Piet de Villiers
| Piet de Villiers | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Pieter Johannes de Villiers 19 June 1924 Klerksdorp, Western Transvaal South Africa |
| Died | 18 May 2015 (aged 90) |
| Nationality | South African |
| Spouse(s) | Eleanor Johannes |
| Alma mater | University of Pretoria |
| Known for | Composing Boerneefs poems |
Pieter Johannes de Villiers (19 June 1924 – 18 May 2015) was a South African musician.[1] He was known as "Prof Piet". He is known for composing Boerneefs poems and an accompanist for South African Musicians
Early life
He was born in Klerksdorp Western Transvaal South Africa. He was the middle child of three. He had an older brother and a younger sister.His parents were Leonard de Villiers and Johanna Christina du Toit. His father Leonard was a school head master and played the violin[2]
Education and career
de Villiers obtained an undergraduate degree in 1942 in Classical language at the University of Pretoria . In 1946 he got taught by Prof’s Swanson, Fismer and Lubbe in Stellenbosch . He qualified as a music teacher im 1948. In 1954 he was appointed as a junior lector at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education. In 1962 he taught at the University of Pretoria in harpsichord, piano and organ. in 1967 he accepted a professorship in music at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education. He retired in 1985.[3] He obtained the LRAM and ARCM.[2] He joined the South African Broadcasting Corporation for one year during 1962
Personal life
On 7 September 1960 he married Eleanor Johannes (b.25 November 1925, d.9 November 2017), the daughter of Heinrich Johannes Siegfried Johannes and Anna Margaretha Fredrika van Rooyen, the widow of Jean Pierre Pellissier.( Pellissier was the great grand child of Jean Pierre Pellissier) Out of his with marriage Eleanor 3 daughters were born.[4]
Achievements
Compositions
He only started to compose at age 35.[2] In 1961 he composed poems of Boerneef a South African poet. He followed that up with another seven versions of Boerneef poems. He also composed a selection of D. J. Opperman.[5]
Accompanist
He was the accompanist for South African Classical musicians like : Ceilia Wessels
Elizabeth de la Porte known as Betsy
Mimi Coertse. She wrote a book with him in 1979 called: "Mimi Coertse en die Afrikaanse lied"
Sarie Lamprecht. [2]
Hanli van Niekerk
Werner Nel
Recordings
de Villiers was the first person to record all the psalms and hymns of the first Afrikaans Hymn Book. As accompanist, three of his performances were broadcast on the radio in 1962.
Teaching
Mary-Ann Adler, a musician and author of children’s books was taught by him.[6]
Awards and recognition
In 2002 a special award was awarded to him by ATKV as recognition of the sustained contribution to South Africa Classical music industry over years.
The Odeion String Quartet at the University of the Free State gave recognition to him in their production to win the ‘Best Achievement in Classical Music’.[7] The journalist Daniela Heunis of Rhodes University described him as follows, after an in-depth interview and research [2] :" He is being representative of the South African society before the 1994 elections. He was the privileged white male, who did not need to struggle for recognition but was well loved and was not a racist. de Villiers's music forms showed such a unity with the poetry that it is had the character of folk songs. de Villiers exclusively used Afrikaans, which made him inaccessible to most foreigners accept the Dutch and people from Belgium. The vocal tradition in a classical choral and his solo style however had a limited audience. He obtained unity between music and the text by internalizing the text before composing He then let the music be heard through the words. When he started composing, he identified a shortcoming in the Afrikaans songs, which was sung at the time, to be inaccessible to the man in the street, and he wanted to change it. One of his quotes, he used from Arthur Honegger: "My inclination and my effort have always been to write music which would be comprehensible to the great massive listeners and at the same time sufficiently free of banality to interest genuine music lovers”. His outlook was to be honest with oneself. He said “one can only compose what one is, otherwise it will be fictitious.' This also contributed to what texts he was using. He was according to himself a romantic and he enjoyed the lyrics and the beauteous. Before composing he recited the poem to himself, to find the rhythm of the words and the main stresses in the verse. He then acquainted himself with the vowel sounds. He tried to understand the purpose and meaning of the words in the music. In his compositions the words normally deepened as it changed into music. He is recognized as having composed songs with character. The text with the singable melodies of his songs made them cultural possessions. An example is the Boerneef settings"
Death
He died in his home in Stellenbosch
References
- ↑ "Pieter Johannes de Villiers". Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Heunis, Daniela. "Two musical and political extremes in the South Africon society". heunis. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ↑ "Well-known composer and pianist Pieter de Villiers dies at 90". de Villiers. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ↑ "Eleanor de Villiers, b4c3". Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ↑ "I.W. vd Merwe Boerneef Biographical info". Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ↑ "Mary-Ann Van Rensburg". Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ↑ "Odeion String Quartet nominated for KykNet Fiesta Award". Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- "Komponis van besonderse juwele in Afrikaans sterf". Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- du toit J. "Onderweg n musiekstorie". Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- "Boerneef Sing". Retrieved 11 April 2018.