Peter Benoît

François-Joseph Fétis a Belgian musicologist, composer, teacher, and one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century praised his Messe solennelle, which Benoît composed in Brussels on his return from Germany.

The life and work of Peter Benoît are encapsulated in his most famous song, Mijn moederspraak (My Mother Tongue) [1889].

In 1882 he became member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium.

He became Commander in the Order of Leopold in 1881.

His compositions include his "Rubens-cantata" (1877) which evoked historical events in Antwerp, the operas "Het dorp in 't gebergte" (The Mountain Village - 1857) and "Pompeja" (1895) and the oratorio "Lucifer" (1866) which is considered his masterpiece.

In the 1870s, he composed a few very personal pieces, such as Liefdedrama aan zee (Love drama at sea) [1872] and De oorlog (The war) [1873]. However, in order to communicate his ideas to a broad audience as large as possible, he deliberately simplified the idiom and wrote almost exclusively cantatas based on historical nationalist themes, designed for open-air performances. This conscious choice also determined the work's structure which required numerous performers (which, again, served an educational purpose by involving many people in the production) with mainly homophonous choirs, a colourful orchestration, simple but attractive melodies and dramatic effects.

In 1867 he founded the Flemish School of Music in Antwerp (later the Royal Flemish Conservatory) which he directed until his death.

Upon his return from France to Belgium, he was considered one of the most promising composers. He did not let his admirers down and composed a piano (1864) and flute concerto (1865) as well as his Lucifer oratorio (1866). This work marks the beginning of a long collaboration with the poet Emanuel Hiel.

Returning home from Paris after 1863, he astonished the musical community with the production in Antwerp of a sacred tetralogy, consisting of his Cantate de Noël, the above-mentioned Mass, a Te Deum and a Requiem, in which were embodied to a large extent his theories about Flemish music.

In 1861 he visited Paris for the production of his opera Le Roi des Aulnes ("The Erl King"), which, though accepted by the Théâtre Lyrique, was never performed. (He also composed a work for piano and orchestra called Le Roi des Aulnes.). While there he conducted at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens.

In 1857 he won the Belgian Prix de Rome for his cantata Le Meurtre d'Abel. The accompanying money grant enabled him to travel through Germany. In the course of his journings he found time to write a considerable amount of music, as well as an essay called L'École de musique flamande et son avenir.

In 1855, he was awarded an honourable mention at the Prix de Rome. Two years later he was a laureate of that same competition with his cantata Le meurtre d'Abel. He was bestowed a study grant that allowed him to visit the most important music centres in Germany before moving to Paris, between May 1859 and March 1863 (with several journeys to Brussels to defend his work).

In 1851 Benoît entered the Brussels Conservatoire, where he remained till 1855, studying primarily with FJ Fétis. During this period he composed music to many melodramas, and to the opera Le Village dans les montagnes for the Park Theatre, of which in 1856 he became the resident conductor.

From 1847 to 1851, he studied with the pianist and organist Pieter Carlier in Desselgem.