Province of Zuid-Holland

The rather recent concert hall for the Residentieorkest (founded in 1904 by Henri Viotta) and the adjacent Lucent dance theatre were to be substituted by a prestigious cultural centre, named Spuiforum. Even the new conservatory from 1980 should move in there; the plan was highly disputed but finally realized in 2021 and called Amare. The new theatre hall has 1300 seats, the large concert hall 1500 seats (or 2500 standing rooms).

The Royal Conservatory was established in 1826 as Koninklijke Muzijkschool  and got its present name in 1900. Former buildings were at Prinsengracht, Korte Beestenmarkt and a building behind the central railway station, opened in 1980. In Amare it has the disposal of an own concert hall (600 seats) and an electronic studio.

This is the best library, archive and documentation centre about Dutch music. The MS and printed music, letters and documents, collected by D. Balfoort and W. Noske, formed the basis of the steadily growing stock. Presently it is a part of the city archive; its worthier location, the Royal Library, and its independent status had to be left in 2009 due to the loss of state subvention. 

Leopold Mozart and his children stayed in the winter of 1765/66 with watchmaker Eskes. Because of the severe

illness ─ probably typhoid fever ─ of Nannerl and Wolfgang, they had to stay much longer than foreseen and

recovered only after the intervention of court physician Schwencke. The house was demolished; plaque at the

entrance of the present supermarket. Eleven compositions, KV 22-32, were written in the Hague, including a

symphony, an Aria, six violin sonatas, variations on Dutch melodies and a Quodlibet.

The next four addresses concern the places where the Mozarts appeared.

The former Oude of Sint Joris Doelen. Concert by Wolfgang Mozart on 30.IX.1665; Nannerl was ill, but both children could attend at the second concert on 22.I.1766. The building was used as a concert hall until 1804. Today it houses a bank; several details of the front are extant, but the concert hall changed into a down-to-earth conference room.

The local theatre for spoken drama opened in 1804; it was originally the palace of princess Caroline van Nassau-Weilburg , the musically talented sister of stadhouder William V and acquainted with the Mozarts. She was the first person the family visited and thanks to her the children could be cured by court physician Schwencke.

Former Stadhouderlijk kwartier  of William V, today the seat of the Dutch Senate. Mozart gave concerts here during his stay in The Hague. There was a court orchestra, conducted by Christiaan Ernst Graaf.

Carl Stamitz and the young Beethoven also performed before the court (1783).

Present royal palace. In the 18^th century Sunday concerts by the court orchestra; guest soloists included J. Christian Bach, Abel and F.X. Richter. Probable appearance by Mozart on 8.III.1766 with the quodlibet Galimathius Musicum, KV 32.

The smallest of the two organs by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in the Netherlands, from 1885. II/p/23. (the other one is in the Haarlem concert hall, >nl2.1002)

In this palace lived Unico Graaf van Wassenaer (1692-1766). This musically talented nobleman is the probable composer of several chamber works and the fine Concerti Harmonici, previously ascribed to Italian masters, including Pergolesi.

Today seat of the Raad van State (Council of State). In the annex Gothische Zaal with Bätz organ (1842, II/p/18) lunch time concerts are given.

This building was the first public concert hall of the city. It was opened in 1821 and was used until 1906. Brahms appeared here.

In 1874 a larger hall (over 2000 seats) was built: the Gebouw voor Kunsten en Wetenschappen at the Zwarteweg, which had poor acoustics but was also appropriate for opera performances. It was burnt down in 1964.

nl3.1013

House of the diplomat, poet and composer Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687); he lived here from 1614 to 1627, his second house at the Plein was demolished. His son Christiaan inherited his compositions (up to 900 pieces) but they are lost; extant is his printed volume of psalms and (French) songs, Pathodia Sacra et Profana.

House of the diplomat, poet and composer Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687); he lived here from 1614 to 1627, his second house at the Plein was demolished. His son Christiaan inherited his compositions (up to 900 pieces) but they are lost; extant is his printed volume of psalms and (French) songs, Pathodia Sacra et Profana.

Grave of Constantijn Huygens.

Grave of court musician Christiaan Ernst Graaf, † 1804 (no grave stone). He was born in Germany in 1723 (original name Graf) and moved to The Hague in 1762. His house at Prinsegracht 132 is not extant.

An important organist in this church was Joh. Albertus Groneman (+1778).

The composer, organist and theorist Quirinus Gerbrandszoon van Blankenburg was appointed here in 1699, but began his service in 1702, when the new organ by Johan Duyschot (extant) was installed. He worked here until his death in 1739 (from 1720 assisted by his pupil Piton). In 1750 the organ was played by Händel.

In the upper floor of this fine 17^th century building, the Collegium Musicum Perpetuum and the Confrèrie de Sainte-Cécile gave concerts in the 18^th century.

Huis ten Bosch is occupied by de Dutch royal family. In the 18^th century, it was a palace of the Stadhouders.  In 1750 Händel visited his former pupil, the gifted princess Anne of Hanover – since 1734 the wife of Willem IV – and gave several concerts in The Hague. The composer Jan Ladislav Dussek (Dusík), then the music teacher of the children of William V, gave a pianoforte recital in the magnificent Oranjezaal  on 24.VI.1780. Today the palace unfortunately is not accessible to the public.

Centre of DOcumentation of NEtherlandish MUSic, established in 1947 (then in Amsterdam) and specializing in Dutch composers of the 20^th and 21^st century.

Graves of the composers Verhulst, Wagenaar and van Anrooy and of the cabaret singer Jean Louis Pisuisse.

Monument of the composer and conductor Richard Hol (1825-1904). He worked from 1887 to 1902 as conductor in The Hague.

Monument of the greatest Dutch composer, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621); Amsterdam, where he spent almost his entire life, should have been a more appropriate location to erect his only monument.

This museum has the disposal of the most comprehensive collection of musical instruments in the country, founded in the 1880s by D.F. Scheurleer and from 1927 extended by D. Balfoort and well exposed in seven halls. Today, sadly enough, the over 3000 objects from Europe and overseas has been stored entirely in the depot; when it will be exposed again is unknown.

House of the composer Hendrik Andriessen from 1949 until his move to an apartment in Heemstede (1970s); also his composing son Louis (°1939) have lived here.

Built in 1885. Until 1972 there were summer concerts by illustrious orchestras. incl. the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Concerts Lamoureux; also Stravinsky, Horowitz, Callas and Duke Ellington appeared here. Let us hope the Festival Classique of 2016 will be the start of a new tradition.

Felix Mendelssohn and his friend Wilhelm von Schadow spent a holiday in Scheveningen in August 1836; several letters and drawings are evidence of it. Apparently it was not a very pleasant stay. Further details are lacking.

Monument of Constantijn Huygens (Arend Odé, 1897) in the wood between the Hague and Scheveningen, on the corner of the Scheveningseweg that was designed by him.

Beautiful palace of Constantijn Huygens. There is a permanent exhibition about him and his son Christiaan, a famous scientist and moreover a versatile musician. The latter developed the division of the octave into 31 tones which was the basis of the Fokker organ (>nl1.1001).

Last house of the composer and music critic Willem Pijper (1894-1947). After his Rotterdam house was bombed in 1940, Pijper lived here from 1941 until his death. Pijper was a very important Dutch composer in the first half of the 20^th century; his early works convey late romanticism, but with its ‘germ cell technique’ and jazz influences his later oeuvre becomes quite original.

Organ by Hagerbeer, 1643 (with Rückpositiv by du Lin, 1628), III/p/56.

Grave of Cornelis Schuyt, †1616. He was born in Leiden in 1557, was chorister and organist in this church. Composer of madrigals, including the ode to his city O Leyda gratiosa.

The former inn In den vergulden Turk was the site of Gustav Mahler's meeting with Sigmund Freud on 26.VIII.1910. Mahler consulted him concerning his marital problems; they conversed while walking through the old town. Some parts of the 17^th century building are extant; beautiful tympan from 1673. Today it houses a shopping mall.

Established in 1837 by king William I; since 1935 in the actual building, a former hospital. Branch of the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculuren. Large collection of ethnographica, including instruments.

Grave of the composer Jan van Gilse, † 1944 (>nl1.1023).

The bombardment of 1940 appears to have wiped away Rotterdam’s musical past. The musical centers were all destroyed. No traces of the ex-monk Jan Baptist Verrijt, organist of the Laurenskerk († 1650), or of the great Pieter Hellendaal, who was born here in 1721 but left in 1730 for other Dutch cities and went to England in 1755 († 1799). One could even have met a real Bach in Rotterdam: Joh. Christoph Bach [genealogic number 28], son of the great Joh. Christoph from Eisenach [13], came as harpsichordist and teacher in 1717; in 1720 he went to London, where his trace peters out. The later composers Daniel de Lange, Dirk Schäfer, Jan van Gilse, Alexander Voormolen and Ton de Leeuw were all born in Rotterdam.From 1860 to 1890 a German opera, the Hoogduitsche Opera flourished, then the best place for opera lovers in Holland. The repertoire included Wagner performances by the excellent Hermann Levi.

After the war, the musical life was concentrated in the provisional theatre at the Aert van Nesstraat, until the large concert hall De Doelen (2230 seats) was opened in 1966. Successors of Eduard Flipse, conductor of the Rotterdam PO, include Edo de Waard, Valery Gergiev and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Plaque of the composer Willem Pijper by the sculptor Willem Verbon. Pijper directed the Rotterdam Conservatory from 1930 until his death in 1947.

In all Internet sources a Pijper monument by Verbon at the Kop van Zuid is mentioned, but that is untraceable.

The former Royal Yacht Club (building from 1852) houses the ethnographic Wereldmuseum since 1885. There are a few musical instruments in the excellent departments of Tibet (ritual wind and percussion) and Japan (skull clappers and a bronze sound vessel with a reverberation of several minutes).

The Conservatory was established in 1930 and belongs today to the Fontys Academy of Music and Dance. The curriculum includes classical music, jazz, pop and ‘global music’ (tango, latin, flamenco, Turkish).

Grave of the Czech conductor and composer František Škroup (1801-1862). He worked from 1860 as conductor at the the then 'Duitsche Opera' of Rotterdam.  Gravestone unveiled in 2016.  Škroup is the composer of the Czech national anthem.

Organ by Rudolph Garrels, 1732, III/p/48.

Muziekinformatie- en documentatiecentrum Ton Stolk. Private collection of antique and exotic musical instruments and documentation, est. 1977. The building is a 18^th century patrician house. Visits only by appointment, tel. +31 (0)10 434 72 40.

Organ by Pieter van Peteghem, made in 1763 for the Van Boudelo Abbey in Gent (Belgium) and there played by Mozart. Moved here in 1822. Echo added in 1993 to emphasize the French character. III/p/52.

Museum about the history of Dutch popular music from 1950 until today. https://rockart.nl