Crouwels, François

Preface

Crouwels, François – Andante cantabile for violin and piano, Romance sans paroles for violin (or cello) and piano (score and parts)

(Antwerp, December 9, 1847 – Borgerhout, November 28, 1928)

Andante cantabile (for violin and piano accompaniment)
Romance sans paroles (for violon or cello and piano accompaniment)

Few biographical details are known about François Crouwels. At the age of 20 he was appointed organist of St. George’s Church in Antwerp, a position he would hold for more than 58 years, until 1925. There, Crouwels had an excellent Merklin-Schütze organ at his disposal, which was built in 1867. In addition to his activities as an organist, Crouwels also participated in numerous concerts as a pianist. He composed mainly church music, but also songs, piano works and chamber music. Most of his works were published by Gustave Faes in Antwerp; many of them are preserved in the library of the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp.

In these two classical chamber music works, Crouwels displays fine melodic lines. He dedicated the Andante cantabile to the Antwerp violinist Arthur Kielbaey (1887 -1947), who was attached to the Royal Flemish Conservatoire in Antwerp from 1827; the Romance sans paroles is dedicated to the Antwerp lawyer Joseph Sjongers.

Jan Dewilde
(translation: Jasmien Dewilde)

Facsimiles of copies of the library of the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp. This publication is part of a heritage project subsidized by the Flemish Community and was realized in collaboration with the Study Centre for Flemish Music (www.svm.be).

Deutsches Vorwort / Flemish preface… > HERE