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 languag ...

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, ja ...

. He studied at the Mons Conservatory briefly and then the Brussels Conservatory, 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 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 basil ...

, 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. 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 Brussels. The competition is named after Queen ...

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. 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 ' ...

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 t ...

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

''La nef des fous'' is built as a symphony 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 libr ...

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

Sources

* Henri Vanhulst. The '' New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', 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