Roelstraete, Herman

Herman Roelstraete – Youth album. Four sonatinas for piano, op. 119

(Lauwe, 20 October 1925 – Kortrijk, 1 April 1985)

(1973-1979)

Herman Roelstraete received his first music training at the Torhout Normal School where he studied to become a liturgical organist. These studies sparked his lifelong interest in Gregorian chant, the organ and the Flemish Movement. In 1942 he went to the School for Religious Music (the ‘Lemmens Institute’) in Mechelen, where he had eminent teachers such as Henri Durieux (harmony), Marinus de Jong (piano and counterpoint), Flor Peeters (organ) and Jules Van Nuffel (choir conducting and music aesthetics). Van Nuffel, who lead the publication of Philippe de Monte’s work, introduced him to Flemish polyphony.
After graduating magna cum laude and as a ‘Laureate of the Lemmens Institute’, he continued his studies at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. He received the awards for singing (under Maurice Weynandt), counterpoint (under Marcel Poot) and organ (under Paul de Maleingrau). Finally, in 1957, he went on to study dodecaphony under Mátyás Seiber.
In the meantime he strongly influenced the cultural life in the region of his hometown: he founded choirs, ensembles and orchestras; he maintained close contacts with the many amateur choirs he mentored, he performed research on folk songs and became the director of the Music Academy in Izegem. In addition, he also had a short singing career as a soloist (high tenor), but in 1953 a temporary vocal cord paralysis ended this abruptly. However, as a concert organist he continued to perform throughout his entire career.

Throughout his career and like many others in his generation (Frits Celis, Roland Coryn, Vic Nees), he was involved in reviving the forgotten or neglected music of his predecessors, such as Frans J. Krafft (1727-1795), Pieter Vanderghinste (1789-1860), Philippe vanden Berghe (1822-1885), Edward Mechelaere (1827-1906), Peter Benoit (1834-1901), Edgar Tinel (1854-1912) and Alfons Mervillie (1856-1942). Roelstraete made new arrangements of various works by these composers, allowing them to be performed in a contemporary setting. Some of these arrangements were published by Musica Flandrorum, a foundation he established in 1978 to revive the work of forgotten Flemish composers. …

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