The Netherlands South

House of the keyboard player and composer Pieter Bustijn (1649-1729). From 1681 he was organist of the Nieuwe Kerk. His IX Suittes pour le Clavessin, printed in 1712, enjoyed international approval; J.S. Bach had a copy of it.

Monument to the clarinetist and conductor Jan Morks (1865-1926), also composer of music for harmony band.

This 18^th century mansion is the birthplace of the pianist and composer Gerard von Brucken Fort, °1859; he lived here until 1871. Once very popular (‘the Dutch Chopin’), his instrumental and sacred works have undeservedly fallen in oblivion.

Adriaen Valerius lived in Veere until his death in 1625. He is the creator of the Nederlandtsche Gedenck-Clanck (1625), a history of the Dutch war against the Spanish occupation, interlarded with songs; it is an important source of folk songs, including the present national hymn Wilhelmus van Nassouwe.

House of Adriaen Valerius.

This contraption is an outdoor organ; a set of bamboo tubes with ‘finger-holes’ that is merely played by the wind.

Birthplace of the cabaret singer Jean-Louis Pisuisse (1880-1927).

Grave of the composer Léon Orthel, †1985 in The Hague (born in Roosendaal in 1905).

The great composer Jacob Obrecht is supposed to be born in Bergen op Zoom, c.1450; he worked in this church from 1479 to ’84.

The composer, editor and printer Mathieu Kessels (1848-1932) established a factory of wind- and other instruments that was active from 1886 to 1955 and produced over 500.000 instruments. Products and utensils of the firm and many other instruments are exposed here; there is a repair and restoration workshop.

Entrance via the Textile Museum. 

www.kesselsmuseum.nl

The Conservatory has its roots in the R.K. Leergangen (1918), became the independent Brabants Conservatorium in 1954 and from the 1990s the Fontys Academy of Music and Performing Arts. A Pop Academy was added in 1998.

Birthplace of the singer and composer Christiaan van der Ameijden, born c 1530 and leaving for Rome in the 1550s. There he became a member of the papal chapel. He died in Rome in 1605. There is also a plaque for him in the nearby Sint Petrusbasiliek.

Museum of draaiorgels (hand organs) in a fin-de -siècle atmosphere. The visitors can dance on the given music.

www.museumdansant.nl

Organ by Matthaeus de Crane, 1767. Richly decorated. II/attached pedal/20 stops. Remarkable pedal keyboard.

The brotherhood Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broedeschap, founded in 1318, had an own chapel in this cathedral. it collected nine magnificent choir books with works by Mouton, de la Rue and other Franco-Flemish composers. The treasure will revive in a CD project by the ensemble Cappella Pratensis. Organ by Heyneman, 1787 (rest. 1984), III/p/48, in the famous case from 1617 by Frans Simonszoon and Georg Schysler.

House of Alphons Diepenbrock from 1888 to 1894, then working as teacher of classics at the Gymnasium (Nachtegaalslaantje 1).

The house at Markt 29 is on the location of the birthplace of the painter Hieronymus Bosch; the plaque refers to him.

Concert hall, built in 1992; two halls, resp. 1250 and 385 seats. Façade with reliefs by M. Mausz of the composers H. Andriessen, Britten, Gershwin, Messiaen, Shostakovich and Stockhausen.

Edgard Varèse lived here, working at his Poème Electronique for the Philips pavilion by Corbusier at the World Exhibition in Brussels, 1958.

The four octave carillon in the bell tower is played by the Wisselluidersgilde, a fixed group of eight persons who take turns ringing the bell to which each is linked. They create a melody by selecting a particular sequence out of over 40.000 alternatives. They gather at Thursday, 19:30-20:30. This tradition is rather unique in the world.

Birthplace of the well-known soprano singer Aaltje Noordewier-Reddingius (1868-1949), pupil of Messchaert and teacher of the ‘Dutch Kathleen Ferrier’, Aafje Heynis.

Bust of the composer, critic and writer Matthijs Vermeulen, °1888 in Helmond, whose writings were influential. His ‘polymelodic’ compositions have a very personal stamp. He died in 1967.

At the same place a bust of the composer and conductor Alphonse Stellaert (°1920 in Helmond), who worked in France from 1946 and died there in 1995.

Both busts are by Trudie Broos.

The Museum of draaiorgels (hand organs) and accordions was founded  in a former fire station; in 2020 it moved to the Edah Museum (‘Edah’ is a former food factory and chain of stores rooted in Helmond).

www.draaiorgelshelmond.nl

Organ by Guillaume Robustelly, made in 1772 for Averbode Abbey (Belgium) and moved here in 1822. Alterations in 1862 (Smits) and 1974 (Verschueren). Full of French flavor. III/p/44.

Comprehensive museum about carillon playing and making, fine collection of historical bells. There is a relation with the leading bell foundry in the Netherlands, the firm of Eijsbouts in Asten. (The museum has been combined with a museum of natural history)

www.museumasten.nl

House of Henk Badings (1907-1987) from 1972 until his death. Badings was a leading composer of the same generation as Hendrik Andriessen and internationally the most renowned of the two. His vast and varied oeuvre reveals a great skill; educated as an engineer, he became a specialist in acoustics and a pioneer in electronic music and composition with 31 tones (> nl1.1001).

Fine organ by Andries Severijn, made in the second quarter of the 17^th century for a Belgian monastery, moved to Cuijk in 1803 and placed in the present church in 1913. During the last restoration in 2016, severe corrosion of the pipes had to be undone. III/p/34.

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The gothic church of St Peter was destroyed in 1944, but the organ case from 1677 with its fine woodcarving by Daniël Heymericx had been stored on time and could be brought back into the rebuilt church in 1952. The present pipes and mechanical devices are by Verschueren, 1959, II/p/28.

The most prominent organist was Benedictus a Sancto Josepho Buns (1642-1716), a Carmelite monk and a composer of remarkable sacred works for choir and instrumental accompaniments. He worked here from 1879 until his death.

Monument of the writer and representative of courtly epic Minnesang, Henric van Veldeke, who was born in Maastricht c 1130-40. Like other Minnesänger he may have been a composer and singer of his strophes, but that is not for sure.

One of the houses (1915-18) of the unjust forgotten pianist and composer Carl Antoon Smulders (Maastricht 1863-Liège 1934); he was a friend of Diepenbrock.

Birthplace of the cello virtuoso Joseph Hollman (1852-1926). He played in the court orchestra of king William III and was honored with the title of ‘Royal Violoncellist’. Some works by Saint-Saëns were dedicated to him.

The pianist and conductor Henri Hermans (1883-1947) was the leading musical personality in Maastricht during the first half of the 20^th century as music school director and conductor of the local orchestra. Of the monument by Charles Vos (1948) a replica was placed in Nuth, where Hermans was born.

Birthplace of the female composer Andrée Bonhomme (1905-82).

Graves of Joseph Hollman and Henri Hermans.

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This institute for music education originates from the Muzieklyceum of 1924 and became a conservatory in 1956. New building in 1961 (architect Piet Dingemans). There is an annex in Wyck, at the other side of the Maas river (Franciscus Romanusweg 90).

The World Music Contest (WMC) is a wind music festival based on con­tests for wind and fanfare bands, percussion ensembles, brass bands, marching and show bands, and conduc­tors. The festival has been held every four years in Kerkrade since 1951. Between 1982 and 2022, the buildings of Rolduc monastery were the venue of the prestigious annual Orlando festival of chamber music.

Factory and showroom of high quality percussion and brass instruments, established in 1970.