About Study Association Hucbald

In 1941, a group of musicology students, including Hélène Nolthenius (1920-2000) and Nancy van der Elst (1919-2017), decided to found a fraternity. They named it after the monk Pseudo-Hucbald of St. Amand (c. 850-930, unfortunately Mrs. van der Elst could not tell us what the meaning of that ‘Pseudo’ was, too), who produced some of the earliest known music-theoretical writings from the Low Countries, and therefore was found to be a suitable namesake for the association.

During the first years, the association was active underground, since the German occupier had imposed a ban on associations that were not affiliated with the NSB. At fixed times, members met at other members’ homes to discuss music history (Nancy van der Elst described them as “conferences”), to compose, or to make music together. In the first years, the association made a permanent contribution to the Utrecht Bach Cantata service, established by Hans Brandts Buys, who was later the founder of the Utrecht Student Choir and Orchestra (USKO) and the Leidsche Collegium Musicum in Leiden.

After lectures, the students sang polyphony and Gregorian chant among themselves, and fraternity meetings were organized once a month. The students had a division of tasks, including reading the latest books and articles and discussing them with each other. Hélène Nolthenius wrote the text for an official Hucbald motet that was provided with music by Nancy van der Elst. The cantus firmus consisted of the solmization motif ut-la-sol-mi-la-ut-si-la (“Hucbald Gloria Musica”). This is provided as an embed on the bottom of this page.

In 2016, the association celebrated its fifteenth anniversary. This year, two Hucbald prominent figures, Rhodan ten Kleij and Tijsjoris Groot, wrote a new song for the association (“De Entiteit”). Previous anniversary songs were written by Leo Samama. For the tenth anniversary he made an arrangement of Mahler's first symphony.

Over the years, Study Association Hucbald has developed into a modern study association. Today, Hucbald organizes open stages, lectures, a company day, a symposium, concert visits, parties, drinks, a study trip, a family day, excursions, introductions, workshops and a memorial concert. The association also publishes a digital newsletter and Study Association Hucbald handles book sales for musicology students. Hucbald is a sister organisation of A-Eskwadraat (mathematics, physics and computer science), Alias (language and cultural studies) and FUF (philosophy).