Dutch prodigy violinist, music collector and music historian.
He was the son of music publisher and piano teacher Abraham Anthony Noske (10 June 1873, Axel – ca april 1945, Den Haag) and the concert pianist Margarethe Mathilde Helene “Leny” Friedlander (1893, Nieuwer Amstel-1988). They married 5 June 1917 in Amsterdam and got two children. Willem Noske, the eldest son became a violinist and music collector and Frits Rudolf Noske (13 Dec 1920, Den Haag – 15 Sept 1993, Villa Bedretto, Ticinno, CH) a musician, composer and musicologist (PhD 1954 on “La mélodie française de Berlioz à Duparc”).
His father A.A. Noske was between 1896-1926 the major publisher of contemporary Dutch classical composers like: Kor Kuiler, Alphons Diepenbrock, Cornélie van Oosterzee, Peter van Anrooy, Bernard Zweers, G. and E. von Brucken Fock, Dirk Schäfer, Jan Ingenhoven, Jan van Gilse and Sem Dresden. But he regularly suffered from major depressions. In 1926 he sold the firm and became a piano teacher at the conservatory of Den Haag. He died around April 1945 after the depriving hunger winter, shortly before the Dutch liberation in May 1945.
Born in a stimulating musical environment, Noske early played the violin and held his first concerts as a Wunderkind. He studied under Oskar Back en Carl Flesch. At age 14 he played solo violin for the Concertgebouworkest. He got a lot of attention, which first hampered the relation with his younger brother Frits, who in 1965 became professor in music history in Leiden. Long before that the brothers learned to work together in their passion for musicology and musical history. And tried to fill the gap between the two most famous Dutch composers Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (May 1562 – 16 October 1621, Amsterdam) and Alphons Diepenbrock (2 September 1862, Amsterdam – 5 April 1921, Amsterdam). His brother Frits got cancer in sept 1992. After several operations he died 13 September 1993 in Ticino.
As a solo violinist he travelled around the world, but he felt not happy in lonely hotel rooms. Actually he wanted to be a historian, but he could not throw his musical talents away. But with the money he earned abroad, he could visit antiquaries and auction houses to collect old Dutch music, which became his lifelong passion.
He became concert master of the “Nederlands Kamerorkest” en from 1962-1980 of the “Residentie Orkest” in Den Haag. From 1957-1985 he played and revived Baroque music of unknown Dutch masters with the Residentie Orkest ensemble “Sonata da Camera” and “Viotti Kwartet”.
Like his father he became a collector of music. His father tried to make commerce of classical Dutch music, but he did not succeed in it. His son collected some 65 thousand titles of sheet music, first prints, books, letters, hand writings of musicians that in 1991 became part of the Nederlands Muziek Instituut (NMI, Dutch Music Institute) in Den Haag.
Noske was one the first persons who studied the musical practice of old music in the original time. In 1948 he founded the “Vereniging voor Oude Nederlandse Muziek” with Dirk Balfoort, the curator of music of the “Gemeentemuseum” in Den Haag. The association published forgotten work of Renaissance composers like Josquin des Prez (ca 1450, Condé – 27 Augustus 1521), Obrecht (1457/1458, GJuly/Augustus 1505, Ferrara), Sweelinck and others. Later his association blended with the “Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis”. The KVNM (http://www.kvnm.nl) was founded 19 November 1868 and is today the oldest existing musicological association of the world.
The pioneering historical work of the Noske brothers on Dutch musicological roots stimulated now famous Dutch musicians like Ton Koopman, Frans Brüggen and Gustav Leonhardt to play music on historical instruments in the original Baroque style.
In 1988 Noske got the “Zilveren Anjer” prize for his promotion of old music.
Personal
Noske was married with a yoga teacher, got four children, and held his library first at home. In 1991 the library was worth some 5,15 million dollar, but to collect the pieces the fanatic collector Noske took often financial risks. Between the books he kept sweets that he consumed eagerly during his nightly studies in the ceiling of the house. Maybe because of his craving for sweets, Noske suffered from diabetes in old age, got rid of toes and fingers, but stayed very active even in the retirement home until he died, knowing that his unique Musicological Library was in safe hands, one year before his death.
Noske died 13 December 1995 in Den Haag.
Link to Dutch Wikipedia