Bertha Tideman-Wijers

Bertha Tideman-Wijers, born Albertha Wilhelmina Wijers, was born on 8 January 1887 in Zutphen (Netherlands). She received her first musical instruction from her mother and began studying piano at an early age. In 1900 her family moved to Berlin, where she continued her musical education and studied piano with her sister Betsy Jacoba Fels-Wijers and with Marie Tauszky. She subsequently studied composition with Max Loewengaard and Wilhelm Klatte at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. From 1906 to 1909 she attended the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where she studied piano with Ernst von Dohnanyi and composition with Richard Roessler.
On 31 March 1910 she married Jan Tideman, a Dutch colonial administrator. In 1911 the couple moved to the Dutch East Indies, where they lived for almost two decades. During this period she remained active as a composer while residing in various locations in Indonesia. In 1929 she returned to the Netherlands and continued her compositional activities there.
Tideman-Wijers composed works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, voice, carillon, and film. Her compositions include two concertinos for violin and orchestra, other orchestral works, chamber compositions, and two cantatas. In 1959, her "Small Suite for Carillon" received the Visser-Neerlandia Prize. Her music was published by Broekmans & Van Poppel.
Bertha Tideman-Wijers died on 1 January 1976 in Almelo (Netherlands).

In my possession are three autograph manuscripts of songs by Bertha Tideman-Wijers. These manuscripts are:

• Weihnacht, for voice and piano (text by Rudolf Steiner)
• Twee Kerstliederen, for two-part voices and piano (texts by Prosper van Langendonck and anonymous)
• Gesang der Gräser & Der Schnee zerrinnt, for two-part voices and piano (texts by Karl Henckell and Ludwig Hölty)