Dick Kattenburg

Dick Kattenburg was born in Amsterdam on November 11, 1919, and later moved with his family to Naarden with his family. Kattenburg studied music theory and violin in Antwerp and received his diploma in theory and violin from the College Musical Belge in Brussels. He then went to The Hague where he studied with Wilhelm Pipjer, and passed the state examination in music in 1941. (1)  He also studied for a short period of time during the war with Leo Smit. Germany invaded Holland in 1940, and by 1941, laws similar to the Nuremburg Laws were enforced.  As in Germany, Jewish artists were forbidden on stage, and Jewish music was not permitted to be performed. When Jews were required to required to report to German authorities, Kattenburg went into hiding. After hiding in a series of homes in Utrecht, Kattenburg was captured in a raid on a theater on May 5, 1944. He was taken to Camp Westerbork where he wrote to his aunt and uncle in Amsterdam on May 8, 1944. He was taken to Auschwitz on May 19, 1944, he was transferred to Auschwitz, where he was exterminated sometime between May 22 and September 30 , 1944. (2) Kattenburg was twenty-four years old.

 

Kattenburg wrote about thirty instrumental works during his lifetime. It is not known if all his works have been found. During the war years, he wrote under two pseudonyms, “K. van D” and “Van Assendelft van Wijck.” (3) The majority of Kattenburg’s music was never performed during his lifetime. It wasn’t until 2004 when Joyce Bergman-van Hessen,  the daughter of Kattenburg’s sister Daisy, found Kattenburg’s manuscripts in her attic. These works were turned over to conductor Ed Panjaard, and are just beginning to enter the concert repertoire.

 

The Piece for flute and piano was composed between May 28 and June 8, 1939, and dedicated to Ima van Panjaard-Esso, flutist.  Kattenburg was impressed with Panjaard-Esso’s playing, and wrote a flute sonata for her in 1937. Panjaard-Esso was deported to Auschwitz, but survived. She never performed either work.(4)

   

 

 

(1) Eleonore Pameijer, Lowlands, Program Notes. Netherlands: futureclassics, 2002.

 

(2) Eleonore Pameijer, Dick Kattenburg, Program Notes. Netherlands: futureclassics, n.d.

 

(3) Ibid.

 

(4) Ibid.