Verrees, Emiel Constant

Lien Alaerts (translation: Joris Duytschaever)

“Family is destiny” certainly applies to the case of the Verrees dynasty. After his three brothers Emiel Constant, too, followed the example of his father, composer Emiel Verrees, and started a music education. At the music school in Turnhout run by his father he was initially taught by him as well. From age sixteen on he moved on to the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, attending classes by Edward Verheyden (harmony), August De Boeck (harmony) and Arthur de Hovre (organ). However, the First World War put a spoke in his wheels: Verrees was suddenly forced to interrupt his studies and decided to volunteer for military service.

In 1913 he obtained his final diploma for harmony ‘summa cum laude’. The next year he graduated for organ, obtaining the prize Joseph Callaerts (awarded to the organ student with the best final exam) - again a sort of ‘summa cum laude’. Between 1916 and 1918 he combined his military service with further counterpoint courses at the Paris Conservatory with André Gédalge. After the end of his service, he returned to the Antwerp Conservatory in 1919 to take up his interrupted studies. After one year he obtained his final diploma counterpoint ‘summa cum laude’ together with the prestigious composition prize ‘Albert De Vleeshouwer’ and a golden State medal. In Lodewijk Mortelmans’s class he pursued further studies of formal theory, analysis and instrumentation, earning his final diploma in 1922 - again with ‘summa cum laude’ and a golden State medal. In 1925 he even obtained the prize ‘Albert De Vleeshouwer’ a second time with an Aria for oboe and piano.

Besides he was an excellent carilloneur: at age eighteen he won the International Carillon Competition in Mechelen, and a year later he ended second at the International Carillon Competition in Bruges.

After his studies Verrees again followed in his father’s footsteps: in 1922 he became director of the music school of Turnhout, which under his tenure was promoted to the status of Music Academy in 1928. From then on he totally applied himself to the development of music life in Turnhout, with notable performances of the Rubenscantate by Peter Benoit in 1924 and his own three-part Missa in honorem B.M.V. omnium gratianum Mediatricis. From 1928 on, at the behest of his former teacher Lodewijk Mortelmans, he assumed the position of teacher of harmony at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. Verrees remained affiliated with the Antwerp Conservatory until his retirement in 1957. In his capacity as teacher he also published Grondbeginselen der toonkunst. Theoretische en Praktische handleiding ten dienst van Maatschappijen, Muziekscholen, Onderwijsgestichten, Pensionaten, enz. (Basics of Music.Theoretcal and Practical Handbook for Societies, Music Schools, Educational Institutions, Boading Schools, etc.).

Verrees composed several works for solo instruments with orchestra, such as his above-mentioned Aria for oboe and orchestra, Concertstuk (Concert Piece) for trombone and orchestra, and Kempische ballade (Campine Ballad) for piano and orchestra. In addition a considerable part of his oeuvre consists of vocal music. Some songs and choir works (mainly for choir in two voices, more specifically for soprano and alto voices) are based on poems by Guido Gezelle: Moederken (Dear Mother), De Merelaan (The Blackbird) and ‘k En hoor u nog niet o nachtegaele (I don’t hear you yet, o Nightingale). His Winter-Cantate was composed on texts by Willem Gijssels. To conclude, he also wrote several works for piano, such as Fantasia, Morgenrood (Red Morning Sky) and Sonatines, for organ (Improvisata) and carillon (Pizzicati, Musical Divertissement for 23 Bells, 1924). His works for piano show ample evidence of the great lyricist that Verrees was. His keyboard style is characterized by refined harmony and transparent part-writing. As a composer he belonged to the category of pastoral artists, witness his Landelijke schetsen (Rustic Sketches). His melodic lines portray the Campine landscape, while the work as a whole shows Verrees’ craftsmanship in the field of counterpoint.