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Born: January 1, 1911 - Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Died: October 23, 1980 - Amstelveen, the Netherlands |
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The Dutch organist, pianist and choral conductor, conductor, Simon Cornelius Jansen (Simon C. Jansen), was the son of head teacher Willem Jansen and Martina Petronella de Haan. He was married to cellist Corry Reder (The Hague, 1910- Amstelveen 1991). They met in 1935, when she wanted to hold a lecture and Sem Dresden introduced Simon C.. She was cellist in the Noordhollands Philharmonisch Orkest for 12 years. Their son Rudolf Jansen received his first music education from father and mother. Granddaughter Elsina Jansen (through Rudolf and his first wife singer Margreet Honig) became an opera director.
Simon C. Jansen's music education started in Utrecht with piano lessons from Lucie Veerman-Bekker, Johan Wagenaar and Willem Andriessen and organ lessons from Hendrik Bos, organist of Utrecht Dom. When he had completed his studies, he continued his studies with Cornelis de Wolf and Anthon van der Horst at the Amsterdams Conservatorium. As a young organist he also had lessons in improvisation from the then highly regarded organist Pieter Mobach from Breukelen. He learned conducting from Jaap Spaanderman. He made his debut as a pianist in 1932 with the Utrechts Stedelijk Orkes (later re-named: Utrecht Symphony Orchestra) in Grieg's Piano Concerto, but his main instrument became the organ.
From 1931 to 1935, Simon C. Jansen was organist in the Wilhelminakerk in Utrecht. He then succeeded his teacher Cornelis de Wolf as organist of Sint-Eusebiuskerk in Arnhem, until the bombing of the Battle of Arnhem in 1944 made this impossible. He moved to Amsterdam and played in the Koepelkerk until 1948 and then in Alkmaar in the Grote or Sint-Laurenskerk.
Simon C. Jansen was appointed cantor-organist of the Nederlands Hervormde Westerkerk in Amsterdam in 1952. Here he became well known for the Westerkerk Cantatediensten (Bach Cantata Services) he performed together with the preacher Rev. H.A. Visser organized and performed a cantata by J.S. Bach or another work in a church service about nine times a year. He founded the Westerkerkkoor and the het Bachorkest for this purpose. He also gave organ concerts at home and abroad (also in Suriname, the Antilles, the USA and Canada) with a wide repertoire from all periods, from Baroque music to contemporary music. In addition to J.S. Bach, he often played music by Felix Mendelssohn, Josef Rheinberger and Max Reger, among others, but also Hugo Distler, Sigfrid Karg-Elert and Dutch composers such as Charles de Wolff, Herman Strategier, Anthon van der Horst and his own improvisations. He made recordings on various Dutch church organs, including as an accompanist to the alto singer Aafje Heynis and the violinist Theo Olof. He was also conductor of various choirs, such as the VU-koor.
Simon C. Jansen taught organ and choral conducting at the Amsterdams Muzieklyceum and the later Sweelinck-Conservatorium ry. His pupils included Teke Bijlsma, Theo van Dijk, Willem Hendrik Zwart, Jaap Zwart, Dick Klomp, Ton Koopman and Willem Goedhart. Jos van der Kooy succeeded Jansen as cantor-organist of the Westerkerk community. Jan Pasveer succeeded him as conductor of the Westerkerkkoor and Bachorkest.
Simon C. was a knight in the Order of Oranje Nassau. For some time he was chairman of the Nederlandse Organisten Vereniging. In 1971 he received the Silver Medal of the French Société Académique Arts-Sciences-Lettres. |
