Dutch city. Regular concert life outside the church started in 1697 with the foundation of a collegium musicum, which played every Wednesday evening in a tavern called the Doele. The subsequent development of Rotterdam as a musical centre owed much to its geographical position. In the 18th century many prominent singers and instrumentalists from Italy and Germany visited the city travelling to or returning from London. It is significant that the first official concert hall was situated in the dockland. It was founded in the Bierstraat by the German violinist Petrus Albertus van Hagen, who had studied in London with Geminiani and arrived in Rotterdam around 1731. Van Hagen became organist of the Oosterkerk in 1741 and of St Laurens in 1764. In 1773 the concert organization was taken over by another German musician, the flautist Johan Carl Zentgraaff. He was forced to leave the house in the Bierstraat in 1784 and opened a second concert hall across the road, with J.H. Schröter as his musical partner. Concerts were also held in a building behind the town hall. The city’s principal theatre, the Schouwburg, employed its own orchestra in the 1770s.
Music publishing developed in Rotterdam in the mid-17th century, and canzonas by Merula and Legrenzi were printed in 1647. Between 1656 and 1661, Jan van Geertsom published four collections of Italian vocal music, both sacred and secular. Nicolaas Barth was the leading music publisher in the second half of the 18th century, followed by Ludwig Plattner in the early 19th century.
Rotterdam’s position as an important musical centre was further consolidated during the 19th century. Wouter Hutschenruyter, a conductor and director of the school of music, contributed significantly to the popularization of music. Important work was done by the Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst (Association for the Promotion of Music), founded in 1829: it encouraged and supported composers, founded choirs and schools of music and organized music festivals. Under the direction of Johannes Verhulst the Toonkunst branch in Rotterdam flourished; after he left for Amsterdam in 1863 and was succeeded by Woldemar Bargiel, a German, Rotterdam musical life came under strong German influence. The Duitse Opera, established in Rotterdam in 1860, greatly affected musical life in the Netherlands. The best German singers went to Rotterdam, as guests or on long-term engagements, and many excellent German instrumentalists were engaged in the opera orchestra and contributed to the development of instrumental education as teachers at the school of music. The society was abolished in 1890 because of financial deficits.
In the 20th century Rotterdam again became an important musical centre, with several flourishing choirs and an important orchestra. The Rotterdam PO was founded in 1918 through the initiative of a number of local musicians; Eduard Flipse, a pioneer of the interpretation of modern music, became its conductor in 1930. During the bombing of Rotterdam in 1940 all the instruments and scores were lost, and the old Doele, the orchestra’s concert hall, was destroyed. Various buildings were used until the Doelen was opened in 1966. This hall has a capacity of 2230; its organ, made by D.A. Flentrop, has a predominantly horizontal formation. Eduard Flipse was succeeded by Franz Paul Decker, Jean Fournet, Edo de Waart, David Zinman, James Conlon, Jeffrey Tate and Valery Gergiyev. The orchestra has made many world tours.
The most important church is St Laurens (begun in 1409), which has a long history of organ playing. From the 17th century recitals were given daily on the organ, built by H. Goldfuss in 1644. A new instrument was begun by A. Wolferts in 1791 and completed in 1844 by C.G.F. Witte. During World War II the church was badly damaged and the organ was totally destroyed; a new organ was built by the Danish organ builders Marcussen & Søn in 1973.
H.W. de Ronde: ‘Muziekleven in Rotterdam’, Gedenkboek Rotterdam, 1328/1928, ed. E.O.H.M. Ruempol (Rotterdam, 1928), 465–78
H.C. Hazewinkel: ‘De Concertzaal in de Bierstraat’, Rotterdams Jaarboekje, 4th ser., viii (1940), 179–88
W.A. Wagener: Muziek aan de Mans (Rotterdam, 1968)
J. Mazure: ‘Nicolaas Barth (1744–1820): a Contribution to the History of Music in Rotterdam’, TVNM, xxviii/1 (1978), 19–30
T. Wind: ‘Tussen Stads Doele en Bierstraat: Rotterdams concertleven in de 18e eeuw’, Tijdschrift voor Oude Muziek, ii (1990), 16–20
T. Wind: ‘Verschiedene grosse Passions-Symphonien, von Haydn komponiert: eine Rotterdamer Aufführung der Sieben letzen Worte im Jahre 1784?’, TVNM, xliii/2 (1993), 105–18
J. Kosten: Kroniek van vijfenzeventig jaar Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest (Rotterdam 1994)
HANS VAN NIEUWKOOP/THIEMO WIND