Foundation Musick's Monument
Paleis op de Dam 1990 - Hein Hof played the Meincke & Pieter Meijer 1809 piano - Hans Meijer played his newly restored painted French guitar.
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ALBUM ARTISTIQUE DE LA REINE HORTENSE
ROMANCES DE LA REINE HORTENSE
Hortense - Rijksmuseum
MUSICK'S MONUMENT FOUNDATION
The reason for establishing the Stichting Musick's Monument was the discovery of the ALBUM ARTISTIQUE DE LA REINE HORTENSE in the Royal Archives in 1990.
In 1990, I, Hans Meijer, was asked to tune the 1809 Meincke & Pieter Meijer piano and to organise recitals when the Palace on Dam Square opened on Wednesday afternoons. The piano was made for La Reine Hortense, first Queen of Holland. While looking at the instrument, I noticed that there was a brand mark under the piano. This brand mark indicates the room where the instrument stood in the Palace. To gather information about the instrument, an appointment was made at the Royal Archives. Hein Hof, organist and musicologist, took me along for this visit.
After five minutes, the archivist gave the Album Artistique for perusal. The lithographs are after drawings by Hortense herself, as is the music. Hortense's son NAPOLEON III had the book printed as a tribute to his mother. The archivist made copies to carry out the works. The visit was completed faster than expected so we decided to pay another visit to the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague.
In the hall of Hortense's Erard grand piano, I took a quick look under the grand piano to see if it had been branded. Clearly there was a burn mark to be seen.
At the next play at the Palace, I reported on my visit. To my surprise, it turned out that Hortense's grand piano, belonging to the Palace's collection, was unknown to the curator. Naturally, they wanted the grand piano back in their collection! I had also made a report on the defects in the Meincke & Pieter Meijer piano.
A solution must have been sought between the Gemeentemuseum, Paleis op de Dam and Rijksmuseum where the grand piano could best be kept. This also brought the Hortense project to a halt therefore it was decided to realise it in-house.
Apparently, it was decided that the Rijksmuseum would be allowed to exhibit the wing, where it can now be admired.
Erard-Rijksmuseum
The Musick's Monument Foundation was set up in 1992 to bring out special music on CD. Hortense was our first project.
The beautiful score of the Album Artistique also deserved a release. As an ANBI Foundation, everyone should be able to take note of it so, when digitisation was in its infancy, it was made public as a download even then. Meanwhile, the writer Thera Coppens, inspired by our first Hortense CD, had contacted the Musick's Monument Foundation. The book on Hortense, the forgotten Queen of Holland was the result. Our first video of Hortense's music was seen by the director of Paleis het Loo, who decided to use it in an exhibition about Louis Napoleon the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Not long after, we realised the Hortense videos in the KUNSTZAAL of Paleis het Loo. Hortense's castle Arenenberg in Switzerland was also realised on video. The Palace doors of the Palace on Dam Square also reopened with a video of Bellini and Schubert. Meanwhile, the piano had been neatly restored and held mood.
Annelies Andries wrote a dissertation in 2022:
The romances of Hortense de Beauharnais: Music, melancholy and nostalgia in times of war and exile.
However, the Hortense project suddenly takes an unusual turn when Hans Meijer turns out to have the DNA of the Dulcken's harpsichord & fortepiano builders.
Louis Dulcken built an instrument in 1805 for Eugène de Beauharnais. Shortly after the Battle of Austerlitz 1805, Emperor Napoleon appointed Eugène de Beauharnais to be the husband of Princess Augusta Amalia of Bavaria, daughter of the brand-new King Maximilian I Joseph.
Four pianos Louis Dulcken built for Empress Joséphine.
One baptismal act of Hans Meijer's ancestor Johan Casper Hendrik Meijer is still missing to prove that Johan Casper Hendrik Meijer is related to the Meincke & Pieter Meijer piano builders . Meincke & Pieter Meijer and their family originating from Hittfeldt under Hamburg built two pianos for the Royal Palace and one piano for Soestdijk.
‘Pianoforte Fabrikeurs of their Majesties’ LOUIS BONAPARTE & HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS, the first King & Queen of Holland.
The cash book of the treasurer-general in the king's service records in March 1809 the payment to the Meijer brothers for the delivery of three fortepianos, two for the Amsterdam palace ( summa 2,200) and one for the ‘chateau de Zoestdijk’ (summa 450).
Koninklijke Verzamelingen, Den Haag, Fragmentarchieven van het Civiele Huis van koning Lodewijk Napoleon, inventarisnummer G004-C-14.
Johan Casper Hendrik Meijer was born in Eißendorf in ‘t Hannover in 1771. Occupation Blacksmith. In 1771, Eißendorf belonged to the Lutheran parish of Sinstorf.
Hilmer Meijer was born in Hittfeldt in ‘t Hannover in 1772. Occupation piano builder.
Both men , Reformed Lutherans, married almost simultaneously in Amsterdam to women residing at the Bloemstraat and Bloemgracht addresses in Amsterdam.
The distance between Eißendorf and Hittfeldt in ‘t Hannover is 9 km. The distance from Hittfeldt to Sinstorf is 2.7 km In 1771, Eißendorf belonged to the Lutheran parish of Sinstorf.
