Henriëtte Bosmans

Henriëtte Hilda Bosmans (6 December 1895 – 2 July 1952) was a Dutch composer.

Bosmans was born in Amsterdam, the daughter of Henri Bosmans, principal cellist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the pianist Sara Benedicts, piano teacher at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Her father died when she was 6 months old. She studied piano with her mother and became a piano teacher herself at the age of 17. She became a celebrated pianist by the 1920s, performing throughout Europe with among others Monteux, Mengelberg and Ansermet. She gave 22 concertos with the Concertgebouw Orchestra alone between 1929 and 1949.

Bosmans began her composition studies with Jan Willem Kersbergen and later with Cornelis Dopper (1921–22) and Willem Pijper (1927–30). She maintained a close friendship with Benjamin Britten. She died in her native city of Amsterdam and is buried at Zorgvlied cemetery.

Bosmans had relationships with both men and women, with whom she often also collaborated musically. She was partnered from 1920-1927 to the Dutch cellist and composer Frieda Belinfante, who was a prominent lesbian and member of the Dutch Resistance during WWII, who in 1923 premiered Bosmans' Second Cello Concerto. She was later engaged, briefly, to the violist Francis Koene, who died of a brain tumor in 1934, before they could be married. In the last years of her life Bosmans also appears to have been involved with the French singer Noemie Perugia, for whom she wrote a series of songs between the years 1949 and her death of stomach cancer in 1952.

The Henriëtte Bosmans Prize, named after Bosmans, is an encouragement prize for young Dutch composers. The prize, consisting of €2500 (US$3500) and a performance, has been awarded since 1994 by the Society of Dutch Composers.

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