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Arthur Meulemans (1884-1966), a prolific Belgian impressionist

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kyjo
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« on: August 13, 2013, 12:20:58 am »

I'd like to create more interest in this remarkable Belgian composer:


Bio taken from cebedem.be:

Having completed a full score of musical studies at the Lemmens Institute of Mechelen under the initiation of Edgard Tinel, Arthur Meulemans was appointed teacher of harmony in 1906.

 In 1914 he settled in Tongres as a secondary teacher of music. He founded and directed the Limburg school of organ and vocal music in Hasselt. In 1930 he left for Brussels to conduct and organize the radio orchestra. In 1942 he retired from his official function to devote himself exclusively to composition until his death.

 Arthur Meulemans has known a long and prolific career and, undoubtedly belongs to the group of important composers of his generation in Belgium. During his lifetime he received numerous distinctions. He was a member and later president of the Royal Flemish Academy of Science, Literature and Fine Arts of Belgium.

 As a composer, he brought Flanders the appropriate transition from the 19th to the 20th century. He was one of the first who fully appreciated Claude Debussy’s works. One could be tempted to qualify Meulemans’ work as being post-impressionistic. He was strongly attracted to purely symphonic works, although he did not neglect other forms.

 His style is marked by an outspoken melody and strongly structured harmony. His orchestrations give preference to the precise refinement of well chosen timbres. His last works tend toward a certain restraint in orchestral colour.


Meulemans was immensely prolific. He churned out no less than 15 symphonies, around 25 concertos, three operas, five string quartets, numerous cantatas and oratorios, and a host of other orchestral, band, vocal, chamber and instrumental works. It would be wrong to presume that quantity was more important than quality to Meulemans, because the few works that are available of his are very fine works indeed, displaying a creative imagination at work.

Meulemans' style, as mentioned in the article above, is post-impressionstic with added influences from late-romantic (in his early works) and neoclassical (in his later works) music. The majority of his works available on disc come from his early period.  His early period (as exemplified in Symphonies 2 and 3 and the orchestral pieces May Night and Pliny’s Fountain Suite) is characterized by a relatively straightforward but not unimaginative blend of late-romanticism and impressionism. Points of comparison could be Debussy, Respighi and Joseph Marx. His middle period exploits an advancement of the impressionist idiom used in the early works. Works such as Symphony no. 7 (the best I’ve heard yet from Meulemans) show an increasing chromaticism, with a fondness for dark, almost crepuscular orchestral colors, creating an almost expressionistic mood. Rob Barnett gives an excellent description of this remarkable and individualistic work in this MusicWeb review:

The Meulemans’ wartime Symphony is the most 'advanced' work on the disc. It seems to speak of the fenland suggested by the title: bleak and romantic, dank and haunting (first and third movements), spidery, impressionistic (Ravel is surely his maitre in the second movement), sometimes raucous and ‘mécanique’, à la Markevich, in the second and final movements. The upstart finale rattles cages with a danse des guerriers that is part Ravel, part Antheil.

I’d really like to hear more works from his middle period! His late period (as exemplified by his two Concertos for Orchestra) still retains some of the luminous impressionism of the earlier works, but with clearer-cut textures and a more streamlined, lucid sound, placing it in a similar category as, say, Martinu, Honegger, or Bloch’s neoclassical works.

I would dearly love to hear more of Meulemans’ music, but Belgium’s two main labels, Phaedra and Cypres (both very small, I might add), do not seem to have much interest in it. Perhaps CPO could take up his cause?

An extensive list of Meulmans’ compositions can be found here: http://www.cebedem.be/en/composers/m/104-meulemans-arthur

There’s also an excellent MusicWeb article on Meulemans: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Oct02/Meulemans_Culot.htm

These are all the recordings available of Meulemans’ music, of which I particularly recommend the two Marco Polo ones:

                      

That may seem like a lot or recordings, but remember that most of those CDs devote only a fraction of their playing time to Meulemans' music!

Anyone else familiar with Meulemans' music? If so, I'd be pleased to hear your thoughts on it! :)
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2013, 01:09:07 am »

http://gulabin.com/composers/pdf/ARTHUR%20MEULEMANS.pdf

....will give you some idea of the huge amount and range of orchestral music written by Meulemans.

(Apologies, but I am off to London tomorrow so cannot write more.)

....however, any mistakes in the catalogue above are mine :)
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kyjo
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« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2013, 01:38:35 am »

http://gulabin.com/composers/pdf/ARTHUR%20MEULEMANS.pdf

....will give you some idea of the huge amount and range of orchestral music written by Meulemans.

(Apologies, but I am off to London tomorrow so cannot write more.)

....however, any mistakes in the catalogue above are mine :)

I should have provided a link to your magnificent catalogue in my first post in addition to the worklist at CeBeDeM (which includes all of Meulemans' compositions) ::) Have a safe trip to London and enjoy yourself, Colin :)
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2013, 09:22:31 am »

Thank you very much, Kyle :)
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guest145
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« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2013, 02:30:14 pm »

I've uploaded a Meulemans rarity for you in the Belgian folder of the Downloads section.
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kyjo
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« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2013, 09:44:35 pm »

I've uploaded a Meulemans rarity for you in the Belgian folder of the Downloads section.

Not just for me, of course! ;D I'm generally not a fan of wind/brass ensemble music, but I'm grateful for any Meulemans I can get my greedy hands on! :)
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guest145
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« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2013, 01:25:12 pm »

Quote
Not just for me, of course! Grin I'm generally not a fan of wind/brass ensemble music, but I'm grateful for any Meulemans I can get my greedy hands on! Smiley

Certainly for everyone! I just singled you out since you initiated this thread.  :) I wonder if anyone else on the forum has any uploadable performances of Meulemans symphonies?
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ttle
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« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2013, 06:50:31 pm »

I seem to recall that his very beautiful 13th symphony (Rembrandt, in four self-portraits) was uploaded here. Hubert Culot certainly makes us long for the 9th. On a side note, I recently visited CeBeDeM and acquired (among other Belgian works) the score of Meulemans's solo violin sonata, also a relatively late piece. Hopefully I can read it through by tomorrow night.
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