Note: Henderickx’ & ’s *Eroica*

A friendship through music

In December 2022, the Belgian music world was left reeling following the sudden death of Wim Henderickx. He made his mark as the composer of numerous orchestral and chamber music works, and his compositions for musical theatre were also met with international acclaim. Moreover, Henderickx was not only a leading figure as a composer, but also a role model for countless students and fellow musicians as a teacher and percussionist.

When Henderickx passed away, there were a number of nearly finished compositions on his desk. Music that simply could not be allowed to disappear. Diederik Glorieux, his musical right-hand man for almost two decades, was given the special task of preparing the works for performance. Among those many sketches was, amongst other things, a draft for a timpani concerto, intended for the percussionist and close friend Gert François and the Brussels Philharmonic. Building on those outlines and in close consultation with François and Bea Steylaerts, Henderickx’s widow, Glorieux completed the composition into the work that lies on the music stand today, entirely in the spirit of Wim.

There could be no better work to accompany the premiere of the Timpani Concerto than Beethoven’s powerful Third Symphony, a work that Henderickx admired and from which he drew constant inspiration.