BRENTA, Gaston

Gaston BRENTA (Brussels 1902-1969) was a pupil of Paul Gilson before joining the movement “les Synthétistes”. His first important work, an opera called “Le Khadi dupé”, for which he wrote the libretto and the music, was played at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in 1929.

In 1931 he was appointed to the Belgian Radio Broadcasting Institute (today RTBF), where, from 1953 on, he created and managed the record collection and led the French musical programmes. He was the author of some fifty compositions, including two concertos for piano and orchestra (the second was the compulsory piece for the 1968 Queen Elisabeth Competition), a symphony, a string quartet, a suite for woodwind quintet, two ballets, an oratorio, a symphonic poem, works for trumpet, drums, bassoon, etc. His works are lively, orchestrated and pay close attention to the melodic line.

Gaston Brenta also published a “Panorama de la Musique belge au XIXe siècle”, “Notes brèves sur les symphonies de Beethoven”, a detailed biography of Paul Gilson and a study on “Adolphe Sax et la facture instrumentale”.

[Jean-Georges Casier, © CeBeDeM ; English translation ©2004 by CeBeDeM]

works