Émile Louis Victor Mathieu (

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

, 18 October 1844 –

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

, 20 August 1932) was a Belgian music teacher and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

of classical music. Emile Mathieu Anon 1907

Mathieu was born into a musical family: his father was the director of a theatre in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

and a singer, while is mother taught singing at the Académie des Beaux-Arts of

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

. He studied at the Conservatory of Brussels and later became a teacher of piano and harmony at the conservatory of Leuven. In 1867 Mathieu won a second prize in the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

contest with his

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

''Torquato Tasso’s dood''. He won first place in the same contest in 1871 and again in 1873. Between 1873 and 1875 he lived in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he conducted the orchestra of the ''

Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet () is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a ''châtelet'', a ...

''. Afterwards, he returned to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, where he held a position as accompanist at the Theatre Royal of LA Monnaie. He headed the Leuven Conservatory (which today is called ''SLAC'') from 1881, and succeeded Adolphe Samuel as director of the Ghent Conservatory from 1898 to 1924. He was also a member of the Académie Royale de Belgique. His compositions include 7

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s, 3

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

s, concertos for piano and violin, a ''Te Deum'' and

choral A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

works.''The History of Music'' by Waldo S. Pratt Most of his operas used librettos of his own writing. His best known work today is ''"Freyhir"'', an hour-long choral tone poem written in 1883 on the theme of deforestation around

Ardennes The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

where the composer grew up. Freyhir is the legendary name of the forest.Le Conservatoire royal de musique de Gand: Étude sur son histoire ... Charles Bergmans - 1901 Freyhir, c'est le nom légendaire de la forêt d'Andenne. C'est elle que M. Emile Mathieu, poète et musicien, a chantée, comme il avait chanté déjà le

Hoyoux The Hoyoux () is a river of Belgium, a right tributary of the Meuse. It flows for through the province of Liège in the northern-central part of the country. It flows into the Meuse in Huy Huy ( ; ; ) is a city and municipality of Walloni ...

, poursuivant ainsi la composition d'une sorte de cycle, consacré tout ..

Recordings

* ''Freyhir.'' Patrick Delcour, Marc Laho, Christine Solhosse, Véronique Solhosse, Chœur symphonique de Namur, Brussels Choral Society, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège et de la Communauté Wallonie-Bruxelles / Jean-Pierre Haeck. Cypres

Notes

Belgian composers Belgian male composers Belgian male musicians 1844 births 1932 deaths {{Belgium-composer-stub