Biography refers to a written document that gives more information about someone’s life. Biographies are mainly written because of the motivation of some ambition (Mulder, 2010). The paper discusses the life of violinist called Andre Rieu with interest laid on the effects he had in the world and people, qualities of his life and the difficulties he encountered in his life.
Andre was born in the year 1949 under the sign of Libra. He was the third child of his parents (Rieu, 2008). At the age of five, Andre started taking violin lessons. He was encouraged by his father who was a professional conductor (Rieu, 2008). Andre was interested in the world of music at the age of five (Rieu, 2008). At the beginning of his violin course, he had difficulty in concentrating.
He could hardly listen to the teacher’s instructions because he had fallen in love with the violin teacher, who was very beautiful (Rieu, 2008). After leaving grammar school in the year 1967, at first Andre Rieu continued with his musical training on the violin at the Conservatoire in Liege (Rieu, 2008). He later continued with the musical training on the violin in Maastricht, until 1973 (Rieu, 2008).
Keith (2012) asserts that in the year 1974, Andre received violin tuition from Andre Gertler, at the Conservatoire in Brussels. Andre continued with his musical training at the Conservatoire in Brussels up to 1974 and won the Premier Prix at the academy (Mulder, 2010). Andre got married to his wife Marjorie while he was still a student (Rieu, 2008).
In the year 1978, Andre was blessed with the first son known as Marc. During the same year, Andre founded his first orchestra (Rieu, 2008). It was known as the Maastricht Salon Orchestra with which he appeared in the United States, Federal Republic of Germany, and the Netherlands. Andre and Marjorie were blessed with the second child in the year 1981 and was named Pierre (Keith, 2012).
Mulder (2010) asserts that Andre Rieu recruited his John Strauss Orchestra and during that time, there were only twelve musicians in the beginning. However, today there are forty-three on very large stages (Keith, 2012). This number sometimes reaches fifty. During the same year, 1987, Andre Rieu production company was founded by a new orchestra leader and his wife.
One year later, Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra gave their first public concert(DeNora, 2012). In 1994, Andre released an album in the Netherlands, which was known as “From Holland with Love” (Rieu, 2008). The album triggered a waltz wave in the country. One of the pieces on this album was the “Second Waltz” (Keith, 2012). Among the top one hundred songs in the Netherlands, the album, From Holland with Love, was one of the best.
One year later, Andre gained thousands of new followers due to his Second Waltz. In the same year, 1995, Andre released From Holland with Love in Germany, which was among the top five songs(DeNora, 2012). In 1997, Andre had little time for his private life and family (Rieu, 2008). He was ever on the road with the John Strauss Orchestra.
In the same year, he took time to record the album known as “The Christmas I Love.”This was a compilation of songs he heard during Christmas, fulfilling his wish of personal music (Rieu, 2008). He was a choirboy and used to sing many midnight masses and, therefore, the songs could remind him of the past years (Mulder, 2010).
In 1999, Andre brought out an album known as “100 years of Strauss” (Rieu, 2008). The album was marking the 100th anniversary of Johann Strauss’ death(Keith, 2012). Andre and his orchestra then took a leave of the Millineum with an album known as the “Celebrated” (Rieu, 2008). Andre had been composing all his life, and as a child, he could try to invent interesting melodies.
The following year, they constructed their recording studio, and this allowed them to produce videos, CDs, and DVDs by themselves (Rieu, 2008). The first product they made in their studio was successful(DeNora, 2012). In 2004, Andre gave a spectacular concert in the Parkstad Limburg Stadium in Kerkrade, where there was eighteen thousand audience present (Rieu, 2008).
The performance resulted in an album known as “Flying Dutchman.” In July 2006, Andre Rieu opened a new office in New York (Keith, 2012). In the same year, there was a recording of fabulous special on the square in front of Schonbrunn Palace, which turned out to be the biggest production that had been undertaken(DeNora, 2012).
In October 2008, Andre became the first artist in history, having nine DVDs in the top ten (Rieu, 2008). In December of the same year, Andre Rieu performed at the Rodgers Centre in Toronto, Canada, which is the largest indoor stadium worldwide(Mulder, 2010). Andre set a new record in Australia in March 2008, when a million items were sold.
In March the same year, Andre and Johann Strauss Orchestra were awarded the Golden Medal of Honor by Mayor Gerd Leers of Maastricht. Keith (2012) says that in 2009, Andre rose to two places to number six in the Billboard chart for best-selling tours worldwide. He was also the best-selling classical artist of the year in America(DeNora, 2012).
Andre received several honors, such as a multi-platinum award and European culture prize, for bringing so many people together. Throughout his career, Andre faced many problems. Andre had to cancel all the concerts due to illness, particularly in August 2010(Garvin, 2012). This was a real crisis. Due to bad weather, Andre had difficulties in traveling (DeNora, 2012).
Andre had an effect on the people and the entire world (Rieu, 2008). His musical performance brought so many people together. He was awarded several honors for this great job. Through this, people could interact and share their ideas, hence promoting unity (Mulder, 2010). He also played concerts that concerned the world such as global warming, which enlightened people on the need to conserve the environment.
Andre was optimistic, and whenever he imagined something, he had to make it happen(Garvin, 2012). Due to his optimism, they could still build some two castles after the scrapped fire hazard one. Garvin (2012) says that Andre was a hard working person. Alongside his music, he also engaged in other activities such as building projects and new business, and he could frequently appear in public.
Due to his hard work, he managed to build the third castle, even after the collapse of the first two. Andre used to travel all over the world most of his time and had less time to spend with his family(DeNora, 2012). Garvin (2012) confirms that the performance of Gold and Silver Waltz at the University changed the life and career of Andre Rieu. Andre was encouraged by the audience and decided to follow the waltz form.
The illness that befell Andre changed his life since he had to cancel all other businesses and concentrate on music only(DeNora, 2012). In conclusion, the life of Andre Rieu is motivative especially to the violinist and even the audience. Andre developed an interest in violin at the age of five years he had started learning.
In his life he had he work very hard despite the challenges receiving many awards. His qualities of hard work and optimism encourage people to achieve their goals.
References
DeNora, T. (2012). Resounding the great divide: Theorizing music in everyday life at the end of life. Mortality, 17 (2), 92-105.
Garvin, K. (2012). The Crossover Conflict: Creating a Framework for Combining Classical and Popular Music in the 21st Century.
Keith, S. (2012). ‘Like him or loathe him’: critical reactions to André Rieu in Australia. Perfect Beat, 13 (1), 7-27.
Mulder, J. (2010). The Loudspeaker as Musical Instrument.In Proceedings of the Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME).
Rieu, M. (2008).Andre Rieu: My Music, My Life: How It All Began. SBS.