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SINGER OF OUTSTANDING ARTISTRY. The Contralto Aafje Heynis. |
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[ << contraltos ]
Gramophone, november 1958. "... This alto touches you , brings on a deep emotion by means of here voice and brings music very close ..." Reformatorisch Dagblad |
| When the Netherlands were liberated in May 1945, the jubilation in the Zaan region (North Holland) reached the same unsurpassed level as everywhere else. A man hit on the idea of wheeling his old, brown piano out on to the street. He sat down and began to play a patriotic song, naturally, with bystanders joining in with utmost emotion. Suddenly someone in the crowd cried:"There's a real singer living just near by. She must join us."A few minutes later some bystanders brought a young lady, somewhat thin, smiling shyly, for she was shy by nature: Aafje Heynis. There were cries of "sing, sing!"Standing by the old piano she began to sing Handel's "Dank sei dir, Herr". It became completely still, and people began to weep. Aafje's beautiful timbre, her own emotion, the splendid melody, the greatness of the occasion (freedom after five years of German occupation), all these cast a spell on the dozens of witnesses. "Never again have I been able to sing Handel quite like that, the famous contralto was later to say. |
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Aafje Heynis lives in Blaricum, Holland and still works as a singing teacher (1989).
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(p) 2007 Dutch Divas |
Aafje
Heynis was born in Krommenie 1924. Her father was a bus driver
and member of the local choir. Already at the age of four she
sang in the child choir and together with her father at the harmonium.
On the advice of Jan Mienes, the conductor of the choral society
in her native town of Krommenie she auditioned for the teacher
Jo Immink in Amsterdam with an arrangement of the "Pilgrims'
Chorus" from Wagner's "Tannhauser". After that
from 1946 to 1949, her singing teacher was the great Aaltje Noorderwier-Reddingius.
She then benefited from the good advice of Laurens Bogtman, the
great oratorio singer, and finally Roy Henderson, Kathleen Ferrier's
teacher, told her that although her voice did not resemble that
of the famous English singer she was still destinated for a great
future because of her unique voice. She quickly established her
reputation, to begin with in the field of oratorio. With her
performance in Brahm's Alto Rhapsody with the Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra under the direction of Eduard van Beinum, she attracted
wide attention. Concerts in churches, Lieder recitals, numerous
performances of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, spirituals, opera-
her interests were broad, even as the demand for this unaffected
singer was great. For the Philips label she made a whole series
of recordings of works by Brahms, Bach, Handel and Mendelssohn.
But Monteverdi, Beethoven, Schubert en Frank Martin also belonged
to her repertoire. Aafje Heynis showed a particular preference
for Mahler, one consequence of which was a legendary recording
of Mahler's Symphony No.2 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
conducted by Bernard Haitink. The soprano part was sung by Elly
Ameling.
Aafje Heynis had
never thought of becoming a professional singer. To be sure,
she started singing while still young, but everyone sang in her
family: the father, the mother and the two daughters. No one
minded if one person had a finer voice than the other, the most
important thing was the enjoyment of singing. At the age of 17
Aafje herself aspired to become a nurse and was also inclined
towards fashion, but it never occurred to her to become a singer.
However, the alertness of the local choral director and the initiation
of lessons with Aaltje Noorderwier steered her in a completely
different direction. At first Aafje Heynis wanted to be admitted
to the choir of the Netherlands Bach Society and applied for
that purpose to the director, Dr. Anton van der Horst. The latter,
tired from countless rehearsals, believed he was dealing with
the umpteenth would-be choir member, a routine matter that could
be dispatched quickly. However the choir members and conductor
were quickly impressed by the splendid contralto and she was
admitted to the choir immediately. Not only did she acquire the
necessary experience as a choir member, van der Horst also worked
with her intensively on solo parts from great works. It was not
long before Aafje Heynis was able to take contralto solos of
various works, and so began the gradually developing career of
this unpretentious singer, whose life was entirely dedicated
to music.
She performed with
the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on countless occasions, not
only with van Beinum and Haitink, but also with Eugen Jochum
and Otto Klemperer. In 1961 she was awarded the highly prestigious
Harriet Cohen medal for her "outstanding artistry".
In 1966 she took part in performances in Berlin and Amsterdam
of the Requiems of Mozart and Verdi and Beethoven's "Missa
Solemnis". Aafje Heynis also sang in several of Handel's
oratorios and works by Alphons Diepenbrock for Netherlands radio
and television. Anatal Dorati, Igor Markevitch, Erich Kleiber,
Angelo Ephrikian, Hans Gillesberger, Charles Munch, Szymon Goldberg,
Kurt Thomas, Kurt Redel and Frits Rieger have all had the pleasure
of working with this singer. Besides the many concerts she gave
in the Netherlands, she could be heard in Belgium, Germany, England,
Ireland, France, Switzerland and Austria; she also undertook
an ambitious tour to India and Indonesia.
F.Schubert
Classic Options CO3509 Stabat Mater
van Vivaldi, I Solisti Di Milano with Aafje Heynis. nb. also
released by EMI, nr. EMI CZS 7672112(2)
(2cd).
