Donald Macleod looks at Bosmans’s relationship with her parents and finds out about a confrontation with the Gestapo.

Henriëtte Bosmans seemed destined for a life in music from the moment of her birth, in 1895. Her father was the principal solo cellist in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra and her mother a piano teacher at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Bosmans developed a flourishing career and won international success with her Concert Piece for Violin and Orchestra. As a concert pianist she performed alongside conductors such as Ernest Ansermet and George Szell.

Bosmans didn’t follow her mother's Jewish faith. Nevertheless, her ancestry played a significant role in the events of her life. She lived through the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, when tens of thousands of Amsterdam Jews were deported to concentration camps, including her fellow citizen, Anne Frank. This week, Donald Macleod is joined by Bosmans expert Dr Helen Metzelaar and also Dr Laurien Vastenhout from Amsterdam’s Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide.

Today, Donald sees Henriëtte’s mother, Sara, arrested by the Nazi secret police and sent to the transit camp at Westerbork. Henriëtte sets out to rescue her.

Prelude No 3, 4 & 6 (from Six Preludes)
Danny Driver, piano

Cello Sonata (excerpt)
Franz Bartolomey, cello
Clemens Zeilinger, piano

String Quartet
Utrecht String Quartet

Poème for cello and orchestra
Dmitri Ferschtman, cello
Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra
Ed Spanjaard, conductor

Produced by Luke Whitlock, for BBC Wales Show less