6 February
13:00 –13:30 Jan Dewilde: “The Belgian network of Pablo Casals”
This lecture examines the Belgian network of Pablo Casals, based on recent research in the archives of the Royal Conservatoires of Antwerp and Brussels and in other Belgian cultural archives, supplemented by an examination of Belgian and international newspapers and magazines.
Through Guillermo Morphy (1836–1899), a former pupil of François-Joseph Fétis (1784–1871) at the Conservatoire royal in Brussels, the Brussels Conservatoire maintained good contacts with the Spanish music scene. This was all the more the case under director François-Auguste Gevaert (1828–1908), who spent some time in Spain with his stipend from the Prix de Rome and developed contacts there as far as the royal court. Later, Gevaert would also encourage Morphy in his musicological activities. As private secretary to Alfonso XII, Morphy in turn encouraged young Spanish musicians to study in Brussels. Among them was also Casals, but the introduction to the Brussels Conservatoire was disappointing: Gevaert refused to accept Casals as a composition student and, moreover, Casals did not feel appreciated by cello teacher Eduard Jacobs (1851–1921).
This first bad experience with the Brussels Conservatoire and Belgian musical life was later more than compensated by the many good contacts he maintained with Belgian musicians such as violinists Eugène Ysaÿe (1858–1931) and Mathieu Crickboom (1871–1947) and cellist Theo Van Hamberg (1907–1966). The concerts he played as soloist and in chamber music with Ysaÿe and Crickboom are analysed on the basis of their mutual correspondence and concert announcements and reviews. And based on recently recovered correspondence between Casals and his former pupil Van Hamberg - who supplied Casals with tobacco for many years - their friendship is discussed. Casals' Belgian network is further completed through an analysis of the concerts Casals played in Belgian cities such as Antwerp, Brussels and Ostend.
Jan Dewilde studied musicology at KU Leuven and wrote a thesis on Flemish composer Jules Falck (1881–1959). For more than ten years he worked for the Flemish Radio and Television, where he was television producer of music documentaries and concerts. He publishes on Flemish music, and musical heritage and libraries. Currently, he is working on a biography of composer Peter Benoit (1834–1901). Furthermore, he is an editor for a series of sheet music, The Flemish Music Collection (Repertoire Explorer), at Musikproduktion Höflich in Munich. Since 1998, Dewilde is the coordinator for the Centre for the Study of Flemish Music, a post he combines since 2006 with his work as a chief librarian at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp.