Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School

Home , Emmanuel Hiel, Jan Frans Willems, Jef van Hoof, Karel Miry

Proceedings of the Musical Association

ISSN: 0958-8442 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rrma18

Prosper Verhevden

To cite this article: Prosper Verhevden (1914) Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School, Proceedings of the Musical Association, 41:1, 17-35, DOI: 10.1093/jrma/41.1.17

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Published online: 28 Jan 2009.

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Download by: [Athabasca University] Date: 07 June 2016, At: 02:49 T. LEA SOUTHGATE, EsQ., D.C.L.,

PETER BENOIT AND THE MODERN FLEMISH SCHOOL. Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 YOUmay, perhaps, think it over-bold of me to talk tw you in your own language, which, in my mouth, will appear without its native richness, shength, and beauty. You will at once realise that you have before you a man who did not want to come and call for your attention a short time ago, but now is willii to suffer the cruel consciousness of being a poor orator, if only he succeeds, though but partially, in his attempt to give you an idea of one of the aspects of beauty in his own beloved country. A perfect command of a foreign language enables one to communicate with foreigners on all subjects of intellectual interest ; but only in one's own tongue is it possible to utter one's deepest feelings, those which lind their strongest expression in art. How much does one feel the lack of adequate words, of swiftness and ease in sentences, when wanting to speak of cool matters of reason in a foreign language! But how dreadfully helpless is one when the tenderest strings of one's heart are thrilling and, instead of being magnified by the wonderful power of the native tongue, die out in the heavy struggle between throat and lips-and mind ! It seems to need no demonstration that a man, even if well versed in the knowledge of a foreign language, will never produce literature of high value in that 18 Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. language, and that a people could never reach to a high level of civilization, if it had to get all its knowledge through a foreign language ; without the use of its own tongue for education and for art, it could not be a people for itself, it could have no national feeling. " The tongue is wholly the people"—" De taal is gansch het volk": This was a sentence commonly used by those men who tried to revive in the Flemish people, soon after 1830, the consciousness of its own being ; to awake in the people of Flanders the powerful soul which, from the early Middle Ages until the end of the 16th century, had made the Low Countries one of the brightest centres of civilization, and, up to the 18th century, had expressed itself in splendid works of art. They thought the decay of Flemish civilization in those days was not the result of material retrogression only, due to two centuries of foreign tyranny, but the result also of the contempt for the Flemish tongue shown by all the rulers, great and small, Spanish, Austrian, and French, who governed the Southern-Netherlands. The upper classes, following the example given by the Court, had learned to despise the people's language. The brief re-union of the Belgian provinces with the kingdom of the Netherlands, after 1815, could not restore to our tongue in Flanders, Brabant and Limburg, the place which it deserved. The activity shown by the Walloon provinces in the struggle against the good intentions and the many faults of King William I.'s government; the Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 predominant part taken by the Walloons, if not in the Revolution of 1830, certainly in the first government of the young Belgian kingdom ; French influence ; reaction against Orangism; and much more and worse than all this, the constant tendency among wealthy Flemish citizens to separate themselves from the common people by speaking the leading language, kept Flemish in the background. Although the Belgian Constitution guaranteed liberty of languages, practically only French was official; French reigned absolutely in administration of every degree, in law courts, in universities, and in schools. As soon as the best among the Flemings—let me use this word, which is simply the English pronunciation of the name of the inhabitants of Flanders, Vlamingen, and denoting all the Belgians speaking Flemish—as soon as the best Flemings realised that the vital interests of their race were despised by the Walloon and the French-liking Belgians, who had seized the government of the State, they warned the Flemish people as well as their rulers. Jan Frans Willems, who deserves the name of " the-father of the Flemish movement," began, in 1834, that long struggle for the rights and intellectual well-bebg of the Flemish people and for Flemish civilization, which, after eighty vears of slow but steady conquests, has culminated in the claim Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. 19 for a Flemish University. The philologists, as well as the poets and prose-writers of those days, constantly tried to awaken in the people of Flanders the memory of their former glory, wealth and art, and to arouse them to the consciousness of the reprehensible and depressed conditions from which they were now suffering. The Belgisch Museum of Willems, Snellaert and David, was a magazine devoted to the study of old literature and old folk-songs of Flanders, and of the actual state of language and art among the people. From the end of the 16th century, the southern part of the Low Countries had produced no more great authors, while literary hegemony, down from Jacob van Maerlant, the didactic poet, and from Jan van Ruysbroec, the mystic prose-writer (one of whose wonderful works recently owed its revival to Maurice Maeterlinck's splendid translation, "L'Ornement des Noces Spirituelles de Runsbroec 1'Admirable"—while since the 16th century, I say, literary hegemony had belonged to rich Flanders and Brabant, where Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels were enjoying a remarkable and always increasing prosperity. The northern part of the Low Countries, which had escaped the Spanish tyranny, was gradually growing, early after 1600. into the Dutch Republic, the rise of which was started by the emigration of a great number of learned men, artists, manufacturers and merchants, from the Flemish countries; and while the poetical genius of Joost van den Vondel (born at Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 Antwerp) raised immensely the fame and intellectual value of Holland, we had nobody but one Pater Poirters, a popular preacher, to carry on the traditions of lower class-rhetoric. Our men of 1830 were confronted by intellectual ruins, and by a miserable population without leaders or protectors. The scholars among them sought the old beauty, and were anxious to revive old traditions, while the first Flemish authors of the Belgian kingdom pointed to the glorious history of the Flemings, and were always striving for the improvement of intellectual life among them, and for the respect of the rights of their tongue. The first novel of our great Hendrik Conscience is "Het Wonderjaar," an episode of the sufferings and struggles of the Flemish people under the Spanish tyranny in 1566; it was published in 1836, and contained a proud apology for the Flemish tongue, and it is very curious to note that the author insisted especially on its fitness for music. The poets Theodoor and Jan van Ryswyck, the uncle and the father of Antwerp's late great Burgomaster, and most bright and popular speaker Jan van Ryswyck, the fertile Prudens van Duyse, and the stately Karel Ledeganck, constantly made the past glory, actual intellectual slavery, and possible splendid future of the Flemings the 20 Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. subjects of their poems. The prose-writers who joined Hendrik Conscience in working for the people, told of the people's weal and woe in their stories and novels, if they did not teach or even scoff at it when they thought it fit for their patriotic purpose. When Conscience wrote ' De Leeuw van Vlaanderen," the book by which he most deserved the significant praise that" he taught his people to read," he told with words of fire the story of the struggle of Flemish town democracy against feudal and royal French autocracy in the 13th century, and of the tremendous Flemish victory of the Battle of the Golden Spurs, fought at Kortryk in 1302, so that at the present day this book is classic in the Flemish provinces; no book is asked for so often in our public lending libraries, and every Flemish boy has entered literary or political life by reading "De Leeuw van Vlaanderen." The city of Antwerp published a splendid edition of this book two years ago, as a memorial of the centenary of Conscience's birthday, and of the gorgeous festivities which commemorated it. Throughout the whole Flemish country, every year on the 13th of July, the Battle of the Golden Spurs is commemorated by public festivities, concerts and meetings, where the aims of the Flemish movement are explained afresh. Of course now we know better than in Conscience's days the history and true significance of the Battle of the Golden Spurs, but the fact was so important at the moment of the greatest height of communal power in Flanders that we consider it AS a symbol. Popular

Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 speakers, some of them our best poets, such as Pol de Mont, the Director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, or prominent university professors such as Paul Fredericq, point to this historic event, appeal to the past as a reason for the future, show the work done since Conscience's book, and point to the great work to be done in order to raise the standard of Flemish intellectual life. Last summer, on the 13th of July, the most important part of the commemoration was the performance of Peter Benoit's "Rubens' Cantata," the real title of which is "Vlaanderen^ Kunstroem"—"The artistic fame of Flanders." On that mild July evening, 1,200 singers, supported by the orchestra and the carillon of the cathedral, and attended by thousands, performed on the Groenkerkhof, just as in 1877, when the cantata was first heard for the tricentenary of Rubens' birth, the splendid hymn of our greatest composer,, in honour of the beauty given to the world by Flanders. The very first new song which was spread among the people in the early days of the Flemish movement, and which is even now the most cherished struggle-song, was composed in 1845 by a young man twenty-two years old, named Karel Miry, on a poem of the dramatic author, Van Peene. It is a glorification of the Lion of Flanders, an affirmation of solid confidence, and an aggressive Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. 21 and threatening warning against those who try to "tame the Lion," in which, says the song, they will not succeed so long as the noble animal has claws and teeth : Zy zullen hem niet temmen, den fieren VL Leeuw Zoo lang de L. lean klauwen, Zoo lang by tanden beeft Even now there is no demonstration of Flemish life without crowds singing " De Vlaanderen's Leeuw," and I know that this real patriotic song, the " Marseillaise " of the Flemings, has had in these days a marvellous effect on the spirit of the Belgian soldiers, Flemish and Walloon, fighting for their homes, and is heard now in that last small part of our ruined country which they are defending. The promoters of the Flemish movement knew perfectly well the power and influence of song. Willems and Snellaert published a collection of old Flemish songs, many of which have preserved through the centuries their stirring qualities, and are now nearly as well known as they were some five or six centuries ago. A great help to the Flemish movement in its first period was supplied by the dramatic and choral Societies, where chiefly people of the middle and even of the lower classes were working. The artistic activity of our composers of those days was entirely devoted to cantatas, choruses, and light opera music, for there were no works of that kind with original Flemish words. Karel Miry, Gevaert, Van Herzele, and Wytsman produced remarkable Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 works on these lines, and the second of these soon proved himself a master when composing, in 1855, " De Nationale Verjaardag," on a poem of Van Duyse, and his really grand "Jacob van Artevelde," in 1863, when the statue of this Flemish hero of the 14th century was unveiled on the Fridaymarketplace at Ghent. Gevaert would have been of great significance to our people had not a long abode at Paris spoiled his native qualities and original aims; his name is well known to you all as that of a clever musicologue and a capable director of the Brussels Conservatoire, where he had, without doubt, a large influence on the development of musical activity in Belgium, even if he was lost for the Flemish cause. M. Max Rooses, the late director of the Museum Plantin at Antwerp, told me, when Gevaert died a few years ago, that he had asked the famous musicologue and conductor if he never felt a desire to compose any more. Gevaert said that indeed he liked to write music when it happened that a nice Flemish poem came before him and he could enjoy the rhythm and harmony of his native tongue ; but he would not try, after fifty years, to be a Flemish composer. The mastership Gevaert had shown in his " Jacob van Artevelde " proved to be useful for the general advancement of musical art in Flanders. You-know that in Belgium as well as 22 Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. in France every two or three years there are official competitions organized by the Government among young artists, and called "Concours de Rome." In 1846 the poet Prudens van Duyse asked Minister de Theux to offer the competitors the choice of a Flemish or of a French cantata text, as it had been a rule that only a French one was submitted to them, whether they were Flemings or Walloons. The answer was a most haughty non possumus. Only eighteen years after the Minister Alfons van den Peereboom, a man of Ypres, much devoted to Flemish art however,—he himself wrote in French his archaeological standard work "Ypriana,"—granted permission to the competitors for the musical " Prix de Rome" to work on a Flemish poem. Four of them availed themselves of this permission and won the prizes and distinctions ; on the really original, fresh, lovely and highly musical poem, "De Wind," by Emmanuel Hiel, very remarkable compositions were written by Van Eeden, Van Hoey, Waelput, and Van Gheluwe. That was a red-letter day in the history of Flemish music and of the Flemish movement. You see from this short and necessarily incomplete outline that both literature and music had their roots in our people's tongue, that they owed their features and character to our people, that they were true, sincere, earnest, and that they restored to our people the sense of beauty. I have already mentioned the name of the man who devoted his life to preaching the value of a national musical school, and Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 who, by bis numerous works of high merit, by his great example, by spoken and written word, and by his zealous work as an organizer, strove to make his fellow-countrymen accept this truth : " We can win our own independent place at the side of the great art groups in the world, only by developing and improving our own characteristic national features, and by creating a popular artistic conception." This was far from being generally admitted in 1866, when Peter Benoit won a great reputation by the first performance of his secular oratorio, "Lucifer." That he was quite right has been proved by the further growth of the Flemish musical school, and by the fact that the very same wholesome theory has been adopted by such original artists as Grieg, Smetana, Fibich, Borodin, Dvorak, Dalcroze. According to Benoit, the study of folk-song must be the basis of this national ethical doctrine. And in our country the old folk-songs have produced a revival not only literally, in the fact that people again know and sing Flemish songs, but spiritually, as in Benoit's art, by a living, and in the best sense " popular " rhythm, and by a most original and singing melody in Benoit's creations. It was very fortunate that this man, in 1867, had been appointed as the director of the Antwerp School of Music, where he carried out his views Peter Benott and the Modern Flemish School. 23 on artistic education, and where his own great work was the best commentary on his theories. He was, indeed, the right man to be the leader of an artistic movement. Born in 1834 at Harlebeke, a small and very old town between Ghent and Courtrai, on the Leie (Lys), the son of parents of a very humble condition, but with hereditary artistic abilities, he was an enthusiastic lover of his country and birthplace ; he never spoke of Harlebeke without giving way to a flood of emotion as he remembered the landscape where he first enjoyed Nature's enchantments, and he liked to tell in his "Vlaamsche Brieven" (as well as in some of his smaller works for the pianoforte, " Vertelsels en Balladen," or in a symphonic^ poem called " Harlebeka ") the romantic legends connected with the story of the first rulers of Flanders, who lived in that place. He had won the " Prix de Rome," and was travelling in Germany,— where the Director of the Domchor, at Berlin, performed an Ave Maria for eight voices just written by him,—when he addressed to the Belgian Government a paper on "The future of the Flemish musical school"; however, nobody before this time talked of an actual Flemish musical school. It was very natural that such a man should take Weber as an example to himself in his youth, and that one remarks the great love for this composer in Benoir/s " Elzenkoning," a legend in one act," the overture of- which is a most brilliant symphonic piece, much performed by all our orchestras. But when Fetis,

Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 the Director of the Brussels Conservatoire, who ruled for many years in the empire of critics, had to write about a " Salut de Noel" for choir, solo and orchestra, executed in St. Gudule's Church at Brussels in i860, he recognized that the composer possessed a tone and style of his own, and that he was able to restore a place of honour to the religious drama of the 15 th and 16th centuries. This "Salut" was the first part of a religious Tetralogy, including a Mass, a Te Deum, and a Requiem for double choir and orchestra. Edmond van der Straeten, the man to whom we owe that precious collection of studies and records on our ancient music gathered in the eight volumes of his "La Musique aux Pays-Bas avant le 19" Siecle," pointed also to the novelty and originality of conception and means of deep expression, when the latter part of the Tetralogy was heard in 1863. With this year began an enormous activity of Benoit as a composer and a director; an eight-part chorus for men's voices, " De Maaiers," had already shown how he was going to write real choral symphonies, treating the voices as instruments of an orchestra. One cannot but be struck by the frankly Flemish character of three songs he published in 1865, the first of his compositions on Flemish poems that were printed. The poems were by Emmanuel Hiel, who showed a lively imagination 24 Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. and a wonderful mastership in his rich and harmonizing poetical language. Some of the brightest and purest diamonds of the shrine of Benoifs Lieder belong to the cyclus "Liefde in bet Leven" (Love in Life), a number of poems by Hiel: "Heeft het roosje milde geuren," " Myn hart is vol verlangen," "'k Heb U Zoo lang gewacht," "Gebroken hart verlangt de rust." Hiel supplied also to Benoit the poem of Lucifer, a secular oratorio executed for the first time in 1866, which fixed Benoit's fame and caused him to be recognized as the leader and chief of a movement. The next year the Antwerp Town Council appointed him as the director of the local school of music; and when he took up his duties, Peter Benoit, in a milieu that did not yet sufficiently understand the high importance of the mother-tongue for intellectual and artistic education, stated his intention to awake originality in his pupils ; " Music is different in character in every human race and nation," he said, "according to the manner of feeling in the people and to the people's language; so there is also a Flemish music, and in our folk-songs you can study its main features." But he wanted his pupils and the Antwerp public to know thoroughly every aspect of musical art in the world ; so, as the Director of the Socie'te de Musique, he imparted an intense vitality to this wealthy institution, performing without ceasing and without consideration of cost the most important works of every musical school and period, giving

Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 lectures or delivering speeches—for he was a highly attractive oratof—and improving the choice of church music. But. bis best teaching certainly lay in his own works. In those thirty years between " Lucifer" and his last cantatas in honour of the memory of Conscience and of Ledeganck— tributes to the foremost pioneers of Flemish civilization—what a sum of splendid work, almost too much and too grand for one man's life! It is true that, like Rubens, he was bold and daring in his conceptions, absolutely sure of himself and, therefore, quick in execution. This comparison with such a genius as Rubens is by no means without point. Liszt, who knew Benoit perfectly, and much admired him, could not characterize him more exactly than as " a musical Rubens " ; and it is quite true that the same qualities mark both these men. Those qualities are recognised throughout the world as Flemish; they are noticeable in the works of our painters and artists of every kind, in the past as well as in the present. They consist of spontaneousness and suppleness of feeling, of great enthusiasm of a preference for colour and for what is stately and grand. Too much of these qualities would mar artists and people; but they are just enough, in the earnest Flemish people, to produce artists such as a Rubens and a Benoit. Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. 25 We have always been wise enough to appreciate our own real artists ; we have never failed in our judgment on them, but have always been severe enough to be just towards them ; therefore, as we judge Peter Benoit—and let us not go on with always too rash and never quite accurate comparisons,—as we love and venerate him for the benefit he bestowed upon us by giving us his work; as, listening to his epic cantatas as well as to his songs, we recognise, magnified and intensified by his genius, the deepest feelings and aspirations of our own hearts expressed in a splendid tongue which we understand perfectly but cannot speak ourselves, we know that one day the world will appreciate Peter Benoit The many material difficulties of execution of his principal works, and the fact that the full scores of these are not yet published (only "Lucifer" has been printed) may have prevented his work from being known, but we have no doubt that Benoit, as soon as his choral and orchestral works are printed, will secure in the history of music the very high place which he deserves. I have not offered without reason these considerations concerning the correctness of our judgment on Benoit, while omitting his mere biography; for after ' Lucifer" his important works are of the same high standard, only a few occasional works being of a somewhat slighter construction, though always bearing the mark of his genius.

Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 Jan Van Beers' De Oorlog (The War) gave him an opportunity of writing a secular oratorio, with copious descriptions and dramatic incidents. The work begins with a panorama of Spring, and of the pride and happiness of Man as a King of the Earth ; but the Spirits of Darkness conspire against him and the plagues of War are let loose. The battle, for the music of which the beautiful poem offers a most adequate canvas, is one of the most wonderful pages of Benoit, showing his mastership in the polyphonic working with voices and rhythm; then comes a deeply impressive part, imploring the night to be merciful to wounded and dead, and the beautiful scene of the mother searching on the battlefield. The last part offers a strong contrast: Spirits of Light establish the reign of freedom and love. The first performance took place at Antwerp in 1893 for the Thirteenth Meeting of the Linguistic and Literary Netherlandish Congress. The cantatas of Benoit are not less dramatic. Two of these works bear the names of the great rivers crossing the Flemish country—"De Schelde" and " De Leie." "De Ryn"—the introduction of which is a visit paid by the Son of the Scheldt and the Daughter of the Cathedral Tower—a couple of lovers, of course !—to Father Rhine, is a lovely dramatic description of the beautiful river that belongs to the Netherlands as well as to 26 Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. Western Germany. The poet (Hiel) and the composer both were enthusiasts over such a subject as "De Schelde." Of course, Benoit was always quite closely in touch with his librettists, and one could hardly find a more intimate union of words and music than in Benoit's works. In "De Schelde" the aspect of this generous river calls for pictures of love and happiness, and then of Work and Trade, and of Art. Are not these words the whole history of the people living on the banks of the Scheldt ? No, not the whole : when night and mist descend on the floods, spirits of the past arise, and the heroic people that fought for freedom on and along the Scheldt is still alive, and calls to those who now enjoy the daylight. When dawn comes, visions of the past fade, and the young couple in their boat approach the splendid town stretching out its beautiful quays as far as eyes reach, and the unique cathedral spire joins, by its harmonious carillon, the numerous voices singing the glory of Antwerp's active life. "Vlaanderen's Kunstroem"—the Rubens cantata—written, as I said before, for the tricentenary of Rubens' birth, is really a musical picture worthy the whole of the gorgeous work of the prince of the Flemish school of painting. Written for the open air, a drama as well as a picture, a pageant of the Flemish art, large as it is, its chief themes are very popular in Belgium ; but there is nothing so lofty and pompous, so genial and stately, as the march of the various parts of the world paying their tribute Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 of honour, offering their flowers and palms to Flanders—and nothing so bright as the Beiaardlied, where a large choir of children, supported by the carillon, breaks a grave recitative, and sings the joyous glory of Flemish art and wealth. A supreme distinction is one of the characteristics of Benoit's melodies, so that much beloved by the people as many are, they have certainly improved considerably musical taste. Is there a more noble and graceful song than " Reist de wereld rond," belonging to " De Genius des Vaderlands," a cantata written for the opening of the Brussels Exhibition in 1880, and —most extraordinary fact with an occasional cantata—encored at the first performance ? The happy effect of a choir of children in the Rubens cantata moved Peter Benoit to write a cantata only for children, and he dedicated the work to the pupils of the Communal Schools of Antwerp, in return for their aid in performing the Rubens cantata. In 1878, 1,200 boys and girls performed that lovely " De Wereld in," a stream of fresh melody and vivid rhythm, where young children and growing lads and lasses, in a delightful poem written by De Geyter, sang of love for family, country, and mankind. Every one of this generation has sung " De Wereld in." I did, thirty-four years ago, and my son did Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. 27 this summer, on the 21st of July,—when every year at Antwerp the national fete is celebrated by authorities and schools in the Feasthall of the town in a most striking ceremony, and the Maid of Antwerp, with her attendants, walks in state to the feet of a colossal statue of Belgium, and to the grave and soft music of Lenaerts offers the flower of her youth. Not every year is "De Wereld in," by Peter Benoit, performed by the enormous choir of children, but the best years are those when the turn of " De Wereld in " comes again. Boys and girls, in youthful hope, sing of their faith in life ; then the boys think of danger that might threaten home and country, and without grandiloquence, but firmly, they declare that they will stand as oaks and fight as heroes for freedom :— Als eiken zullen wy staan Als helden zullen wy kampen. And Benoit has perfectly got the right tone and expression of this boyish, though quite sincere, assertion. He knew also how to touch the heart when the girls, feeling themselves to be women already, reply that women assuage all wounds and misfortunes :— Vrouwen Zalven wonden en kampen. But the children join in a grand song of brotherhood that is to hold country and world together with bonds of flowers of love. Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 There is but one other example of a cantata for children having deserved and had as high an artistic and popular success as " De Wereld in" ; it is another work of Peter Benoit, the " Kinderhulde aan een Dichter " (" Homage of children to a poet"), known under the name of the " Van Ryswyck-Cantata," written for the unveiling of the monument of Theodoor van Ryswyck, the merry, the satiric, and sometimes the splendid Antwerp poet who was always poor and died young. Of this cantata, also several graceful parts are known everywhere in our country :— In liedren klonk zyn hart Hy vleide geen grooten der wereld. But the most striking of these works, and perhaps the finest and most elaborate, Benoit produced when he used a beautiful poem of Victor De la Montagne, the " Treur- en triomfgesang," a song of mourning and of triumph, performed at the dedication of the monument of Hendrik Conscience. When he himself died, in 1901, there was no other secular music heard at his burial than his own " Myn Moederspraak," the tenderest hymn of love a man ever has sung in his own mother-tongue, and hundreds of men from all parts of Flanders 28 Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School.

could not refrain from tears when the organ of the Antwerp Cathedral softly played this song. Well, there was some other music: there was heard the harmonious utterance of that other great artist, Jan Van Ryswyck, Antwerp's burgomaster of those days, and who stated that Benoit had helped in the greatest measure to restore to the Flemings the consciousness of their originality and faith in their artistic power. This influence of Peter Benoit can never be overrated indeed. We owe enormously more to him than, for instance, to Edgar Tinel, that other Flemish musician whose art of course is to that of Benoit as pictures of Rubens are to some 15th-century masters, as Bouts or Van der Weyden ; who is the most skilful maker of rational art, while Benoit is the creator of natural beauty; who would be a mystic if he had a more passionate soul, while Benoit is the worshipper of universal beauty. As works of elaborate art Tinel's oratorios " Franciscus" and "Godelieve," his " Katharina," which is an oratorio adapted to the stage, are certainly of a high standard : but although they have been written on Flemish texts, they have scarcely Flemish qualities; certainly they have had very little influence on the artistic development of the Flemings. Although he did not compose opera, except a small and early work "Tsa," some parts of which are still much performed at concerts, we owe to Peter Benoit the establishment of a Flemish lyric theatre. Early attempts had failed, just as all attempts of Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 that kind have failed until now in Holland. But under Benoit's direction, an orchestra and chorus were trained, so that in 1875 and 1876 two lyric dramas, that is dramas with incidental music, by him, were performed at Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels. He thought lyric dramas, in which the spoken word is supported and commented upon by music, an ideal form for the theatre; and although he got no play really worthy his own art, " Charlotte Corday," a play only just acceptable, although containing some really good scenes, was performed at Antwerp in April of this year, and enjoyed the very great success won by all the works of Benoit. In 1890, Edward Keurvels, the conductor of the small orchestra of the K.N.S. (Flemish Comedy) of Antwerp, a most active man, the right arm " of Peter Benoit, a teacher in the Music School, and himself a distinguished composer, engaged the whole orchestra of the French Opera House of Antwerp—after the Monnaie of Brussels certainly the best French opera house in Belgium—and a choir from pupils of the school. The Common Council of Antwerp granted an aid of 15,000 francs a season, and for three winters performances were given of lyric dramas, besides "Charlotte Corday" and the "Pacificatie van Gent," of Benoit, and the "Karel van Gelderland," for which play by Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. 29 Gittens he wrote an introduction, and a quantity of incidental music. He and Keurvels worked very hard in the training of the actors, to whom it was a new and very hard task, as well as of choir and orchestra; but the Antwerp public got quite fine performances of Weber's " Preciosa" and of Mendelssohn's ' Sommernachtstraum"; of Bizet's " L'Arlesienne," and of Gounod's " Jeanne d'Arc"; and a trilogy of the Czech composer Fibich : " Hippodamia," " Pelops " and " Tantalus," unknown in Western Europe. It was indeed hard work for the actors of the Flemish theatre, and their director thought it really too hard, while the general public did not seem to appreciate lyric drama sufficiently to reward all the labour spent upon these shows. But there had been an interesting experience. In 1893, Henry Fontaine, a singer and also a teacher in Benoit's school, proposed to Edward Keurvels to try to give opera in Flemish. With the well-trained orchestra and choir of the lyric dramas, with singers who had been pupils of Benoit's school, and with the aid of a subsidy of 18,000 francs from the Corporation, they gave that winter two representations a week on the days when comedy was not being played. On the advice of Benoit they selected Weber's •" Freischiitz ", (" De Vryschutter ") for their first performance. It. was a splendid success, of which all Belgium spoke. On the night of that ever-memorable 3rd of October, 1893, Peter Benoit, in the midst of his triumphant pupils, said

Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 that many devilish bullets had been directed against his work, but they only killed the wicked hunter, and Max, the true lad, remained unharmed, and got his sweetheart. And, indeed, notwithstanding violent attacks and the constant disparagement of the French Press in Belgium, the Flemish lyric theatre was growing by the high artistic sense and the devotion of leaders, singers, and even orchestra. The expenses were enormous, the prices of seats very low, and the two evenings left for the Flemish Lyric Theatre were the worst of the week. From 1893 to 1907, three managements struggled with material difficulties, which increased with the demands of the public, although the subsidy granted by the town was brought gradually up to 45,000 francs for a season of six months. The Flemish public learned to appreciate a number of older works which had not been performed for many years, and of new works that were not yet performed in the French Opera-houses, neither in the Monnaie nor at Antwerp, Ghent, or Liege. So they got works of Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, of Goldmark, Nicolai, Weingartner, Zoellner, d'Albert, Smetana, Grieg, Enna, and Wolf-Ferrari. But it would have been a thing of no very great importance to bring these plays before the Flemish public, if Flemish art had not been advanced by the Flemish Lyric Theatre. We realised 30 Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School.

at once that we had many good musicians and composers—young men who awoke at the voice of Peter Benoit, and who had been working. Already, in 1896, Jan Blockx's " Herbergprinses " was given to the stage, and six years later it had been played a hundred times in Antwerp and many times at the Monnaie (of course, in a French translation there, " Princesse d'Auberge"), and in France and Germany. From Benoit he got nothing more than the valuable lesson to be original and Flemish; and he is both in the highest degree. He used a text by Nestor de Tiere, a realistic dramatic author who, for Blockx, wrote a text with few and strong words and much passionate action, certainly an ideal libretto for a modern composer. The play and the music are both characteristically Flemish. These qualities are quite as much shown in " De Bruid der Zee " (" La Fiancee de la Mer "), which work appeared in 1901 on the Flemish lyric stage ; it was immediately translated and played in the Monnaie, so that the next winter it got its one-hundredth representation in Belgium. Some twenty Flemish composers had operas performed in the first ten years. Did it matter that not all of these works were masterpieces ? All were valuable for the progress of our musical art. Some stood the test of publicity and of time. The Flemish Opera House constantly performs " Quinten Massys" by Wambach, on a graceful poem by Rafael Verhulst; " Het Minnebrugje," by Van Gort and Verhulst;

Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 " Pinksternacht," by Roels and Sabbe ; " Arendsneit," by Schrey and Monet. Some are works of the highest value. Such are " Wintemachtsdroom" of August de Boeck and du Carillon, and " Reinaert De Vos " of de Boeck and Verhulst. All owe their Flemish character to the subject as well as to the tongue of the poem and to the qualities of the music. De Boeck has certainly a special place among the Belgian composers of our day for his elaborate and beautiful orchestral work. But the very first place without any doubt belongs to Paul Gilson, who is not only a native Fleming but also wrote his most considerable works to Flemish poems. Time will show his " Prinses Zonneschyn," on a text by Pol de Mont, and his " Zeevolk," a Flemish adaptation of Hugo's "Les Pauvres Gens," to be works which deserve the admiration of the world. Since 1907 the Flemish Opera House at Antwerp has got a most luxurious building, with every improvement an up-to-date stage requires. The rich city of Antwerp, besides the use of this building erected by its care, very generously provides the director with subsidies, new decorations, and help of every kind. So the people of Antwerp—and of the Flemish country—enjoy, at very low prices indeed, carefully performed works of the greatest foreign authors (modern French authors excepted, whose Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. 31 works are played in the French Opera House in the same town) and a rich selection of works of Flemish composers. The results of twenty years are an earnest of what we may expect in the future. All those who have helped the Flemish Opera House to the actual degree of prosperity and artistic height (the last ten representations consisted of "Parsifal," and very interesting comparisons were made in the Belgian, French, and German Press between the Antwerp and the Brussels performances) are doing good work, I think, for the Flemish people and Flemish art. Here is an opportunity for our numerous young composers, all anxious to show their skill. and originality in songs, some of which have evidenced great power upon the masses. I mention here especially some works by Jef van Hoof. In freedom, musical art in Flanders, in freedom the Flemish people by their art and civilization, will prove to be as useful to the world as they have been in the past. The Flemish people, the greater part of the Belgian nation, wants freedom because it is worthy of freedom. Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 DISCUSSION.

THE CHAIRMAN : Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sure you will all heartily join in a vote of thanks to our lecturer for the interesting account he has given us of Flemish music ; and I believe, alluding to the end of his speech, we shall all hope that the glory of Flemish music in the past, dating from hundreds of years ago, will still bear some fruit in that sorely-tried country in the future. I do not think our lecturer had any occasion to apologise for speaking in a foreign tongue. His discourse was most excellently delivered; and the English of it was much better than English we sometimes hear. But after all, he was speaking of that which is a universal language. Music is a language which appeals to all civilized countries. I only regret that he was unable to illustrate his very interesting remarks with some examples. But that was impossible. Such music is not published here, and in the present state of affairs in Belgium it is impossible to get it. So we must take the will for the deed, and remain satisfied with the account he has given us of the recent Flemish school, arid what its aims are. This Belgian school, like Belgium itself, has had many vicissitudes. One 32 Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. cannot read a remarkable work like that of Motley's " Rise and Fall of the Dutch Republic" without realising what the country has gone through in the past, how much she has suffered; yet she has preserved—one is glad to be able to say it at present—she has preserved her nationality. Flemish bravery and nationality have been held forth as a beacon which I may say is the admiration of the whole world. The struggles, the political struggles, which the land has gone through have also been reflected in its music. The country has had to contend against what may be called the foreign element, yet it has been able to maintain its own originality and idioms. One is glad to hear what our Lecturer has said with regard to the importance of building a national school upon folk-song. Folk-song has been very much in the air lately here, and rightly so ; it is quite certain, if you look at the schools at the present day—French, Russian, Italian, and some of the Eastern European schools which are beginning to assert themselves—the Scandinavian, for instance—you will find that folk-song is at the bottom as the germ of their music. We are encouraged to hear that in Flanders the municipalities of the large towns, especially Antwerp, support what we may call a national opera. A great many of us wish that there was more of that sort of support in our own country. That is what is done also in many petty German Principalities, in regard to which comparisons are made against us. I need not dwell on the matter, for as you know in this country opera is of the nature Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 of an exotic; but I think the time is coming when this condition will be changed. M. Verheyden has told us of the support extended by the municipalities in his country towards Flemish music, and of the success which has met their endeavours. M. Verheyden happens to be Secretary of the Antwerp Opera and Keeper of the Musical Records, so we have secured someone very well able to speak to us on this subject. His tribute to the gallant, heroic, and successful struggles in making a great stand along what may be called the crucial line of Belgium, must have aroused a sympathetic feeling in all— struggles not only for music, but for political freedom, for freedom for her own artistic genius. We 'all hope that those struggles will be crowned eventually with success. (Applause.) Names were mentioned by our lecturer which I do not think are so well known in England as they ought to be. Monsieur Francois Auguste Gavaert had a long connection with music. He wrote some music, but I think, so far as my knowledge goes, his historical writings on the art of music are still more valuable than any music he may have put forth. I cannot say that for certain, but that is my feeling from a knowledge of his books And then Monsieur Victor Charles Mahillon Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. 33 has done a great work in calling attention to the instruments of music preserved in Belgium. A valuable work to many of us is to be found in his editing of the three volumes comprising the Catalogue of the Music of the Conservatoire at Brussels. I have this work in my library, and many a time have I turned to it for information. It is an excellent account of a fine gathering of musical instruments, much larger than anything we have in this country, collected from past times, and arranged mainly by himself with infinite skill. This catalogue is illustrated with pictures of the instruments, but whether the Museum is now still preserved, I know not Occasionally one comes across these little books in England. Students who want to know anything about the history of musical instruments could not do better than secure a copy ; they cost only a franc. Those wh6 can get a copy of this catalogue will, I am sure, learn much from it The names of Fetis, father and son, musical litterateurs, are well-known and appreciated for their valuable historical works. And there should be mentioned also Van der Straeten, whose notable history, " La Musique aux Pays-Bas," is indeed a notable work. I wish the lecturer had told us something about a subject in which it so happens I am particularly interested just now,—carillons, the carillons which peal forth harmonious music from the various church towers. The carillons of Flanders and Belgium have long been famous. We have in England to-day Monsieur Van Denyn, who is carillonneur at Malines. This question of carillon-music is Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 becoming an important one to us. We have learnt something about it from an English musician, Mr. Starmer, who I am sorry to say is not present with us to-day. But perhaps our lecturer in his reply may like to say something about the municipal aspect of carillons, what the municipalities have done, and what the people think of this music in the sky. It was an eloquent and very interesting account he gave of children's cantatas and other such works. In listening it seemed to me there is a field possible for such works in England. He may not possibly be aware that we have Competition Festivals here—indeed, a large number of them. I see our friend Dr. McNaught at the end of the room ; perhaps he would tell us whether, in his opinion, if cantatas were written for children they would be acceptable. Perhaps they might afford young pupils a fresh interest in music. It seems to me to open out a field. I noticed what the lecturer said in regard to opera performances,—viz., that they are really cosmopolitan; not only do the Flemings appreciate Flemish works by Flemish composers, good, strong, and freshly-written, but also they do not forget some of the fine operatic works of the past, very rarely heard here—they even give the music to Mendelssohn's 34 Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. " Midsummer Night's Dream"—all works which I do not believe are going under in spite of the modern school. A hearty vote of thanks to the lecturer was passed. Mr. COBBETT : Mav I ask regarding that wonderful national song you spoke of, ' De Vlaanderen's Leeuw," if the music as well as the words were composed by Karel Miry ? M. VERHEYDEN: The music was composed by Karel Miry, and the words by Van Peene. Mr. COBBETT : Would it be possible for you to play us that tune on the pianoforte ? Or to sing it ? M. VERHEYDEN : I am sorry, but I cannot. Mr. COBBETT : May I ask a question ? I noticed that in your references to Flemish music you did not touch at all upon chamber music. Perhaps, then, chamber music is not a characteristic expression of Flemish musical thought; and it may be, for this reason, Flemish composers have not given attention to that branch of the Art. M. VERHEYDEN : Chamber music is not general; but Benoit has, I believe, written some chamber music for the string quartet Mr. COBBETT: We are not acquainted with his chamber music in this country. Dr. MCNAUGHT : I cannot discuss the Paper because I was called away, unfortunately; but as my name has'been mentioned in connection with children's cantatas perhaps I may say a word or two. We have a fairly large literature here in this country of

Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016 children's cantatas : but I am afraid the bulk of it is not worth much artistically. I do not know how it is with the cantatas they have in Belgium, because I am not acquainted with them. Having now heard something about them, however, I will endeavour to make their closer acquaintance. There is a great demand in this country for a better class of music in the form of cantatas for children; and I think I may say that now in this country an effort is made to get a poetic basis for the music more in accordance with modern feeling, and less commonplace. I shall be interested to inquire further in the hope that Flemish works may be transplanted into our country here. We want to make a closer acquaintance socially and musically with Belgium, as we are now in other respects so closely associated with her. M. VERHEYDEN : It is a question of a good translation. THE CHAIRMAN: Perhaps the lecturer would tell us whether they are written in parts or for solo purposes. M. VERHEYDEN : These cantatas are in parts for different voices. They are really dramatic works, and are not at all like cantatas for prize distributions—not at all; they are really very good works of high art, so I would like you to make Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School. 35 their acquaintance and know them. It would be a question of getting a good translation, and then I think they would be appreciated very much. THE CHAIRMAN : With regard to the question raised by Mr. Cobbett, is there any Flemish chamber music for string quartet ? M. DESIRE1 DEFAUW : I do not think that chamber music can be regarded as typical of the Flemish school. There are writers of chamber music, but the work of most composers is poetical, vocal, or orchestral. M. VERHEYDEN : Chamber music is not a typical part of Flemish music, because Flemish composers have addressed themselves mainly to the people. [NOTE.—Before the reading of Mr. Verheyden's paper, the Secretary reported that in accordance with the resolution passed at the previous meeting, the President had addressed a letter to the Army Council conveying its terms in regard to the use of military bands, and that the receipt of the same had been duly acknowledged by the Army Council.] Downloaded by [Athabasca University] at 02:49 07 June 2016