In the 120th anniversary year of the Residentie Orkest , an old folder of negativesturned up at the well-known Hague antiquarian bookshop Colette & Co. The photos revealed the life of a musical family from The Hague in the 1940s. And unusually, some of the photos also featured the name of the Residentie Orkest . But who was this family?

It all started with a box full of atlases and travel guides, according to Maria Lepilova, bookseller at Colette & Co and our own cellist Justa de Jong, also a volunteer at Colette & Co. At the very bottom was an old folder of marbled cardboard labeled "Kleinbeeld-Filmstrips-Album" containing a good number of strips of negatives. These negatives were scanned and thus an extraordinary family album surfaced. On it everything can be seen: violin cases, a cello, people making music, concert halls but also a baby, happy Saint Nicholas evenings, walks through the dunes, a trip to Keukenhof and summer vacations to France.

Manchester
In some photos, the name of the Residentie Orkest also suddenly pops up. They turn out to be images of one of the orchestra's first tours after World War II: a cultural exchange between the Hallé Orchestra and the Residentie Orkest. While the orchestra from Manchester led by Sir John Barbirolli was giving concerts in the Netherlands, the Residentie Orkest was giving a number of well-attended concerts in Manchester and Sheffield, among other places. With music by Dutch composers such as Johan Wagenaar and the premiere of Léon Orthel's Third Symphony. Like the photographer, violinist Karel Ligtenberg went along and remembered the trip all too well: "We traveled via Schiphol Airport. There we simply walked across the grass to the ready planes: three of them for the orchestra members, plus one for the instruments and such. We had to wait while the engines were started one by one. Someone gave a swish to one of those big propellers, and as the engine turned, big flames came out the back, which was kind of exciting! We flew to Manchester. There, at the airport, the Hallé Orchestra was waiting for us; they would fly to Holland with the same planes! We had lunch together, then we drove by bus to Manchester. I noticed that it was so filthy there, there was a thick layer of soot on everything. We had concerts in Manchester and Sheffield, with a day off in between. Many musicians went to watch a Manchester United soccer game. I joined a group on an excursion to the Lake District. It was spring, fruit trees were blooming everywhere, it was so beautiful! On the way back we paused at an inn, one of those typical English 'Inn', where people looked at us suspiciously. Jaap Stotijn then sat down behind the piano, played waltzes and polkas, and that made people happy. People even started dancing!"

Hans de Roo
Although it was clear that this was a musical family and that there certainly had to be a connection to the Residentie Orkest , it took some time before the search could be positively concluded. The photo album turned out to belong to Hans de Roo (1925-2000), oboist, violinist and later director with the Residentie Orkest kest and his wife, the cellist, pianist and composer Corry de Roo-Vierdag (1925-2022). Hans de Roo was also a key figure in renewing the Residentie Orkest kest's repertoire in the 1960s, attracting Bruno Maderne and Pierre Boulez, among others, as guest conductors. The folder of photos has since been returned to the family.

This story is based on the text by Maria Lepilova and Linda Vermeulen.