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UFS honours Prof Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, co-composer of South Africa’s revised national anthem

21 August 2025 | Story Tshepo Tsotetsi | Photo Stephen Collett

The Odeion School of Music at the University of the Free State (UFS) Bloemfontein Campus recently hosted a tribute concert in honour of one of South Africa’s most celebrated composers, Prof Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, one of the key figures in composing and arranging South Africa’s revised national anthem between 1995 and 1997.

The event, held on 20 August 2025, combined celebration and preservation as Prof Zaidel-Rudolph’s complete archive of over 80 compositions across various genres was officially handed over to the school.

Recognised as a pioneer in the country’s musical and academic life, she holds the distinction of being the first woman in South Africa to obtain a doctorate in music composition, awarded in 1979 by the University of Pretoria. Her studies later took her to the Royal College of Music in London and to Hamburg, Germany, where she worked under the legendary György Ligeti, whose influence continues to resonate in her music. With more than 80 compositions across diverse genres, Prof Zaidel-Rudolph’s career reflects a rare balance of daring creativity, refined craft, and deep cultural rootedness.

Her legacy reaches even further into the worlds of music and history – she was one of the key composers of the revised South African National Anthem between 1995 and 1997, at the request of President Nelson Mandela, and she received the Order of Ikhamanga (Bronze) from President Thabo Mbeki in 2004 for her contribution to the arts. The tribute at the UFS therefore recognised both a towering figure in music and a custodian of South Africa’s cultural memory.

“Today we gather here to recognise a living legend, and to honour a life steeped in music, in meaning, and in mentorship,” said Prof Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation at the UFS, who officially welcomed guests and received the collection on behalf of the university. “Her compositions have shaped our national identity – from the concert stage to the anthem we sing. We celebrate a woman of many facets – a composer, educator, pioneer, and a friend of the UFS.”

A legacy entrusted to the future

Prof Alexander Johnson, Director of the UFS International Institute of the Arts and an accomplished composer of international repute, helped secure this priceless collection for the UFS. It includes manuscripts, personal correspondence, rare handbooks, journals, and artefacts that will now be digitised and catalogued for future generations of scholars and performers.

“This is nothing less than a national treasure,” said Dr Jan Beukes, Head of the Odeion School of Music. He described the handover as a moment of profound significance, not only for the university but also for South Africa’s cultural landscape. “To be entrusted with such a legacy is an immense privilege. As custodians, we will safeguard it and ensure that students at undergraduate and postgraduate level have access to an extraordinary field of research possibilities.”

Prof Reddy added: “Prof Zaidel-Rudolph’s archive is not just a donation – it is a legacy of knowledge, creativity, and cultural memory. Your voice as composer will remain bold, intricate, and unmistakably your own as we treasure your gifts. It will serve as a living resource for students, scholars and performers. Your archive will fuel research, ignite performance and stimulate the imagination for generations to come.”

For the university, the archive represents more than shelves of manuscripts. It offers young musicians and researchers direct access to the creative process of one of the country’s foremost composers, while preserving a cultural inheritance that belongs to the nation as a whole.

“Your archive will provide new impetus to the UFS aspiration as we create responsible societal futures,” Prof Reddy said. “Without the arts and music, such aspirations will be poorer. We accept with huge gratitude your bequest, as it will also help us collectively to shape a more humane, creative, and inclusive future.”

Prof Zaidel-Rudolph said the occasion carried deep personal meaning. “I could not think of a more fitting repository for my music material than the University of the Free State,” she said, adding that it warmed her heart to know her work would be carefully respected and presented. She emphasised her hope that the archive would inspire students, researchers, and music-lovers for years to come. The UFS’s Archive for Contemporary Affairs will have oversight of the collection.

Her gratitude was underscored by a broader reflection: “It fills me with a sense of incredible gratitude that there is an institute that is sufficiently committed to look after the music of a South African composer, to curate it, look after it, promote it, and let it be there for others.”

The tribute concert also featured the world première of her newest composition, ‘Unications for String Quartet’. Prof Zaidel-Rudolph explained that the work was inspired by a yearning for harmony in an often-divided world. “At my age and stage, having lived a long life so far, thank God, my sense is that people need to be more loving and unified, the sisterhood and brotherhood of nations. I hoped this work would give a sense of unity among performers and convey that unity to audiences.”

The première was equally special for the musicians. Violinist Samantha Durrant of the Odeion String Quartet said the ensemble felt privileged to work closely with the composer. “We were extraordinarily lucky to really get into this work and understand her music as best as possible,” she said. “Prof Rudolph gave us her time, her enthusiasm, her precision, and that guidance was invaluable.”

Performing her music also carried personal resonance. “It brings us so much joy to play music written by a woman, for women,” Durrant said. “We love Mozart, Beethoven, all the greats, but it is wonderful to reflect on the fact that we have extraordinary composers in this country, writing music of equal brilliance.”

The programme included performances by Odeion lecturers Nicolene Gibbons and Nina Phillips, who presented a selection of Prof Zaidel-Rudolph’s piano works. Together with the quartet’s première, the concert not only celebrated the composer’s past achievements but also affirmed her continuing influence.

“Prof Zaidel-Rudolph’s music, her legacy, and her generosity will forever be part of the UFS story in the years to come,” Prof Reddy concluded.

By entrusting her archive to the UFS, Prof Zaidel-Rudolph has ensured that her life’s work will live on in both performance and scholarship.

News Archive

“To forgive is not an obligation. It’s a choice.” – Prof Minow during Reconciliation Lecture

2014-03-05

“To forgive is not an obligation. It’s a choice.” – Prof Minow during the Third Annual Reconciliation Lecture entitled Forgiveness, Law and Justice.
Photo: Johan Roux

No one could have anticipated the atmosphere in which Prof Martha Minow would visit the Bloemfontein Campus. And no one could have predicted how apt the timing of her message would be. As this formidable Dean of Harvard University’s Law School stepped behind the podium, a latent tension edged through the crowded audience.

“The issue of getting along after conflict is urgent.”

With these few words, Prof Minow exposed the essence of not only her lecture, but also the central concern of the entire university community.

As an expert on issues surrounding racial justice, Prof Minow has worked across the globe in post-conflict societies. How can we prevent atrocities from happening? she asked. Her answer was an honest, “I don’t know.” What she is certain of, on the other hand, is that the usual practice of either silence or retribution does not work. “I think that silence produces rage – understandably – and retribution produces the cycle of violence. Rather than ignoring what happens, rather than retribution, it would be good to reach for something more.” This is where reconciliation comes in.

Prof Minow put forward the idea that forgiveness should accompany reconciliation efforts. She defined forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to forego rightful grounds of resentment towards those who have committed a wrong. “To forgive then, in this definition, is not an obligation. It’s a choice. And it’s held by the one who was harmed,” she explained.

Letting go of resentment cannot be forced – not even by the law. What the law can do, though, is either to encourage or discourage forgiveness. Prof Minow showed how the law can construct adversarial processes that render forgiveness less likely, when indeed its intention was the opposite. “Or, law can give people chances to meet together in spaces where they may apologise and they may forgive,” she continued. This point introduced some surprising revelations about our Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

Indeed, studies do report ambivalence, disappointment and mixed views about the TRC. Whatever our views are on its success, Prof Minow reported that people across the world wonder how South African did it. “It may not work entirely inside the country; outside the country it’s had a huge effect. It’s a touchstone for transitional justice.”

The TRC “seems to have coincided with, and maybe contributed to, the relatively peaceful political transition to democracy that is, frankly, an absolute miracle.” What came as a surprise to many is this: the fact that the TRC has affected transitional justice efforts in forty jurisdictions, including Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and Liberia. It has even inspired the creation of a TRC in Greensborough, North Carolina, in the United States.

There are no blueprints for solving conflict, though. “But the possibility of something other than criminal trials, something other than war, something other than silence – that’s why the TRC, I think, has been such an exemplar to the world,” she commended.

Court decision cannot rebuild a society, though. Only individuals can forgive. Only individuals can start with purposeful, daily decisions to forgive and forge a common future. Forgiveness is rather like kindness, she suggested. It’s a resource without limits. It’s not scarce like water or money. It’s within our reach. But if it’s forced, it’s not forgiveness.

“It is good,” Prof Minow warned, “to be cautious about the use of law to deliberately shape or manipulate the feelings of any individual. But it is no less important to admit that law does affect human beings, not just in its results, but in its process.” And then we must take responsibility for how we use that law.

“A government can judge, but only people can forgive.” As Prof Minow’s words lingered, the air suddenly seemed a bit more buoyant.

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