MAES, Jef

Jef MAES (Antwerp, 5th April 1905 - Antwerp, 30th June 1996)

In 1922 he enrolled at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp where he studied viola and chamber music. Privately he studied harmony, counterpoint and fugue with Karel Candael.

During his career he gradually moved from the orchestra life, where he collected experience for his profession as a composer, to musical pedagogics. In 1933 he was appointed teacher of violin at the Academy of Music in Boom, becoming its director 10 years later. From 1942 until 1970 he was professor at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp. He is a member of the Belgian Royal Academy. On June 1, 1977 he became president of Sabam.

Jef Maes calls himself a modern romanticist. As a contemporary composer he has a musical heritage of centuries at his disposal and knows how to make it serve his own vision and possibilities, whilst at the same time he gives it a renewed spirit and expression.

He gained international fame with his ballet “Tu auras nom... Tristan” which was commissioned by the celebrated French ballerina Jeannine Charrat. She gave the first performance of this work for her comeback at the “Grand Théâtre” of Geneva in 1963.

His Piano Concerto was the compulsory work of the “International Music Competition Queen Elisabeth of Belgium 1975”.

[© CeBeDeM]
[biography re-writing in progress]

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