RAPSODIE

Paul Gilson (Brussels, 15 June 1865 – Brussels, 3 April 1942) was a Belgian musician and composer. He first studied with the organist and choir director Auguste Cantillon, but his official training came from 1887–1889 under François-Auguste Gevaert in composition and under Charles Duyck in harmony and counterpoint at the Brussels Conservatory. In 1889 he was awarded the Belgian Prix de Rome for the cantata "Sinaï" and in 1892 "La mer", a large orchestral work in four impressionistic movements, gave him success abroad and established Gilson as a national musical figure. In 1899 he became professor of composition at the Brussels Conservatory and in 1904 he got the same assignment at Antwerp. Prolific author of music not only for orchestra but also for winds, starting from 1905 he mainly devoted himself to the writing of critical essays and musical treatises: theory, harmony and instrumentation, such as the "Traité de musique militaire" in 1926. In 1925, around his figure formed the movement of the Synthesizers (Les Synthétistes) composed by a group of his students of composition including René Bernier, Francis de Bourguignon, Théo De Joncker, Marcel Poot, Maurice Schoemaker, Jules Strens and Robert Otlet, whose goal was to "synthetize the modern musical tendencies", active even today in the band music literature.