Devaere, André

Jan Dewilde (translation: Jo Sneppe)

"Like a hailstorm breaking over a cornfield,
Like a destructive hurricane racing over lovely fields,
That's how the war hit Flanders."

These lines mark the beginning of a biographical study about the pianist and composer André Devaere, one of the many victims of the Great War.

André Devaere received his first music lessons from his father Oktaaf Devaere, who had obtained a first prize for organ at the Brussels Conservatory and was organist at St Martin's church in Kortrijk. Being a child prodigy, at age eleven André Devaere was already organist himself at St Amand's high school of the same town. In 1904 he went to Brussels to study at the Conservatory with the composer and piano virtuoso Arthur De Greef. On 25 June 1907 he gained a first prize for piano summa cum laude. The story goes that director François-Auguste Gevaert as chairman of the examining-board was not able to contain his emotions, quite unusually requesting the public to applaud the young pianist.

On 15 September 1907 Devaere was allowed to play with the conductor Léon Rinskoff in the Kursaal at Ostend. His interpretation of the Piano Concerto in C minor by Saint-Saëns and solo work by Chopin was enthusiastically cheered by audiences everywhere. The local paper l'Echo d'Ostende wrote: "D.V.; that's a name to remember ! It's a star rising at the horizon of virtuosity. May it shine at the zenith of fame, joining Pugno, Padarewsky [sic], Sauer and De Greef!" He gave several recitals while pursuing his studies in Brussels, obtaining first prizes for harmony and, with Edgar Tinel, for counterpoint and fugue. In 1909 he was also awarded the competence degree and the virtuosity degree for piano. On this occasion his native town offered him a Pleyel grand piano. In spite of his young age he had a broad repertoire ranging from Bach and Scarlatti to Chopin and Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, de Séverac and Schmidt. Jeux d'eau by Ravel was one of his favourites. He is said to have known by heart over two hundred piano works and six concertos.

As he was preparing to participate in the Prix de Rome concours and dreaming about international piano competitions, the war broke out, thwarting his plans. Devaere played his last recital before the war on 17 May 1914 in the town hall of Kortrijk, featuring work by Johann Sebastian and Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and Balakirew. He was conscripted as a soldier in the 7th Line Regiment and sent to the front. On 10 November 1914 he was seriously wounded in St George near Newport. Four days later he died in Calais.

As a composer Devaere left behind a few works: songs on French texts of Gautier and Sully-Prudhomme, music for organ and the cantata Geneviève, which according to Ernest Closson was influenced by Debussy. Some symphonic works were lost.

Already during the war a Devaere committee was founded to keep alive the memory of the young musician. On 14 November 1920 a bas-relief was installed in the Kortrijk municipal theatre representing Devaere at the piano.

The composer Godfried Devreese honoured his memory in 1918 with the song Aan André Devaere (To André Devaere) for alto and orchestra or piano. The Brussels Conservatory also established a Devaere Prize.