Huib Deetman (1934—2003)Author(s): Eric CooperSource: Fontes Artis Musicae, Vol. 51, No. 1, Papers from the "Legacies: 500 Years of PrintedMusic" Conference, Denton, Texas, September 2001, and from the International MusicologicalSociety Conference, Louvain, 2002 (January-March 2004), pp. 135-136Published by: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres(IAML)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23510439 .

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OBITUARIES

Huib Deetman (1934-2003)

It is with deep sadness that I report the death of Huib Deetman, until 1988 Chief Music Librarian of Amsterdam Public Library. Huib was born in Malang, East Java, and attended private school there. During the war the family faced considerable pri vation, his father dying in prison in Japan. His mother, brother and sister survived and they all emigrated to Holland in 1946 to live in The Hague. In 1953 Huib went to

Leiden, where he read psychology. His chief interest, however, centred on music and he returned to The Hague to work and to study part time at the Royal School of Music. At this time he was a formative member of a circle of friends and students who wrote music and poetry under the title of "Stuart" and invited writers and mu sicians to join them in recitals. He supplemented his income by writing programme notes for the Holland Festival.

In 1966 he applied for a post in the music department at Deventer Public Library. The redoubtable Chief Librarian, Mrs A. Timmenga, recognised his abilities and his chosen career was launched. While there he became music critic for the regional newspaper where, through his praise of performances, his criticisms of repertoire earned notice among concert promoters.

In 1969 he was appointed Music Librarian in Amsterdam. He commenced the modernisation of the library system and installed a public lending music library and

discothèque. He joined national and international organisations, including LAML, and developed an interest in IASA. Over the next years he attended conferences in

Austria, Britain, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Norway and Portugal, among others. I enjoyed his valued support and advice in my role as Chairman of what was then referred to as IAML's Public Libraries Commission. He also com menced lecturing at the Frederik Muller Academy, on music librarianship, music

criticism, musical analysis, the music industry and audio-visual media. Huib Deetman, perhaps because of early experiences, was possessed of firm prin

ciples and humanitarian sensitivity. His opposition to the so-called "Berufsverbote" in the 1970s was well known in IAML. His beliefs won him many friends and some critics as well. However, he was always his "own man", and would maintain his posi tion when certain of his chosen ground. It was a conflict of opinions that caused him to leave Amsterdam in 1988.

The years that followed were full of activity during which he took up consultan cies in Indonesia, Thailand, Africa and the Philippines, assisting in building modern

library systems and sound archives using computer technology wherever possible.

Through the Internet he maintained contacts with librarians and other friends

throughout the world. His international e-mail correspondence up until his death

was colossal. His involvement with Indische Gemeenschap (Dutch East Indies im

migrants post World War II) made great demands on time that he was only too will

ing to give. Here again, as in all areas of his life, he was fearless in pursuing what he

saw as right and just. He could be a formidable adversary, yet always a great ally and friend. This I know, as I experienced these qualities personally.

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136 FONTES ARTIS MUSICAE 51/1

Huib Deetman was a man of many parts: a fine musician, music critic, broad

caster, photographer, writer of plays, children's books and poetry (Sonnetti

Yogyasiensis, written in Indonesia during a consultancy at the School of Art, had a

special significance for him). He loved the pleasures of the table, for he was a fine cook and was happy in the company of friends enjoying his creations. He was a true bon vivant yet a quiet polymath. In 2003 he made his last trip to Java and Bali, the

country of his birth and which he loved so much, with his wife and family. It was the land from which so much of his inspiration and energy came.

I first met Huib in 1965 when, at the invitation of his then Chief, Mrs Timmenga, Bill Bryant and I travelled to Deventer to see the new public library and meet its

new, young, music librarian. We were impressed on both counts and for me it began a wonderful association that was to last nearly forty years. I have lost a great and true friend.

He died as he had lived—in harness. On Sunday 9 November 2003, after a con cert with his own orchestra, he collapsed and died in the artists' room surrounded

by his wife and family. He leaves his wife Sarah-Joan, eldest son Ernst Jan and his wife Nadja, grandson Philip, and younger son Camiel and his wife Iris.

Eric Cooper (formerly Audio Visual Officer, London Borough of Enfield Libraries)

Leslie Troutman*

Leslie Ann Troutman passed away on 18 May 2003. She was 45 years old. Leslie was born and grew up in Lambertville, Michigan, just north of Toledo. She adopted the trombone as her musical instrument and received the last year of her high school education at the Interlochen Arts Academy. She received her Bachelors in music history from Bowling Green State University and her Masters in musicology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she also began to develop her interest in librarianship. Many people probably know that to many of her friends Leslie was affectionately known as "Trout", so it is only fitting that Trout's first li

brary job was as a student assistant in the BASS library at UNC. But let me dispel any troubling visions you may have of Leslie perusing the latest issue of Field and Stream: the BASS library was home to the Business And Social Sciences collection. In 1982, Leslie and husband Mike Vaillancourt left Chapel Hill for the University of

Illinois, where in 1986 Leslie received her MS in Library and Information Science. Leslie was in Vienna with Mike on a Fulbright in 1987 when she was called back to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to become the Music User Services Coordinator at the Music Library, the position she held for the rest of her life.

*This text is an edited version of the tribute paid to Leslie Troutman at the Washington meeting of

the Music Library Association in February 2004. Although it consequently emphasises Leslie's profes sional activities within MLA, many within IAML will remember Leslie's contribution to this organisation too. She is, moreover, very much missed as long-time Reviews Editor for Fontes. - Ed.

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