Master arranger and musical all-rounder
Heinz Lachmann was born in Berlin on March 7, 1906, son of Sigmund
Lachmann, a physician and Emma Löwy, a pianist who had studied at
the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. She gave him his first piano
lessons. When his father died, the family ran into financial
difficulties and his piano teacher Eugen Tetzel offered to teach him
free of charge. Embarrassed Heinz refused; no one in his family
believed in a career for him as a musician. In the 1920s he enrolled
at the university to study mathematics and physics. To finance his
studies, he played the trombone. His professors, to name only a few,
were the likes of Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and Max Planck and
they predicted a successful scientific future. However, Lachmann
chose for music. In 1930, a major record company offered him a
position as arranger of light music for the orchestras of Dajos Béla
and Otto Dobrindt. Lachmann played several wind and keyboard
instruments. As of 1930, he worked for Sid Kay's Fellows, Berlin's
first jazz band and “house band” of the renowned swing society Haus
Vaterland. At that time he worked as musician and arranger for the
Nelson Revue, record company Lindström and film company ufa.
In 1931, he married Tea Warszawski, an illustrator. Shortly after
the National Socialists' seizure of power in 1933, they fled Berlin.
They settled in Amsterdam, on the Haarlemmermeerstraat 62-II and
Heinz joined the Tuschinski orchestra led by Max Tak, working as a
trombonist and arranger. In 1935, son Michael was born.
Film and theatre
Through mediation of Max Tak, he wrote the soundtracks of more than
ten films, including
Het
meisje met den blauwen hoed (1934),
De
kribbebijter (1935),
Comedie
om geld (1936) and
Kermisgasten (1936).
For the film
Op
stap (1935, with Louis Davids and Fien de la Mar)
Lachman and Tak composed a spectacular rhapsody for twelve pianos.
He atrracted some attention from Hollywood; Metro Goldwyn Mayer
invited him to come and work for them. Lachman, however, chose to
stay in the Netherlands. In 1934, he arranged the music on a LP for
Jack and Louis de Vries (The Internationals) and made a guest
appearance on an album of The Ramblers led by Theo Uden Masman.
Up until World War II, he worked for several years in the Snip
and Snap Revue.
Hiding in Limburg
In 1941, the anti-Jewish regulations of the Germans were implemented
and he then joined the Jewish Entertainment Orchestra (led by
Bernard Drukker) and worked as trombonist and arranger until the
summer of 1942. Its members previously worked for the
broadcasting orchestras and now they accompanied various Jewish
soloists like Johnny and Jones. Lachman also played in the Jewish
Symphony Orchestra. As soon as they were ordered to sign up
for Westerbork, the family went into hiding in Limburg. Pastor Henri
Vullinghs provided the family Lachmann with underground addresses in
surrounding villages. Son Michael was the first to leave,
accompanied by Mathieu Smedts, a resistance man. Later, the pastor
took his mother in the middle of the night to a crowded shelter in
the woodlands. Pastor Vullinghs held her hand because she was afraid.
To calm her down, he was joking about “a dark forest and
walking hand in hand with a strange man.” This helped. Vullinghs was
a unique clergyman; Michael remembers him rope-skipping with the
children. In the village Hans Lachman was known as “Jo.” The
foster family sat in silence at the table while Jo was writing
music. The Lachmans were never together at one hiding address. At
that time Michael thought that his parents, when they came to visit
him – separately or together – still lived in Amsterdam.
They were freed in 1944. Pastor Henri Vullinghs paid with his life
for his humanity and courage. He was arrested in his own parish near
the church of Grubbenvorst. Shortly before the liberation he died in
Bergen-Belsen. After the war, Lachman composed a
Requiem for
Vullinghs. It might seem unusual for a Jewish composer to write a
Requiem Mass, but Lachman's gratitude was enormous. On May 4, 1960,
the Mass was performed in the jam-packed church of Grubbenvorst, and
broadcasted live on the radio.
Working for the radio
After the war, Heinz Lachmann changed his name to Hans Lachman. Six
years later he became naturalized as a Dutch citizen. Again he
worked in the field of light music, initially with The Grasshoppers
and Cor Perez, and later as arranger, pianist and ensemble leader
for the radio. He wrote arrangements for the Metropole Orchestra
conducted by Dolf van der Linden, Hugo de Groot's orchestra, and for
his own band the Melodia Sextet. The reviews of his work as an
arranger were unanimously enthusiastic. Newspaper
De
Waarheid of April 1, 1952: “Hans Lachman is one of
the few who knows the limits of arranging, with great taste and
skill, always respecting the original music.” He wrote the
soundtrack for Gabri de Wagt and Bob Uschi's documentary about the
Delta Works. This film was the Dutch entry for the Prix d'Italia in
1956.
In his own
compositions, he focused on a contemporary classical style.
Around 1950, he established the Ensemble Lachman, consisting of wind
players from the Concertgebouw Orchestra. His second ensemble,
Moments Musicaux, was expanded with string players, also members of
the Concertgebouw Orchestra. His music became progressively modern
and he wrote a large and varied oeuvre, regularly performed by the
radio orchestras and ensembles. As a soloist with the Omroep Kamer
Orkest (Broadcasting Chamber Orchestra) he played his own
Variations
for trombone and string orchestra. In collaboration with
journalist Evert Werkman as librettist, he composed for the avro
radio the
Amsterdam Cantate.
A radiophonic work scored for choir, orchestra, four vocal soloists
and an urban soundscape with car horns, bicycle bells, street organs
and carillon. Music journalist Leo Hoost reviewed the cantata in the
niw (the
New Israeli Weekly)as a moving masterpiece.
Amsterdam was
broadcasted several times on Dutch radio and in Italy, Belgium and
France.
Lachman composed five songs on texts by Baudelaire (with
accompaniment of piano and (alto) oboe, a concertino for cello and
orchestra, a piano concerto, a violin concerto, nine string
quartets, a string trio, two violin sonatas, a flute sonata and
several chamber works for various instrumentations especially
for wind and brass instruments. D.J. de Levita wrote about the first
string quartet in 1952:
It is written with full understanding of the nature of the
instruments, but above all interesting and entertaining, quite to be
expected from such an experienced professional; it is a major work,
challenging for even the best Gypsy musicians, and therefore it is a
remarkable exception to what we normally hear in modern string
quartets.
Lachman played a practical joke on April Fool's Day in 1959. In the
ncrv radio studio, composers Ton de Leeuw and Jan Wisse were invited
to talk about twelve-tone music. First on the program was Webern,
which they both liked, followed by strictly dodecaphonic music by
the unknown Banco Strelineric. It was completely torn to
pieces mainly for lacking soul. Which was totally accurate;
the music by Benkho Strelineric (anagram of Elektronisch Brein (electronic
brain)) was Lachman’s electronically generated piece.
Jewish music?
From 1958 to 1968, Hans Lachman worked for the Liberal Jewish
Community in Amsterdam as organist, choral conductor and composer.
His cantata
Stammen
van Israel (
Tribes
of Israel), on a libretto by Rabbi Jacob Soetendorp was
broadcasted by avro radio in 1967, with the Radio Chamber Orchestra
and Cora Canne Meijer and Harry Ereira as soloists. The subject is
the Jewish history in the diaspora, narrated by the tenor, with the
mezzo-soprano expressing hope, despair and fulfillment of the dream.
Lachman also processed sound effects in this radiophonic cantata.
As a pianist he accompanied interpreters of Yiddish songs, among
others, the Polish baritone Abraham Rettig. In 1955 he recorded an
album with Nathan Szpiro, Israeli singer and actor, of Yiddish songs
for the Phonogram label, which they performed during an avro
television broadcast. On the fifteenth celebration of Israel's
independence, Lachman edited and arranged traditional Jewish songs.
In his own music, Lachman solely applied Jewish motifs when he
quoted prayers. In Amsterdam, he conducted the synagogal music of
Darius Milhaud for cantor, mixed choir and organ. Lachman, however,
didn't consider this Jewish music; Milhaud's work, demonstrated,
after all, a specific Provencal character. Lachman had a simple
definition of Jewish music. His argument: “if composed by a Jew,
it's Jewish music.”
Forgotten and rediscovered
In his last years, like many other Dutch composers, Lachman
gradually fell into oblivion. His compositional style missed the
connection with modernist atonal music that became fashionable in
the 1970s. After his death
on
June, 27, 1990), his music was no longer heard on
the radio or in concert halls.
In 2008, flutist Eleonore Pameijer, after receiving a tip from
Lachman's granddaughter Shirah, and a recommendation from jazz
musician Willem Breuker, paid a visit to Hans Lachman's son,
Michael. He had stored his father’s complete oeuvre in an orange
crate in a slightly damp garden shed. These manuscripts were
eventually transferred to the Dutch Music Institute in The Hague.
Hans Lachman was well-trained in counterpoint. Bach was a clear
source of inspiration for him. His compositions are firmly rooted in
tonality, but with frequent use of chromaticism, often reminiscent
of Hindemith. His works are technically very well written for the
specific instrumentation and he often used a classical form.
Sources
Archives
Hans Lachman (Netherlands Music Institute The Hague)
Fuks
Mansfeld, Rena (red.), Joden
in Nederland in de 20e eeuw ( Utrecht, 2007)
Thanks to son Michael Lachman
and granddaughter Shirah Lachmann
Van Limburg Requiem
