Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman
1892 - 1971
Zefir Records released a CD in 2016 featuring chamber music by Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman.
More information on Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman can be found on the website of the Bordewijk Society Bordewijk Genootschap.
Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman was a versatile composer. She wrote for piano, small ensembles, for large orchestra, choirs and even carillon. She largely taught herself composition and displayed an enormous originality. Her music cannot be categorized into any style or school. During World War II she was a supporter of the artists' resistance and courageously refused to register with the Kultuurkamer, imposed by the German occupiers to register, regulate and/or restrict the activities of Dutch intellectuals and artists. Those who signed up to participate had to sign a declaration of (Aryan) ethnicity. Jews were not allowed. After the war, she and her husband were members of the ‘Courts of Honour’, established to purge one’s own discipline of collaborating colleagues.
Johanna Suzanna Hendrina Roepman was born in Rotterdam on August 4, 1892, the second of three daughters of pharmacist Maarten Adrianus Roepman and Elisabeth Ringlever. She was raised in an affluent environment; the family business was booming at that time as the sole pharmacy in the Rotterdam harbor, servicing the … Continue
Selected works
Les illuminations 1940 orchestra
Rotonde 1941 opera in onr act, libretto F. Bordewijk
Symphonie 1942 orchestra
Sonate 1943 piano
Wederopbouw 1954 a capella male choir, words by A.M. Bakers
High flight 1956 female choir and piano, words by J.G. Magee
For a complete list of works by Johanna Bordewijk Roepman visit our website Forbidden Music Regained.
Ferdinand en Johanna, a biography of Johanna and her husband Ferdinand Bordewijk was published in 2016, written by Elly Kamp (in Dutch). Uitgeverij Bas Lubberhuizen, ISBN 978 90 5937 433 1.
Let forbidden music sound again
In the Second World War, many composers were silenced because of their Jewish descent or their resistance. Their music was forbidden. The Leo Smit Stichting carries out research, tells composers' stories, makes sheet music available and performs forgotten music. Together with musicians, programmers, researchers and listeners we give composers their rightful place in music history.
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