August Louis Baeyens was a Belgian

Belgians

Belgians are people originating from the Kingdom of Belgium, a federal state in Western Europe.-Etymology:Belgians are a relatively "new" people...

 violist

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

 and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Baeyens studied viola, harmony and counterpoint with Napoleon Distelmans

Napoleon Distelmans

Napoleon Distelmans was a Flemish violist with the Antwerp Conservatory in the early 1900s.Distelmans's father was a shoemaker who dreamed of training his children to be musicians. Distelmans's mother died while giving birth to her sixth child, and the children's father raised them to play in a...

 and August de Boeck

August de Boeck

Julianus Marie August de Boeck was a Flemish composer, organist and music pedagogue....

 at the Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp receiving a first prize in viola in 1916. Beginning in 1911, he was a viola player in Belgian orchestras including that of the French-language opera company in Antwerp, de Royal, and in the orchestra of the Nieuwe Concerten.

In 1927, Baeyens founded the Antwerps Kamermuziekensemble (Antwerp Chamber Ensemble). The group performed a wide range of contemporary music before its demise in 1932. The ensemble is credited with many Belgian premieres including works by Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...

, Alban Berg

Alban Berg

Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...

, Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...

, Francis Poulenc

Francis Poulenc

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...

, Béla Bartók

Béla Bartók

Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...

, Paul Hindemith

Paul Hindemith

Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...

, Arthur Honegger

Arthur Honegger

Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...

, Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....

, and several Flemish composers including Jef van Durme and Karel Albert.

In 1932 Baeyens became secretary of the Royal Flemish Opera

Vlaamse Opera

The Vlaamse Opera ' is an opera company in Belgium directed by Aviel Cahn which operates in two different opera houses in two Flemish cities, the Vlaamse Opera Antwerpen at Van Ertbornstraat 8 and the Vlaamse Opera Ghent at Schouwburgstraat 3...

 (Koninklijke Vlaamse Opera) translating opera libretti into Dutch among other duties. Later, he was appointed director (1944–1948 and 1953–1958). In 1958 he resigned in order to devote himself to composition.

Selected works

Stage

• De dode Dichter (The Dead Poet), Ballet (1920)
• Liefde en de Kakatoes (L'amour et le cacatoes; Love and the Cockatoos), Grotesque in 1 act for soloists and orchestra (1928)
• Coriolanus, Opera for radio (1941); libretto after William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
  
  
• De ring van Gyges, Opera (1943)
• De triomferende min (Triumphant Love), Opera (1948); after the 1678 opera by Carolus Hacquart
  Carolus Hacquart
  Carolus Hacquart was a composer, born c. 1640 in Bruges, in present-day Belgium.-Life:Hacquart received his education, comprising Latin and composition as well as viola da gamba, lute and organ, most probably in his native town...
  
  

Orchestral

• Entrata (1917)
• Niobe (1918)
• Symphony No. 1 (1923)
• Vier kleine orkeststukken (4 Small Orchestra Pieces) (1923)
• Arlekijn (Arlequin) for chamber orchestra (1924)
• Kyklopen (Cyclopes) (1925)
• Sinfonia breve for small orchestra, Op. 24 (1928)
• Symphony No. 2 in F (1939)
• Symphony No. 3 in C (1949)
• Arkadia (Arcadia), Chamber Symphony for 19 soloists (1951)
• Symphony No. 4 (1952)
• Notturno (1953)
• Symphony No. 5 (1954)
• Symphony No. 6 in D (1955)
• Symphony No. 7 in one movement (1958)
• Symphony No. 8 (1961)

Concertante

• Notturno for clarinet, bassoon, string orchestra and bass drum (1925)
• Concerto for viola and orchestra, Op. 54 (1956)
• Concerto for trumpet and orchestra (1959)
• Concerto for horn and orchestra (1960)
• Rapsodie for clarinet and orchestra (1966)

Chamber music

• String Quartet No. 1 (1922)
• Goudoogs verhaal (Goudoog's Tale) for violin and piano (1924)
• String Quartet No. 2 (1925)
• String Quartet No. 3 (1927)
• String Quartet No. 4 in G (1949)
• Woodwind Quintet (1950)
• String Quartet No. 5 (1951)
• Concertino for oboe, clarinet and bassoon (1951)
• Piranesi-Suite for flute and cello (1951)
• Sonata for violin and piano (1952)
• String Quartet No. 6 (1962)
• Etude No. 14 for timpani and piano (1965)

Piano

• Diogenes (1920)
• Jazz fantasie (1926)
• Sonate in A (1930)

Vocal

• Drie kwartijnen for baritone and chamber orchestra (1924)
• Trois mélodies for baritone and piano (1927)
• Drie Van Ostaijenliederen (3 Songs after Van Ostaijen) (1930); words by Paul van Ostaijen
  Paul van Ostaijen
  Paul van Ostaijen was a Flemish poet and writer.Van Ostaijen was born in Antwerp. His nickname was Mister 1830, because of his habit of walking along the streets of Antwerp clothed as a dandy from that year....
  
  
• La sonate d'amour for narrators and orchestra (1934)
• Een somber drinklied for baritone and orchestra (1938)
• Vanwaar ken ik uw gelaat for medium voice and orchestra (1938)
• Drie liederen (3 Songs) (1938)
• Klein gebed for medium voice and piano (1938)
• Mystiek for medium voice and orchestra (1938)
• Examen troost for medium voice and piano (1948)
• Thanatos' avondlied for bass-baritone and orchestra (1948)
• Barabbas for narrator and orchestra (1949)
• De nachtegale for medium voice and piano (1950)
• Piranesi for 10 narrators, flute and cello (1950)
• Sonnet waermede den Landtman for bass-baritone and orchestra (1950)
• Scherzo for soprano and orchestra (1951)
• Vijf gedichten uit French en andere Cancan for medium voice and piano (1951)

Choral

• Lofzang aan de haven (Hymn of Praise for the Port; Cantique du port), Cantata for narrator, chorus and orchestra (1929)
• Sonatine for two-part chorus a cappella (1933)

External links

• August Baeyens at CeBeDeM