Frédéric Devreese †

Frédéric Devreese was a composer, especially of a lot of film music, and also conducted, among others, the BRT Philharmonic Orchestra. He was born in Amsterdam in 1929. His mother played the violin, his father was a composer and conductor. From him, the young Devreese received his first lessons in harmony. Devreese studied in Brussels, Rome and Vienna. In the 60’s he worked as a conductor and producer for the then BRT. There he also started sonorizing films, the ideal school for writing soundtracks.
Frédéric Devreese’s oeuvre is very varied. Besides film music he also wrote piano concertos, a violin concerto, a symphony, chamber music and two operas. His film music would have an important influence on his other works. It was not experimental and did not distract attention from the images. His film work also influenced the rest of his oeuvre. A motif from his cello concerto Canti eventually became the motif of one of the characters from Pauline and Paulette. Due to the lack of financial means he was obliged to write for smaller ensembles. This led to the exploration of certain sound idioms.
Well-known film music was that for “Benvenuta” from 1984 by André Delvaux, with Fanny Ardant and Vittorio Gassman. Devreese wrote threatening and at the same time flamboyant tango and habanera music for it. Devreese also composed the music for “L’oeuvre au noir” by André Delvaux, after the book by Marguerite Yourcenar or for “Un soir, un train”, after “De trein der traagheid” by Johan Daisne. Or for “Les noces barbares” by Marion Hänsel. “Pauline et Paulette” by Lieven Debrauwer also received music by Frédéric Devreese, as did “The sacrament”, written and directed by Hugo Claus.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Devreese won several prizes such as the Prix Italia, the Georges Delerue Award and twice the Joseph Plateau Prize. He received the award for his entire career at the World Soundtrack Awards. In 1983, he wrote “Concerto no. 4” as a compulsory work for the Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition. Also for the Adolphe Sax competition Devreese composed a compulsory work. He created both orchestral and chamber music, often for piano and also for choir. Last fall Devreese was honored at Film Fest Ghent.
Devreese also showed a lot of interest in young musicians. He conducted the Belgian Youth Orchestra and was director of the music academy of Overijse. Frédéric Devreese reached the age of 91; he was the husband of BRT cultural journalist Annie De Clerck. He died of cancer.
On Wednesday 30 September 2020 Klara Live will broadcast the homage concert from June 2019.