Paul Seelig
1876 - 1945
For a full biography and a complete list of works with links to scores and recordings, visit www.forbiddenmusicregained.org
Henk Mak van Dijk wrote a book about composers in the Dutch Indies 1898-1945: De Oostenwind waait naar het westen (in Dutch). The book includes a CD with music by Paul Seelig.
Paul Seelig lived most of his life on the island of Java, but he made trips to Europe, America, Australia, Japan and Siam. He had a music business in Bandung. In his music he combined Eastern and Western elements. He developed into a renowned composer and was programmed at the Wiener Festwochen and many other venues. During the war he remained on Java, at that time Dutch territory, while his other family members lived in the Netherlands. In 1943, he was interned in a camp where he died on June 12, 1945. Many of his manuscripts and compositions were lost.
Paul Seelig was born in Dortmund in 1876, the oldest in a family of seven children. The family lived in Breda, in the Netherlands, where his father Johann was a musician in an orchestra, but he wanted to try his luck in the Dutch East Indies and in July 1880, the family moved to Batavia, and afterwards to Semarang. Johann was Kapellmeister of the military brass band. In time, he started his own piano and music business, J.H. Seelig & Son. At the age of six Paul got his first violin and piano lessons from his father. A few years later he was able … Continue
Selected works
For a complete list of works by Paul Seelig visit our website Forbidden Music Regained.
Let forbidden music sound again
In the Second World War, many composers were silenced because of their Jewish descent or their resistance. Their music was forbidden. The Leo Smit Stichting carries out research, tells composers' stories, makes sheet music available and performs forgotten music. Together with musicians, programmers, researchers and listeners we give composers their rightful place in music history.
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