Devreese, Godfried

Karolien Selhorst after Jaak Van Holen (translation: Jo Sneppe)

Godfried Devreese was born in an artistic family of painters, musicians, sculptors and writers. At the age of 16 he obtained a first prize for violin at the Brussels Conservatoire, as a pupil of César Thomson. Straight after, he commenced the theoretical studies: harmony, counterpoint and fugue with Léon Dubois and Martin Lunssens. The First World War spoiled his musical activities only for a while. After the siege of Liège and Antwerp he found himself "behind the lines", in France, first as conductor of a military brass band, and later of a choir of disabled veterans. Concurrently he got to know French impressionism as well as Stravinsky's ballets. In France, too, his first songs were written. Shortly after the war he composed his first instrumental works: Danse lente (Slow Dance, 1919) and some other works for piano, the symphonic poem Poème Héroïque (Heroic Poem, 1922) and a Violin Sonata (1924).

In 1925 Devreese became leader of the second violins of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra (until the end of 1930). There he played virtually the entire orchestral and symphonic repertoire ranging from baroque to avant-garde. He also conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra himself at the world creation of his masterpiece, the ballet Tombelène (1927).

In October 1930 he was appointed as director of the Municipal Conservatory of Mechelen, succeeding August De Boeck, a position he held till 1958. As an organiser of concerts and as conductor of the Conservatory orchestra he generated an exceptional musical vitality in Mechelen. In synergy with the Lemmens Institute, the St Rombouts's Choir led by Jules Van Nuffel and Jef Denijn's carillon school this made the city one of the most important music centres in the country. However, the paramount merit he is to be credited with as a conductor is without any doubt his commitment to promoting Belgian music.

Devreese was never a voluminous composer. According to some, this is due to a sound dose of self-criticism, but most obviously the circumstances - his functions as a performing musician and an official with rather too much on his agenda - played a considerable role in this respect. Five years of Amsterdam only yielded four compositions: two of them are transcriptions (the Cello Concertino of 1930 being a transcription of the String Quartet, and the In Memoriam of 1928 a transcription of the second part from the Violin Sonata) while the two other works (String Quartet and Tombelène) in Amsterdam probably only just took their final form. In Mechelen he produced even more transcriptions, such as several versions of the Cello Concertino, which also became Viola Concertino, and the Suite for Orchestra of 1953, which is similar to the Sonata in G major for piano from 1945. Moreover there were long periods of complete compositional silence: 1931-1932 and 1954-1961.

Of his production - about ten works, half of them songs - not only the size has been marked by those circumstances, but so have its contents. The frustrations, the discord with his environment and the atmosphere at work, the constant curtailment of his creativity, since as a director he was also personally in charge of the entire administrative paperwork, all this resounds through many of his compositions. Nowhere does the strict, scrupulous, punctual bureaucrat give his emotions free rein, expression always being reserved, with a dominance of sombre and elegiac feelings. In his work hardly anything shines through of his high-spirited, almost choleric character. Though lyricism is an important feature of his work, never does he sing at the top of his voice.

As is the case with most of his contemporaries - the generation of Flemish composers born between 1880 and 1900 - it is difficult to categorise Devreese under a specific school. These composers alternate between leaning upon tradition and bearing resemblance to newer styles. Perhaps the only constant is their broad late romantic tendency. Also Devreese's oeuvre is actually characterised by a certain eclecticism: impressionism (Violin Sonata, 1924; String Quartet); neo-classicistic influences (1930 version of the Cello Concertino); late romanticism (first 2 symphonies, 1944 and 1952); expressionist stylistic devices (First Violin Concerto, 1937; Stabat Mater, 1965; Fourth Symphony, 1966). Nevertheless, not once did this eclecticism make him lapse into becoming an epigone, on the contrary, time and again all influences provoked highly idiosyncratic productions indeed.