Welcome to Flanders with Jan Blockx

‘Blockx was one the finest masters of his native Flanders. No one better captured the spirit of the Flemish nature. He could write folksongs that made people believe they were old, real! In Baldie and Thijl there are several of them. His music is a typical Flemish dish, juicy, strong, sprinkled with beer. It makes you think of baked fish, water cookery from Ghent, ragout, rice pudding and plum pie.’ (Lambrecht Lambrechts, Muziek-Warande, December 1931, Nr. 12)

‘Blockx and Benoit both strived to give their music an authentic, Flemish signature, yet Blockx cannot be called a disciple of Benoit. Blockx’ music has a rigid personal flavour. It is abundant in colours and his operas are on a par with the oratorios of Benoit. Some critics even prefer Blockx, if not on grounds of originality then at least for his technical finesse.’ (Alf Martens, Jan Block necrology’, Ons Volk Ontwaakt, 8 June 1912.)

‘Blockx and Benoit are two native masters that are Flemish from head to toes! They sprang from Flemish soil, and wholly belong to our culture. We feel at home in their music, which became part of the Flemish family.' (Lambrecht Lambrechts, Muziek-Warande, December 1931, Nr. 12)

Reading Lambrechts’ essay in Muziek-Warande 1931 one is amazed by the fierce attacks that Blockx met with in the press of his days. Foreign composers, themselves less remembered today than Blockx, once smirked at his operas; the libretti of Nestor de Tière were crucified among ‘purists’, as if Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci had not long settled the course of opera in favour of verism. ‘Composer on wooden cloughs’, was a adjective used to put Blockx in a corner, which inspired Lambrechts to write that, ‘the world had heard far worse since the days of Stravinsky and Schönberg’. Regarding the most successful Flemish opera composer ever, we can truly say, nemo propheta in patria.

Text: René Seghers

Jan Blockx (Antwerp 25 January, 1851 – Antwerp 26 may, 1912) was born in the Gratiekapelstreet as son of wallpaper labourer Jacob Blockx and Johanna Catharina Saeyens. Jan lost his father at age eight. His primary school teacher Frans Aerts then prevented his entry into the family wallpaper business, since he believed the child had an exceptional vocation for music. Aerts gave him piano lessons. Later, Jan studied piano with Vadder, violin with Hoeben, altviola with Mertens and organ with Jozef Callaerts. He studied harmony with Brassine, upon which Peter Benoit completed his training. Initially, Jan was captivated by Italian music and he even composed some songs under the Italianate anagram ‘Scolbini’. Benoit eventually turned his eyes to the Flemish cause. The reward followed in 1875, when Jan won a composition contest from magazine Morgenstar, with ‘Ons Vaderland’ (Our Fatherland), ‘Makkerslied’ (Friends) and ‘Visscherliedeken’ (Fishermen’s song). These songs all revealed a Flemish nature.

Iets vergeten (To forget Something)

As Benoit’s most promising pupil, Blockx ultimately produced his first opera, a student work called Iets Vergeten (To forget Something). This harmless romance in one act was premièred on February 19, 1877 at the Royal Antwerp Harmony and it revealed the good natured, educative elements as propagated by Benoit. In 1877 he won another contest with his overture ‘Hulde aan Rubens’ (Praise Rubens), composed for the commemoration of the 300th anniversary of Rubens’ birthday. Other early successes were the songs ‘In t prieeltje’ (In the Garden), ‘De Spinster’ (Spinning Girl), ‘Kom lieveken’ (Come my Dear), ‘De Lente’ (Spring), and the choral compositions ‘Vredezang’ (Song of Peace) and ‘Op de stroom’ (On the Stream), as well as a sketch for four cellos, ‘Liedeken in den ouden trant’ (Song in the Old Manner). Despite his success, Blockx felt limited by the influence of Benoit. In 1879 he left to Leipzig, hoping to broaden his musical horizon. He took classes with Karl Reinecke and came also into contact with Edvard Grieg. In Leipzig he composed songs such as ‘Moederlied’ (Song for Mother), ‘Het Lied van den Boer’ (Song of the Farmer) and ‘Als de Winter voorbij is’ (When Winter has passed). Another Leipzig composition was the orchestral composition ‘Kermisdag’ (Fancy Fair), which became a popular concert piece in those days. He completed his studies with a journey to Italy, made in 1880. Although the influence of the Italian scapigliatura movement is evident in his later operas, his stay in Sorrento only produced a few songs: ‘O, waar mijn Hart’ (Where my heart), ‘Onder de Linde’ (Under the Lime tree) and ‘Avondgroet’ (Evening greeting). Upon his return he composed the ambitious oratorio Een Droom van ’t Paradijs (Dream of Paradise), which premiered on March 14, 1883 in Antwerp. Yet Blockx felt that in this genre he would always have to stand up against his teacher Benoit’s famous works, and he decided to try his luck in other genres. On October 27 of that year he married Gabrielle Collignon, to whom he had already devoted a book of songs in 1881.

Milenka

Jan Blockx: Milenka 'Vlaamse kermis' De Philharmonie van Antwerpen, conductor Léonce Gras.

In 1884 Blockx was noted for his ‘Vlaamse Dansen’ (Flemish Dances), which is still known today. In 1885 he composed a more abstract Symphony in D major. This was followed in 1888 by the ballet Milenka, which was triumphantly baptized in de Muntschouwburg Brussels. Today Milenka is perhaps Blockx best known composition in terms of music, because several recordings were made of the episodes ‘Vlaamse Kermis’ and ‘Sérénade’. Another popular composition of that year was Klokke Roelandt, for mixed choir, children’s voices and full orchestra.

From Maître Martin to De Herbergprinses (Princess of the inn)

In 1892 Blockx composed the opera Maître Martin, to a French libretto of the Antwerp author Eugène Landoy. This episode from Hoffmann’s Tales had a key weakness in the plot which was too obviously copied from Wagner’s Meistersinger, with an older men promising a girl to the winner of a contest, here between coopers; the winner was the one who produced the best barrel. In spite of the criticism, parts of the music found praise, especially the fourth act. With the 1894 pantomime Saint Nicholas Blockx proved especially gifted in combining the most naive folklore elements with orchestral grand standing and flair. His ability to unite these extremes was perfectly suited to his task of composing Nestor de Tière’s libretto for the veristic opera De herbergprinses from 1896. The work was an instant hit and spread from Antwerp all over Flanders, Belgium, France, then also Germany, The Netherlands and even South Africa. In 1909 it was performed at the Manhattan Opera in New York, where it was praised a curiosity of sorts. It remained in the Flemish repertoire until the late 1960s, and was performed in the province there until the late 1970s.

Jan Blockx: De herbergprinses 'Slot Act II (the famous scene at the Flemish fair)' 1960 SFO NIR Mina Bolotine, Raymonde Severius, Louis Devos, Tony Vanderheyden, Jacques de Boeck

Tijl Uilenspiegel

The enormous success of De herbergprinses resulted in an international career with a Paris publisher, who released the work in a French translation. This was not easy to accept for the nationalist movement in the Flemish musical world, especially when the publisher made sure that the 1900 premiere of Tijl Uilenspiegel was first given in (the original) French, two days before the Antwerp premiere in the Dutch translation. This resulted in hostility among a part of the Flemish press, which was to pursue Blockx for the rest of his life. His antagonists, often followers of Benoit’s school, found his more international style a betrayal of Benoit’s ideals. They had a hard time accepting Blockx sudden international status as the most Flemish of all composers, given his mingling of a modern Italian idiom with a mere flavour of Flemish herbs. In the middle of the commotion, Uilenspiegel failed. Blockx wondered what to think of it and for a while he did not know whether Uilenspiegel would eventually be seen as his best or his worst opera, until he accepted the fact that the libretto was flawed. His career made another turn when Benoit died in the same year, and he was called to the task of succeeding him as director of the Antwerp Conservatory. The duties involved in this task may explain why he composed less frequently in the remaining years of his life.

De bruid der zee (The bride of the sea)

Blockx fortunes as an opera composer took a turn for the better with the première of De bruid der zee in 1901. It proved another blockbuster, in which he took the integration of folkloristic elements even further, turning it in certain parts almost into a folk opera. In its colourful atmosphere and orchestration, the score harks back to the scapigliatura of an Alfredo Catalani in Loreley and La Wally, while Djovita’s appearance is vaguely reminiscent of the entry of Carmen. Yet the music is always authentic, Flemish, and Blockx. Between 1901 and 1907 a mere handful of compositions followed, such as the setting of Rafaël Verhulst’s ‘Scheldezang’ and the odd opera in one act, De kapel (The Chapel).

Later conductors have incidentally looked into Baldie, yet the audience remained asking for more Herbergprinses and Bruid der zee. This ended abruptly in 1982, with the elimination of the Royal Flemish Opera Antwerp (KVO), which drew the curtain also on Flemish hit-operas of ere such as Paul Gilson’s Prinses Zonneschijn, Emiel Wambach’s Quinten Massijs and August de Boeck’s Winternachtsdroom and La route d'Émeraude.

Since 35 years these operas have not been performed. At best one could have heard an incidental aria or duet at a student performance. This neglect is stunning since Blockx has long surpassed the polemics that revolved around him during his life. His reputation as Flanders’ greatest opera composer is unchallenged, yet it comes at a time when his music is completely forgotten. The question to why no Flemish house is performing his operas today was answered by Luc Joosten of the Flemish Opera Ghent, during an October 26, 2015 symposium of the SVM there. Joosten called operas such as De herbergprinses‘challenges that modern opera houses couldn’t handle’. The Ghent Opera House did not have the means and the knowledge, Flanders had no suitable singers, and the house’s artistic director, the Russian conductor Vladimir Jurowsky had of course never heard of ‘Jan B…’ We do not wish to start a dispute over the need for quota regarding Flemish singers and Flemish operas in state subsidized opera houses in Flanders, but it seems to me that the more important creations of Blockx should at least be presented once in every ten years or so. At the mentioned SVM symposium soprano Pauline Lebbe and baritone Joris Grouwels sang the duet from the second act of De bruid der zee, ‘Ach liefste comt…’ Grouwels also sang the monologue of Jan Rabo from De herbergprinses, ‘Ik keek te diep in ‘t glas’. Apart from a mere handful of 78RPM recordings, all that remains of Blockx’ music are a few minor instrumental pieces on a few vinyl discs and cd’s (‘Vlaamse kermis’ uit Milenka on Decca 10”, ‘Vijf Vlaamse Dansen’ on Naxos, a piano quintet on Phaedra, a children’s song on Klara4Kids and the ‘Sérénade’ from Milenka on a cd with composers of the Antwerp Conservatory. A meagre harvest for the man to whom the Flanders Opera House literally owned her naked existence during the first decades of the 20th Century. De herbergprinses and De bruid der zee, as well as the revised Tijl Uilenspiegel are unique and authentic Flemish masterpieces. They can hold their ground against the best works composed abroad during that epoch, something which can be said of only very few Flemish and Dutch operas.