Julius Röntgen jr.

• Dutch violinist and music teacher (Amsterdam, 20 May 1881 – ’s Hertogenbosch, 25 January 1951).
• Eldest son of Julius Röntgen sr. And the Swedish violinist Amanda Maier.
• 1910, marriage to Norwegian-born Margaret Otter.

Julius Röntgen jr. received his first music lessons from his mother. Within his family it was obvious that he too would become a musician. He studied with the violinist Joseph Cramer in Amsterdam and after that with Hans Sitt in Leipzig. After completing military service as a sergeant with the 7th Regiment Infantry in 1900 he started studying at the Königlichen Hochschule für Musik in Berlin with the famous violinist Joseph Joachim. From 1904 until 1907 he was the leader of the city orchestras of Duisburg and Düsseldorf.

In 1907 he was invited by the American violinist Franz Kneisel to become 2nd violinist in his New York based string quartet, with which he toured the United States and Canada, playing his grandfather Engelbert Röntgen’s Stradivarius. In addition he taught at the Walter Damrosch Music Institute in New York.

During a mountain trip in Hardanger (Norway) which he went on together with his father and brother Engelbert in the summer of 1908, he met Norwegian Margaret Otter, who, the day before, had climbed the Store Skagastølstind (the Norwegian Matterhorn) as the second woman ever to do so. They were married on 18 June 1910 in her birthplace Moss on the Oslofjord and on 20 April 1911 their daughter Agnes was born in New York.

In 1912 he returned to Holland where he became head teacher at the music school in Rotterdam. This is where his son Frithjof and daughter Ingrid were born. In 1918 he was appointed as head teacher at the conservatory in Amsterdam, where he stayed until his retirement in 1945. In Holland, furthermore, he performed for many years as a violinist in the trio Röntgen-Verhey-Mossel and in the Holland String Quartet conducted by Herman Leydensdorff. Between times, he would make European concert trips with the Röntgen Trio (Julius sr. piano, Julius jr. violin and Engelbert cello) and taught a number of private pupils.

Julius jr. as well as his wife Margaret were passionate rock climbers and made numerous trips in Norway and Switzerland. They took up residence in Bilthoven in 1920 and both are buried there.

Julius Röntgen jr.’s reputation was excellent, both as a professional and as a teacher. During the Winter Famine of 1944-45, when all transport had come to a standstill, he would walk from Bilthoven to the Conservatory in Amsterdam and back several times a week to ensure the continuity of his work.