(b Bon-Secours, 23 Oct 1893; dUccle, 2 Feb 1974). Belgian composer. He studied as an organist and then with Gilson for composition (1920-22). He taught at the Brussels Conservatory, 1939-59. At first he followed the late Romantic style of his teacher (e.g. in Rhapsodie flamande ,1928) but concerts by the Pro Arte Quartet introduced him to Berg, Milhaud, Hindemith, Schoenberg and others. In the mid-1930s he spent time in Paris, which prompted him to adopt a Milhaud-influenced polytonal style, which he applied to clear forms; admiration for Bartók also led him to work with folk music. His output includes 162 works with opus numbers in every genre except opera and ballet.
Written for the Ysaÿe Competition, Jean Absil's first Piano Concerto, Op. 30 (1937), finally helped him to gain international notice in 1938, twenty-six years after he gave his first organ recital and 25 years after he initiated his formal conservatory studies. Despite his early interest in Richard Strauss and Wagner, he became fond of chamber music forms, writing numerous chamber works, often employing a polymodal and polyphonic language. Throughout his lifetime, he had many instructors who helped him develop his art, including Alphonse Oeyen, for harmony, organ, and piano; Paul Gilson, for composition; Desmet, for organ; Edouard Samuel, for practical harmony; Martin Lunssens, for written harmony; Paulin Marchand, for counterpoint; and Léon Du Bois for fugue. These studies took place at several institutions, including the École St Grégoire and the Brussels Conservatory. Despite the burden of his administrative duties as director of the Music Academy at Etterbek, a post he accepted in 1921, continued composing, establishing a fine reputation with such works as La Mort de Tintagiles, Op. 3 (1923 - 1926), and the Flemish Rhapsody, Op. 4 (1928). Later, in the early 1930s, he taught at the Brussels Conservatory. Absil won many awards during his studies and early career, including the Agniez Prize (1921), the Belgian Prix de Rome (1922), and the Prix Rubens (1934). The last-named prize enabled him to visit Paris. In Paris, Absil, who has taken an avoid interest in the music of Milhaud, met a number of prominent composers, including Honegger, Ibert, Milhaud, and Schmitt. During his stay in France, and shortly thereafter, he produced the bulk of his vocal compositions, setting texts by Brohée, Maeterlinck, Beerblock, Cocteau, Morgenstern, and Klingsor. Eventually he was offered a post at the Chapelle Musicale Reine in the late 1930s, where he stayed until 1959.
With several dramatic, orchestral, vocal, and choral works to his name, Absil focused his attention primarily on composing instrumental pieces during the final years of his life. He passed away at the age of eighty in his homeland, two years after completing his last composition, Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 162. He is still remembered for having founded the Revue internationale de musique with the help of Dotremont and Leirens, and La Sirène, with André Souris, Poot, and Chevreuille. His music is still revived and recorded, primarily by Belgian musicians, such as bass-baritone José van Dam and by the Belgian Guides Royal Symphonic Band, both under the René Gailly label. ~ Meredith Gailey, All Music Guide
Absil was born in Bonsecours, Hainaut, Belgium. He was a pupil of Alphonse Oeyen, organist at the basilica of Bonsecours. From 1913 he studied organ and harmony at the Brussels Conservatory , but upon graduating, decided to concentrate on composition instead. In 1922 Absil won the prix de Rome and in 1934 the Prix Rubens, which allowed him to travel to Paris, France. Here, he met fellow contemporary composers Ibert, Milhaud, and Honegger. Absil gained international prominence with the premiere of his first piano concerto (op. 30).[1] In 1930, Absil began teaching harmony at the Brussels Conservatory, becoming a professor of Fugue 6 years later. Amongst his pupils there was Paul Danblon. He also taught at Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth and the Etterbeek Music School. In 1955, he was elected to the Belgium Royal Academy. In 1974, at the age of 80, Absil died in Uccle, Brussels.
Compositions
Initially, Absil was influenced by the late Romantic school, particularly Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Around the time Absil made his trip to Paris in 1934, Absil began to adopt a more modern style. This included the use of polyphony and polymodal structures, influenced by contemporary composers such as Milhaud and Schoenberg.[2]
The ear never suffers from an impression of tonal insecurity when listening to Absil’s music: while it is no longer possible to find a reference to the classical major or minor tonalities, the composer invents new modes, which he replaces for each piece. From these modes emerge chords which, even if they are different from the classical ones, also have an expressive sense (tension or resolution). Absil never practised a real atonality: the apparent tonal independence of the voices always resolves itself into a unique tonality.[3]
Among his many compositions are the Ballade, op. 129, for solo piano (which is played with the left hand only) as well as 3 Pièces (played with the right one only).
Being a skilled pianist Absil composed a lengthy repertoire for the instrument, including three sonatinas (written in 1937, 1939, and 1965 respectively) and two Grand Suites. The Grand Suites (Op.110, composed in 1965) served as a tribute to Frederic Chopin. In 1946, he composed another work, Hommage à Schumann and eleven years later the Passacaglia in Memoriam Alban Berg, both of them for piano. He also composed one opera, Les voix de la mer, and a cycle of five symphonies, the first of which (op. 1) he composed at 27, when he was a pupil of Paul Gilson. It won the Prix Agniez in 1921. He was also awarded the Belgium Prix de Rome His last composition was the Piano Concerto no. 3, op. 162.
