François Van Campenhout
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
François Van Campenhout (Brussels, 5 February 1779 - Brussels 24 April 1848) was a Belgian opera singer, conductor and composer. He is the author of the music for the Belgian national anthem, the Brabançonne.
Van Campenhout studied violin. He worked initially as an office clerck, but soon pursued a career as a musician. After he had been a violist at the Theatre de la Monnaie or Muntschouwburg in Brussels for a while, he started a career as a tenor at the Opera in Ghent. This was the beginning of a successful opera career, which brought him to Brussels, Antwerp, Paris, Amsterdam, The Hague, Lyon and Bordeaux. In 1828, he ended his career as a singer and became conductor in Brussels.
Van Campenhout wrote a large number of work: operas such as Grotius ou le Château de Lovesteyn en Passe-Partout, which where successful, and in addition he also composed ballet music, symphonies and choir music. The music of the Brabançonne he wrote in September 1830 on a text from Lois-Alexandre Dechet (Jenneval). François Van Campenhout was a freemason and a member of the Grand Orient of Belgium.
[edit] Source
This Belgian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
