Henk Badings (1907-1987)

Symfonische Proloog (1942)

Orchestra: Residentie Orkest
Conductor: Ed Spanjaard


This Symphonic Prologue reflects Badings' basic style, which is close to that of German symphonic (non-atonal) composers of the era. The fact that he wrote such music undoubtedly had something to do with attracting the attention of Austrian conductor Karl Böhm, who probably had something to do with Badings receiving this commission to write a symphonic movement for the upcoming 100th anniversary celebrations for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The work is his fourth one-movement symphonic work for orchestra, hence its alternate title 'Fourth Overture'.

Born of Dutch parents in Java, he went to the Netherlands in 1915 as an orphan. His wish to follow a musical career met with strong opposition from his guardian, who forced him to train at the Technical University in Delft. He graduated with honours in 1931 and was appointed demonstrator in palaeontology and historical geology there. During his student years he had been teaching himself composition and music theory, and in 1930 he sat for an examination set by Pijper. He then studied composition with Pijper for a time, but this contact was not particularly fruitful because of their widely differing views. Pijper did, however, stimulate Badings to write a major symphonic work, his prize winning First Symphony (later withdrawn), whose first performance by the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1930 aroused the interest of press and public in the then completely unknown composer. In 1933 Eduard van Beinum conducted his Second Symphony and in 1935 his Third was given its première by the Concertgebouw under Mengelberg, followed by the Symphonic Variations, and the Second Violin Concerto.
In 1934 Badings was appointed lecturer in composition and theory at the Rotterdam Conservatory, and in 1937 he became co-director of the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum, his special task being the reorganization of the system of instruction. From 1941 to 1945, during the German occupation, he directed the State Conservatory in The Hague; he was subsequently punished for holding the post and banned for some years from public life, though in 1948 the Concertgebouw Orchestra commissioned him to write his Sixth Symphony. Until 1961, Badings mainly lived as a freelance composer. In 1960-1961 he directed the electronic music studio at the University of Utrecht and was appointed there in 1961 to teach acoustics (until 1977). From that period his reputation as an outstanding teacher began to spread abroad; he had already achieved international renown as a composer. He was professor of composition at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Stuttgart (1962-1972), and gave lectures at the University of Adelaide (1962-1963), in addition to numerous lectures in the USA and South Africa.

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