Van Wassenhoven, Paul

Annelies Focquaert (translation: Jo Sneppe)

Paul Van Wassenhoven descends from an artistic family: both his grandfather Simon and his father Theodoor were musicians. After his secondary school education in Lier Paul Van Wassenhoven studied music at the Lemmens Institute in Mechelen (1894), where under the direction of Edgar Tinel he attended the classes of clavier, organ, harmony, counterpoint and fugue. In the middle of his last oral and practical exams – he obtained the highest diploma for organ, the Lemmens-Tinel Prize – his mother passed away, upon which he immediately took over from his father the function of Kapellmeister and organist at St Gummarus Church in Lier. Paul remained at his post for over 50 years, until his death. He composed quite a lot of religious music for 'his' church, including some two hundred motets, three Masses (Missa in honorem Sctae Caeciliae, Missa pro pace, Missa festiva in honorem Sancti Gummari), a Requiem and a Te Deum. Furthermore he wrote songs such as Het Kindje, Kom rust op mijn harte, mijn engel, Vliegt de Blauwvoet!, Mijn huis, mijn dorp, mijn land, O, ’t ruischen van het ranke riet and Communielied (The Little Child, Come rest on my Heart, my Angel, The Fulmar Flies!, My House, My Village, My Land, O the Rustling of the Slender Reed, Communion Song). In the series De Vlaamsche Zanger the songs De Vlaamsche Officier (The Flemish Officer) and De dag des Heeren (The Day of Our Lord) were published.

As conductor of the Royal Singing Society Orpheus, where he had taken over the lead from his father since 1897, Van Wassenhoven composed a great number of choral works, among them Vermeetlen, De stemme Gods, Aan de Maas, De helden van 1302, God in de Lente, Uchtendhymne and De Noren (1908) (The Bold Ones, God's Voice, At the River Maas, The Heroes of 1302, God in Spring, Morning Hymn, The Norwegians). In addition he was also conductor of the popular ‘Lyra’ orchestra, performing several operettas with them, and of the symphonic society ‘De Lier’ which he founded in 1927. He was also chairman of the trade union ‘Toonkunstenaarskamer’ (Musicians' syndicate), founded in 1919. As music teacher at the St Gummarus High School (1899-1932) and the State Teachers' Training College (1910-1937) he also composed several occasional works and after having performed Méhul's opera Joseph with the wind and percussion band the ‘Xaverianen’ where he was vice-chairman, he composed two lyrical dramas of his own, Esther and Fabiola (1932, his greatest success). He composed several children's operettas as well, among them Gerrit en Greetje, Het gouden kasteel (The Golden Castle) and De blauwe diamant (The Blue Diamond). Renaat Veremans was one of his pupils, though it isn't clear where and when. The Lier Municipal Archives preserve a major part of his scores.