Adolphe Samuel

Adolphe-Abraham Samuel (11 July 1824 – 11 September 1898) was a Belgian music critic, conductor and composer.

Samuel was born in Liège. He was Jewish, and late in life converted to Christianity.[1] He spent much time in Brussels where he was a pupil of François-Joseph Fétis, and where he was a friend of Hector Berlioz.[1][2] He also studied with Joseph Daussoigne-Méhul at the Royal Conservatory of Liège.[3]

Samuel, who won the Belgian Prix de Rome in 1845,[1] composed seven symphonies (1846–94),[1] five operas (1845–54)[4] and a cantata for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the coronation of Belgium's first king, Leopold I (1856, L'union fait la force).[1]

In 1871, after conducting an orchestra for some years and (beginning in 1865) directing a series of Popular Concerts in which works by Peter Leonard Leopold Benoit and Anton Rubinstein among others were featured, Samuel resigned and became director of the Ghent Conservatory.[1][5] He died in Ghent.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Dewilde, Jan (2006). "Samuel – Symphonie Nr. 6 op. 44" (in German, Dutch, and French). Munich: Musikproduktion Jurgen Hoeflich. Retrieved 2013-01-19.
  2. ↑ "Berlioz in Belgium". Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
  3. ↑ Denis Havard de la Montagne. "Joseph Daussoigne-Méhul". www.musimem.com.
  4. ↑ Opera Glass
  5. ↑ Pratt, Mendel: The History of Music: A Handbook and Guide for Students at Google Books, page 588.