Rudolf Mengelberg

Curt Rudolf Mengelberg was born on 1 February 1892 in Krefeld (Germany). After completing his schooling, he initially studied law at the universities of Geneva, Munich, and Bonn. However, his growing interest in music led him to abandon legal studies in favour of musicology at the University of Leipzig. There, he studied under Hugo Riemann (musicology) and Otto Neitzel (piano). He subsequently settled in Amsterdam, where he pursued advanced studies in composition with Cornelis Dopper and his uncle Willem Mengelberg.
Mengelberg’s professional career became closely associated with Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. In 1917, he was appointed artistic assistant, becoming an important organiser of concerts and musical activities. He played a decisive role in the planning and organisation of the landmark 1920 Amsterdam Mahler Festival, the first festival devoted to performances of Gustav Mahler’s complete orchestral works. In 1925, he was promoted to Artistic Manager, and in 1935, he became General Director of the Concertgebouw, a position he held until 1954. Alongside his administrative work, he established himself as an influential musicologist and author, publishing studies on Gustav Mahler, Dutch musical culture, and the history of the Concertgebouw.
Rudolf Mengelberg’s compositional output includes numerous songs, choral works, and sacred compositions, as well as chamber music and works for orchestra. His catalogue comprises several large-scale works for choir and orchestra, including a Requiem, a Mass, and other liturgical compositions, alongside orchestral works, concertante pieces for violin, cello, flute, horn, and piano, chamber music, piano works, and around one hundred songs.
Curt Rudolf Mengelberg died on 13 October 1959 in Beausoleil, near Monte Carlo (Monaco).

I am in possession of a manuscript of the piano sonata by Rudolf Mengelberg. It is not certain whether the document is an autograph, as it is unsigned and written in a very clean, copyist-like hand. The fact that the manuscript contains a passage where a section has been pasted over and new notes have been inserted speaks in favour of it being an autograph. Furthermore, I was unable to find any references to a piano sonata by Rudolf Mengelberg; therefore, it cannot simply be a copy of a published edition. The manuscript was discovered in the estate of the pianist Elly Ney, who also had other piano works by Rudolf Mengelberg in her repertoire.

The work is written on music paper bearing the trade mark stamp “1874 WEH” (Wilhelm Hölken in Herdecke), a paper manufacturer from the region where Rudolf Mengelberg was born.