Coenraad Lodewijk Walther Boer

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameCoenraad Lodewijk•Walther Boer
Used nameCoenraad Lodewijk•Walther Boer
Born2 August 1891 in Den Haag (The Hague), Zuid-Holland (NED)
Died15 March 1984 in Lochem, Gelderland (NED)
NOC Netherlands

Biography

Coenraad Walther Boer was a music teacher and conductor. He was not related to the architect Johannes Albertus Boer, who took part in the 1936 art competitions. Born Coenraad Lodewijk Boer, he was allowed by Royal Decree to add his mother’s maiden name, Walther, to his name. He studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music, particularly excelling in cello playing. In the following years, he worked as cello player in Nice and Riga. During World War I, he had to return to the Netherlands and in 1919 became director of the “Concertvereeniging Haarlem’s Muziekkorps”. In the same year, he took up an appointment as a cello teacher at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, a position he held until 1945. Walther Boer was appointed director of the Royal Military Band in 1920 and arranged many pieces of classical music for military bands.

In his function, he was promoted to captain of the Grenadiers and was appointed Knight in the order of Oranje Nassau. In World War II, he replaced his Jewish predecessor as director of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. In 1942, he was taken prisoner by the Germans and was interned in the POW camp Stanislau in Poland, now Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine. There he kept up the morale of the inmates by supporting musical activities. After World War II, he again became director of the Royal Military Band and retired in 1963 with the rank of Brigadier general. From 1954, he also conducted orchestras such as the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1932 Summer Olympics Art Competitions NED Coenraad Lodewijk Walther Boer
Music, Open (Olympic) AC