be2

The cellist Adrien-François Servais (1807-1866) was considered the 'Paganini of the cello' and was one of the leading teachers at the Brussels conservatory. His birthplace in Halle (Handbooghof) has been demolished but, being a lifetime citizen, he was honoured with a monument on the central square.

Monumental villa of Adrien-François Gervais, built by his order in 1847 and his home for de rest of his life.

This building, already mentioned in 1515 as Des Heeren Landscamme, is a café, an outlet of Geuze beer and it houses the collection of c 400 folk instruments of Herman Dewit, member of the folk ensemble ‘t Kliekske. A folklore festival takes place since 1996 during the first weekend of July.

Birthplace of the composer Marcel Poot, 1901°.

Fine organ positive by Peter Goltfuss, 1696; 11 stops + rossignol and tremblant.

The Lemmens Institute for the education of church musicians was established in 1879 in Mechelen by the organist and teacher Jaak Lemmens. It moved to Leuven in 1968 and the present Institute of Sacred Music has the status of a music academy.

This historical building houses a research centre of ancient music of the Low Countries, a concert hall and a collection of instruments under the aegis of the Alamire Foundation.   cf www.alamirefoundation.org

The Mozart family stayed in October 1763 in Hôtel d’Autriche. The building was altered in 1830 and is today the seat of the municipal cultural service and the music school.

Organ by Jan Deeckens, 1673, in a case from 1493; II/p/24. The carillon of the church is by Willem Witlockx, 1723, and has 54 bells.

Plaque of the composer Arthur Meulemans (1884-1966). His birthplace at Leuvense straat 12 exists  no longer; here he spent his youth. He was the most prolific Flemish composer of the 20th century; his oeuvre covers c 350 works, including 14 symphonies.

The organ by Binvignat an Houdtappel from 1791 has retained pipes from the foregoing instruments, including some by Niehoff from 1593. III/p/34.

Climbing the tower is a journey through the ages. The base is from the 11^th, the middle part from the 13^th century; in the 18^th century spire, one finds the carillon bells and keyboard, an exhibition and a video presentation of a bell foundry. 

Renowned composers worked in the gothic cathedral of Antwerp: Ockeghem as singer, Jacob Barbireau as chapel master (for 43 years), succeeded by Obrecht (from 1491 to ’96). Hubert Waelrant was singer, besides music editor, and died in Antwerp in 1595. Andries Pevernage was chapel master (1578-†1591) and John Bull organist  (1615-†1628). Barbireau, Pevernage and Bull were buried in the church. The Hemony carillon comprises 47 bells.

The Flemish Opera in Antwerp – ‘Royal’ since 1920 ─ was built in 1907 and cooperates with the opera in Gent. The habit of presenting all operas in Dutch translation has been abandoned in the course of the 20^th century. 

The splendid Bourlaschouwburg has been named after its architect, Pierre-Bruno Bourla. It was built between 1827 and 1834 and became the Théâtre Royal Français which offered French and Italian operas until 1933.

The 16^th century Vleeshuis [butchers’ hall] houses a  museum with exhibits about the musical history of the town and a fine collection of instruments, with special attention for Antwerp’s famous harpsichord makers, incl. Ruckers, Couchet and Dulcken.  www.museum.antwerpen.be/vleeshuis

Well preserved house and factory of the printers Christophe Plantin and his successors Moretus from 1576 until 1876; it became a museum already in 1877. The collection of early printing equipment includes many music typefaces and in the library are 500 musical works. Antwerp was an important centre of book printing, Phalesius and Tylman Susato were the most famous printers who specialized in music.

The baroque church of St Augustinus was transferred into a concert hall and an important platform for the yearly Flanders Festival (Aug.-Sept.) with an emphasis on historically informed performances.

Large concert hall from 2016 with up to 2000 seats and excellent acoustics thanks to the completely wooden interior. Home of the Antwerp SO.

The large complex deSingel houses a theatre hall (800 seats), a concert hall (940 seats), the Research centre of Flemish Music SVM, and the art academy Artesis Plantijn Hogeschool, in which the Royal Flemish Conservatory has been integrated. The latter originated from the modest municipal music school, in 1867 renamed Vlaamsche Muziekschool, of which Peter Benoit was its first director. It became a Royal Conservatory in 1898.

Peter Benoit (1834-1901) was the emancipator of the Flemish music. He laid the foundations for the Flemish Conservatory and the Flemish opera and his compositions show a predilection for choral music and nationalist content. He was also conductor in the concert hall in this park ─ not in use anymore ─  and a large monument in his honour was erected here.

Grave of Peter Benoit, †1901.

The English organist and composer John Bull (1562-1628) moved to Flanders for religious reasons. He lived in this building, which more recently was rebuilt into an apartment house; some 17^th century elements may have been retained (not verified).

Birthplace of the composer Renaat Veremans (1894-1969). He worked as a teacher at the Antwerp Conservatory and as conductor of the Flemish opera. As a composer he followed in the footsteps of Benoit and many of his works became popular among his compatriots.

The organist and teacher Henry Bredemers (1472-1522) worked at the court of Philipp II in Spain and of Margaret of Austria in Mechelen. In 1516 he retired to Lier and was buried in this church.

During the era of governor Margaret of Austria, 1507-1530, Mechelen was the capital of Burgundia. In her palace worked Henry Bredemers as teacher and the great Pierre de La Rue as singer and composer; one of his masses is entitled O gloriosa Margaretha. The fine renaissance building became a court of justice.

Mechelen became an archbishopric in 1559. Philippus de Monte, born here in 1521, was a chorister in the cathedral before he made his career in Italy, England, Munich, Vienna and Prague, where he died in 1603.

The old carillon has 49 bells, of which the oldest are from the 15^th century and 27 were cast by the great Pieter Hemony; the mechanical improvements by Jef Denyn in 1894 found universal acceptance. The belfry , which also contains a second carillon from 1981, is accessible to the public.

The foundries of the families of Waghevens and Van den Gheyn brought fame to Mechelen as a carillon centre since the 16^th century. This position was strengthened by the establishment of a school for carillonists by Jef Denyn in 1922 ─ worldwide the first of its kind.    www.beiaardschool.be

Ph. de Monte may have been a pupil of the Koraalschool, but a later boy for sure was: Louis van Beethoven (1712-1774). He moved to Bonn in 1733, became a musician and later the Kapellmeister at the elector’s court. There wouldn’t be an amusing statue of his at the square if he hadn’t been the grandfather of Ludwig van Beethoven.

The birthplace of Louis van Beethoven was demolished but is marked by a plaque on the former Lamot brewery. Nearby, at the Haverwerf, is an attractive Beethoven monument by Jean-Paul Laenen with on the floor two plaques, commenting Beethoven’s Flemish descent from resp. Louis’s and Ludwig’s view.

The opera house of Gent was built in 1837-40; the architect Louis Roelandt created a theatre hall with up to 2000 seats – today 1000 ─ and two luxurious halls for festivities. It is the second platform of the Royal Flemish Opera, a cooperation of Antwerp and Gent. 

The 13^th century Bijloke complex served as a hospital until 1983, when it was converted into a music centre which contains a very characteristic concert hall with 820 seats, another one with 238 seats in the Kraakhuis and the Royal Conservatory, originally established in 1835 as Académie de Musique.

The Logos Foundation, founded in 1968 by Godfried-Willem Raes, is an institute for research and production of experimental music genres, such as musical robotics and audio art (algorithms, computed music). It has a concert hall for performances of experimental music and dance. Greatest eye- and ear-catcher: the Logos robot orchestra.

Birthplace of Pierre de Geyter (1848-1932), a workman and amateur composer who lived in France. His fame rests on one composition: the song L’Internationale on words by Eugène Pottier. It became the ‘international anthem’ of the working class and is still sung during socialist gatherings over the world.

Monument of Pierre de Geyter (1999).

Birthplace of the composer Edgar Tinel (1854-1912). He became the successor of Lemmens at the Institute for church music in 1881; his religious works drew most the attention, his oratorio Franciscus (1888) also abroad. Since 1909 he was the director of  the conservatory of Brussels. An exhibition about his life and works can be visited on the first Sunday afternoon of each month.

Grave of Edgar Tinel, †1912.

Between 1450 and 1550, Brugge was the most prosperous town of the Low Countries and went through a ‘golden age’ of art and music. The composers Jacob Obrecht, Lupus Hellinck and Clemens non Papa worked at the cathedral of St Donaas. After its destruction in 1799 by the French army, the St Salvator became the cathedral of Brugge, the church at which Antoine Busnois ended his career as ‘rector cantoriae’ until his death in 1492.

The palace of the rich Gruuthuse family gives the best impression of Brugge’s ‘golden age’. Among the splendid  furnishings and works of art, also some musical instruments are displayed. The late 14^th century ‘Gruuthuse manuscript’, a important collection of c 150 songs with musical notation, was commissioned from this house; it is one of the most important sources of medieval (folk)songs in the Dutch language.

At the same Dyver street are two houses of the composer Baron Joseph Ryelandt (1870-1966). His birthplace is at nr 6; between 1899 and 1911 he lived at nr 13. His last house, a monumental villa named David, was demolished (see photo). Ryelandt’s vocal works show the same commitment with religious subjects as do those of his teacher Tinel, but he also composed attractive other works in late romantic style.

Grave of Joseph Ryelandt, †1966, at the cemetery behind St Peter’s church.

Ryelandt became the director of the municipal conservatory, the sequel to a music school from 1841. There is a room devoted to the memory of the composer and the David sculpture from his demolished villa adorns the front of the historic building.    

From the 17^th century onwards, Brugge lost its economical significance and sunk into a modest provincial town; ‘a dead city’, as it was called by the writer George Rodenbach. His novel Bruges-la-Morte (1897) forms the subject of the opera Die tote Stadt (1920) by the prodigy Erich Wolfgang Korngold – his best known work. At the medieval house is a plaque, commemorating Rodenbach.

A brand new concert hall by the architects Robbrecht and Daem was erected on the occasion of the election of Brugge as ‘cultural capital’ of 2002.

Organ by Lambertus Benoit van Peteghem, 1778. It remained in its original state, never altered to suit changing fashions. It has 2 manuals and a half echo manual, a pull-down pedal, 29 stops and tambour.

Interactive museum of folk music; yearly Folk Festival in August.

The composer Adrian Willaert was born here in c 1490. A monument by Rob Deblaere was erected against the south wall of St Michael’s church. Willaert moved to Italy in 1515 and in 1527 to Venice, where he worked until his death in 1562. He is one of the most versatile and influential composers of his time and is considered the inventor of the writing for double choirs, or at least the first one who brought this to perfection.

Birthplace and adjacent museum of the champion of the Flemish music, Peter Benoit (> 2215). Established by Paul Vandebuerie, whose collection of 4000 folksongs is kept here too. The last renovation in 2002 resulted into a surprising audiovisual presentation.

By the way, Harelbeke was also the birthplace of two well known 16^th century composers, Jacobus Vaet (c 1529) and Andreas Pevernage (1543).

Monument of Peter Benoit by Alfred Courtens, 1951.

Jacobus Vaet was chorister in the Church of Our Lady in the 1530s, Pierre de La Rue was canon in the church after his post in Mechelen (> 2261) until his death in 1518. Probably he has been buried here. Andreas Pevernage was choir master from 1564 until 1578.

Monument of the composer Cypriano de Rore (1515-1565). Rore was born in Ronse. He worked in Italy and was especially a great composer of 125 madrigals, of which Anchor che col partire became the most famous.