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Mathieu, Émile

° Lille (FR), 18/10/1844 — † Gent, 20/08/1932

Jan Dewilde (translation: Jo Sneppe)

Émile Mathieu was born in Lille, France, of Belgian parents. His father Nicolas Joseph Mathieu was a bass singer who in 1840 had obtained a first prize in singing in the Brussels class of Geraldy; his mother Amélie Thérèse Martin was also a singer and laureate of the Brussels Conservatory. In 1848 the family stayed at Nantes, but compelled by the revolution of 1848 moved to Antwerp, where father Mathieu became director-concessionary of the Royal Theatre. Six years later father and mother Mathieu were appointed as singing teachers at the Municipal Music School of Leuven and that's where Émile Mathieu received his first music education. He had plans to study medicine, but the death of his parents within two years' time forced him to make a living as a piano teacher.

In 1860 he enrolled at the Brussels Conservatory, where he obtained first prizes with Charles Bosselet (harmony, 1861) and Auguste Dupont (piano, 1863). With the director F. J. Fétis he also studied counterpoint, fugue and composition. Starting in 1867 he was himself a teacher of piano and harmony classes at the Municipal Music School of Leuven, having Arthur De Greef as a pupil from 1871 to 1873. De Greef later characterised him as "un délicieux poète-musicien" (a delicious poet-musician).

Meanwhile his reputation as a composer was growing. On 25 April 1866 his first opera L'Echange (The Exchange, after Voltaire) was created in Liège and he also took part three times in the Prix de Rome contest. In 1869 he was awarded a second prize with the cantata La dernière nuit de Faust (Faust's Final Night), and two years later again with Le songe de Colomb (Colomb's Dream). However, also in his third attempt in 1873 with the cantata Torquato Tasso's dood (Torquato Tasso's Death) he failed to obtain the first prize. By way of encouragement he did get a travel grant for two years. So from 1873 to 1875 he lived and worked in Paris as a conductor at the Théâtre du Châtelet. There he also composed the stage music for Cromwell by Victor Séjour, but due to censorship problems the work could only be performed once.

In 1875 he returned to Belgium and became pianist-accompanist at the 'Théâtre de la Monnaie', which performed several of his works. Subsequently, in 1881, he was appointed as director of the Municipal Music School in Leuven, where he worked at the school's development, extending the curriculum to courses of viola, chamber music and part-song, as well as introducing a series of symphonic concerts. On 18 October 1898 he succeeded Adolphe Samuel as director of the Royal Conservatory of Ghent, a position he held until 1924.

As he had done before in Leuven, Mathieu presented some remarkable concerts in Ghent, too, such as Peter Benoit's De Schelde (The River Scheldt, 16 December 1899; 24 May 1913), Christus by Adolphe Samuel (26-27 March 1904) and the Matheuspassie (St Matthew's Passion, 1-2 April 1912). He was invited in August 1899 to New Brighton Tower, a coastal resort near Liverpool, to conduct a concert with Belgian music. Besides some of his own compositions, the programme featured works by Peter Benoit, Edgar Tinel and Jan Blockx.

Mathieu left behind quite a considerable oeuvre, mainly vocal music. His best-known works include the music dramas Richilde [ca. 1887], L'Enfance de Roland (Roland's Childhood) [1889-1891] and the lyrical poems Le Hoyoux (The River Hoyoux) [1879] and Freyhir [1883].

In 1934 the Royal Library bought virtually the entire collection of Mathieu's autograph manuscripts.

Les compositeurs belges, 1936, p. 23.

Bibliografie

Anderen over deze componist

  • Bergmans, C.: Mathieu, Emile-Louis-Victor, in: Le Conservatoire royal de Musique de Gand, Gent, 1901, p. 290-299.
  • Festina lente: Emile Mathieu, in: Zondagsblad. Bijblad van "Vooruit", 3 oktober 1915, p. 227-228 en 10 oktober 1915, p. 238-240.
  • Gilson, P.: Les compositeurs belges, in: Série française n° 8 - Emissions musicales A, NIR-INR (Brussel, 1936), p. 23.
  • Gregoir, E.: Mathieu (Emile), in: Documents historiques relatifs à l’art et aux artistes-musiciens, dl. 2, Brussel, 1874, p. 73-74.
  • Gregoir, E.: Mathieu (Emile), in: Les artistes-musiciens belges au XVIIIme et au XIXme siècle, Brussel, 1885, p. 299-300.
  • Huys, B.: E. Mathieu: chronologie, betekenis en volledige lijst van zijn composities, in: Jaarboek van de Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring van Leuven en Omgeving, jrg. 24, 1985, p. 49-82.
  • Huys, B.: Chronologie en lijst van composities van Emile Mathieu, in: Negen componisten rond "150 Jaar conservatorium Leuven”, Leuven, 1985.
  • Huys, B.: Mathieu, Emile Louis Victor, in: Nationaal Biografisch Woordenboek, Brussel, 1987, p. 498-503.
  • Moulckers, J.: Recueil de chants patriotiques des maîtres de l’art musical belge - 75e anniversaire de l’indépendance nationale 1830-1905 / Vaderlandsche zangen der meesters van de Belgische toonkunst - 75ste verjaring der nationale onafhankelijkheid, Lier, 1905, p. 84.
  • Pougin, A.: Mathieu (Emile), in: Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique par F.-J. Fétis, Supplément et Complément,publiés sous la direction de Arthur Pougin, dl. 2, Parijs, 1880, p. 186.

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