I am, Sir,
Very respectfully yours,
AN ORCHESTRAL PERFORMER.
ON THE ACTUAL STATE OF MUSIC IN BELGIUM, AND ITS PROSPECTS OF ADVANCE IN THAT COUNTRY.
[In a letter from M. Fétis to his Son.]
Bruxelles, June 8, 1833.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
WHEN proposals were made to me to return to my native land, to devote myself to regenerate the art of music, and to fill the honourable situation of maitre de chapelle to the king of Belgium, as well as director of the Conservatory of Music at Bruxelles, it was proper to examine if I could be more useful to the art I with passion cultivate, in endeavouring to suppress innovations, and in perfecting it, than in remaining in the capital of France, where my labours might not be followed by a beneficial result. To convince myself upon this point I took a general view of the state of Belgium, as regards music, from the middle age to the present, in order to ascertain whether I should find the necessary elements for the work they demanded; that is, a favourable organization for the culture of music in the Belgians, with suitable disposition to develope, by study, this organization, if it existed.
When the sensibility and genius of a people for the culture of the arts is the question, it is difficult to anticipate the future, if history has not informed us of the past. I own that the facts which I collected gave me a high idea of the future fate of the art in this country, if circumstances seconded the efforts I proposed to make. I shall cast a hasty coup d’œil on these facts, that the readers of the Revue Musicale may understand on what foundation I build the hope I have formed in coming here to try a regeneration, which equally flatters my self-esteem and patriotism.
In the fifteenth century a Belgian, JEAN TINCTORIS, (or the Dyer) of Niville, was the most learned theoretical musician of his period, and, at the same time, one of the ablest composers. He wrote many works on musical subjects, which have descended to us, and show that GAFORIO, and all other Italian theorists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, drew their science from him, and were his scholars and imitators. Becoming maestro di cappella to the king of Naples, Ferdinand d’Arragon, he was founder of the oldest Italian school of music; and composed masses and motets, which still exist, in manuscript, in the library of the Sistine Chapel.
In the following century, Adrien Willaert, born at Bruges, was maestro di cappella of Saint Mark, at Venice, and there established a musical school, where Zarlino was educated, the most learned of Italian theorists, and Cyprien Rore, another Belgian, one of the finest musicians of his time, who became maestro di cappella to the duke of Ferrara. Willaert also ranked among the best composers of his day; and Zarlino signalized himself as the inventor of Church Music in many parts. Cyprien Rore, of whom I have just spoken, Pierre de la Rue, Clement, surnamed non Papa, Jacquet, or Jacques, of Berchem, so called because he was born in the village of Berchem, near Antwerp, Jacques of Turnhout, and a multitude of Belgic composers, occupied places in all the European capitals as chapel-masters to kings and princes, during the sixteenth and part of the seventeenth centuries.
At this period all the singers of the Pontifical chapel were engaged from Belgium, and the greater part of the musicians in the service of the king of Spain left that country. The most celebrated composer of the latter half of the sixteenth century, who alone was qualified to struggle for glory with Palestrina, and who, like him, was called the Prince of Musicians, was Roland de Lassus[86], born at Mons; his renown was equally great in Italy, Germany, France, and England. His countryman and contemporary, Phillipe M. Mons, was likewise considered as one of the most distinguished composers of his time, and his works show that his reputation was deserved. I should never conclude, were I to name all the Belgian musicians worthy of being reckoned amongst the most able artists. You will observe that I do not mention many other composers and theorists, who,—born in that part of Flanders, reunited to France during the reigns of Louis XIII. and XIV., or in the northern provinces under the dominion of Prussia,—belong nevertheless to Belgium.