Henriëtte Bosmans’ Sonata for Cello and Piano


This March, the Daily Classical Music Post will introduce you to some of the most wonderful music ever composed—and, yes, it will all be by women composers!

https://youtu.be/9DIC7KXa3jk


The Dutch composer Henriëtte Bosmans (1895–1952) was  the daughter of Henri Bosmans, principal cellist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the pianist Sara Benedicts, piano teacher at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Bosmans became a celebrated pianist by the 1920s, performing throughout Europe.

AZ Lawrie says, “Bosmans’ father was Roman Catholic and her mother was Jewish; this, coupled with the fact that she was as openly bisexual as someone in the early 20th century could be, meant that she faced a number of challenges throughout her career, particularly in the late 1930s and during the Second World War with the rise of Nazism. The article in Norton/Grove puts it quaintly: ‘Owing to personal circumstances and World War II, Bosmans stopped composing between 1936 and 1945.’ . . . Her partner in the 1920s, cellist Frieda Belinfante, was the inspiration for several of Bosmans’ works, including the second Cello Concerto, which Belinfante premiered in 1923.” Of her Sonata for Cello and Piano, composed in 1919, Andrew Achenbach says, “Elegantly crafted and cyclical in construction, the big-hearted and generously songful Sonata in particular strikes me as something of a find; adventurous collectors with a fondness for, say, Chausson, Debussy, Fauré or Magnard should certainly lend an ear.”

My classical music post for today is Henriëtte Bosmans’ Sonata for Cello and Piano.

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