Henk Badings

Hendrik Herman “Henk” Badings was born on 17 January 1907 in Bandung (at that time Dutch East Indies, today Indonesia. Orphaned at an early age, he was sent to the Netherlands, where he received his schooling. During his youth he studied violin and piano and developed a strong interest in music, although his guardians discouraged him from pursuing a professional musical career. Instead, he enrolled at the Delft Polytechnic Institute, where he studied mining engineering and geology, graduating with distinction in 1931. While still a student he continued to cultivate his musical abilities largely through self-instruction, composing his first significant works during the late 1920s. Although essentially self-taught as a composer, he received advice and guidance from the Dutch composer Willem Pijper, with whom he maintained contact for a period before their differing artistic views led to a break in their relationship.
Badings initially pursued an academic and scientific career, working as a mining engineer, assistant lecturer, palaeontologist, and researcher at Delft until 1937. At the same time, his growing success as a composer brought him increasing public recognition. In 1934 he was appointed professor of composition at the Rotterdam Conservatory, and in the same period he also taught at the Amsterdam Music Lyceum. In 1937 he became co-director of the Amsterdam Music Lyceum and was entrusted with the reorganization of its curriculum. During the German occupation of the Netherlands he served as director of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. After the Second World War he was temporarily prohibited from professional musical activity, but the restrictions were lifted in 1947. Thereafter he resumed an extensive teaching career, holding numerous positions in the Netherlands and abroad. He lectured at the University of Utrecht, where he became associated with the study of acoustics and electronic music, and from 1962 served as professor of composition at the State Academy of Music in Stuttgart. He was also active as a guest professor and lecturer at institutions including the University of Adelaide in Australia and universities in the United States.
Alongside his work as a composer and teacher, Badings was active as a lecturer, adjudicator in international competitions, author, and researcher. He published several books and essays dealing with contemporary music, tonal organization, and electronic music. He was among the early composers to explore electronic sound production and acoustical research, collaborating with scientific institutions and engaging in experimental work that complemented his compositional activities. He also composed music for radio, film, television, and educational purposes.
Badings received numerous awards and distinctions throughout his career. Among them were the Rembrandt Prize of the F.V.S. Foundation in 1941, the French Radio Composition Prize for choral music in 1951, the City of Mechelen Prize for his carillon composition in 1951, the Paganini Prize for violin sonatas in 1953, the Prix Italia for the radio composition Salto Mortale in 1954, the Premio Marzotto in Venice in 1954, the Johan Wagenaar Prize in The Hague in 1967, the Dutch Government’s Sweelinck Prize for his complete oeuvre in 1972, and the Medal of Arts, Sciences and Philosophy of the Académie Française in 1981.
Badings was one of the most prolific Dutch composers of the twentieth century, producing approximately one thousand works. His catalogue encompasses fifteen symphonies, concertos for various instruments, orchestral works, chamber music, string quartets, sonatas, piano music, organ music, choral works, masses, songs, operas, radio operas, ballet scores, film music, music for wind orchestra, educational compositions, and a substantial body of electronic music. He also composed incidental music and works employing alternative tuning systems and experimental sound resources.
Henk Badings died on 26 June 1987 in Maarheeze (Netherlands).

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the work "Roemeense reisschetsen" (Romanian travel sketches) for piano by Henk Badings. The work was composed in 1935 during the transitional period when Henk Badings was still working as a mining engineer, but had already effectively begun to devote himself fully to his career as a composer. The work was published by Donemus and is still available through their website.