Faculty of Humanities
School of Arts
Department of Music
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
In this study entitled: “Valse opgaven”: Dutch students at the Conservatorium of music in Amsterdam (1884 – 1922) who later came to South Africa, the researcher found that information on musicians in Malan’s South African Music Encyclopedia (SAME) contains false or incorrect statements about their studies and qualifications.
By “improving” facts about their studies and qualifications, they perhaps thought that they stood a better chance of obtaining a professional position. However, the researcher warns that although some of these false facts can be attributed directly to the artists themselves, people who recorded the information might have misconstrued or misinterpreted some. For example, they might not have known that if one studied music in Amsterdam, it was not necessarily at the Conservatorium.
The researcher found that musicians, who did in fact not study at the Conservatorium, yet appear in SAME as graduates of the Conservatorium include Willem Gerke, Jan Luyt and his wife Johanna, Dirk Meerkotter and Willem Lambertus van Warmelo amongst others.
This being said, the researcher concludes that one should look past the immodesty, untruths, false statements, blatant and other lies and perhaps rather focus on the contributions that these musicians made to the development of classical music in South Africa. Prof HH van der Mescht
Music
+27 (0) 12 420 2191
heinrich.vandermescht@.up.ac.za
The appearance of the poet’s eighth volume, Duskant die einders (This side of the horizons), in 2004, prompted a reinvestigation of her oeuvre. In the past the auditive aspects of this award-winning poet were not explored in detail.
The aim of this research project was to identify a further perspective on her poetry, adding to the commonly accepted notion that her work concentrates on themes of loneliness, the craving for a child, spiritual hurt, religion, words, nature, cats, friends, family relations and famous artists.
The researcher found that Spies also incorporates sounds, birdcalls, music composers and specific compositions in her poetry – something that has not been alluded to in the past. Among the birdcalls, the cooing of doves is conspicuously present. She also refers to art songs in her poetry with special emphasis on Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Grieg and Brahms.
Her knowledge of music – she had “unsuccessful” piano lessons - is clearly discernable through her striking use of musical terminology. Spies commented on the use of music in her writing and say: “I knew that I was saturated with it (music), but I did not realize that my poetry was too”.
Prof HH van der Mescht
Music
+27 (0) 12 420 2191
heinrich.vandermescht@.up.ac.za
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