André Rieu Pays Tribute to The Love of His Life

André Rieu Pays Tribute to The Love of His Life

"Marjorie is my silent force"

The Telegraaf, By Wilma Nanninga:

This is a memorable interview. Marjorie, a cheery Limburger with a head full of curls, slides in cheerfully next to us as a surprise. She is always out of the limelight and does not want to be photographed. She handed me a picture of the both of them from an earlier time; l love it when I can just happily move about, rather than being Mrs. Rieu. I even travel under my maiden name. I would like to remain a mystery.

André looks at her lovingly, "Marjorie made certain that I could become the waltz king. She has since then freed me from Beethoven. And now it's wonderful for me to know that she is in the office, or my studio. Her objectivity and yet playful, flexible intellect is my compass in the sometimes turbulent times of the business. She guards me from mistakes, differentiates, thinks along and was for instance my pillar of strength when I was down for weeks with an inflamed labyrinth. We have braved many a storm together. In a Christmas movie now being filmed around André’s castle, an actor who plays André walks bleakly through a snowy alley. Until the lights come on and he is embraced by a young woman. "I studied at the Conservatory in Brussels. I lived in a gloomy little room in the back on the third floor. I did not know where my life was going, had very much the feeling that I was on a dead end street. I studied violin without enthusiasm. Very prim and proper, just like most classical music is. In a school where envy and competition reigned. No one cared. I was to the point of giving up, despite the wishes of my father, who was a concertmaster. I wanted to choose something different. And then suddenly Marjorie lit up my life. And she made me discover happy, light music. From Berlin, where her Jewish parents grew up. Actually I had an aimless life, from my birth until my meeting with Marjorie. After that, it erupted. André smiles: "I knew her a little bit from my sister Theresa’s high school class. But when she came to visit me in Brussels 37 years ago, it really happened. She did not leave. And ever since then I know that destiny takes its course. No matter what happens. Marjorie gives me courage and energy. Over and over again. Even last year when we financially wise crept through the eye of a needle, after we had traveled the entire world with those huge castle decors. That really was, looking back at it now, a little dumb. Everything was in jeopardy; I even had wanted to sell my Stradivarius. But Marjorie continued to believe in positive results. And she was right.

André Rieu (62) would be nothing without the sparkling power of his wife Marjorie. As visible as she is for him and their sons Marc and Pierre, she is as invisible to the outside world. That is why André composed a tribute to her. Together and for the first time they tell about their unique love story: "Six weeks long we wrote each other letters."

St. Nicholas Celebration: Marjorie pipes in, "I always had that cute guy André Rieu on my mind. We had met once at his sister Theresa. But he was 13 then and I 15. I remember a Sinterklaas (St.Nicholas) celebration. I celebrated that at Theresa’s, which was more enjoyable. I was an only child and there were six of them. Nothing more than a little chat is all that transpired then. But from that moment on he remained on my mind." Smilingly she says: "I was 27 and a German teacher and when I was organizing a concert for my school and thought of Theresa as a harpist. André and I met again. From that moment on and for six weeks long we wrote each other long letters. André is very romantic. The flame really intensified when I visited him. I arrived on Sunday morning with the intention of leaving again that Sunday evening. But I stayed over and spend the night, truant from work, I was really hooked. Although I am a very good girl. What in André touched you I ask Marjorie: "He was kind to someone else, I think that was it. That Sunday a16 year old fellow student from the conservatory came to him in a panic with a swollen hand. He was so kind to her, I just melted. And to be precise, a week later I told a girlfriend that I thought that what André and I had would be short and intense. It was so emotional, so much. I do not think I would have survived it otherwise. And now, look at us sitting here nearly forty years later; still beautiful!!.

André: "I will never forget that a few months later I sat on the sofa with her father. I asked him permission to marry her. And him posing the question: "So, André, can you provide for her?" I replied honestly: "Well actually it is Marjorie who is providing for me, I am still studying." Marjorie interrupts: "My father roared with laughter. My parents really liked you. And later on, you have more than made up for it. I did less and less teaching. Standing in front of a classroom was not my first love. When you started with the salon orchestra, I did translation work. And slowly, I joined the business. I love music, help with the compositions of the albums. We think and choose a lot together. André takes her hand: "As a child I dreamed that I would find a woman with whom I could do everything together." You made sure that I discovered the "Bummel Petrus" polka. When we were searching for music which the salon orchestra could play back then, we made an appeal for all the Limburgers to look for old music in their attics, but only melodies which Marjorie already knew emerged. Toselli’s serenade, lovely light music. My first "gold" record. Marjorie: "My Jewish father fled the Germans. He had experienced live in Berlin during the 20’s. And the creaking 78 rpm records from that period were the music in my youth. André is a violinist who plays the happy party songs but with the skill of a classical concert violinist. That, I think is André's secret." Marjorie is always home or in the office when the violin virtuoso is touring all over the world. "I do not like to fly" she says laughingly. "And on top of that, André does not want a wife trudging two meters behind him carrying his violin case." He adds: "That’s how the violinists in earlier times came to visit my father. A dreadful sight to behold. No, during our married life I have spent a capital on telephone costs. Because we are always in contact with each other."

Marjorie: "When André is gone for two weeks, I stay in Maastricht. If he is gone on tour for three weeks, like to Australia, then I’ll go for a week’s language course. French, Italian ..... I love languages. But then I go by train. André: "Marjorie is also the business talent here at home. Her father was a businessman and from childhood on Marjorie organized a lot. She had a library in her street and gave ballet lessons to the neighborhood children. In the beginning she even organized a scholarship for me. I had a whole stack of papers lying around and really thought it was too much of a hassle. So I’ll eat a sandwich less, I thought. Luckily Marjorie took control." The Christmas special they are making, is aptly called "Home for Christmas." André: "Universal wanted to use it for the American market for next year’s Christmas. But in the Nederland and Germany the special will be shown this December. Marjorie and I together have thought out the entire process. And so it has become a very personal story." Marjorie: "It was no small task to put a two-hour script together about something. Moreover, a waltz lasts seven minutes. But then there are also many Christmas songs in it, and they can last for up to three minutes. So we came up with our own lives and recorded it entirely here at home, in the city and the church next door to us. Our children and grandchildren can be seen. But not I, which was the agreement." André: "We have spared no expenses. Everything here was sprayed under with real snow".

The couple will spend Christmas Eve with their children and grandchildren. Painter Marc with his wife and their offspring, and Pierre, who works in the company, with his wife and children. Marjorie nods as if she already knows what André is going to say: "With the arrival of the grandchildren, we have discovered a new form of love. And I always tell them very proudly "Grandpa loves Grandma very much!!"

Thanks to Ineke for sending this and John Translating if for us