Jan Gerard Palm

Jan Gerard Palm (2 June 1831 – 13 December 1906) was a 19th-century composer. Palm is often referred to as the "father of Curaçao's classical music".

Biography

Born in Curaçao, Palm had directed several music ensembles by a relatively young age. In 1859, he was appointed music director of the citizen's guard orchestra in Curaçao. Palm played several musical instruments such as piano, organ, lute, clarinet, flute and mandolin. As an organist, Palm played for many years in the Jewish synagogue Emanu-El and Mikvé Israel, the Protestant Fort Church and the Lodge Igualdad in Curaçao. He was also a regular contributor to the widely read and influential periodical Notas y Letras (Notes and Letters). This periodical was issued in Curaçao in the period 1886–1888, with numerous subscribers throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

When Palm died at the age of 75, on 13 December 1906, gifted musicians and composers of the Palm family such as Rudolph Palm (1880–1950), John Palm (1885–1925), Toni Palm (1885–1963) and Jacobo Palm (1887–1982) followed in the footsteps set by their maestro and grandfather and further passed this tradition on to their own descendants such as Albert Palm (1903–1958), Edgar Palm (1905–1998) and Robert Rojer (1939).