Hugo Nolthenius

Hugo Nolthenius was born on 20 December 1848 in Amsterdam (Netherlands). He studied violin under Henri Viotta and Joseph Cramer and singing under Anton Averkamp. As a composer he was self-taught.
Hugo Nolthenius earned a living as a teacher for classical languages at the Stedelijk Gymnasium in Utrecht. Beside this main profession he was committed to the music and conductor for different choirs in Amsterdam, Bussum and Utrecht. In 1894 he founded the newspaper "Weekblad voor Muziek" and was its editor until 1910. The same time Hugo Nolthenius was music critic for the "Utrechtsch Dagblad". Hugo Nolthenius was also active in the "Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst" and the secretary of the Utrecht branch. His musical output includes a translation of Wolzogen's "Richard Wagner und die Tierwelt" into Dutch and several compositions. Among them are several songs, a trio for violin, cello and piano, 3 marches for orchestra and stage music for performances of "Lucifer" by Vondel and "Philoctetes" by Sophocles. Hugo Nolthenius died on 8 June 1929 in Haarlem (Netherlands).

In my possession is the autograph piano reduction of "Lucifer" by Hugo Nolthenius. The original instrumentation is for voices, choir and orchestra. The composition was used as stage music for a play by the Utrecht Student Theater in March 1904 and composed the same year.

The performance of "Lucifer" in 1904 has some historical importance for the Netherlands because it marked the first serious performance of the play since its creation in 1654. Hugo Nolthenius was also the first to set the work to music and opend the door for further (and now better known) compositions like the one by Hubert Cuypers in 1910.