Vermeiren, Jef

Veerle Bosmans & Adeline Boeckaert (translation: Jo Sneppe)

Already at a very young age Jef Vermeiren started composing songs and works for chamber music, mainly for violin and piano. He was stimulated to do so by his parents, who regularly attended opera performances and concerts with him, and by his friends, who were just like him totally absorbed by music, making Vermeiren's parental home into a musical meeting place. Without any substantial previous training he passed at age seventeen the entrance exam at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp to take organ lessons with Willem de Latin and Arthur de Hovre. In addition he studied piano with G. Dijkhof and harmony with Lodewijk De Vocht and Edward Verheyden. Upon graduation he also followed some classes of orchestration and composition with Paul Gilson and Karel Candael, while for the rest relying on his own musical taste with a view to coming into his own.

Vermeiren started his career by doing what all young men of his generation used to do: "seizing all opportunities for material gain and playing in cinemas, dance halls, tearooms, cabarets and variety theatres that would earn him a tidy sum." Concurrently Vermeiren was the regular accompanist of a number of concert singers as well as the conductor of several male-voice choirs.

In the 1930s Vermeiren had already written plenty of compositions, but only after the Second World War did he devote himself entirely to composing. One of his major works is the Sinfonia breve having as a subtitle Recordatio juventutis, in which he incorporates some juvenile motifs and memories. This symphony was written in 1930, but not until 1954 did its creation take place under the baton of Daniël Sternefeld. The work turned out to become a popular success, being performed several times in the Netherlands and in Germany as well. In 1947 Vermeiren wrote a commissioned work for the Belgian Ballets directed by the Russian choreographer Valentina Belova. The composition, named De kapel van barmhartigheid (The Chapel of Charity), was performed in Antwerp, Brussels, Luxembourg and Paris. In 1957 it was followed by a Piano Concerto, which was created by the big Radio Philharmonic Orchestra of the Dutch Broadcasting Company conducted by Henk Spruyt, with Philibert Mees as piano soloist. The work was also performed most successfully at the World Exhibition in Brussels in 1958.

Vermeiren mainly composed piano works, with titles such as Contes pour Nenita, Vijf etudes and the Preludium in Gis. They range the gamut from simple easy listening music to virtuoso pieces of bravado. In addition he also composed a whole series of songs, making use both of Dutch texts and quite often French poetry of such poets as Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine. His style is reminiscent of late romanticism to which he frequently adds programmed and impressionist stylistic influences. In 1936 he composed the symphonic poem Melopee van de zee (Melopee of the Sea), created under the baton of Arthur Bosmans. This orchestral composition is notable for its rich palette of tone colours.