1892 - 1942

Roepman Johanna est née le 4 Août 1892, Rotterdam. Elle étudie l'anglais à partir de 1937 et suit les leçons d'orchestration avec Eduard Flipse. En 1914, elle épouse écrivain Ferdinand Bordewijk. En outre, elle compose des œuvres commandées pour le chœur Maastreechter Staar. Son mari, Ferdinand Bordewijk, écrit le livret de son opéra "Roundabout" (1941).
Pendant l'occupation allemande des Pays-Bas, Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman, refuse de devenir membre de la Kultuurkamer. En conséquence, ses œuvres ne sont plus publiées ni jouées.

1943 - 1960

Ses lieder "Oranje-Maylied et la "Sonate pour piano" ont été composées en 1943. Pour la "Sonate pour piano" (1943) Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman reçoit une bourse du gouvernement. Pour le jubilé des 50 ans de règne de la Reine Wilhelmine en 1948, elle compose, commandée par la présidente de l'Association royale néerlandaise, "Mère de la Patrie". Son mari a également écrit le texte de "Déclamation sur la Mort de Platon" pour  chant, choeur et orchestre (1949). "Le cercle sacré" (1950) et "Reconstruction" (1954) pour chœur d'hommes, sont écrits à la demande du maire d'Eindhoven Kolfschoten. Commandée par l'Association de Carillon, de Rotterdam, elle compose "Triptyque" pour carillon (1951).
Sur commande du gouvernement, elle compose "Cinq chansons" (1950) et  "Impromptu pour piano" (1960).

La première de son oeuvre pour orchestre "le jardin d'Allah" a été donnée par Kor Kuiler à Dallas

1971

Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman meurt le 8 Octobre 1971 à La Haye.

Song Cycles, Symphonies, etc.

- Bierbaum-Lieder
- no. 1. Adoration (Text: Otto Julius Bierbaum)
- no. 2. Die schwarze Laute (Text: Otto Julius Bierbaum)
- no. 3. Gigerlette (Text: Otto Julius Bierbaum)
- Les Illuminations
- no. 1. Fleurs (Text: Arthur Rimbaud)
- no. 2. Antique (Text: Arthur Rimbaud)
- no. 3. Bottom (Text: Arthur Rimbaud)
- Vijf tempelzangen
- no. 1. Epiphania (Text: C. van der Straeten)
- no. 2. Het blanke paard (Text: G. van Klinkenberg)
- no. 3. Het sneeuwde wat (Text: J. Schreurs)

All titles of vocal settings in our database, in alphabetic order

- Adoration (in Bierbaum-Lieder) (Text: Otto Julius Bierbaum)
- Allerzielen (Text: P. Franssen)
- Antique (in Les Illuminations) (Text: Arthur Rimbaud)
- Barokcantate (Text: S. Vestdijk)
- Bottom (in Les Illuminations) (Text: Arthur Rimbaud)
- De kroaie en den puijt
- Die schwarze Laute (in Bierbaum-Lieder) (Text: Otto Julius Bierbaum)
- Epiphania (in Vijf tempelzangen) (Text: C. van der Straeten)
- Fleurs (in Les Illuminations) (Text: Arthur Rimbaud)
- Gigerlette (in Bierbaum-Lieder) (Text: Otto Julius Bierbaum)
- Het blanke paard (in Vijf tempelzangen) (Text: G. van Klinkenberg)
- Het sneeuwde wat (in Vijf tempelzangen) (Text: J. Schreurs)
- Holland (Text: E. Potgieter)
- Ik wensche U... (Text: Guido (Pieter Theodoor Jozef) Gezelle)
- Oranje may-lied (Text: Joost van den Vondel)
- Sei getrost (Text: Otto Julius Bierbaum)
- Uit het diepst van mijn hart (Text: Johannes Zwaniken)

Alle bezettingen (Donemus)

- Kamermuziek
- Orkest en ensemble
- Vocaal
- Opera, muziektheater

Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman (1892-1971)

Johanna Roepman was born on 4th August 1892 in Rotterdam and grew up in The Hague. She had piano lessons when she was young but otherwise no musical upbringing: her family could hardly be described as musical. After leaving secondary school she studied English. She had artistic leanings towards the plastic arts and followed a course at art school. The one day she heard a rehearsal of The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra; her desire for music was awakened and she dropped her art lessons. When she was twenty Johanna Roepman married the writer Bordewijk; with two small children, her musical activity in the first few years was restricted to going to the occasional concert. She began to compose when she was reading an illustrated book of verse out loud to her children - Rie Cramer’s Mijn eigen tuintje (My very own garden) – and she thought it a pity that the rhymes had no tunes. This gave her the taste for composition: she decided that her next project would be a sonata for piano and violin. She consulted books on musical form (not really having a very clear idea of what a sonata is!) and in 1923 she wrote her Violin Sonata, which was performed at a concert given by the Vereeniging voor Moderne Muziek (Modern Music Association).

Inspired by orchestral music Bordewijk-Roepman then set about writing a 'symphonic poem', The Garden of Allah, which was performed in Groningen with Kor Kuiler conducting. She studied the required literature and also quizzed orchestral players to acquire a better understanding of colour and tonal possibilities. From 1936 to 1937 she studied under Eduard Flipse. On 9 March 1940 the Rotterdam Philharmic Orchestra under Flipse played Bordewijk-Roepman’s symphonic poem Les Illuminations, based on three poems by Rimbaud. Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War Bordewijk-Roepman wrote a piano concerto (performed by the Utrechtsch Stedelijk Orkest) with George Enderle as solo). In the spring of 1942 she completed her first symphony, which had to wait until after the war for its first performance by The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jan Out. In 1949 Bordewijk wrote the text for his wife’s symphonic poem Plato’s Death and in 1941 he wrote the libretto for her opera Rotonde.

Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman was much affected by the war. During the bombing of The Hague on 3 March 1945 the Bordewijk house collapsed over their heads; they just managed to escape. In 1942 the Piano Concerto was again performed by USO with George Enderle as solo, but as both Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman and her writer husband refused to become members of the Kultuurkamer, (the official arts body enforced by the occupying Nazis) her work could not thereafter be published or performed. Wouter Paap commented on her wartime compositions, "The emotional content of the Epilogue (1943) relates to the hope on the part of the optimistic composer that the War would soon be over. On reading the score, which is rich in colour and tone, you become aware of her impatient longing to be rid of the psychological pressures of war."

After the war Bordewijk-Roepman sat on the Music Committee, where she judged the works of 'faulty' colleagues. Many musicians held this against her and she herself thought that it greatly hindered performance of her work after the war. She felt there was a conspiracy against her. True or otherwise, we shall never know. We do know that up until the end of the 1950s her works were widely performed, all over the world.

Source: Wouter Paap "Nederlandsche componisten van onzen tijd (Dutch composers of our time)" in Mens en Melodie
With acknowledgements to Elly Kamp

You can download various works by Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman from the website of Muziekcentrum van de Omroep http://www.muziekschatten.nl/action/work?id=209