Jan (Johan) van Boom (Composer, Arranger)

Born: October 15, 1807 - Utrecht, Holland
Died: April 19, 1872 - Stockholm, Sweden

Jan (Johan) van Boom was a pianist, pedagogue and composer, who was born into a musical family. His father, Jan van Boom (1783–?), was an eminent flutist who belonged to the band of King Louis Bonaparte, settled in Utrecht, and made many successful tours in Germany. The father was also a a composer, his works chiefly consist of bravura pieces for the flute. His younger brother Hermanus van B. (1809-1883) was an execellent flutist, a pupil of Tulou, settled in Amserdam in 1830. Jan's teachers as a pianist were J.N. Hummel and I. Moscheles. Having visited Stockholm on a concert tour in Sweden and Denmark in 1824, he returned and settled in Stockholm in 1825.

Jan van Voom was among the first pianists to introduce Chopin's music in Sweden, playing his piano concertos in 1842 and 1843. Having been active as a pianist and teacher in Stockholm, he retired as a performer in 1847, devoting himself entirely to teaching, and was in 1848 appointed professor of piano playing at the Royal Academy of Music. Among his students were many eminent Swedish pianists, such as Fanny Stål, later to study with Chopin in the 1840's, Ludvig Norman, who later studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, Hilda Thegerström, later a Franz Liszt student in Weimar, and Richard Andersson, later a student of Clara Schumann. He 1862 visited the chief capitals of Europe to examine the systems of musical education. He gave up his teaching post in 1865

Among his compositions can be noted an opera, Necken, Grand rondo brilliant (Op. 17), Concerto-Symphonique (Op. 24), Variations brilliantes, all for piano and orchestra; 2 piano quartets, 2 piano trios; piano music such as 3 sonatas, Imprompti, Variations, 3 Capricci etc; vocal music such as Halleluja for mens' choir, organ, 2 horns, 3 trombones, timpani and trumpet for the nuptials of the Crown Prince, Benedictus for solo, mixed choir and orchestra, Jubelcantate for mens' choir and organ as well as a Mourning Cantata for solo, choir and organ, commemorating the death of Prince Gustavus in 1852. He is also the author of a Theoretisk och praktisk pianoskola (1870), where he partly is leaning on Hummel's Anweisung zum Pianofortespiel (1828), discarding all later methods.

Sources:
1. J.L. Höijer, Musik-Lexikon (1864)
2. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1952 Edition)
3. T. Uppström, Pianister i Sverige (1973)
4. Sohlmans musiklexikon (1975)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (July 2007); Göran Tegnér (May 2010)

Jan (Johan) van Boom: Short Biography | Piano Transcriptions: Works | Recordings

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