Geysen, Frans

Frans Geysen was a Flemish composer. He studied organ and music education at the Lemmens Institute, and subsequently pursued further studies in music history and fugue at the conservatoires of Antwerp and Ghent. From 1962 onwards, he taught harmony and advanced music analysis at the Lemmens Institute; later, he was also affiliated with the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels. As a composer, Geysen developed, from the 1960s onwards, a highly personal, austere and constructive musical language. His work shows affinities with minimal music, but is less meditative and less oriented towards consonance. Repetition, canon, phase shifting, mirror symmetry and short musical processes play a central role. Geysen favours clear structures and monochrome instrumental forces, such as recorder quartet, carillon, piano, organ, choir or string quartet. He attracted international attention with his recorder quartet Periferisch-Diagonaal-Concentrisch, which, on the recommendation of Frans Brüggen, was published by Schott. His oeuvre includes choral works, chamber music, carillon music, music theatre, tape music and orchestral works such as Staalkaarten voor een hoboconcert.