- published: 13 May 2014
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Rijen is the largest place in the Dutch municipality of Gilze en Rijen. The city hall is located here. Rijen is cituated north of the A58, between Breda and Tilburg. Surrounding places are: Dorst, Dongen and Oosterhout. As of 2011 Rijen has over 16,000 inhabitants.
Rijen has been a hamlet of Gilze for years, which belonged to the Barony of Breda. In 1464 a chapel was added to this hamlet and was raised to a independent parish. Rijen stayed smaller than Gilze for a long time. In the period of 1831-1838, during the Belgian Revolution, many Dutch soldiers were encamped at Rijen. A few years later, in 1863, the Gilze-Rijen station was opened. This gave the opportunity for the industry to grow. Especially the leather industry grew very fast and the town with it. During the second World War , the existing town hall in Gilze was destroyed and rebuilt in the now bigger Rijen.
Gilze-Rijen railway station is located at the south of Rijen, trains in the directions of Breda, Tilburg, 's-Hertogenbosch and Utrecht leave here. Train services are done by Nederlandse Spoorwegen. Busses leave from this station as well too: Gilze, Tilburg, Breda, Oosterhout and Dongen. Bus services are operated by Veolia Transport Nederland.
Henri Tomasi (August 17, 1901 – January 13, 1971) was a French classical composer and conductor.
Henri Tomasi was born in a working class neighborhood of Marseille, France, on August 17, 1901. His father Xavier Tomasi and mother Josephine Vincensi were originally from La Casinca, Corsica. At the age of five, the family moved to Mazarques, France where Xavier Tomasi worked as a postal worker and enrolled his son in music theory lessons. At the age of seven, Tomasi entered the Conservatoire de Musique de Marseille. Pressured by his father, he played for upper-class families, where he felt "humiliated to be on show like a trained animal." In 1913, the family moved back to Marseille. Tomasi had dreams of becoming a sailor and skipped many of his music classes. During the summer, he stayed with his grandmother in Corsica and learned traditional Corsican songs. In 1916, he won first prize in harmony, along with his friend Zino Francescatti, the celebrated violinist. World War I delayed his entrance into the Paris Conservatoire, so he played piano in Marseille to earn money. He performed in diverse venues such as upscale hotels, restaurants, brothels, and movie houses. His gift for composition was developed during this time as he improvised at the keyboard. The early Charlie Chaplin films also intrigued him.