François-Auguste Gevaert


François-Auguste Gevaert was a Belgian musicologist and composer.

Life

Gevaert was born in Huise, near Oudenaarde. 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, where he studied under Édouard de Sommere and Martin-Joseph Mengal. Then he was appointed organist of the Jesuit 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." Gevaert died in Brussels.
Though during his lifetime Gevaert's own music enjoyed considerable success in Belgium, 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, 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's compositions, whilst Gevaert's daughter Jacqueline Marthe married the singer and art historian Hippolyte Fierens-Gevaert.

Honours

Selected works

  • Te Deum
  • Ouverture Flandre au lion
  • Fantasia sobre motivos españoles
  • Requiem
  • "Vers l'avenir"
  • Grand' Messe de Noël Puer Natus est Nobis
  • Quartet for clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano
OperasGeorgette, ou le moulin de Fontenoy Le billet de Marguerite Les lavandières de Santarem Quentin Durward La Château Trompette Le Capitaine Henriot
Secular cantatasBelgië Le roi Léar Évocation patriotique De nationale verjaerdag Le retour de l'armée
  • ''Jacob van Artevelde''