Eugeni Tozins

Eugeni Tozins (1886-1948) was a Brunanter musical composer famous in the 20th century. Of Lithuanian origin, he brought a revival of classic orchestra music in the 1920s and 1930s.

Biography
Tozins was born in Grijzestad to Annemarie van den Bergh and Tomas Jurgis Tozins. His father came from Kaunas, Lithuania around 1880 and married Annemarie in 1885. Tozins learned piano from a young age and was giving concerts by 1900, at the age of 14.

Tozins' first composition was the romantic piece Piano-Conterto 1 (1911) and he followed it with concertos 2, 3, and 4. Tozins later developed a more modern style, using a variety of non-traditional orchestra instruments, as see in his famous Wind, fire and rain of 1936. With World War II looming, Tozins and his family decided to leave Brunant, which was a very hard choice. They were in Portugal ready to leave for the United States when Nazi Germany invaded Brunant in May 1941. Tozins settled down in New York, where he would write a few more pieces. Largely unknown in the US, he found little success. He was hospitalized in 1943 after becoming sick, but when released he became much less active. In 1948 he fell ill again and died in his home on 18 August.

Personal life
Tozins was first married in June 1906 to Alexandra Kant but they divorced in 1909. In 1917 he remarried, to Isabelle Fontein. They would have two children, Peter and Hanna.