De Mol, François-Marie

Annelies Focquaert (translation: Jo Sneppe)

François-Marie was the elder brother of Willem De Mol. Already at a very early age he started his studies at the Brussels Conservatory, where amongst others he earned a first prize in lecture musicale in 1859, a second prize in harmony in 1862, and in 1868 the first prizes in composition (counterpoint and fugue) and organ. After he had become organist and bandmaster in the Beguinage Church of Brussels (St John the Baptist), he moved to Marseille, where he became organist in St Charles on the recommendation of Fétis. In 1872 he became conductor of the local 'Société des Concerts Populaires' (Popular Concerts Society) and on 9 January 1875 he was appointed as teacher of harmony at the Marseille Conservatory. Upon his return to Belgium in 1876 he first became conductor of the Vlaamsche Schouwburg (Flemish Theatre) in Brussels ; from 1878 to his death in 1883 he was director of the Music Academy of Ostend.

In addition to religious music, melodies and chamber music, François De Mol also composed the comic opera Le Chanteur de Médine, performed on 12 March 1881 in the Monnaie Theatre in Brussels and in 1884 in Marseilles. At a concert given by the pupils of the Ostend music academy in April 1880 several works of his were executed, including the three-part chorus De Toekomst (The Future) on a text by Eugeen Van Oye.