Van Eechaute, Prosper

Jan Dewilde (translation: Jo Sneppe)

Van Eechaute studied at the Ghent Royal Conservatory with Leon Moeremans and Martin Lunssens amongst others. In addition to first prizes for cello, harmony, chamber music, counterpoint and fugue, he obtained the Emile Mathieu prize for composition in 1930 with a viola sonata. Three years later the Prize of Rome was awarded to him for the cantata De bekering van de heilige Hubertus (The Conversion of Saint Hubertus) on a text of Isidoor van Beugem.

His career was mainly devoted to the pedagogics of music. At the Ghent Conservatory he was consecutively a teacher of solfège, harmony, counterpoint and fugue, and from 1938 to his death he was director of the Kortrijk (Courtrai) municipal Conservatory. His pedagogical activities would outshine his productivity as a composer.

Van Eechaute distinguished himself above all with his vocal works. These ranged from music for large-scale open-air performances such as the Guldensporenspel (Battle of the Spurs Play) and the Rodenbachspel, to intimistic songs. Several of his songs have an impressionistic touch, which is also prominent in some instrumental works. In his String Quartet op. 8 (for which the Royal Academy awarded him a prize in 1949) and the Sonatina for Piano op. 11, he combines classical structures with novelties from French impressionism.

In later works, such as the Nachtpoëma (Night Poem) for Horn and Orchestra he returns to a post-romantic lyricism. Written in 1938, this composition had its premiere in Kortrijk as late as 17 November 1962, with the famous Maurice Van Bocxstaele as horn soloist. Prosper Van Eechaute himself conducted his own work.