Henri Verbrugghen (1 August 1873 – 12 November 1934) was a
BelgianThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
musician, who directed orchestras in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Born in
BrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium...
, Verbrugghen made his first appearance as a violinist when only eight years old, and was a successful student at the Brussels Conservatorium under
HubayJenő Hubay was an Hungarian violinist, composer and music teacher.-Early life:Hubay was born into a German family of musicians...
and
YsayeEugène Ysaÿe was a Belgian violinist, composer and conductor. His brother was pianist and composer Théo Ysaÿe . He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein mentioned, "tzar"....
, winning many prizes. He visited England with Ysaye in 1888, and in 1893 settled in Scotland as a member of the Scottish Orchestra. During the summer he led the orchestra at
LlandudnoLlandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy County Borough, Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community...
under Jules Riviere. For a time he was a member of the
Lamoureux OrchestraThe Orchestre Lamoureux is an orchestral concert society which once gave weekly concerts by its own orchestra, founded in Paris by Charles Lamoureux in 1881...
at
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and then for three years was deputy-conductor at Llandudno. He was director of music for four years at
Colwyn BayColwyn Bay is a town and seaside resort in Conwy county borough on the North Wales coast. The A55 road passes through the town, running parallel to the North Wales Coast Line.The town is served by Colwyn Bay railway station....
, and then returned to the Scottish Orchestra.
In 1902 he became leader and deputy-conductor under Frederic Cowen, and during the promenade season led the
Queen's HallThe Queen's Hall was a classical music concert hall in Central London, England, opened in 1893 and was beloved by Londoners until its destruction by an incendiary bomb in 1941. It is best known for being where the Promenade Concerts were founded by Robert Newman, with Henry J...
Orchestra for three years.
In 1907, he was the soloist in the first performance in England of the
Violin Concerto in D minorThe Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 was written by Jean Sibelius in 1903.-History:Sibelius originally dedicated the concerto to the noted violinist Willy Burmester, who promised to play the concerto in Berlin...
by
Jean SibeliusJean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity....
.
He became chief violin professor at the Athenaeum,
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, and in 1911 succeeded Dr Coward as conductor of the Glasgow Choral Union. In April 1914 he enhanced his growing reputation when a Beethoven Festival was held at London, Verbrugghen "conducting throughout the festival with insight and masterly ability" (The Musical Times, 1 June 1914, p. 399). Early in 1915 he was appointed director of the
New South Wales State ConservatoriumThe Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...
at a salary of £1,250 a year.
Verbrugghen arrived in
SydneySydney is the largest city in Australia, and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney has a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million and an area of approximately 12,000 square kilometres. Its inhabitants are called Sydneysiders, and Sydney is often called "the Harbour City"...
in the same year full of enthusiasm. He had a great admiration for English people but did not like the methods of their schools of music, and decided that the conservatorium at Sydney should be based on continental models. He got together a remarkably fine orchestra, including the other members of his excellent string quartet who had come with him. For six years Verbrugghen's influence on the musical life of Sydney was of outstanding importance, but the politicians had not realized that it is impossible to carry on work of this nature without financial loss. The orchestra was disbanded in 1921 and Verbrugghen, who had suffered much from worry, went to America for health reasons.
In 1922 he was a guest conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, and had such a brilliant success that he was given the position of permanent conductor. Efforts were made in Australia to persuade him to return without success. In 1931 he collapsed at a rehearsal of his orchestra, and never completely recovered his health. From September 1933 he was chairman of the Department of Music at
Carleton CollegeCarleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The College currently enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. Robert A. Oden is the current President. According to 2009 U.S...
,
NorthfieldNorthfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 17,147 at the 2000 census. Most of the city lies in Rice County, and only a small part of the city extends into Dakota County.-History:...
,
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
, and he died in 1934.
There is a Verbrugghen St in the suburb of
MelbaMelba is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Melba is in the district of Belconnen.The suburb of Melba is named after Dame Nellie Melba , the first internationally-recognised Australian opera soprano...
in the Australian capital,
CanberraCanberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth largest Australian city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory, south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. All the streets in the suburb are named after significant figures in Australian music.