Noël Goemanne
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Noël Goemanne (
Poperinge Poperinge (; , ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of West Flanders, Flemish Region, and has a history going back to medieval times. The municipality comprises ...
, December 10, 1926 –
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, January 12, 2010) was a Belgian-born musician, who in 1952 emigrated to the United States, where he made a name for himself as an
organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
, as a
choirmaster A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...
, and as a
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...
, especially of
sacred music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as a ritual. Reli ...
.


Education

Goemanne began studying music at the age of six, and obtained his first music degrees ''magna cum laude'' from a so-called "central examination board". He then studied full-time at the
Lemmensinstituut The Lemmensinstituut The Lemmensinstituut (Lemmens Institute) is a Belgian conservatory of music. It was founded in Mechelen, in 1879, by the Belgian bishops as the ''École de musique religieuse'' (School of Religious Music). It was later rena ...
, where he had renowned teachers, among them composer Marinus De Jong, choirmaster Jules Van Nuffel, and organist Flor Peeters, and at the Royal Conservatory of Liège, where he his teachers included Pierre Froidebise and Charles Hens. Subsequently, he studied for two more years with Flor Peeters as a private student.


In Belgium

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the Nazi occupier tried to persuade him to become a composer for the Third Reich, but he refused. He was later arrested for playing music by
Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...
, a Jewish composer, in public. His wartime experiences turned him into a committed
pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...
, which was reflected in his demand, to which he adhered till the end of his life, that his singers sing the "Dona nobis pacem" (Grant us peace), the final words of the ''
Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the "Lamb of God" is honoured within Christian liturgies descending from the historic Latin liturgical tradition, including those of Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism. It is the name given to a spec ...
'', with all the power they had. Between 1950 and 1952, he was a regular piano recitalist for the
Namur Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namur stands at the confl ...
station of the Belgian National Broadcasting Institute, and from 1949 till 1952, he was organist and choirmaster at
Rochefort Rochefort () may refer to: Places France * Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department ** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard * Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department * Rochefort-du-Gard, in the G ...
. He soon realized, though, that Europe had a surfeit of organists. Newly married, he emigrated to the USa in 1952.


In the USA

In the USA, he was active as a choirmaster and organist of a number of Catholic churches in
Victoria, Texas Victoria is a city and the county seat of Victoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 65,534 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The three counties of the Victoria, Texas metropolitan area, Victoria Metropolitan Statis ...
;
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
, Michigan;
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
; and Dallas, where he served in Christ the King Catholic Church from 1972 till the end of his life. He also taught music in various places, including the Palestrina Institute for Sacred Music in Detroit,According to Denis Havard de la Montagne, "Thomas Martin KURAS" o
this page
of the Musica et Memoria website, a school (1940–late 1960s) established to teach sacred music to future ecclesiastical musicians and to promote religious music in accordance with
Pope Pius X Pope Pius X (; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing Modernism in the Catholic Church, modern ...
’s '' Tra le sollecitudini'' and funded by the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Saint John’s University, Saint Joseph’s College, and Tarrant County Junior College. He also gave workshops on sacred music in a number of colleges and universities during the 1960s. As a composer, he wrote over 200 sacred compositions, a number of them occasioned by the changes in Roman Catholic liturgy following the second Vatican Council. He was the first to compose masses in English that were approved for the liturgy, but his 20-plus masses are not all in English, for he often combined English and Latin texts in his masses. In 1987, he was commissioned to write the processional for the mass celebrated by
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...
during his visit to San Antonio, Texas; this was Goemanne's ''Fanfare and Concertato on 'All Creatures of Our God and King'.'' He had his works published by various publishing houses, two of which, GIA Publications and
World Library Publications GIA Publications, Inc. is a major publisher of hymnals, other sacred music, and music education materials that is currently located in Chicago. The organization was initially the publishing arm of the Gregorian Institute of America (1941–1965); ...
(WLP, the music and liturgy division of the J.S. Paluch company; in Goemanne’s time called "World Library of Sacred Music") deserve special mention, as they still (2018) retain dozens of his works in their catalogs. This indicates that they are still performed quite regularly.


Private life

Goemanne was married to Janine Marloye, by whom he had three children.


Honors

In addition to a number of
ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...
awards, Goemanne received: * the award from the Institute of Sacred Music, Manila, the Philippines (1974) * the ''Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice'' Medal, awarded by
Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...
in 1977 for his contributions to church music * an honorary degree of Doctor of Sacred Music, awarded by Saint Joseph’s College, Rensselaer, for establishing its sacred music program * an honorary doctorate, awarded by Madonna University (1999)


Sources

All websites cited here or in the Notes were consulted in September 2018. *"Noël Goemanne", obituary in ''The Dallas Morning News'', January 15, 2010; also availabl
here
The main source of this article. Other biographies:
GIA Publications - Noël Goemanne

Alliance Music Publications - Noël Goemanne
* "In Memoriam: Nöel Goemanne 1926–2010" in: ''The Choral Journal'' (Oklahoma City), Vol. 50, Iss. 9 (Apr 2010), p. 94; also availabl
here


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goemanne, Noël 1926 births 2010 deaths Belgian classical composers Belgian organists Belgian choral conductors Belgian male conductors (music) Belgian music educators Belgian emigrants to the United States Belgian male musicians College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University faculty Male organists People from Poperinge Royal Conservatory of Liège alumni Tarrant County College faculty