Marcel Alfred Quinet (6 July 1915 – 16 December 1986) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

composer and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

. He studied at the

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. ...

Conservatory briefly and then the

Brussels Conservatory The Royal Conservatory of Brussels (french: Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel) is a historic conservatory in Brussels, Belgium. Starting its activities in 1813, it received its official name in 1832. Provid ...

, where he obtained prizes for harmony in 1936, counterpoint in 1937, fugue in 1938, and a higher piano diploma in 1943. Among his teachers at the Conservatory were

Raymond Moulaert Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

and Léon Jongen. A continued his studies with

Jean Absil Jean Absil (23 October 1893 – 2 February 1974) was a Belgian composer, organist, and professor at the Brussels Conservatoire. Biography Absil was born in Bonsecours, Hainaut, Belgium. His teacher there was Alphonse Oeyen, organist at the basi ...

, and won the Belgian

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 ...

in 1945 for his cantata ''La vague et le sillon''. In 1946 he was awarded the Agniez Prize for his orchestral ''Divertissement''. In 1943 he became the head of the piano faculty at the Brussels Conservatory where he also taught harmony and fugue. Among his pupils there was

Paul Danblon Paul Danblon (25 July 1931 – 8 February 2018) was a Belgian composer, opera director and administrator, and journalist. He was one of the pioneers of scientific journalism on RTBF (Radio télévision belge de la communauté française). In 19 ...

. In 1956 he was appointed professor at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth. In 1957 he won second prize in the

Queen Elisabeth Music Competition The Queen Elisabeth Competition ( nl, Koningin Elisabethwedstrijd, french: Concours musical international Reine Élisabeth) is an international competition for career-starting musicians held in City of Brussels, Brussels. The competition is n ...

and his ''Piano Concerto no.1'' was used as a test piece in the 1964 session of the same contest. In 1976 he was elected a member of the

Royal Academy of Belgium The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB) is a non-governmental association which promotes and organises science and the arts in Belgium by coordinating the national and international activities of its constituent academies s ...

. Quinet's music is very similar in style to

Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''N ...

and is distinguished by formal clarity and the absence of lyrical effusion. His earlier works were more closely related to Absil's influence, but by the early 1950s his work began to display a more individual style as in ''Three Orchestral Pieces'' (1951), which is more reminiscent of French music with orchestration akin to Bartók. Quinet often used established models, such as the

passacaglia The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often based on a bass-ostinato and written in triple metre. Origin The ter ...

or old dance forms. For example, his orchestral ''Variations'' are cast as a Baroque

suite Suite may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Suite (music), a set of musical pieces considered as one composition ** Suite (Bach), a list of suites composed by J. S. Bach ** Suite (Cassadó), a mid-1920s composition by Gaspar Cassadó ** ''Suite' ...

, and the

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

''La nef des fous'' is built as a

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning co ...

with a rapid principal theme alternating with slow, expressive passages. His music grew from polytonality to atonality but always remained clear in timbre and texture. In addition to numerous orchestral works, chamber music, two ballets, and some choral works, Quinet wrote one

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

, ''Les Deux bavards'', which premiered in 1966.

Sources

* Henri Vanhulst. The ''

New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'', edited by Stanley Sadie (1992), and
Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel
now houses most works and manuscripts of Quinet, after the bankruptcy of CeBeDeM in 2015. 1915 births 1986 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century classical pianists Belgian classical composers Belgian classical pianists Belgian male classical composers Belgian opera composers Male opera composers Prix de Rome (Belgium) winners Male classical pianists 20th-century Belgian male musicians {{Belgium-composer-stub