Albert Huybrechts
Albert Huybrechts (12 February 1899 in Dinant – 21 February 1938 in Brussels) was a Belgian composer.
Life
Albert Huybrechts was born into a musical family. His father, Joseph-Jacques, was a double bassist in the orchestra of the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie, and his great grand-uncle was the cellist Adrien-François Servais.[1]
Huybrechts enrolled at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels at age 11, where he studied under Joseph Jongen, P. Marchand, and Léon Du Bois.[2] In 1915, Huybtechts won an award for oboe playing at the Conservatory.
In 1920, Huybrechts' father died; he left the composer a small inheritance.[3] He won a prize for fugue with Jongen in 1922, and in 1926 his String Quartet No. 1 won first prize at the Frost-Coolidge Music Festival in Ojai, California.[4] A few days later, his Violin Sonata won the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge award.
The Wall Street crash of 1929 depleted Huybrechts' inheritance; a thwarted love affair in the 1930s added further stress.[5] In January 1938, at Jean Absil's recommendation, Huybrechts was appointed as a junior lecturer in harmony at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. On 21 February, he died unexpectedly of kidney failure.
Works
- Stage
- Agamemnon, Incidental Music after Aeschylus for tenor, baritone, male chorus and orchestra (1932–1933)
- Orchestra
- David, Poème symphonique (1923)
- Poème féerique (1923)
- Sérénade en 3 mouvements (1929)
- Chant d'angoisse (1930)
- Nocturne (1931)
- Concertante
- Chant funèbre for cello and orchestra (1926); also for cello and piano
- Concertino for cello and orchestra (1932)
- Chamber music
- String Quartet No. 1 (1924)
- Sonata for violin and piano (1925)
- Chant funèbre for cello and piano (1926); also orchestrated
- Trio for flute, viola and piano (1926)
- String Quartet No. 2 (1927)
- Sextuor (Pastorale) for 2 flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon (1927)
- Suite for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and piano (1929)
- Divertissement for brass and percussion (1931)
- Pastourelle for cello or viola da gamba and piano (1934)
- Sonatine for flute and viola (1934)
- Piano Trio (1935)
- Quintette à vent (Woodwind Quintet) for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon (1936)
- Aesope for string quartet
- Organ
- Choral (1930)
- Piano
- Sicilienne (1934)
- Vocal
- Les roses de Saadi for soprano and piano (1919); words by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore
- Cétait un soir de féeries for soprano and piano (1920); words by Francis Viélé-Griffin
- Chant d'automne for soprano and piano (1920); words by Charles Baudelaire
- Deux poèmes for mezzo-soprano and string quartet (1923); words by Emile Verhaeren
- Horoscopes for soprano and piano (1926); words by Francis James
- Trois poèmes for mezzo-soprano and piano (1928); words by Edgar Allan Poe in translation by Stéphane Mallarmé
- Eldorado for soprano or mezzo-soprano and orchestra (1928); words by Edgar Allan Poe in translation by Stéphane Mallarmé
- Prière pour avoir une femme simple for tenor and piano or orchestra (1934); words by Francis James
- Mirliton for soprano and piano (1934); words by Tristan Corbière
Discography
- David - Serenade for Orchestra - L'Orchestre National De Belgique/René Defossez. Decca BAT 133200, 1950s
- Musique Belge Contemporaine - Gérard Ruymen, André Isselee, Quatuor Rondo, Pauline Marcelle, Raymonde Serverius. Alpha DBM-133 C, 1970s
- Musique Belge Contemporaine - Quatuor Rondo: Raymond Corbeel, René Philippo, Marcel Ancion, Iwein d’Haese, Gisèle Demoulin. Alpha DBM-F182, 1970s [6]
- Sonate Pour Violon Et Piano / Deuxième Quatuor - Clemens Quatacker, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Le Quatuor Quatacker. Deutsche Grammophon 0100 125, 1979
- Sonatas for Violin And Piano - André Gousseau, Mary Elizabeth Sadun. Pavane ADW 7047, 1981
- Sonatas For Violin And Piano - Edith Volckaert, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden. Queen Elisabeth Competition 1980 038, 1983
- Musique de Chambre - Quatour de l'Opera National de Belgique. Koch Schwann Musica Mundi CD 310 030 H1, 1988
- Shostakovich - Huybrechts - Edith Volckaert, Eugene De Canck. René Gailly CD86 003, 1993
- Chamber Music for Wind Instruments - Wind Ensemble Quintessens. René Gailly CD92 020, 1994
- Sonatine - Sonate - Trio - Marc Grauwels, Jacques Dupriez, Dominique Cornil, Véronique Bogaerts. Syrinx CRS98101, 2000
- Musique de Chambre I - Pierre Amoyal, Marie Hallynck, David Lively, Yuko Shimizu-Amoyal. Cypres CYP4630, 2009
- Musique de Chambre II - Laure Delcampe, Marie Lenormand, Martial Defontaine, Lionel Bams, Quator MP4. Cypres CYP4635, 2011
- Musique de Chambre III - Solistes de l'Orchestre Symphonique de la Monnaie/De Munt. Cypres CYP4639, 2013
- Sonatas for Violin And Piano - Guido De Neve, Jan Michiels. Pavane ADW 7509, 2013[7]
- Huybrechts Chamber Music - Aldo Baerton, Diederick Suys, Frauke Suys, Maiko Inoué. UT3 Records 026, 2016[8]
- Early 20th Century Jewels - Nozomi Kanda, Daniel Rubenstein. DUX CD 1340, 2017[9]
References
- ^ "Golden River Music - Albert Huybrechts".
- ^ "Albert Huybrechts (1899-1938)". 15 June 2023.
- ^ "Golden River Music - Albert Huybrechts".
- ^ "Postcard: The Frost-Coolidge Music Festival – Ojai History".
- ^ "HUYBRECHTS - Chamber Music Vol 3 Cpres CYP4639 [JW] : Classical Music Reviews - July 2013 MusicWeb-International".
- ^ "Discographie - Albert Huybrechts".
- ^ "De Boeck, Huybrechts & Wauters: Violin Sonatas".
- ^ "Albert Huybrechts, Chamber Music – UT3-RECORDS".
- ^ "Discographie - Albert Huybrechts".
External links
- Albert Huybrechts official site (in French)
- Albert Huybrechts at Centre Belge de Documentation Musicale
- Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel now houses most works and manuscripts of Huybrechts, after the bankruptcy of CeBeDeM in 2015.