VERBESSELT, August

August Verbesselt was born in Klein-Willebroek in 1919. His native village did not offer much in the way of musical activities, but the local jazz pianist and the brass band were enough to arouse an interest in music. Verbesselt studied flute and tried his hand at composition. At 18, he enrolled in the Antwerp conservatory, where he studied harmony with Lode Ontrop and counterpoint and fugue with Karel Candael. In addition to this he earned his higher diploma in flute with Louis Stoefs, becoming the first student to receive such a diploma for this instrument (and playing the third movement of his own flute concerto on his exam); previous recipients were all pianists or violinists. After his studies, he quickly found work as a solo flute player in the orchestra of the Flemish Opera, a position that he would hold for almost forty years. In 1955 Verbesselt became a harmony teacher at the Antwerp conservatory. In the 1960s, after long and ultimately successful efforts to establish courses in analysis and formal studies, he became the coordinator of these courses. Verbesselt has been praised by his former students (including Jan Pieter Biesemans, Alain Craens and Wilfried Westerlinck) for his work as a teacher and composer. In 1965, Verbesselt was named director of the music school in Niel.

©2007 Veerle Bosmans, for MATRIX

works