Outrage as Dutch demolish Schoenberg statue
NewsA last-ditch appeal is being made to stop the city authorities in The Hague from demolishing a statue of Arnold Schoenberg. The monument was erected in the 1980s.
City Hall wants the site and nobody seems interested in claiming ownership of the statue. It will come down in 11 days time unless something drastic happens.
Here’s the wording of the desperate appeal:
Open Letter for preservation of the Schönberg statue of Heppe de Moor – July 20, 2023
In the second half of June it suddenly became clear that the Arnold Schönberg statue of Heppe de Moor, which was at and in the Royal Conservatory [KC] in The Hague since the early 1980s, will be destroyed in a few days, coming July 31st.
The image consists of three elements, more than man height. First one outside, other two in the building. They are aligned and imagining Arnold Schönberg. It is a tribute to one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, who played an important role in music education as was given (and will be) at the Royal Conservatorium. Heppe de Moor (1938-1992) found his inspiration in Schönberg’s opera Moses und Aron and the biblical thought that one ‘didn’t need to make an image’.
The three elements speak out in an image of Schönberg himself, which eventually makes the composer visible through a casing.
The project was established at the time through the so-called 1%-scheme that applied to the new construction of state buildings.
By now the municipality of Den Haag owns the statue. Responsibility for the destruction lies with the OCW/Culture department of the Municipality of The Hague.
This section states that all conditions are met to be allowed to destroy the image:
– the KC didn’t want to take the image to the new building ‘Amare’ – Amare doesn’t want to accept the image either
– to date no other interested institution has been found
– the De Moor family, in case the heirs, is not interested in return.
We hereby protest against the nonchalant way of overthrowing this cultural heritage. There has been no public notice. Those involved and approached bodies are hiding behind formal reasons. People don’t feel responsible: ‘the image is focused on the original building and doesn’t fit elsewhere’.
We are concerned about the public significance of this work of De Moor. The image is not only important as a work of art, but also symbolizes a certain time and art practice, in which Arnold Schönberg played a major role. It’s a part of music history. In our opinion, it is the government’s task to preserve and cherish that history.
We call on the municipality of The Hague to take care of this image, and to ensure adequate refurbishment. That is the government’s obligation to art, the artist and to history.
Signed:
Peter van Bergen, director of Studio LOOS
Cornelis de Bondt, composer and former lecturer at the Royal Conservatorium
Gert Dumbar, designer
Jochem van Eeghen, former director Princess Christina Concours
Ad ‘s-Gravesande, former director of Holland Festival, member of the Dutch Music Prize Advisory Committee Henk Guittart, altviolist, founder of Schönberg Quartet and Schönberg Ensemble
Peter van Heyghen, musician
Renee Jonker, Corporate Director Gavigniès
Hans Locher, among other things former director of the Municipal Museum of The Hague (now Art Museum)
Willem Minderhout, former Member of State
Stef de Niet, chairman of the LOOS Foundation,
Robin de Raaff, composer
Martijn Sanders, former director Het Concertgebouw N.V., former chairman Holland Festival
Erwin Roebroeks, festival director Musica Sacra Maastricht
Sieuwert Verster, musicologist, former director of the 18th Century Orchestra
That is state-sponsored vandalism.!
In a search for picures of this sculpture, there are no examples. Why don’t you post a picture?
I couldn’t find one. Can you?
https://www.studio-sophia.nl/nieuws/arnold-schonberg-den-haag/
Thanks for that; I couldn’t find it using Google images or maps. The Schoenberg sculpture seems a superior work to the outdoor de Moor I found. Where is the former building that’s slated for demolition? It must be at a different location than the new Amare building.
It remains a scandal that de Moor’s heirs aren’t even interested in taking the sculpture temporarily, until it might find a new home (in a different city?).
One doesn’t need to make an image…
In heaven’s name why can the Dutch not show some ingenuity and move the memorial to another location? Does it HAVE to be destroyed, or is this some ‘woke’ Dutch person taking the decision?
Kindly explain why a “woke Dutch person” would want to have a statue destroyed.
Kindly – and clearly – define “woke”.
It is the popularization of critical theory; a movement which obtained in the French and German academy (Horkheimer, Derrida etc.) and found its way into American academe. A radicalization of the modern sense of the self has been the outcome. Subjective and not objective reality. Anti-enlightenment ‘theology’.
To put it simply; woke means to be aware. Why are people afraid of other people becoming aware? What are they hiding?
Aware of what? In California schools, that 2 plus 2 does not because 4, because that is white maths.
Because awareness not guided by intelligence results in the extensive lowering of IQ in any given population.
The 2021 street views and 2023 aerial photo on Google Maps do not show the monument at all; it was a construction site for the new conservatory building, Amare, in 2021, and the outdoor elements of the monument seem to have been removed during construction. The statue must be in storage somewhere. It’s distressing that not even the sculptor’s heirs are interested in saving the sculpture.
Here is a link to a photo of an outdoor artwork by Heppe de Moor that’s located (or was located) in The Hague.
https://bkdh.nl/en/kunstenaars/heppe-de-moor/
Are all the city storage facilities in The Hague so full that this monument can’t be stored until some other municipality or institution takes an interest? Yipes.
Where is the modern Liszt to come to the rescue?
Somone needs to find, and quickly, evidence that Schoenberg had an aboriginal (any aboriginal, from anywhere) ancestor. That should protect it.
On a free morning in Vienna on a tour years ago, I went to the Schoenberg Museum, which took up most of a floor in a nondescript commercial building near the city center, as I recall. The only staff was a rather bored looking young man who apparently had a lot of time on his hands. It was a very well presented and interesting display of manuscripts, letters, class notes and examples of his craft work (he was highly skilled at working with leather and wood, among other things), among other things. I spent probably a couple of hours there and had the place to myself the whole time. For all of his brilliance, I think it is fair to say that the world has largely passed Schoenberg by.
More’s the pity; hearing a fine live performance of his Op. 31 Variations is on my bucket list…
Here is a (relatively positive) update concerning the demolishing of the Schoenberg statue in The Hague: the City will NOT destroy the statue yet on July 31, but they will relocate the three statues to a different place on site, and they are now urgently looking for places/institutes where it could be moved to, permanently. In case such a place cannot be found, the threat of demolishing is still there.
Does anyone have suggestions for a new location?
Henk Guittart
Perhaps a different city with a connection to Schoenberg might be interested in installing it; one issue is that it needs to be at a building with a glass facade and space both outside and in.
Makes me think of USC losing interest in its Schönberg archive which was then thankfully taken by Vienna. (Now let’s put on our superhero outfits, grab our light sabers, and listen to John Williams…)
Where does one place the Schoenberg statue along the spectrum between realistic or classical style and a cube? I’m unable to visualize it. Is the statue unloved or unpopular because of aesthetic reasons?