Hanna Vollenhoven

Hanna van Vollenhoven Vories (1889 – 1972) was a Dutch composer and pianist who later moved to America. She is best remembered today for composing and performing music for player piano rolls. Her music was published under the name "Hanna Vollenhoven."

Hanna Vollenhoven
A smiling white woman with dark bobbed hair, wearing a white dress with a translucent shawl or wrap
Hanna Vollenhoven, from a 1923 publication
Born1889
The Hague
Died1972
United States
Other namesHanna van Vollenhoven Wolff, Mrs. Allen H. Vories Jr.
Occupation(s)Composer, pianist

Early life and education

Hanna van Vollenhoven Wolff was born in The Hague.[1] Her father and grandfather were musicians,[2] as was her brother Phillip.[3] She studied music at the Amsterdam Conservatory with Julius Roentgen, Louis Coenan, Hugo Riemann, Bernard Zweers, and later with Alfred Cortot, and Leopold Godowsky.[4]

Career

Vollenhoven's European debut as a pianist was in 1909.[5] In 1915, she visited America and made her American debut with the Chicago Symphony.[6] Soon after, she withdrew from her position on the Netherlands Committee for Arts, Science, and Friendly Relations to pursue music full time in America.[2]

Vollenhoven initially lived in Tarrytown, New York, while working in New York City. She played piano in Winthrop Ames' production of Pierrot the Prodigal and gave solo recitals, advertising performances of "modern and ulta-modern composers such as Chabrier, Debussy, Roger, Scriabine and Lambord" for her 1917–1918 season.[7]

Vollenhoven composed and played at least two piano pieces for the De Luxe Reproducing Roll Corporation: The Thought of You and Viennese Waltz.[8] She also played her composition Mon Reve, and possibly other pieces, for Welte Mignon piano rolls.[9] In 1927, Vollenhoven and Vaughn De Leath (the "Radio Girl") recorded Vollenhoven's composition The Night Before Christmas for Edison Records (#52131).[10] She also wrote "A Visit with Richard Pitrot", for the Musical Monitor in 1921,[11] and a tribute to Leopold Godowsky for a New Jersey newspaper in 1938.[12]

Her music was published by the Boston Music Company,[13] Casa Ricordi,[14] G. Schirmer Inc., and Winthrop Rogers Ltd (now Boosey & Hawkes).[15]

Compositions

Compositions by Hanna van Vollenhoven included an operetta, a cantata, and works for piano and voice.

Operetta

Piano
  • Mon Reve (My Dream)[17]
  • Old Netherland Folksongs [18][15]
  • Thought of You[19]
  • Viennese Waltz [8]

Vocal
  • "Hear Me Speedily, O Lord"![20]
  • "America We Sing to Thee" (1945)[21]
  • Hymn (for youth choir)[8]
  • "Joyous Meditation" (text by Gibbs Hofmann; music by Vollenhoven)[22]
  • "Love Me, I Love You" (text by Christina Rossetti; music by Vollenhoven)[23]
  • "(The) Night Before Christmas" (text by Clement Clarke Moore; piano accompaniment by Vollenhoven; sheet music illustrated by Grace Drayton)[13]
  • "Songs" (text by George Edward Woodberry; music by Vollenhoven)[18]
  • Star of the Renaissance: A Vision (cantata; text by Ray Bridgman; music by Vollenhoven)[24]

Personal life and legacy

Hanna van Vollenhoven married artist and singer Allen Hamilton Vories Jr., in 1933.[25][26] They lived in Weehawken, New Jersey,[21][27] and sometimes performed together.[28] They had a son, David, who was also a musician.[29] She was a church organist in New Jersey.[30] She died in 1972, in her eighties. New York University gives an annual Hanna van Vollenhollen Vories Memorial Prize in Music, to a senior-year student majoring in music.[31]

References
  1. "A Dutch Girl with an Amazing Memory". Passaic Daily News. 1917-06-01. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-06-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Girl Musician from Holland Tells of her Work". The Sun. 1916-04-16. p. 31. Retrieved 2021-06-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Phillip Wolff". Arizona Republic. 1958-04-14. p. 11. Retrieved 2021-06-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Miss Van Vollenhoven Appears Here Tomorrow". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1940-09-27. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-06-13 – via Newspapers,com.
  5. Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International encyclopedia of women composers (Second edition, revised and enlarged ed.). New York. ISBN 0-9617485-2-4. OCLC 16714846.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. Smith, Charles Davis; Howe, Richard J. (1994). The Welte-Mignon: Its Music and Musicians. Vestal Press. ISBN 978-1-879511-17-0.
  7. The Music Magazine-musical Courier. 1917.
  8. Corporation, De Luxe Reproducing Roll (1927). Library of Welte-Mignon Music Records. The Corporation.
  9. "Welte Mignon - Mon Reve - Comp. Hanna Von Vollenhoven - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  10. "Hanna Van Vollenhoven". Discogs. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  11. The Musical Monitor. Mrs. David Allen Campbell, Publisher. 1921.
  12. Vollenhoven, Hanna van (1938-11-26). "Leopold Godowski, One of the World's Greatest Pianists". The Herald-News. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-06-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. Ockerbloom, John Mark (2018-12-24). "Public Domain Day advent calendar #24: The Night Before Christmas (recitation with music and drawings) by Hanna van Vollenhoven and Grace Drayton". Everybody's Libraries. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  14. "Rider University Library / All Locations". sierra.rider.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  15. Piet hein: Netherland folk-song, Boston; New York; London: The Boston Music Company ; G. Schirmer ; Winthrop Rogers, Ltd., 1919, OCLC 779473104, retrieved 2021-02-04
  16. Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1954). Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1953: January-June. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
  17. Brandenburg, A. H. (1926). The Enjoyment of Music. De Luxe Reproducing Roll Corporation.
  18. Vollenhoven, Hanna (18 Dec 1933). "The Birmingham News (Alabama)". Retrieved 29 Jan 2021.
  19. Sitsky, Larry (1990). The Classical Reproducing Piano Roll: Pianists. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-27313-1.
  20. Elliott, Lisa (1 May 2020). "Sacred Song Sisters: Choral and Solo Vocal Church Music by Women Composers for the Lenten Revised Common Lectionary". Digital Scholarship Univ Edu. Retrieved 29 Jan 2021.
  21. "A New Hymn". The Herald-News. 1945-12-18. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-06-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1968). Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series.
  23. "Hanna Von Vollenhoven - Vocal Texts and Translations at the LiederNet Archive". www.lieder.net. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  24. "Composer Returns to Concert Stage for Piano Recital". The Herald-News. 1939-02-27. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-06-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. "PIANIST A BRIDE.; Miss Hanna Van Vollenhoven Wed to Allen H. Voorhees". The New York Times. 1933-12-14. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
  26. "Baking Executive Dies in Orleans". The Times. 1953-10-13. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-06-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. "Weehawken Pianist". The Record. 1940-09-13. p. 17. Retrieved 2021-06-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. "A. H. Vories and Composer Wife to Give Recital". The Herald-News. 1940-01-31. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-06-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. "Mrs. Vories in Concert at Weehawken Club". The Herald-News. 1953-04-30. p. 26. Retrieved 2021-06-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. Vories, Hanna (December 14, 1940). "One Wednesday evening". Christian Science Sentinel. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
  31. "Honors and Awards", NYU College of Arts and Science.
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