Download 1 In the early history of music, the term “school” was

In the early history of music, the term “school” was rather important. At that time it was not
restricted to passing on a technique from teacher to pupil, but it mainly designated the sharing
of a common musical language and style. Since Romanticism and the liberation of the
individual there is hardly any common style and there are only personal composition styles. In
Belgium, following the French example, music at the highest level was taught at the
conservatories of music since the French Revolution. Paul Gilson (1865-1942), an
exceptional teacher was active at the Antwerp and Brussels conservatories of music from
1899 to 1909.He was a very gifted composer but his most important works were written
before 1914: his cantata Sinaï (1899), his symphonic poem ‘La Mer’ (1892), his cantata
‘Francesca da Rimini’ (1894), the ballet music ‘La Captive’ (1896-1900) and his ‘Variations
Symphoniques’ (1903). He never became the great composer as his early compositions had
suggested, but was a thorough craftsman and an exceptional teacher. Though he only taught
at the conservatories of music of Antwerp and Brussels, he continued to teach privately until
he died. Most of the Belgian composers of the twenties and thirties of the previous century
studied with him. Besides the Synthetists, this was also the case with Jean Absil, Jef Van
Hoof and Daniël Sternefeld. No other teacher ever had any influence like that of Gilson on the
musical life in Belgium. Next to his pedagogical influence, Paul Gilson is also rightly called
“the father of the Flemish wind music” (cf. Portrait of Paul Gilson WWM 500.061).
As a child he had got acquainted with the local fanfare band of his native village Ruisbroek
and composed his very first pieces for this band. Throughout his life, Gilson remained
fascinated by this type of orchestra. His persistent labour and observation ability allowed
Gilson to become a real wind band specialist. He was not only interested in a professional
musical practice, but tried also to bring the popular music art to a higher level. He was one of
the very first to consider and treat the wind band as an adequate and autonomous type of
orchestra and he created a completely new and specific original repertoire that was adapted to
the possibilities of the wind instruments. Up to now 219 original pieces for winds have been
registered and they represent two thirds of his complete instrumental output. The musical and
historical significance of Paul Gilson in this matter cannot be estimated to its complete
dimension. Gilson was the initiator of a movement that never stopped since. He was the
trigger of the wind band evolution and did not only inspire his pupils but also his
contemporaries and the later generations. His dramatic overture” Richard III” is based on the
tragedy of the same name by William Shakespeare. Richard III, the younger brother of
Edward III, tries secretly to become king and dies whoever thwarts his plans. The population
becomes angry and revolts, so the tyrant is dethroned. He is a prey to hallucinations and is
haunted by the dead bodies of his victims. Only the angel-like characters of Edward’s children
seem to forgive the violent and wicked king. The next day, Richard III is killed in a battle.
The final solemn triumphal march (maestoso) represents the victory of the rebels and the
restoration of a more human regime. Gilson boasted very loyal pupils and at their teacher’s
sixtieth birthday they decided to found their own group of composers to celebrate and honour
their beloved teacher. In September 1925, together with René Bernier (1905-1984), Gaston
Brenta (1902-1969) Théo Dejoncker (1894-1964) Robert Otlet, Maurice Schoemaker (18901964) and Jules Strens (1893-1971), Marcel Poot founded the ‘Group of The Synthetists’.
Later Robert Otlet left the group and was replaced by Francis de Bourguignon (1890-1964)
who joined the other six members. Their own “school” was born precisely like that of the
Mighty Five in Russia before and that of “Les Six” in France some time later. They regularly
met in a pub called “Le Diable-au-Corps” at the Rue des Charbons near the Brussels Stock
Exchange. Despite its French name, that pub was the Flemish cultural meeting point in the
capital at the time.
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‘Some of his pupils and ex-pupils gathered weekly to organize the festivities in celebration of
their master. They also decided to comply with one of their teacher’s most ardent wishes,
namely to group his pupils, or at least part of those who enjoyed his tuition, in order to
organize concerts presenting their compositions. The elder pupils who already boasted a
certain notoriousness or had been appointed director of one or other musical institution did
not risk the adventure. Yet the younger took the risk and that was the right thing to do.’
They decided to go their own completely independent way, but felt united by their common
search for new and original musical beauty. There was neither a structured nor a common
artistic program but the members of the group were convinced that the time had come to
renounce to the romantic ideals and provincial attributes and to turn to the actual universal
and renewed musical language. By choosing the name of the group, the young composers
have honoured unconsciously the exceptional musical science of Paul Gilson that was a kind
of synthesis of the romantic and more modern ways of writing music as far as technique,
harmonics and orchestration were concerned. Although the Synthetists were often to be found
together on several concert programs, they never looked for any unity of style and form. Each
of them went his own way based on the technique of Gilson. They never claimed the paternity
of their master exclusively for their group. Each member thought and composed in his own
personal style. Their artistic purpose was clearly defined by Gaston Brenta: "To cast all the
achievements of contemporary music in well defined forms, in one word: to synthesize.
Moreover, it should be stressed that these musicians leave the long evolution of the musical idea
and the plain pedantic rhetoric in order to create a distinct and living art."
One of the first realisations of the Synthetists was the creation of their own musical periodical
in May 1925 ‘La Revue Musicale Belge’. The principal aims were to arise the people’s
interest in symphonic music and especially in Belgian music. The reason for the foundation
of the ‘Synthetists” was not only the celebration of Gilson’s sixtieth birthday but the gathering
of their efforts was first of all necessary in order to attain the public concert scene. The
possibilities of getting a new work by a young composer performed in public were almost non
existent. By uniting their efforts they could obtain some result. In the early twenties there was
only one steady orchestra active in Brussels, namely that of the opera “La Monnaie”. The
concert associations did not care about these new gifted composers so these were obliged to
organise themselves chamber music concerts, lieder and other instrumental recitals to have
their works performed in public. As these organisations were anything but important, it was
thanks to the help of Arthur Prevost that got access to the great concert halls. Prevost was the
conductor of the “Symphonic Band of the Belgian Guides” that was the only professional
orchestra next to that of the opera at that time.
The collaboration with “the Guides’ was mainly due to Gilson’s incitement: he had passed on
his sympathy for wind band music to his pupils; Prevost incited the Synthetists to transcribe
some of their compositions for symphonic band. At that time, the symphonic band of the
Guides was an ideal working instrument for these young composers. The first concert
presenting the music of the Synthetists was on 21 June 1927 and the program boasted the
following pieces: Variations sur un thème Congolais by Gaston Brenta, Epitaphe by René
Bernier, Fantasque Nr. 2 and Feu d’Artifice by Maurice Schoemaker and Charlot by Marcel
Poot. This concert for a selected audience made quite some impression and was introduced by
Paul Collaer. For these young composers this concert was the beginning of a new career and
the doors of the great concert halls were opened one by one to the Synthetists.
Constant Moreau (1891-1975) was also an admirer of the wind band music by the Synthetists.
He set up a concert program by the Band of the 3rd Regiment of the Line at Ostend with
music by the Synthetists on 14 December 1929.
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The second concert by the Guides Band was at the Brussels Conservatory of Music on 27
February 1930. The program of this concert boasted the following works: Poème
Symphonique en forme d’ouverture by Paul Gilson, Deux extraits du Jardin au Supplices by
Théo Dejoncker, Deux Fantasques by Maurice Schoemaker, Concertino for piano and winds
by Francis de Bourguignon (the composer playing the solo part), Epitaphe by René Bernier,
Mélodies Brèves for solo voice and winds by René Bernier, Danse Funambulesque by Jules
Strens, Charlot (part three) and Jazz-Music by Marcel Poot and Zo’har by Gaston Brenta.
The first concert of symphonic music by the Synthetists was on 5 January 1931 in the
Chamber Music Hall of the Brussels concert hall ‘Palais des beaux-Arts’; it was conducted
by Franz André. There were two more collective concerts with chamber music by the
Synthetists on 19 and 27 January 1928 and José Bruyr organised another recital in Paris. From
then onwards, the individual members of the group were accepted on the concert programs of
the most important Brussels concert associations, even at the opera “La Monnaie” in Brussels
and at the Antwerp opera. So the main reason of existence of the group had disappeared. Each
of the Synthetists went his own way and all group activities ceased. Moreover, the collective
concerts had only engendered some moral success but no real financial income, so keeping
the group alive became more difficult each year. Another (unofficial but maybe decisive)
reason might be that some of the Synthetists came more to the fore and left the others in the
background. So the mutual understanding and harmony within the group got weaker and
weaker and by 1931 all common activities had ceased.
Marcel Poot composed his Jazz Music for the Symphonic Band of the 1st Guides Regiment at
the request of its conductor Arthur Prevost. It was first performed on 30 May 1929 on board
the HMS Homeric during the home trip from their 1929 concert tour through the United
States and Canada. Later the Guides Band recorded the piece for ‘His Master’s Voice’ on a 78
rpm record. When the French conductor Pierre Monteux heard the original band version
played by the Guides band on a bandstand in the Brussels park he asked Poot to write a
version for symphony orchestra. This version was published by Max Eschig in Paris in 1930.
In his early works (such as Variations en forme de danse and Charlot) Poot had discovered
the possibilities of jazz music and so he composed his Jazz Music in 1929.
About the influence of jazz music and of cinema pianists of the silent film era in his youth
compositions Poot wrote: “During my youth I loved jazz music. This music was extremely
popular just after World War I and was completely new to us; I often danced to the jazz
rhythms.” Marcel Poot soon switched to absolute music without any extra musical contents.
In his early compositions Poot used all kinds of dances and did not shrink from using all kinds
of jazz influences in his orchestral compositions (Jazz Music, the third part of Charlot, Les
jeux de l’été et de la mer, Symphony nr.1, Paris et les trois divines)
An example of his style later in life is no his Fantasia Concertante (1978) one of his some
forty original wind band compositions. In the group of the Synthetists, Marcel Poot was the
one who passed on to his pupils the sympathy for wind band music he had inherited from his
teacher.
Maurice Schoemaker (1890-1964) studied composition and instrumentation with Gilson and
became representative administrator of SABAM the Belgian copyright society. Like Marcel
Poot, Schoemaker preserved his obvious Flemish character. The main characteristic of his
music is the technical mastery in many musical genres. His honest and original inspiration
corresponds perfectly to the neo-romantic tradition set up by Gilson.
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Gaston Brenta (1902-1969) became a pupil of Gilson at eighteen when he had finished his
secondary education and got his complete musical tuition from the master. In 1931 he was
appointed interim director and in 1938 assistant director of the Belgian Radio Institution
From 1953 to 1967 he was director of music with the RTB (French speaking Belgian Radio
Institution) and was active as a music critic for several newspapers. In 1965 he wrote his
monograph ‘Paul Gilson’ which is still the reference work about the life and the work of his
teacher. The catalogue of his compositions is rather large and diverse. Yet, he is first of all a
composer of instrumental symphonic music often based on a program and provided with
evocative titles. His quite tonal way of composing was gradually extended with chromatic and
later with atonal and polytonal techniques. His early works such as Variations sur un thème
Congolais, Chevauchée Fantastique (1926) and Zo’har (1929) breathed a rather romantic
atmosphere similar to the style of Gilson, but his composition evaluated gradually towards a
more daring harmonic language. His Second Piano Concerto (1968) was the test piece for the
International Queen Elisabeth Competition and clearly illustrates this renewal.
His Fanfare Héroïque (1945) for three trumpets, 4 French horns, 3 trombones tuba and
percussion bears the subtitle ‘Pro Libertate Mortuis’. This solemn fanfare is a tribute to the
heroes fallen in World War II and is dedicated to René Telier.
The composer and musicologist René Bernier (1905-1984) was a pupil of Gilson before he
became a teacher at the conservatories of music of Liege and Mons and at the music academy
of Brussels. From 1941 to 1968 he was inspector of the music education in the French
speaking part of Belgium. In 1935 Bernier won the composition prize of the Royal Academy
of Belgium and in 1963 he became a member of this institution. He was often invited as an
adjudicator in Belgium and abroad. Bernier was the youngest composer of the group of the
Synthetists and his list of compositions is very impressive. He excels as a composer of songs
with piano or orchestral accompaniment, but also wrote consistent compositions for choir and
fine chamber music. His orchestral piece Le Tombeau devant l’Escaut (1962) was composed
in memory of the author Emile Verhaeren (1855-1916) buried since 1927 on the banks of the
river Scheldt in his native village Sint-Amands-aan-de-Schelde. He expressed his last request
in his poem ‘L’Escaut’ (The Scheldt) as follows:
‘Le jour que m’abattra le sort
C’est dans ton sol, c’est sur tes bords
Qu’on cachera mon corps
Pour le sentir, même à travers la mort, encore !’
(The day fate will strike me down, my body will be hidden in your soil, alongside your banks,
in order still to feel it even through death). The orchestration for symphonic band was made
by the French military bandmaster Jules Semler-Collery (1902-1988).
Francis de Bourguignon (1890-1961) studied piano with Arthur De Greef at the Brussels
Royal Conservatory of Music. He started his career as a pianist and gave recitals all over the
world, while he also accompanied among others the great violin virtuoso Eugène Ysaye and
the famous singer Nellie Melba. Back in Belgium, he started working as a composer and so
he also studied with Paul Gilson. Later, he became professor respectively of harmony and
counterpoint at the Royal Brussels Conservatory of Music and became director of the music
academy of Anderlecht, a Brussels suburb. His music is a synthesis of traditional and
contemporary styles, mostly both descriptive and impressionistic. The form of his
compositions is usually classical. Among his most famous compositions are Impressions SudAméricaines (South American impressions).
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He made an orchestration for symphonic band of his Concertino for piano opus 25, written
in 1927. The composition consists of three parts: allegro moderato, très lent and allegro.
Maurice Schoemaker (1890-1964) was born at Anderlecht and started as a self-taught
composer. Later he studied composition and instrumentation with Paul Gilson. He was also
representative administrator of the copyright society SABAM. Within the group of the
Synthetists he shared with Marcel Poot the preservation of his Flemish identity. His music is
mainly tonal and classical as to the form. Sometimes his music is lyrical and romantic but his
complete work is characterized by an obvious unity of style. The main characteristic of his
compositions is no doubt his technical mastery en his honest and original inspiration. He was
at once very successful with his Feu d’artifice (Fireworks) written in 1922. The work also
became popular abroad thanks to the symphonic version of 1925 and immediately made the
composer famous. Next there were some other orchestral compositions such as the Breughel
suite and Flemish Rhapsody. His opera Swane (1933) on a script by the Flemish author Stijn
Streuvels was well received by the audiences. Schoemaker was also a fine composer of songs
with both French and Dutch lyrics. His Feu d’artifice (1922) is a symphonic poem preceded
by the following text of the composer:
First rocket... crackle...to begin with, two simple wheels slowly start to spin, at first one,
followed by the second.
Second rocket...crackle... The big Andrews Cross lights up in its four corners and then starts a
revolving and somewhat pompous motion discharging a shower of scintillating sparks.
Third rocket...crackle... The two Punchinellos chase each other in a frantic though unsuccessful
race; then they try to walk backwards and in the end disappear without having caught
up with each other.
Fourth rocket...crackle... The grand finale throws up at the sky its multicoloured flowers,
always higher and in a more closely woven pattern.
Several rockets... tremendous explosion. And this is the end.
Théo Dejoncker (1894-1964) studied with Paul Gilson and August De Boeck and later
became conductor with the N.I.R. (National Dutch speaking radio institution). He composed
several orchestral pieces such as Sinfonia burlesca, Breughel and Don Quichote and also quite
some chamber music including a string quartet and a saxophone quartet. His composition
Charles Stratton (Tom Thumb) is a musical fairy tale dedicated to Sylvain Devreese. General
Tom Thumb was the stage name of Charles Stratton (1838-1883) an American circus artist
only 1,61 m. tall. Constant Moreau wrote the orchestration for symphonic band.
Jules Strens (1892-1971) was mainly self-taught as a composer, though he had studied
orchestration with Paul Gilson at the Brussels Royal Conservatory of Music between 1907
and 1911. He became a violinist in the opera orchestra of “La Monnaie” in 1922 and was
conductor of the Brussels Association Symphonique from 1931 to 1934. At first, Strens was
deeply influenced by Richard Strauß as we can hear in his composition Gil Blas. Later he
evaluated towards impressionism taking both the whimsical melodic lines and the varying
orchestration of that style. His personal style is characterized by a search for rhythmical
renewal and polyrhythmic. The three most typical works in that style are his three symphonic
poems: Danse Funambulesque, Danse Tragique and Rapsodie polyrythmique.
What was left in 1931 and what is left nowadays of this group except their program and the
fact that each of them established his name and fame within the Belgian world of music in the
first half of the 20th century? Their collaboration which lasted six years resulted mainly in the
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existence of the ‘school label’ and some ideals. As most of them took the instrumental music
as starting point of their musical activities, the Synthetists succeeded in drawing attention to
the symphonic genre. Above all, they quite actively participated in the musical life focused on
the modern musical expression. The most tangible result for the wind band world is a series of
interesting compositions that, by means of a unique collaboration with Arthur Prevost and the
Symphonic Band of the 1st Guides Regiment, got a steady place in our cultural patrimony.
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