François-Auguste Gevaert photo c1896 - IMSLP

François-Auguste Gevaert (31 July 1828 in

Huysse Huise is a village and ''deelgemeente'' (sub-municipality) on a hill within the municipality of Kruisem, part of the province of East Flanders in Belgium. History It was mentioned in an 877 charter (granting permission to build a church for the ...

, near Oudenaarde – 24 December 1908 in Brussels) was a Belgian musicologist and composer.N. Slonimsky, Ed., ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', 8th ed., Schirmer Books, NY

Life

His father was a baker, and he was intended for the same profession, but better counsels prevailed and he was permitted to study music. He was sent in 1841 to the

Ghent Conservatory The Royal Conservatory of Ghent ( Dutch: Koninklijk Conservatorium Gent) is a royally chartered musical institution. It is now a part of the University College Ghent. History The Royal Conservatory of Ghent is a royally chartered musical institut ...

, where he studied under Édouard de Sommere and

Martin-Joseph Mengal Martin-Joseph Mengal (27 January 1784 - 4 July 1851) was a Belgian composer and teacher. Mengal came from a musical family and received horn and violin lessons as a child, and by the age of 13 played first horn at the Ghent opera. From 1804 Meng ...

. Then he was appointed organist of the

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church in that city. Soon Gevaert's compositions attracted attention, and he won the Belgian Prix de Rome which entitled him to two years' travel. The journey was postponed during the production of his first opera and other works. He finally embarked on it in 1849. After a short stay in Paris he went to Spain, and subsequently to Italy. In 1867 Gevaert, having returned to Paris, became "Chef de Chant" at the Academie de Musique there, in succession to the popular operatic composer Fromental Halévy. Four years later, he was appointed head of the Brussels Conservatoire. In that role, he "exerted a far-reaching influence through his historical concerts, producing works of all nations and periods." Though during his lifetime Gevaert's own music enjoyed considerable success in Belgium (it included no fewer than a dozen operas, two of which were ''Quentin Durward'' and ''Le Capitaine Henriot''), it is now forgotten, save for some of his choral pieces, which have recently been issued on CD by the Fuga Libera label. Nowadays he is mostly remembered, even in his native land, less as a composer than as a teacher, historian, and lecturer. His many prose writings include a ''Treatise on Instrumentation'' (still sometimes used today), a book on harmony, and a ''Vade Mecum'' for organists. Notable students of Gevaert included Alfred Wotquenne, who is best known for having provided the first thorough listing of

C.P.E. Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...

's compositions, whilst Gevaert's daughter Jacqueline Marthe married the singer and art historian Hippolyte Fierens-Gevaert.

Honours

* 1881: Grand Officier in the

Order of Leopold Order of Leopold may refer to: * Order of Leopold (Austria), founded in 1808 by emperor Francis I of Austria and discontinued in 1918 * Order of Leopold (Belgium), founded in 1832 by king Leopold I of Belgium * Order of Leopold II, founded in Congo ...

. * 1896: Grand Cordon in the

.Laatste Nieuws (Het) 17-05-1896

Selected works

* Te Deum (1843) * Ouverture ''Flandre au lion'' (1848) * Fantasia sobre motivos españoles (1850) * Requiem (1853) *

Vers l'avenir ''Vers l'avenir'' (, "Towards the future"), less commonly known by its Dutch title ''Naar wijd en zijd'', is a Belgian nationalist song which was also the national anthem of the Congo Free State. Upon the annexation of the Congo Free State as a ...

(1905) * Grand' Messe de Noël ''Puer Natus est Nobis'' (1907) * Quartet for clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano Operas *Georgette, ou le moulin de Fontenoy (1853) * Le billet de Marguerite (1854) * Les lavandières de Santarem (1855) * Quentin Durward (1858, libretto by Michel Carré and Eugène Cormon after Walter Scott * Le diable au moulin (1859) * La Château Trompette (1860) * Le Capitaine Henriot (1864) Secular Cantatas * België (1847) * Le roi Léar (1847) * Évocation patriotique (1856) * De nationale verjaerdag (1857) * Le retour de l'armée (1859) * Jacob van Artevelde (1864)

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gevaert, Francois-Auguste 1828 births 1908 deaths 19th-century classical composers 20th-century classical composers Belgian classical composers Belgian male classical composers Romantic composers Belgian opera composers Male opera composers Belgian music educators Prix de Rome (Belgium) winners People from Oudenaarde Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) 20th-century Belgian male musicians 19th-century Belgian male musicians