Partner Wim Sonneveld,
Hans van der Woude
Queer Places:
De Wieger, Oude Liesselseweg 29, 5751 WN Deurne, Netherlands
La Bergerie, Chem. de la Bergerie, 06330 Roquefort-les-Pins, France
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Friso Wiegersma (Deurne, 14 October 1925 – Amsterdam, 5 June 2006) was a Dutch lyricist and painter. [1][2]
In January 2005 Wiegersma was awarded a Golden Harp for his merit for Dutch light music.
Even though Wim Sonneveld never
publicly stated that he was homosexual, he shared his life only with men,
first with
Hubert "Huub" Janssen, later with prop designer, text writer and painter
Friso Wiegersma whom he met in
1947 and who created the character Nikkelen Nelis (Nickle Nelis) for him, a
character, made from the well-known street singer from Rotterdam, named
Koperen Ko (Copper Ko).
Wiegersma was born in the house De Wieger, the fourth son of general practitioner Hendrik Wiegersma and Petronella Daniëls. His most famous brother was Pieter Wiegersma (1920-2009), glazier.
From 1941 to June 1944 he attended the School of Applied Arts in Arnhem. After the Second World War he studied art history in Amsterdam. When he saw Wim Sonneveld perform, he immediately became a fan - and fell in love with Sonneveld. He decided to be present in the front row at every performance. Because he was a striking person, this was soon noticed. After the eighth time, Sonneveld, who already had a relationship with Huub Janssen, invited him for a meeting. A kind of triangular relationship arose, with Janssen according to Wiegersma as a kind of mother-in-law. [3]
Through Sonneveld, Wiegersma soon got work as a set designer. He gave up his studies, but he could now support himself. He wrote a number of songs for Sonneveld's first solo program in 1964. After this Wiegersma wrote more lyrics, such as the song of the street singer Nikkelen Nelis, modeled after Koperen Ko ("She could not resist beckoning") and the musical De Kleine Parade. Also for others, such as Leen Jongewaard and Willy Alberti. Wiegersma used the pseudonym Hugo Verhage.
In addition, he made a number of paintings, and in 1970 he had an exhibition in New York. Wiegersma and Sonneveld meanwhile lived in Roquefort-les-Pins in the South of France. Sonneveld died of a heart attack on 8 March 1974 during a short visit to the Netherlands.
Wiegersma continued to write songs, including Telkens weer for the film Rooie Sien. He also found a new partner, the 25 years younger cabaret artist
Hans van der Woude, whom he married on 31 July 2001.
Although he saw himself mainly as a painter, he also continued to be asked as a lyricist. In 2000, his texts with their genesis were collected in the book Telkens weer het dorp, named after two of his songs: Telkens weer (performed by Willeke Alberti) and Het Dorp (by Wim Sonneveld). This latter song, a text of his under one of his pseudonyms, Hugo Verhage[4] to the music of Jean Ferrat (La montagne), is a reflection of the emotion at the reunion of deurne, battered by progress. On May 11, 2008, the path next to his parental home was officially named My Father's Garden Path.
From May 2006 there was a retrospective exhibition in Amstelveen of friso's paintings. Wiegersma died at the age of more than 80 from the consequences of lymph node cancer. From 4 November 2018 to 17 January 2019, under the title "De aanblik alleen", there was a retrospective of most of his paintings in Museum Slager in Den Bosch.
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