

orreliste op Moorreesburg, Piketberg en Vredendal. 

In 1949 word Attie aangestel as bestuurder van 

Barclays Bank Parow en kry sy ’n aanstelling as 

musiekonderwyseres by Jan van Riebeeck Hoërskool 

in Kaapstad. 

Omdat J J du Preez Hoërskool binne loopafstand 

van haar woonstel te Parow was, aanvaar sy 

gedurende 1954 ’n pos aldaar. Hier het sy vir 22 

jaar onderwys gegee. ’n Hele paar leerders wat later 

bekendheid en selfs beroemdheid verwerf het, het 

by haar musiek as vak geneem: name soos Louisa 

Love (née Doidge), Brenda Rein (née Wilsnach), 

Ken Higgins, Francois Voges en Yonty Solomon. 

Hoewel sy baie trots was op haar leerlinge wat puik 

presteer het, het sy dikwels gesê dat die gedagte 

vir haar groot vreugde gee dat daar oral in die land 

mense is wat as gevolg van haar hulp, klavier kan 

speel ‘al is dit dan ook net by huisgodsdiens of vir 

vermaak van ’n paar kinders.’ 

Haar oudleerders getuig dat sy ’n baie dinamiese 

persoon was, maar dat hulle altyd die gevoel gehad 

het dat sy werklik belangstel in hulle. Sy het nie 

150 

net in hulle vordering belanggestel nie, maar in 

hulle algehele ontwikkeling as mens. Sy het gereeld 

haar leerders by hulle huise gaan opsoek om te sien 

onder watter omstandighede hulle grootword. Sy 

het kontak met die ouers gehad en vir haar was die 

onderwys ’n spanpoging tussen haar, die leerder en 

die ouers. Dikwels het sy saans na afloop van ’n 

opvoering die leerders by hulle huise gaan aflaai. 

Nadat haar man haar in Februarie 1967 ontval het, 

gaan sy voort met haar onderwysloopbaan, maar 

begin sy om ook vir Unisa as eksaminator te werk. 

Einde 1975 tree sy, as hoof van J J du Preez se 

musiekafdeling, amptelik af met pensioen. Sy gaan 

vir ’n verdere tien jaar voort met eksaminering by 

Unisa. Hierdie beroep neem haar na die uithoeke 

van die land en daar is omtrent nie ’n streek of 

provinsie wat sy nie besoek het nie. 

In die tye wat sy nie eksamineer nie, beklee sy 

tydelike poste by Fairbairn High School te 

Goodwood, Bellville Hoërskool en Clanwilliam 

Hoërskool. 

Retha het hoë vereistes aan haar leerlinge, asook 

aan haarself gestel en daarom het sy te midde van 

al die skoolkore, konserte, operettes en Eisteddfods 

waar sy uitstekende resultate behaal het, nog kans 

gesien om haarself beter te bekwaam. Sy verwerf 

tydens haar loopbaan die volgende diplomas en 

sertifikate: Unisa Onderwyserslisensiaat (Klavier) in 

1931, Unisa Voordraerslisensiaat (Klavier) in 1941, 

Unisa Onderwyserslisensiaat (Sang) in 1942, Trinity 

College of Music Performer’s Diploma (Piano) 

in 1957, Royal Schools of Music Teacher’s Licentiate 

(Piano) in 1958, Royal College of Music Teacher’s 

Certificate (Piano) in 1963 en Royal Academy of 

Music Teacher’s Licentiate Diploma (Piano) in 1963.

Einde 1987 tree sy finaal uit alle akademiese 

aktiwiteite. 

Gedurende 1990 trek sy terug na haar geliefde 

Clanwilliam en vestig sy haar in ’n omgewing wat 

aan haar bekend is en waar sy omring is deur familie 

en talle ou bekendes. 

Die laaste paar jaar, terwyl haar liggaam nog sterk 

en gesond was, altyd fier en regop, wou die brein 

nie meer byhou nie en was dit vir haar geliefdes 

hartseer om te sien hoedat die hande wat eens met 

uiterste vlugheid en meesterlike tegniek die 

moeilike en ingewikkelde akkoorde van die 

Polonaise in A van Chopin kon bemeester, hulle nou 

moes beperk tot die meer alledaagse ligter trant 

liedjies. So kon die bure nog tot twee maande voor 

haar afsterwe op 28 Julie 2001 gereeld hoor hoe 

musiek moet klink wanneer sy voor die klavier 

ingeskuif het om ou bekendes uit haar jongmensdae 

soos ‘When I grow too old to dream’ en ‘English 

Country Garden’ te speel. 

Ian Smith is ’n susterskind van wyle Retha Herbst 

Retha Herbst was an inspired and inspiring teacher 

whose highest standards and artistic integrity have 

been a memorable foundation for me always in my 

own playing and working with students internationally. 

Ms Herbst taught me when I came rather late 

to classical music after a career in playing jazz. She 

saw my potential immediately and nurtured this with 

warmth, caring and dedication. I loved learning from 

her, and greatly admired her elegant wisdom and 

serious motivation. I have much to thank Retha 

Herbst and the brief study that I experienced with 

her at the J J du Preez High School in Parow guided 

me through all the years with Cameron Taylor, Myra 

Hess and other piano teachers with a true purposefulness 

and joy in music. Her attention to detail, 

tone and phrasing were impeccably thorough and 

sensitively perceptive. She took a warm attitude to 

her pupils especially when they worked and were 

gifted. She always had the highest expectations and 

was not satisfied until these levels of excellence 

were achieved. Her husband too was immensely 

supportive and my parents deeply trusted and respected 

this sterling and devoted couple. Retha 

Herbst came to my recital in Cape Town four years 

ago but sadly she did not come backstage and sent 

a message that she was there. I so wished we had 

met again because she was very important to me 

and I have much to thank her for my own career. 

Yonty Solomon is an former pupil of the late Retha Herbst and 

professor in music at the Royal Academy of Music in London 

151

152 

Artemisio Paganini 

(25.3.1926 – 28.9.2001) 

Artemisio Paganini, affectionately known as Paggi 

to his many friends and fellow musicians, was born 

in Garlasco, Northern Italy in 1926. As a child he 

studied the violin in the local music school and then 

from the age of 14 went to the Giuseppe Verdi 

Conservatoire in Milan where he studied under 

Michelangelo Abbado. He continued his studies 

throughout the war, in spite of being a lorry driver 

during hostilities and having to move dangerous 

cargoes over difficult mountain passes. 

After graduating from the conservatoire, he played 

in the Milan Radio Orchestra and later in the 

Pomeriggi Musicale chamber orchestra consisting 

of 35 members. He then moved to Lucerne and was 

a member of the Festival Orchestra and the famous 

Lucerne String Quartet. He performed as soloist 

with many orchestras in Italy and Switzerland, and 

was well known for his radio recitals. 

Celia Woodland 

Artemisio was persuaded to come to South Africa 

by the Spanish conductor Enrique Jorda, where he 

joined the then Cape Town Municipal Orchestra in 

1952. By 1953 he was a member of the Arte Viva 

Trio and in 1961 was appointed the leader of the 

Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, a position he held 

for 28 years. Paggi was also the leader of I Musicanti 

String Chamber Orchestra formed in 1978. 

Paganini was an excellent violin teacher and a great 

inspiration to all his pupils. He also had many and 

varied interests and hobbies outside of music. Paggi 

loved wild animals and every year he and his late 

wife Meg, who predeceased him by two months, 

would go to the Kruger National Park for his holidays 

where he would spend time watching and photographing 

his wild friends. He always developed 

and printed his own photographs. He was interested 

in guns and firearms and enjoyed making wooden 

stocks and grips for them. Another enjoyment was 

watching motor racing, a memory from a childhood 

spent in Monza. In the 1950s and 1960s Paggi owned 

various large motor-bikes. After his retirement he 

acquired a computer which he quickly mastered. 

Artemisio Paganini was a man of great personality 

with an incredible memory and knowledge on many 

and diverse subjects. He is survived by a sister 

Cornelia and two nephews in Italy. 

Paggi, you will be sadly missed. 

Celia Woodland was a former student of Paganini and now lives in 

Greece on the island of Kephalonia

Roelof Willem Temmingh 

(18.4.1913 – 8.10.2001) 

Roelof Willem Temmingh senior, bekende orrelis 

en musiekpedagoog, is op 8 Oktober 2001 in George 

oorlede in die ouderdom van 88 jaar. Hy en sy gesin 

het in 1958 vanuit Amsterdam, Nederland, na Suid- 

Afrika geïmmigreer en sy eerste musiekposte was 

in Griekwastad en Klerksdorp. Hierdie kleurryke 

persoonlikheid het sy opleiding in Nederland gehad 

en hy was onder andere musiekleraar aan die 

Christelike HBS in Amsterdam. Dit is ook interessant 

om te noem dat hy vir 14 jaar (1939–1953) as 

speurder by die Amsterdamse polisie gewerk het 

voordat hy voltyds in die musiek gegaan het. 

Klassieke musiek in Suid-Afrika is deur die 

Temminghs se koms verryk – benewens Roelof 

Temmingh se eie bydraes, is al vier sy kinders, Henk, 

Roelof, Lykele en Jenny by musiek betrokke. In 

1960 is Roelof Temmingh by die Laerskool Totius 

in Bellville as musiekonderwyser, en die Groote 

Albert Troskie 

Kerk, Kaapstad as orrelis en koorleier aangestel. 

Eersgenoemde betrekking het hy tot sy aftrede in 

1983 behou. Hy was ’n geliefde klavieronderwyser 

wat met oneindige geduld en ’n breë visie op 

musiekonderrig talle leerlinge gevorm, en deur 

hulle Unisa-musiekeksamens gehelp het. As 

pedagoog was hy ook jare lank deeltydse orrel-, 

harmonie- en kontrapuntdosent aan die 

Universiteite van Kaapstad en Port Elizabeth (UPE). 

Hy het lesings vir die Suid-Afrikaanse uitsaai 

Korporasie (SAUK) gehou, twee uitvoerings van Bach 

se Mattëuspassie in die Groote Kerk gedirigeer, ’n 

konserttoer vir die Kaapse Raad vir Uitvoerende 

kunste (KRUIK) gehou en talle orreluitvoerings in 

Kaapstad, Pretoria en op die platteland gehou. 

As kerkmusikus het Roelof Temmingh diep spore 

in Suid-Afrika getrap. Goeie kerkorrelspel was vir 

hom uiters belangrik en hy het uitgeblink as 

begeleier van die gemeentesang waarin sy 

besondere gawes van koraalharmonisasie, modulasie 

en improvisasie gehoor kon word. Prof W E G Louw 

skryf in 1960 in Die Burger: ‘Wat dadelik die aandag 

in sy orrelspel trek, is die fynsinnige improvisasies 

wat hy lewer, dit is meditatiewe kommentaar op 

die gesang wat volg – ’n voorbereiding as’t ware vir 

die hele deelname van die gemeente aan die lofsang. 

Besonder goed geregistreer, maar sonder enige 

uiterlike of oppervlakkige vertoon, is dit suiwer 

153

liturgiese kerkmusiek soos ’n mens dit nie aldag in 

ons kerke hoor nie!’ 

As konsertimprovisator het sy spontane virtuositeit 

en grootse aanpak van die orrel na vore gekom, en 

kon hy met gemak ’n fuga of toccata improviseer. 

In 1981 maak hy vir die Suid-Afrikaanse 

Kerkorrelistevereniging (SAKOV) ’n langspeelplaat, 

Roelof Temmingh improviseer op 10 Afrikaanse 

Psalms en Gesange, waarvan 700 eksemplare 

verkoop is. 

Roelof Temmingh het ’n eie, onmiskenbare 

klankidioom gehad. Na slegs enkele akkoorde kon 

jy hoor hier is ’n meester voor die orrel. Hy kon in 

die styl van Jan Zwart (sy eertydse leermeester) 

speel, maar het verkies om eerder in die meer 

impressionistiese eietydse idioom van ’n Marcel 

Dupré of Duruflé te improviseer. Sy groot liefde en 

bewondering vir die Franse Romantiese orrelskool 

en vir die improvisasiekuns van die Franse meesters 

was opvallend. 

Roelof Temmingh se vaardigheid met die pen blyk 

uit die talle artikels (meesal oor kerkmusiek) wat 

in Die Burger en Die Nuwe Stad, asook in tydskrifte 

soos Opus en Vir die Musiekleier verskyn het. 

Benewens twee operettes het hy verskeie orrel- en 

koorwerke gekomponeer. Die bekendstes is sy 

‘Marche Triomphale’, sy Psalmkantate vir koor, 

soliste, orkes en orrel wat in 1965 vir die 300-jarige 

feesvierings van die Groote Kerk geskryf is, sy 

Psalm 68 vir koor, kinderkoor en orrel en sy 

koraalvoorspel, ‘Kom, volk van God, kom laat ons 

juig’, wat in Liturgiese Orrelmusiek, Band 4 

gepubliseer is. 

Benewens musiek, het hy ook talle olieverfskilderye 

van kerkinterieure en orrelfronte gemaak, verskeie 

toneelstukke geskryf en hom besig gehou met 

ingewikkelde uitlegte van elektronies-beheerde 

154 

modeltreine. Na die dood van sy eerste vrou, Jacoba, 

is hy in 1990 met Karen getroud wat hom tot die 

einde van sy lewe versorg het. 

In 1992 het SAKOV erelidmaatskap aan Roelof 

Temmingh sr toegeken ter erkenning van sy 

omvangryke en belangrike bydrae tot die 

bevordering van die kerkmusiek in Suid-Afrika. Ons 

eer sy nagedagtenis. 

Albert Troskie, professor en afgetrede hoof van musiek by UPE, 

het aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad sy voorgraadse 

orrelopleiding by Roelof Temmingh sr gehad, en is later met sy 

enigste dogter, Jenny, getroud.

Reviews/Resensies 

New music publications 

Nuwe musiekpublikasies 

LITERATURE 

Music in Words 

Trevor Herbert 

Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, 2001 

Herbert intended to write ‘both a textbook and a 

reference book’ (xi) which would serve as ‘a didactic 

(teaching) text’ (112). He stresses his approach 

of avoiding ‘recipes’ and providing ‘hints’ which are 

meant to introduce ‘methods and procedures that 

enable and encourage you to find your own way’ 

(xi). In all of this he succeeds very well, and Music 

in Words should be very useful to teachers and lecturers 

who are involved in overseeing the recording 

of research results in music. Also, of course, to 

the students themselves, although for them it could 

perhaps seem almost like doing an extra preliminary 

course. 

Music in Words consists of an introduction, 11 chapters, 

a glossary and an index. A positive, perhaps 

even idealistic, approach is evident already in the 

introduction, where writing about music is equated 

with supplying ‘reliable information’ (ix), and where 

it is stated that ‘The rules and conventions of academic 

writing help ensure that our meaning comes 

across clearly’ (x). One could indeed wish that published 

academic writing always heeded these conditions! 

The glossary, which does not include musical 

terms, seems to list some rather superfluous 

terms (such as academic journals, adjective and 

anachronism) but then again it does also include 

other short explanations which might be found 

stimulating, such as angle brackets, CD-rom and displayed 

quotation. The index, which excludes terms 

given in the glossary, provides a useful means of 

quick reference. 

The 11 chapters are: 

(1) How to write: some basics for shorter writing 

tasks 

(2) Doing research: a basic method for longer 

projects 

(3) Using libraries and the Internet 

(4) Scholarly conventions: citing sources 

(5) Using illustrations: notated music, pictures, 

tables and other visual representations 

(6) Language and numbers 

(7) Some musical terms an phrases 

(8) Sources and research tools 

(9) Citations 1: the printed word 

(10) Citations 2: musical sources 

(11) Citations 3: other sources, 

155

Herbert’s approach to his material is to let information 

braden out from very elementary beginnings. 

In some cases the space given to elementary 

concepts may be found to be almost irritating to 

more sophisticated readers, but the fact of the matter 

remains that such an approach is precisely what 

very many musicians actually need, even at postgraduate 

levels. The great majority of people who 

write about music are educated, after all, as musicians, 

not as authors, and the substance of music, 

which is what fills the thoughts of musicians, mostly 

does not spontaneously invite exact transcription 

into words. This means that the suitable use of words 

in connection with music needs to be explained in 

detail and from the most elementary beginnings. 

The first few pages of Chapter 1 can be taken as an 

example of Herbert’s approach. How to write (for 

shorter tasks) is treated in various subdivisions, starting 

with why academic writing is different from 

speaking: it has to be more formal and emphasis 

has to be placed on precision and correctness since 

vocal intonations, facial expressions and gestures 

are not available. Then comes different types of academic 

writing, namely essays, dissertations and theses, 

all of which use academic conventions which 

assist in accuracy, clarity and reliability in the absence 

of the subject which is discussed, that is, the 

music itself. (More information about all such aspects 

is given later in the book.) 

Thirdly some questions to ask when writing about 

musical works are suggested, in this case with regard 

to interpretation and performance; other approaches 

such as educational value would of course 

also be possible. The questions concern structure 

and musical language and issues about its context. 

The aspirant writer is advised to start from a point 

of departure in which attention is given first to the 

total effect, by which Herbert means ‘the way its 

structure and other elements combine to make it 

coherent and expressive.’ He immediately adds, 

‘Detailed comments can give substance to that impression’ 

(8). It is noticeable that he refers to the 

importance of (provisional) preliminary conclusions 

before detailed analyses are done more than once. 

156 

This is indeed a very important facet of the suitable 

approach to writing about music, and one which 

is only too often misunderstood. William S Newman 

formulated this aspect as follows in his book The 

Sonata Since Beethoven, third edition, 1983, W W 

Norton and C, page 110: ‘Music analysis must still 

depend to a considerable degree (fortunately!) on . 

. . subjective reactions to it, and on the particular 

slant being observed.’ This explains, among other 

things, in which way the concept scientific allows 

itself to be applied in connection with writing up 

analytical results about music, namely, that the process 

of writing will essentially be a presentation, in 

as orderly a manner as possible, of personal motivations 

for preliminary conclusions which had been 

formed on a basis of individual subjective responses. 

It is clear, then, that analysis of music implies finding 

suitable details with which to corroborate preliminary 

impressions. An objective totting up of 

details from which objective conclusions are drawn 

is simply not allowed by the nature of the material. 

Herbert lists 15 questions which can be asked concerning 

structure, including whether the work under 

discussion is self-contained, or part of a bigger 

whole, what medium it employs and how idiomatically 

the medium is used, where important structural 

or expressive points are found, whether a formal 

pattern like that of sonata form or rondo is 

present, whether the harmonic language is predominantly 

diatonic or chromatic or atonal, and what 

the relationship between the words and music is in 

vocal works. After this he lists 13 questions which 

would be suitable in connection with compositional 

and performance context, such as when the music 

was written and performed for the first time, 

whether it was published during the composer’s lifetime, 

what the reception was originally and subsequently, 

and how it fits into a broad historical context. 

In both these cases he mentions clearly that 

other relevant questions might well present themselves 

as a result of asking those which he proposes. 

Fourthly, Herbert treats of Writing essays, under 

several heading which include planning, finding information, 

drafting the essay, refining the draft(s)

and checking the finished product. He mentions that 

writing up the final version comes quite late in the 

process, which would be applied in a similar way 

per chapter to dissertations and theses. He stresses 

the importance of sticking to the point, planning 

according to an already formulated provisional preliminary 

conclusion so that details can be arranged 

so as to lead to it logically and persuasively, having 

the patience and perseverance to make several 

drafts in a search for the most convincing one, and 

checking details before writing up the final version, 

which then has to be proof-read for typing and other 

errors. 

The rest of the chapter consists of good advice about 

writing in examinations, CD liner notes, programme 

notes, reviews and writing for reading aloud. In all 

of these, as in the rest of the book, the author’s 

stance of wanting to promote ‘the virtue of plain 

common sense’ (vi) is noticeable. This is bracing, 

since ‘plain common sense’ does seem to take to 

its heels so readily when one enters the domain of 

music, which is abstract but at the same time completely 

concrete, mysterious but also very physical, 

illusory but eminently real, enigmatic but illuminating 

- and this list of inherent apparent paradoxes 

could be extended to become quite long. 

Herbert’s Chapter 6, Language and numbers, might 

again seem almost superfluous to some people 

whilst containing valuable information for others. 

It is obviously ‘not a systematic guide to English 

language usage’ but ‘merely lists some of the most 

widely accepted conventions’ (93). It does nobody 

any harm to take note again of how abbreviations 

should be handled, what the differences are between 

English as opposed to American spelling conventions 

(and between it’s/its and whose/who’s!), the 

functions of round and square and angled brackets, 

what a ‘diacritic’ and ‘ellipsis’ is, and so on. In the 

little section about Latin abbreviations it is encouraging 

to note how often Herbert advises ‘no longer 

used and best avoided’ and ‘[t]he full English phrase 

is better than/preferred to the abbreviation’. In 

response to his eminently sensible advice, the 

present author promptly got rid of several cases of 

‘i.e.’ and will most certainly do his best in future to 

get used to the injunction not to abbreviate ‘et 

cetera’. 

KLARINET 

12 Tempos for Clarinet in B flat 

and Piano 

Paul Loeb van Zuilenburg, 2001 

A-Z Uitgewers, Oranjelaan 14, Stellenbosch 7600 

Soos aangedui in die Preface/Voorwoord, en in die 

Notes/Aantekening aan die einde van die boek, is 

die inhoud van 12 Tempos ontwerp as 

onderrigmateriaal, en hulle word hier uit daardie 

oogpunt bespreek. 

Van Zuilenburg se musikale materiaal is oral 

aangenaam en smaakvol. Die melodieë is goed 

gevorm en daar is ’n gewenste verskeidenheid in 

musikale elemente soos tempi, toonsoorte, 

artikulasie, ritme en dinamiekaanduidings. ’n 

Belangrike bykomende positiewe eienskap is die 

manier waarop die verhouding tussen klavier en 

klarinet deurgaans afwisseling vertoon: soms is die 

klavierparty begeleidend, dan dikwels met die bas 

as belangrikste bestanddeel; soms dra dit ’n 

kontrapunt in een van die twee hande, wat dan wel 

met solo-klank aangebied kan word; soms verskaf 

dit tussenmate waarin die solis stil is. As die 

voordragimplikasies van sulke verskille doelbewus 

157

onder die aandag van die klarinetspeler sowel as 

die begeleier gebring word, sal dit hulle aanvoeling 

en insig soveel te meer stimuleer. Van Zuilenburg 

vestig dikwels die aandag op hierdie verhoudings 

deur verskillende dinamiekaanduidings vir die 

klarinet en klavier te voorsien. 

Ongelukkig is dit in die Voorwoord sowel as die 

Aantekeninge etlike kere taamlik opmerklik dat die 

gebruik van Afrikaans meer idiomaties sou kan wees. 

Ook is daar enkele stellings, in albei tale, wat as 

onvolledig en selfs verwarrend aandoen, soos ‘’n Postmoderne 

idioom behoort leerlinge regtig plesier 

te verskaf om hierdie stukke te speel’ en ‘In geen 

versameling stukke ontbreek ‘n Country Dance in 

6/8 tyd in een of ander vorm nie’. Die presiese 

bedoelings agter sulke stellings kan nie met 

sekerheid afgelei word nie. 

Professor Johann Potgieter, voormalige hoof van die 

Musiekdepartement, Universiteit van die Oranje-Vrystaat, is ’n 

bekende pianis en kamermusikus en woon tans in Johannesburg 

CHOIR 

Die schöne Müllerin 

F Schubert 

Arranged for mixed chorus (SATB) a cappella (German 

text) by Carlo Marenco 

ISMN M-00652013-8. £10.00 

(Bärenreiter 6596) 

158 

Carlo Marenco’s arrangement of the 20 songs that 

make up Die schöne Müllerin is designed to enrich 

the choral repertoire with one of the towering 

monuments in Schubert’s art as Lied composer. The 

reworking of the original strictly adheres to 

Schubert’s n melodies and harmonies. The choral 

version are largely in four parts with frequent 

doublings in al parts. In all the essentials such as 

the vocal line and the bass they follow the original 

reading. However, they arrive at a different interpretation 

of the words in that the sound material 

and expressive character have been transferred to a 

contrapuntal vocal ensemble. The result is a highly 

varied texture in which the main melody is either 

assigned to the soprano or an alternative voice (often 

the tenor) while the other parts form the accompaniment. 

The melodic writing of the accompaniment has either 

been taken from the original piano part or, 

where this was not possible, freely adapted from it 

or newly written. 

The editor, Carlo Marenco, treats the original with 

exquisite sensitivity resulting in an evocative choral 

cycle for any concert programme, whether performed 

as a whole or in part. 

FLUTE 

Concerto in G Major for Flute 

and Orchestra 

D J Škroup

Editor Stanislav Bohadlo 

Piano reduction JiÍí Smutný 

ISMN M-2061-0027-5. £ 5.50 

(Bärenreiter Praha 7833) 

Performance material is available for hire 

Dominik Josef Škroup (1766–1830) came from a 

musical family in Eastern Bohemia and from a tradition 

of musical teaching. In 1800 he took over 

the teaching post in Osice and during the next 30 

years established a significant provincial music and 

education centre. 

It is likely that he wrote the Flute Concerto in G 

Major for his son, Frantisek. In 1808 a district administrator 

admired the young Frantisek’s skill during 

a visit to Osice when, as was the custom, the 

local teacher performed with his students. The administrator 

noticed the seven-year-old boy with the 

flute and could not believe the boy was not merely 

imitating the playing and that nobody else was blowing 

behind him. 

HORN 

Invocation Op. 90 for Horn 

Viktor Kalabis 

ISMN M-2601-0091-6. £ 6.00 

(Bärenreiter Praha H 7804) 

The composition for solo horn by Viktor Kalabis 

(born 1923) entitled Invocation is one of the latest 

opuses for the composer. 

It was written in 2000 as a result of the commission 

from the 6th International Horn Competition, which 

will form a part of the 36th International Music Festival 

Brno. The composition has been included 

among compulsory pieces for the competition, 

which only reflects the fact that the piece is quite a 

demanding one and therefore, it is best suited for 

mature and technically able performers. 

ORGAN 

The Organ Wedding Album 

Edited by Martin Bartsch 

ISMN M-006-52010-7. £14.50 


Thirty-eight titles of easy to medium difficulty for 

the amateur organist. 

If you find you are forever searching for just the 

right piece for that wedding next month, then look 

no further than this brand new Wedding Album! 

At last, here is a collection aimed especially at the 

amateur or freelance church musician who very often 

is not familiar with the instrument he or she 

will be playing, and is often faced with the seemingly 

impossible task of matching the expectations 

of the happy couple with the restrictions of the instrument. 

No, you will not find the Widor Toccata here, but 

you will discover a rich variety of popular and not 

159

so well-known wedding pieces, arranged specifically 

with the particular problems of the freelance organist 

in mind, by professionals who know the pitfalls. 

Some pieces contain an easy pedal part and 

others are without pedal. 

Also included is a preface, contents page, catalogue 

of sources and short biographies of the composers 

and arrangers. The composers represented are: J S 

Bach, Boëllmann, Charpentier, Clarke, Courtonne, 

Elgar, Franck, Göttsche, Handel, Kellner, Kittel, 

Krieger, Mendelssohn, Von Paradies, Purcell, 

Rheinberger, Rinck, Schubert, Stanley, Wagner and 

Walther. 

Easy Organ Pieces From the 

Nineteenth Century 

Volume 1 

ISMN M-006-50650-7. £15.00 

Landscape format 


Volume 2 

ISMN M-006-50717-7. £ 16.50 

Landscape format 


The last three decades have witnessed a resurgence 

of ‘romantic organ music’ and the instruments associated 

with it. Most often associated with this 

movement are highly virtuoso pieces intended for 

concert performance. These new collections try to 

redress the balance! They are primarily short, performing 

editions intended for non-professional organists, 

and their aim is to present short and easy 

pieces – to play pieces not based on chorale melodies. 

The editor, Martin Weyer, drawing on the vast nineteenth-century 

repertoire, has chosen pieces for 

160 

their solid workmanship and light technical demands 

and are intended for single and two-manual instruments. 

Their short duration makes them ideal for 

use in church service as introits and postludes. They 

are arranged in most common keys. 

Each volume contains a detailed preface, a discussion 

of performance practice and a list of sources. 

The generous landscape format means that for most 

pieces page turns are avoided. Whilst volume 1 concentrated 

solely on German composers, The second 

volume sees a total of six nations represented. 

Composers present include: Vanhal, Kuchar, 

Lindemann, Brosig, Guilmant, Dvorák and Sjögren. 

PIANO 

Concertos for Violin and Orchestra in 

New Piano Reductions 

J S Bach 

Concerto in A major BWV 1041 

Violin and Piano 

ISMN M-006-46688-7. £6.50 

(Bärenreiter 5189a) 

Performance material available for sale 

Concerto in E Major BWV 1042 

Violin and Piano 

ISMN M006-46695-5. £8.00 


Performance material available for sale

Concerto in D Minor BWV 1043 

Two Violins and Piano 

ISMN M-00646681-8. £8.00 


Performance material available for sale 

These piano reductions, which are based on the reliable 

Urtext of the New Bach Edition, have been 

thoroughly revised and adapted to meet the need 

of today’s performers. 

• All newly engraved 

• Easy to play reductions also suitable for sight 

reading 

• Preface by Peter Wollny with information on 

sources, genesis and performance practice. 

The Six French Suites 

BWV812–817, 814a, 815a 

J S Bach 

Two Suites in A Minor and E-flat Major 

BWV818, 819, 818a, 819a 

J S Bach 

Edited by Alfred Dürr 

Urtext New Bach Edition 

ISMN M-006-50702-3. £14.50 


Although the title French Suites was already in circulation 

in the eighteenth century, neither this title 

nor a complete manuscript has came down to us in 

Bach’s hand. Distinguished Bach scholar Alfred Dürr 

has prepared this ground-breaking performance 

edition which allows players for the first time to 

make their own selection from the wealth of surviving 

material. 

In this volume you will find: 

• The earliest complete version of all six suites in 

the hand of Bach’s son-in-law, Johann Christoph 

Altnickel. 

• A later, more richly ornamented set handed down 

by various means. The route to us is so indirect 

it is impossible to discount with certainty the 

possibility of unauthorised alterations made by 

Bach’s pupils. 

• The alternative versions of Suites BWV 814a and 

BWV 815a are less well established in the Bach 

canon, but contain several delightful movements 

not included in the other versions. 

• Several sources hand down the Suites in A Minor 

and E flat Major in connection with the French 

Suites so they are included here. They can be 

found in their earlier forms BWV 818 and BWV 

819 and in their more recent forms BWV 818a 

and BWV 819a. 

A comprehensive preface in English and German as 

well as eight pages of facsimile illustrations complete 

this ‘Complete’ French Suites. 

Sonatinas and Rondos for Piano 

Czech Sonatina Album 

Book 1: 13 Pieces by Clementi, Kuhlau and Dusík 

ISMN M-2601-0023-7. £7.50 


161

This essential piece of educational literature is now 

in a revised seventeenth edition and offers small 

sonata forms of Classical Style. The pieces are versatile 

and rewarding for pianists of all standards. 

The pieces are arranged in progressive order of difficulty 

within each composer group. An ideal supplement 

to piano lessons. 

Contents: Muzio Clementi (Sonatinas Op. 36 Nos 1 

to 6), Friedrich Kuhlau (Sonatinas Op. 55 Nos 1, 2, 

3 and 5, and Op. 20 No.1), Jan Ladislav Dusík 

(Sonatinas Op. 20 Nos 1, 7 and 3, and Rondo La 

matinée) 

Easy Piano Pieces and Dances 

E Grieg 

Edited by Michael Töpel 

Fingerings by Annette Töpel 

ISMN M-006-50604-0. £6.50 


This performing edition contains a selection of the 

easiest piano pieces by Edward Grieg. Besides the 

popular Lyric Pieces it focuses particularly on 

Grieg’s piano arrangements of Norwegian folk songs 

and dances which capture special flavour of this 

country’s folk traditions. 

As in other volumes in the series, players are encouraged 

to make new discoveries: several miniatures 

from Grieg’s student years, previously only 

available in facsimile, appear here for the first time 

in a performing edition. 

162 

• 22 pieces offer a rich selection of Grieg’s easiest 

piano pieces 

• ideal introduction to Grieg’s piano music 

• reliable edition with explanation of each work, 

and sensible fingering 

• clear, modern printing and layout with no awkward 

page turns 

• affordable price. 

Also available in the series: J S Bach, Beethoven, 

Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Haydn, Mendelssohn, 

Mozart, Satie, Schubert, Schumann. 

Keyboard Works I 

G F Handel 

First Set of 1720 

The Eight Great Suites 

HWV 426-433 

New Edition by Terence Best 

Urtext Halle Handel Edition 

ISMN M-006-44624-7. £12.50 


Handel’s Eight Great Suites form the heart of his 

keyboard music. This new edition by the internationally 

acclaimed Handel scholar, Terence Best, is 

based on the earlier groundbreaking edition of 

Rudolph Steglich. Many new scholarly findings have 

made necessary a thorough revision of Steglich’s 

earlier work. All these findings have found their 

way into this volume through the definitive Urtext 

of the Halle Handel Edition.

This new practical edition includes not only an appendix 

with alternative readings and movements 

that Handel discarded prior to publication, but also 

a detailed introduction to the world of Handel’s 

music and performance practice. 

The result is an authoritative new edition that meets 

all the prerequisites for professional performances 

of the highest level. 

• The Eight Great Suites with all musically relevant 

additional numbers 

• Detailed discussion of the textual tradition and 

musical interpretation 

• Ideal Urtext presenting the latest findings of 

international Handel scholarship for today’s practical 

use. 

Metamorphoses for Piano 

^ 

E Suchon 

Variations on one’s own themes for piano 

ISMN M-2601-0070-1 £15.50 


A characteristic of the work of many composers, 

^ 

including Eugen Suchon (1908-1993), is their return 

to events and periods in their lives through 

musical reflection. It is agreed that the Metamorphoses 

composed between 1951 and 1952 is an autobiographical 

work which reflects the events of 1935 

to 1945. 

However, the Metamorphoses is not merely quoting 

earlier motifs but is rather a meditation on them. 

It is not a variation or fantasy on old themes but a 

brand new creation. A hugely compact, solidly constructed 

piece, the five parts may be performed 

separately. It is a distinctive unit creating diverse 

impressions. 

Toccata for Piano 

^ 

E Suchon 

Including performance notes and epilogue 

ISMN M-2601-0071-8. £7.00 


The Toccata for piano by the Slovak composer Eugen 

^ 

Suchon (1908–1993) was written in 1973 for Klára 

Havliková, a lifelong interpreter and promoter of 

^ 

Suchon’s work. The composition, originally conceived 

as a short encore piece, grew and instead of 

an encore a brilliant finale was born. The Toccata’s 

length and distinctive virtuosity make it best suited 

at the end of a recital. Although this is a virtuoso 

piece it can be played reasonably easily without any 

specific technical problems. 

Musical Offering BWV1079 

J S Bach 

Book 1: Ricercari for Harpsichord (Piano) 

Revised and enlarged new edition by Christoph Wolff 

ISMN M-00604685-9. £6.50 


163

In May 1747 Bach appeared before Frederick II in 

Potsdam and improvised on a theme proposed by 

the king himself, playing a Silbermann pianoforte. 

In all probability the three-voiced Ricercar reproduces 

this improvisation in a more polished form. 

The six-voice Ricercar was supplied later in response 

to the king’s request for a ‘fugue in six obligato 

parts’ as Bach only felt capable of improvising such 

a fugue on a subject of his own choice. 

This new edition of the two Ricercars from the 

Musical Offering has been revised and enlarged on 

the basis of the latest Bach scholarship. It contains 

not only the printed version of the six-voice Ricercar 

but the autograph early version as well. A complete 

facsimile reproduction of the manuscript, facsimiles 

of Bach’s dedication to the printed edition, and 

a preface discussing the work’s origins and performance 

round off the volume. 

This definitive volume is edited by the internationally 

renowned musicologist Christoph Wolff, currently 

professor at Harvard, and famous for his many 

Bach discoveries and insights. 

Three Pieces for Violin and Piano Op. 18 

Jaroslav Kocian 

ISMN M-2601-0028-2. £9.50 

(Bärenreiter Praha H 7825) 

164 

Jaroslav Kocian (1883–1950) was a Czech violinist, 

teacher and composer. After studying with Šev…ík 

and DvoÍák he travelled at home and abroad as a 

concert soloist with some success. He composed 

chamber works for violin and piano in a neo-Romantic 

style, as well as some songs for chorus. This 

edition of the Three Pieces Op. 18 is the first complete 

edition of the cycle and are some of the most 

often played pieces by this composer. 

Contents: ‘Meditation du Soir’, ‘Intermezzo’ 

‘Pittoresque’, ‘Hymne du Printemps’. 

The Four Seasons 

A Vivaldi 

Bärenreiter Urtext 

Edited by Christopher Hogwood 

Violin and Piano reduction 

ISMN M-006-50631-6. £17.00 


Given the enormous popularity of Vivaldi’s The Four 

Season’s op 8, it is astonishing to realise that no 

previous edition reflects all the stages of its genesis 

and source tradition. All the autograph material 

having disappeared, most editions draw on the 

original print issued in part books by the Amsterdam 

publisher Michel Charles Le Cène in 1725. The 

earliest extant source, also including the original 

sonnets, is a handwritten set of parts located today

in the Henry Watson Music Library in Manchester. 

It originated in Vivaldi’s immediate circle and was 

probably written out directly from his score. It presents 

the concertos at an earlier stage than the revised 

printed version and allows us to correct several 

errors in the somewhat negligently printed 

parts. 

The Manchester readings are frequently more accurate 

and even more demanding than those in the 

Le Cène print (especially in respect of articulation 

and accidentals), and sometimes different altogether. 

This manuscript corrects a large number of 

misprints that have been handed down to today’s 

concert performances. Christopher Hogwood’s new 

edition provides an ideal combination of the early 

version and the printed version of The Four Seasons. 

The primary source is the Manchester manuscript 

and all significant departures from the Le 

Cène print are presented as alternative readings. 

STRINGS 

Trios for Strings 

W A Mozart 

Urtext New Mozart Edition 

Edited by Dietrich Berke 

ISMN M-006-20454-0. £ 5.00 

TP 319 

This edition contains all of Mozart’s works, fragments 

and drafts for three string instruments. 

It includes: 

• the famous Divertimento in E-flat Mmajor for 

violin, viola and ’cello of 1788 (K563). 

• a draft in G major for the same setting (K562e). 

• a pair of movements in B-flat major (Adagio and 

Minuet) for two violins and bass from Mozart’s 

Salzburg period (K266/271f) and a short draft 

for the same instruments dating from his early 

Vienna years (1782-3). While the Adagio and 

Minuet conform to the old baroque tradition with 

two equal upper parts above a more sold bass, 

the E-flat major Divertimento, with its three 

chamber music instruments all on an equal footing, 

broke entirely new ground to form the true 

stepping stone to an independent string trio 

genre. 

• First complete edition of Mozart’s works for 

three string instruments including fragments and 

drafts. 

• Urtext of the New Mozart Edition revised from 

the sources. 

Preface describing Mozart’s string compositions 

as an historical juncture for the entire genre. 

The Thirteen Early String Quartets 

W A Mozart 

Urtext New Mozart Edition 

ISMN M-00620453-3. £ 16.50 

TP 318 

165

This first ever study score of Mozart’s Thirteen Early 

String Quartets is based on the reliable Urtext of 

the New Mozart Edition. It is intended not only for 

performers utilising it as a reference score for the 

Bärenreiter performing edition parts (BA 4847–BA 

4850), but also for musicians interested in the development 

of Mozart as a composer in the genre of 

the string quartet. 

This study score begins with Mozart’s first quarte 

the ‘Lodi’ Quartet (k80), includes two Italian cycles 

K155–160 and K168–173, and ends with the isolated 

Menuett K68a. The informative preface by 

Wolfgang Rehm describes the influence on Mozart 

of Italian chamber music at this time and provides 

detailed information regarding the sources and other 

compositions written by Mozart during this periods. 

• First study score edition of Mozart’s Early String 

Quartets 

• Urtext of the New Mozart Edition 

• Details regarding the works history including 

comments on performance practice 

Irish Fiddle Tunes 

Fiddle tunes: Irish music for strings 

Arranged by George A Speckert 

ISMN M-006-50618-7. £9.00 


166 

This new collection for young string players evokes 

the well-known tradition of Irish fiddle music as well 

as the Emerald Isle’s dark lush countryside. As with 

the other titles in this series (Cowboy Songs BA 

8136 £8.50, Mexican Hat Dance BA 8145. £8.50, 

Merry Christmas Strings BA 8140. £8.50), Fiddle 

Tunes is a perfect vehicle for players who are beginning 

to test the waters in ensemble playing. 

The volume consists of a score and separate parts 

for Violins I and II, Viola and ’Cello. In addition to 

the Viola a Violin III part is included. Fiddle Tunes 

is cleverly arranged so that all parts share the limelight 

and this is a fun way to start ensemble playing. 

Contents: ‘A Lovely Lass’, ‘Nothing Can Sadden Us’, 

‘Quiet Sailing Waters’, ‘The Green Glen’, ‘The Foggy 

Dew’, ‘With Spirit’. 

VOICE 

Les nuits d’été. Six mélodies avec un 

petit orchestra 

H Berlioz 

Urtext new Berlioz edition 

Edition for medium voice and piano 

ISMN M-006-50603-3. £10.00 

(Bärenreiter 5786a)

Full score and performance material available for 

hire. 

Berlioz composed these songs in 1840-41 between 

the composition of Romeo et Juliette and La damnation 

de Faust. Originally for mezzo-soprano or 

tenor with piano accompaniment, Berlioz orchestrated 

the fourth song ‘Absence’ for mezzo-soprano 

and small orchestra, in 1853, for the singer Marie 

Recio who later became his second wife. 

A dozen years later Berlioz orchestrated the other 

five songs and the cycle appeared in its orchestrated 

form in 1856. Two of the songs were transposed to 

a lower key so that the cycle was no longer within 

the compass of a single voice. 

In recent years it has been customary to adapt the 

orchestral version for a single voice, either by restoring 

the original keys of those two songs, or by 

transposing the remaining four for a low voice. This 

edition presents the songs as follows: 

• ‘Villanella’: F major(originally A major) 

• ‘Le spectre de la rose’: B major 

• ‘Sur les lagunes’: F major 

• ‘Absence’: E flat major (originally F-sharp major) 

• ‘Au cimetière’: B flat major (originally D major) 

• ‘L’ile inconnue’: D major (originally F major). 

The preface includes English translations of each 

song. 

Also available: Les nuits d’été for voice and piano 

(Bärenreiter 5784a). £10.50 

This edition presents the songs in the original keys 

of the orchestral version. An appendix includes transposed 

versions of ‘Les spectre de la rose’ and ‘Sur 

les lagunes’ to allow performance with one voice 

register. 

167

168 

CD Reviews 

CD-resensies 

Soos gewoonlik handel hierdie besprekings 

hoofsaaklik oor Suid-Afrikaanse musici, maar ok oor 

diegene wat verbintenisse met die land se musiek 

kultuur in die verlede gehad het. Sommige 

opnames is gewy aan uitvoerings deur enkele musici, 

en ander deur groepe soos kore van oor die hele 

land. Die opnames is dus ’n vertoonvenster van die 

talent van ons eie daarstellende kunstenaars. 

Suid-Afrikaanse Kersliedere 

JNSD 105 

Navrae: (011) 482 2001 

Hierdie laserskyf is opgedra ter nagedagtenis aan 

Jo Ross wat haar jare lank beywer het vir die 

propagering van Kersliedere uit eie bodem, wat in 

twee bundels gepubliseer is. Sy het ook heelwat 

tekste van die liedere self gedig. 

Die program bestaan uit 38 liedere gesing deur ’n 

Stefans Grové 

groot verskeidenheid kore, en die musiek is 

gekomponeer deur bekende en minder bekende 

komponiste. Die kore wissel ook van baie bekend, 

tot minder bekende groepe. Van die bekender kore 

wat hier optree is die Universiteit van Pretoria (UP) 

Camerata, die St George’s Singers, die Camerata 

van Stellenbosch, die Tygerbergse Kinderkoor, die 

UP Jakaranda Kinderkoor, die Durban Men’s Choir 

en die Noordwes Kinderkoor, om maar net ’n paar 

te noem. 

Net soos die tekste, is ook die meeste toonsettings 

uiters verbeeldingloos en middelmatig. Maar tog 

sal die opname verskillende doele kan dien, veral 

gedurende die Kersgety. 

2000 Kamermusiek Konsertreeks 

’n Keur van Lewendige Uitvoerings deur Suid- 

Afrikaanse Musici uit bogenoemde reeks. Hierdie

opname onder beskerming van Unisa se 

Musiekstigting vorm deel van die doelstellinge van 

hierdie genoodskap wat in 1990 in die lewe geroep 

is. Hierdie doelstellinge sluit in: om die verskeie 

musiekondernemings van Unisa te steun; om sy 

nasionale en internasionale wedstryde te 

organiseer; om konserte deur plaaslike sowel as 

internasionale kunstenaars te borg, en om opleiding 

in wyer gemeenskappe ten opsigte van slypskole te 

bewerkstellig. 

Hierdie laserskyf se program bestaan uit 25 bydraes 

wat wissel van arias en kunsliedere tot vokale en 

instrumentale kamermusiekgroepe. Al die opnames 

is gebaseer op konserte wat vanaf 12 Maart tot 18 

November 2000 plaasgevind het. 

Die vertolkingskwaliteit is oor die algemeen 

aanvaarbaar tot goed, maar enkele bydraes gaan 

mank aan onberispelike intonasie en stemkontrole. 

Die vraag wat nou ontstaan is of dit wenslik is om ’n 

professionele opname die wêreld in te stuur wat 

gegrond is op lewendige opnames, want die verskille 

in akoestiese omstandighede verskil te groot. In 

die opnames van sommige stemme met klavier, het 

die resultaat te veel die ruimte ingefladder en die 

gewensde gevoel van nabyheid het gevolglik 

ontbreek. Die akoestiese eienskappe van die 

verskillende sale wissel ook van hard tot natuurlik. 

Soms het balansprobleme ook ontstaan, soos in die 

geval van ’n blokfluit wat deur die 

orrelondersteuning oorskadu is. Ander kere weer, 

soos in die geval van ’n tjello met klavier, het die 

musiek te veraf geklank. 

Die mees geslaagde opnames van hierdie reeks was 

dié van die vokale ensembles. 

Suk – Piano Works Volume 4 

Niel Immelman 

Meridian CDE 84442 

Die gebruik van baie pianiste om hulle op die werk 

van bepaalde komponiste toe te spits, kan 

teruggevoer word na Arthur Rubenstein wat die 

musiek van Chopin as spesialisasie-teiken gekies het, 

en ook na Walter Gieseking se konsentrasie op die 

musiek van Claude Debussy. 

Die Suid-Afrikaansgebore pianis Niel Immelman wat 

jare reeds in Londen werksaam is, spesialiseer in 

die klaviermusiek van die Tjeggiese komponis Josef 

Suk (1874–1934), wat as violis opgelei is, maar tog 

ook veel idiomatiese klaviermusiek gekomponeer 

het. Suk was ’n leerling, sowel as die skoonseun 

van Antonín Dvorák, en soos ’n mens dus van hierdie 

verwantskap kan verwag, bestaan daar ’n sterk 

stilistiese verband tussen die twee. Albei toon ’n 

Tjeggiese stylverankering binne raamwerk van ’n 

laat-romantiese idioom. 

Band 3 van hierdie reeks deur Immelman is in 

Musicus 27.1 1999 bespreek. Band 4 wat hier 

bespreek word, bestaan uit 18 stukke, waarvan die 

laaste drie deur Suk se eggenote Otilie Suková- 

Dvoráková gekomponeer is. 

Die musiek wat in hierdie program insluiting vind, 

het tussen die jare 1886 en 1887 ontstaan, toe die 

169

komponis vanaf sy twaalfde tot sy drie-en-twintigste 

jare klaviermusiek gekomponeer het. Die program 

is, wat komponeerdatums betref, nie chronologies 

saamgestel nie, en vorm dus ’n mengsel van tieneren 

ietwat later musiek. 

Die eerste groep van stukke het ontstaan toe Suk 

onderskeidelik 17 en 19 jaar oud was, en bestaan 

uit ‘Träumerei’, ‘Albumblatt’ en ‘Capriccietto’. 

Stilisties en klavieridiomaties put die komponis 

ryklik uit die Mendelssohn, Schumann, Grieg bron. 

Eintlik soet-sprankelend. ‘Moods’, werk 10, het in 

1893 uit die pen van die 19-jarige ontstaan en bevat 

vyf stukke, naamlik ‘Legend’, ‘Capriccio’, ‘Romance’, 

‘Bagatelle’ en ‘Spring Idyll’. ‘Capriccio’ 

klink ietwat sigeuner-Hongaars; ‘Bagatelle’ doen 

volksliedmatig aan en van hierdie groep is ‘Spring 

Idyll’ ritmies, sowel as klavieridiomaties die 

suksesvolste. 

Die sewetal stukke wat hierop volg, stam uit die 

periode 1886 tot 1914, dus dié vanaf sy 12de tot sy 

39ste jaar. ’n Mens kan hier eerder van rypwording 

as van stilistiese ontwikkeling praat. 

‘Meditation on the Old Czeck Hymn ‘St Wencelas’’, 

werk 35a, is dus ’n veel ryper werk chronologies 

gesproke as die wat in hierdie opname voorafgegaan 

en gevolg word, maar ongelukkig ontbreek die 

jeugdige vuur en verbeeldingskrag. 

Die ses stukke wat hierop volg, en tussen die 

ouderdomme van 12 en 19 ontstaan het, herroep 

weereens die frisheid van sy jeugmusiek. In een 

hiervan, ‘Village Serenade’, skep Suk ’n sfeer wat 

so kenmerkend van Dvorák s’n is. 

Die program word op baie interessante wyse 

afgesluit met drie stukke uit die pen van sy 

eggenote, Dvorák se dogter en is getiteld ‘Josef on 

his Hobbyhorse’, ‘Lullaby’ en ‘Humoresque’. Sy toon 

’n opvallende handigheid ten opsigte van 

uitdrukking en samestelling binne raamwerk van 

die destyds populêre Charakterstücke. Die ‘Humoresque’ 

is interessant genoeg uiters pianisties en by 

170 

verre die beste van die driestuks. 

Immelman se spel sprankel in sy poëtiese benadering 

tot die musiek, en die instrument waarop hy speel, 

is goed geintoneer. 

Mozart Die Klavierkonzerte Vol 1 

Matthias Kirschnereit 

Bamberger Symphoniker, Frank Beermann 

Arte Nova 72117 2 DDD, R59.99 

Die jong Duitse pianis Matthias Kirschnereit is deur 

befaamde pianiste soos Claudio Arrau en Murray 

Perahia opgelei. Hy het verskeie internasionale 

pryse op sy kerfstok, ingeslote die vierde prys tydens 

Unisa se 1986 Internasionale Kompetisie. Hy het 

reeds wêreldwyd konsertreise onderneem. Reeds 

op vroeë ouderdom het Kirschnereit ’n geesdriftige 

belangstelling in Mozart se klavierkonserte begin 

toon. Uit hierdie belangstelling het reeds die eerste 

band verskyn en waarop die volgende werke te hoor 

is: Rondo in D, KV 382, en die Konserte in A KV 424 

en E-mol, KV 449. 

Dit was Mozart wat die klavierkonsert uit sy 

aanvanklike funksie as vertoonstuk verlos het, en 

daaraan simfoniese gestalte gegee het. In hierdie 

meesterwerke het hy elemente uit die simfonie, 

opera en selfs kamermusiek dermate verenig, dat 

hy met reg as die vader van die klavierkonsert 

beskou kan word.

Die volksliedmatige Rondo in D is spesiaal as nuwe 

finale vir sy vroeë Klavierkonsert KV 175 

gekomponeer toe die komponis hom pas in Wenen 

gevestig het. Dit was met soveel ‘groot lawaai’ 

begroet, dat dit selfs herhaal moes word. Vormgewys 

het ’n mens hier te doen met ’n mengsel van variasieen 

rondovorm. 

Die Konsert in A, KV 414 hoort tot Mozart se 

vroegste konserte wat gedurende sy Weense verblyf 

gekomponeer is. Van die drietal wat hiertoe hoort, 

het die komponis soos volg aan sy vader geskryf: 

‘Hierdie werke behoort bevrediging by gewone 

liefhebbers, sowel as by kenners te vind.’ 

In die openingsdeel van die A majeur Konsert hoor 

’n mens aanvanklik ’n kantilene-tema waaruit die 

klavier die deel se strukturele toekoms spin. Die 

tema van die tweede deel is nootgetrou uit ’n opera-ouverture 

van Johann Christian Bach geneem. 

Volgens geskiedkundige gegewens het Mozart ’n 

verering vir die musiek van J S Bach se jongste seun 

gehad, en is hy ook lewenslank daardeur beïnvloed. 

J C Bach is vroeg in 1782 oorlede en die doel van 

hierdie aanhaling was ’n huldeblyksgebaar. In die 

finale word die lewendige gesprekvoering wat so 

kenmerkend van die openingsdeel is, verder 

voortgesit. Die kadens hier, is soos al die kadense 

op hierdie opname, uit die pen van Mozart. 

Die Konsert in E-mol, KV 449 is spesiaal 

gekomponeer vir Mozart se begaafde jong leerling 

Barbara Ployer. Dit begin met ’n gedempte soort 

uitdrukking wat later ’n heriïser karakter begin 

aanneem. 

Die tweede deel is gebaseer op twee temas wat 

mekaar rondogewys afwissel, terwyl die finale uit 

’n sonate–rondo-konstruksie bestaan. 

Kirschnereit is ’n besonder begaafde Mozart pianis 

wat nooit in porseleinpop-brosheid verval nie. Die 

Bamberger Symphoniker onder leiding van Frank 

Beermann musiseer met veel stylbegrip. 

Johan Botha – Italian Arias 

Arte Nova 87168 2 DDD. R59.99 

Johan Botha, wat in die buiteland hoog as opera 

tenoor aangeslaan word, het hierdie opname as sy 

eerste laserskyf vrygestel. In die programboekie het 

hy aantekeninge geskryf oor al die arias wat hy 

hierin sing en dus vir elk ’n insiggewende agtergrond 

geskets. Hy sing ’n program bestaande uit arias deur 

Bellini, Verdi, Pochielli, Puccini, Mascagni, 

Leoncavallo en Giordano, en word bygestaan deur 

die Weense Radio-orkes onder leiding van Paolo 

Garignani. 

Reeds in die eerste aria, uit Norma, blyk Botha se 

internasionale reputasie as opera tenoor baie 

duidelik. Opvallend is sy gebalanseerde stem en 

begripvolle interpretasie van die negentiende- eeuse 

Italiaanse operastyl. Sy stem is ryk en die hoë tone 

alles behalwe geforseerd of verknyp. 

Die opnamekwaliteit is akoesties ruim, met goeie 

balans tussen stem en orkes. 

171

Antonín Dvorák – Svatá Ludmila Op. 71 

Prager Kammerchor 

WDR Rundfunkchor Köln 

WDR Symphonieorchester Köln. Gerd Albrecht 

Orfeo C 513 992 H R310.00 

Antonín Dvorák (1841–1904) was so ’n veelsydige 

en produktiewe komponis dat daarstellende 

kunstenaars nog steeds nuwe werke opdiep en deur 

middel van laserskyfopnames met die wêreld se 

musiekliefhebbers deel. 

Die oratorium Svatá Ludmila Op. 71, is ’n 

omvangryke oratorium in drie afdelings wat in 1886 

ontstaan het. Dit was aangevra deur die Feeskomitee 

van Leeds en is gebaseer op ’n geskiedkundige teks 

in Tjeggies. 

Waarvoor hierdie opname vir ons in Suid-Afrika 

spesiale betekenis inhou, is die feit dat die alt-arias 

deur Michelle Breedt gesing word. Hierdie begaafde 

jong sangeres het haar eerste stemopleiding in 

Stellenbosch ontvang en ná haar plaaslike studiejare 

in die Nico Malan en die Staatsteater opgetree. Sy 

het haar opleiding later in Londen voortgesit. Vanaf 

1990 tot 1997 was sy verbonde aan die Staatstheater 

in Braunschweig en het sy ook nie-opera optredes 

in Oostenryk en Berlyn gemaak. 

In vergelyking met die ander karakters in hierdie 

172 

oratorium, het Breedt hier nie veel te doen nie, 

maar wat baie sterk opval in haar rol as Svatava is 

haar besonder ryk altstem wat sy met buitengewone 

musikaliteit aanwend. 

Die werk word in Tjeggies gesing en hierdie opname 

word ten sterkste aanbeveel by die publiek wat 

Dvorák slegs as simfonikus ken. 

Professor Stefans Grové is bekende komponis en resensent en 

verbonde aan die Universiteit van Pretoria

Original composition / Oorspronklike komposisie 

Ben Schoeman matrikuleer in 2001 met agt 

onderskeidings. Hy is tans ’n BMus student in sy 

eerste jaar aan die Universiteit van Pretoria (UP) 

waar hy klavieronderrig van prof Joseph Stanford 

en vioolonderrig van prof Zanta Hofmeyr ontvang. 

Hy het reeds verskeie pryse en toekennings 

ontvang, onder andere as beste klawerbordspeler 

tydens die ATKV Prelude kompetitisie en algehele 

wenner in die strykersafdeling van die Pretoria Beeld 

Eisteddfod. Hy het ook reeds as solis saam met 

simfonie-orkeste opgetree. Hy begin op ’n jong 

ouderdom met onderrig in komposisie by wyle dr 

Socrates Paxinos. In 1998 ontvang hy ’n goue medalje 

tydens die Nasionale Afrikaanse Ekspo vir ’n 

sangsiklus vir sopraan en klavier. Van sy komposisies 

is reeds uitgevoer, onder andere ’n ouverture vir 

kamerorkes, ’n trio vir klavier, viool en tjello, en ’n 

toonsetting van ’n gedig van D J Opperman. Hy is 

tans ’n komposisiestudent van dr Alexander 

Johnson, aan die Universiteit van Pretoria. 

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Twee Preludes

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