Brussels Conservatory
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The Royal Conservatory of Brussels (, ) is a historic conservatory in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, Belgium. Starting its activities in 1813, it received its official name in 1832. Providing performing
music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
and drama courses, the institution became renowned partly because of the international reputation of its successive directors such as
François-Joseph Fétis François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, critic, teacher and composer. He was among the most influential music intellectuals in continental Europe. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ...
, François-Auguste Gevaert, Edgar Tinel,
Joseph Jongen Joseph Marie Alphonse Nicolas Jongen (14 December 1873 – 12 July 1953) was a Belgian organist, composer, and music educator. Biography Jongen was born in Liège, where his parents had moved from Flanders. He was the elder brother of Léon Jonge ...
and Marcel Poot, but more because it has been attended by many of the top musicians, actors and artists in Belgium such as Arthur Grumiaux, José Van Dam, Sigiswald Kuijken, Josse De Pauw, Luk van Mello and Luk De Konink. Adolphe Sax, inventor of the
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...
, also studied at the Brussels Conservatory. In 1967, the institution split into two separate entities: the , which teaches in Dutch, and the , which continued teaching in French. While the French-speaking entity remained an independent public institution of higher education (''École supérieure des arts''), the Flemish entity integrated into the newly created Erasmus University College as one of its Schools of Arts.


Building

The current Royal Conservatory building consists of three wings arranged around a courtyard and is the work of architect Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar, built to his designs between 1872 and 1876. The style is neo-Renaissance, influenced by the Lescot Wing of the
Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
. The decoration of the facade is very elaborate, with five separate pediment sculptures (''Instrumental Music'' by the
Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...
sculptor Adolphe Fassin, ''Orchestration'' by Charles van der Stappen, ''Composition'' by the
Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
sculptor Frans Deckers, ''Performing Arts'' by Antoine-Félix Bouré, and ''Poetry'' by the
Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...
sculptor Barthélemy Frison) and other incidental work including garlands, caryatids, palm trees and musical instruments by the sculptors Georges Houtstont, Paul de Vigne, Antoine van Rasbourg, Auguste Braekevelt, and Égide Mélot.


Auxiliary activities


Concerts

Each year a variety of regular student concerts and performances is organised by the Conservatory, boasting over hundred events and enhanced by two festivals. The right wing of the Conservatory contains a 600 seats ornate concert hall in Napoleon III style with exceptional acoustic qualities, equipped with a Cavaillé-Coll organ.


Musical Instruments Museum (MIM)

Founded in 1877 to provide students with a practical education about ancien instruments, the Conservatory museum, currently referred to as the Musical Instruments Museum (MIM) of Brussels displays over 8,000 ancient instruments acquired by the celebrated
musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...
François-Joseph Fétis François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, critic, teacher and composer. He was among the most influential music intellectuals in continental Europe. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ...
, rare pieces from the initial collection, from the various funds or from new acquisitions. Since 2000, the museum, one of the most important ones of its kind, is located in the prestigious
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...
building conceived in 1899 by the architect Paul Saintenoy for the former Old England
department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...
.


Library

Initially created with a pedagogic aim, the Conservatory library hosts about 250,000 references, representing a scientific instrument of international resonance. It primarily consists of works about music (including more than 1200 musical or musicological periodicals), as well as of autograph, printed or digitized (scanned) scores. There is also an important collection of more than 8.000 libretti of Italian, French or German operas from the XVIIe and XVIIIe s., lute and guitar tablatures, several thousands of handwritten letters of musicians, iconographic documents (over 9.000 pieces), concert programmes and various types of recordings (magnetic tapes, video, 78 and 33 rpm vinyl, CD, etc.). Next to the core collections, the library possesses several subcollections of historical importance, together forming an extensive patrimony: * the Johann J.H. Westphal collection bought by Fétis (manuscripts of C.P.E. Bach an
G.P. Telemann
, * the Richard Wagener collection acquired by the librarian Alfred Wotquenne (German music from the XVIIe, XVIIIe and XIXe s. including 40 autograph manuscripts from three sons of J.-S. Bach), * the Jean-Lucien Hollenfeltz collection (documents of Constance Mozart and her youngest son Franz Xaver Amadeus Mozart), * the Maria Malibran collection (documents and objects from the cantatrice and her close family), * the Edmond Michotte collection (pieces from Rossini's private library), * the Józef Wieniawski collection (autograph scores from the pianist), * the Laurent Halleux collection, * the Joseph Jongen collection. The library is open to the general public. In 2015, the library acquired the score collection of CeBeDeM (Belgian Centre for Music Documentation). In doing so it also took over the latter's objectives in promoting Belgian contemporary music worldwide.


Personalities linked to the Royal Conservatory of Brussels


Directors

* 1833–1871:
François-Joseph Fétis François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, critic, teacher and composer. He was among the most influential music intellectuals in continental Europe. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ...
* 1871–1908: François-Auguste Gevaert * 1908–1912: Edgar Tinel * 1912–1925: Léon Du Bois * 1925–1939:
Joseph Jongen Joseph Marie Alphonse Nicolas Jongen (14 December 1873 – 12 July 1953) was a Belgian organist, composer, and music educator. Biography Jongen was born in Liège, where his parents had moved from Flanders. He was the elder brother of Léon Jonge ...
* 1939–1949: Léon Jongen * 1949–1966: Marcel Poot


Directors of the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles

* 1966–1973: Camille Schmit (in French) * 1974–1987: Éric Feldbusch (in French) * 1987–2002: Jean Baily (in French) * 2003–2023: Frédéric de Roos (in French) * 2023–present: Olivia Wahnon de Oliveira


Directors of the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel

* 1966–1994: Kamiel D'Hooghe (in Dutch) * 1994–2004: Arie Van Lysebeth (in Dutch) * 2004–2008: Rafael D'haene * 2008–2017: Peter Swinnen * 2017–2021: Kathleen Coessens *2021–present: Jan D'haene


Notable faculty

* Charles-Auguste de Bériot, violin * Daniel Blumenthal (piano) * Lola Bobesco (violin) * François Daneels, saxophone * Luc Devos (piano) * Paul Dombrecht (oboe) * François Fernandez (baroque) * Bernard Foccroule, organ * Julien Ghyoros, direction * Katarina Glowicka, computer music * Philippe Graffin, violin * Yossif Ivanov (violin) * Barthold Kuijken (baroque) * Jacques Leduc (direction, composition) * Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens, organ * Jean Louël, piano * Jan Michiels (piano) * Norbert Nozy (
brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...
) * Igor Oistrach (violin) *
Philippe Pierlot Philippe Pierlot (born 1958) is a Belgian viola da gamba player and a conductor in historically informed performance. He is also an academic teacher at the royal conservatories of The Hague and Brussels. Career Born in Liège, Pierlot learned t ...
(baroque) * Marie Pleyel, piano * Eliane Reyes, piano * Adolphe Samuel, composition * Adrien François Servais (cello) * André Souris (direction, composition) * Annelies Van Parys, form analysis * Henri Vieuxtemps, violin * Boyan Vodenitcharov (piano) *
Henryk Wieniawski Henryk Wieniawski (; 10 July 183531 March 1880) was a Polish virtuoso violinist, composer, and pedagogue, who is regarded amongst the most distinguished violinists in history. His younger brother Józef Wieniawski and nephew :pl:Adam Tadeusz Wien ...
, violin * Eugène Ysaÿe, violin * Juliusz Zarębski, piano


Notable alumni

* Isaac Albéniz * Elie Apper * Atar Arad * Oskar Back * Peter Benoit * Fabrizio Cassol * Claire Chevallier * Charles M. Courboin * Alain Crépin * François Daneels * Lara Fabian * Gianfranco Pappalardo Fiumara * John Giordano * Edwin Grasse * Mansoor Hosseini * Albert Huybrechts * Anthony Jennings * Désiré Magnus * Alma Moodie * Norbert H. J. Nozy * André Rieu * Charlotte Ruegger * Elsa Ruegger * Noël Samyn ( fr) * Adolphe Sax * Celia Torra * José van Dam * Carl Verbraeken * Aimée Van de Wiele * Alfred Wotquenne * Eugène Ysaÿe


References


Citations


Bibliography

* *


External links


Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel

Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles

Erasmus University College

Arts Platform Brussels

http://www.lacambre.be

http://www.insas.be

Royal Conservatory of Brussels library catalog

CeBeDeM

Virtual exhibition: La collection de manuscrits de Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) à la Bibliothèque des Conservatoires royaux de Bruxelles
(French only) {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1813 1813 establishments in Europe 19th-century establishments in the Southern Netherlands Arts organizations established in the 1810s Drama schools in Belgium Music schools in Belgium Film schools in Belgium Music in Brussels