Karel Ligtenberg played music for more than forty years in the Residentie Orkest, as Principal of the second violins. Karel not only helped to build up the orchestra after World War II; before the war he knew people who had played in the orchestra from its founding in 1904. Reasons enough to talk to Karel, and to let him speak at length in the process.

This interview was conducted in 2020. Karel Ligtenberg died in November 2023.

Karel Ligtenberg was born in The Hague on May 30, 1925. His father, an engineer whose work included the construction of the Afsluitdijk, died when Karel was seven years old. "Until that fateful day, our family lived on a good income," Karel recounts, "and suddenly only a small pension was left to make ends meet. We were really poor, like many people at that time. But my mother thought we should have one luxury: music! So she bought a subscription to the Residentie Orkest every year."

From his father, who was a deserving violinist, Karel inherited the love of the violin. This naturally led to violin lessons, and then you soon encounter the Residentie Orkest in The Hague. "When I was twelve I played in the Hofstad Youth Orchestra. That included Hans de Roo, who would later mean a lot to Residentie Orkest . We would play a Double Concerto by Vivaldi, and we rehearsed at Hans' home. There I met Hans' father, who had been Principal of the second violins since the orchestra was founded in 1904!"

Miserable
During the economic crisis of the 1930s, following the 1929 stock market crash, general poverty also affected the orchestra. Income from ticket sales was low, wages ditto. Moreover, at that time there was no pension plan for musicians. "You played on and on until you really couldn't anymore, and then lapsed into dreary misery. An old violinist lived down the street from me; he couldn't play anymore. With his wife he rented an attic room three floors up. At first he had a few pupils, but their parents didn't like it, that old man with gout, with a worn-out suit, teaching in that attic room, so that also stopped. I heard that man sigh on the street, 'If there's one thing sad, it's an old musician'."

War years
Because Karel had been born into a predominantly university-educated family, it was natural that, in the second half of the 1930s, he would attend grammar school. "People were fine with me wanting to go into music, but first I had to finish grammar school. Then you can always learn a real profession,' they said."
Meanwhile, his violin playing had already reached such a level that he took lessons at the Hague conservatory, from violinist Herman van der Vegt.
And suddenly the war broke out; the Netherlands was occupied by the Nazis. How did Karel experience the war years? "That was a strange time for me. The fear you felt from people. Jewish acquaintances you suddenly didn't see anymore. I kind of lived past that, got sucked in by the violin, but also by everything the grammar school offered me. It all interested me immensely, especially the Greek and Latin classics. In 1942 I took my final exams. After that I immediately immersed myself in all the subjects I could get at the conservatory: harmony, ensemble lessons from Leon Orthel, music history from an uncle of mine.... I loved it all!"

Arbeitseinsatz
"In early 1943 I received a rather compelling invitation to report for the Arbeitseinsatz. Then I would have to work on the Atlantic Wall, or in a factory in Germany. However, I could get a reprieve if I took final exams at the conservatory before July 15, in my case for the teaching position. Now, playing the violin went quite well, and so did everything else, so I did that. A short time later I learned that if you played in a symphony orchestra, you even got exemption from the Arbeitseinsatz. It is extremely ironic that the occupying German government took the arts more seriously than any Dutch government up to that point! Well, at the Residentie Orkest unfortunately there was no room, so I called the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (RPhO). Eduard Flipse, the conductor there, said, 'We could use a few more good violinists! Come and play some recitals tomorrow.' I did, and I was able to join the second violins the next morning."

"Eduard Flipse was an extraordinary man. He had managed to get musicians from the Royal Military Band, who were in captivity, released to play in the RPhO. Many of them, plus many regular RPhO musicians, lived in The Hague. With the Hofpleintrein train we traveled up and down to Rotterdam together, as many as forty musicians, and it was great fun!"

Recordings in TheHague
The Concert Hall in Rotterdam had been flattened, so concerts were held in a church. For gramophone recordings, however, they diverted to The Hague. "There we played, to my great pleasure, in the Gebouw voor Kunst en Wetenschappen. That was a large hall, with three balconies one above the other. As many as 2500 listeners could fit in, and they were treated not only to concerts, but also to operas.
A gramophone record like this, with in those days four minutes of music per side, was cut 'live', so if something didn't go right, everything had to be repeated. I remember we recorded a symphonic poem by Richard Strauss, and it went very well. But when we got to the final chords, suddenly the air alarm sounded. That's how it went in those days..."

Fled
"After Dolle Tuesday, June 6, 1944, travel was over. In fact, people under forty were at risk of being rounded up and locked up just like that. I went into hiding then. During the harsh winter of '44-'45 I sometimes went out at night to gather wood in the Scheveningen Woods. We had a Mr. Orobio de Castro in the house, a Jewish man. He was betrayed in March 1945, and imprisoned together with my mother. Our house was then ransacked, they smashed everything. There were no more transports to the concentration camps then, however, my mother was in great danger of being shot on the Waalsdorper Vlakte. I had fled to relatives in Leiden, but I couldn't stay there. In the end I waited for liberation somewhere in Oegstgeest."

Paris
"Shortly after the Liberation, I continued my violin lessons with van der Vegt, and in November 1945 took the exam for the soloist diploma. I played my exam in K&W, which was a great experience! Then I had the opportunity to study for the Dutch Prix d'Excellence. Since I also had to earn something, I applied to the Residentie Orkest and was accepted. I only played there for a very short time, however, because I won a scholarship to study in Paris for a year with the violinist Janine Andrade, who was very well known at the time. She turned out to be a very strict teacher, and it was an instructive year for me."

Back to the Netherlands
"After returning to the Netherlands, I was called by the North Holland Philharmonic Orchestra: if I might want to become Associate concertmaster there? I had nothing to do and said yes. But I didn't like it there. For example, we had to go to Amsterdam five times a week to accompany a theater production of the Gijsbrecht van Amstel, and the farce The Wedding of Kloris and Roosje. Moreover, at that time there were very few good musicians in that orchestra. Earlier the season was over, I resigned. I just went back to studying. A short time later the Residentie Orkest; called if I wanted to substitute during a short tour to England. I was up for that!"

Shortly after this tour - about which more in the next section - Karel Ligtenberg again became a member of the Residentie Orkest. And this time he stayed, until his retirement in 1990.
Ronald Touw