Norbert Rosseau

Belgian Composer and Violinist

(BELGIUM, °GHENT 1907- ✝1975) Born into a family of musicians, Norbert Rosseau received his first music lessons from his parents. He was a child prodigy, giving his first violin recitals at the age of 8 in Italy, where he met with much success. He studied first with the reputated violinist Pirano in Genoa and later at different Italian conservatoires. At an early age, however he became interested in composition, which brought him to study under G. Mulé in 1920, then director of the Palermo Conservatoire. When Mulé was promoted to Director of the Santa Cecilia Conservatoire in Rome in 1925, his faithfull student followed him there. Rosseau then commenced piano lessons with Silvestri, organ lessons with Germani and studied fugue with Dobici, obtaining in 1928 a diploma in composition from the Santa Cecilia Conservatoire in Rome. Shortly afterwards, he met Respighi, with whom he worked until 1931, while giving many violin recitals, notably at the Rome radio. In 1932, he was recalled to Belgium to do his military service, ending his Italian period at this point. Next we find him at Ghent University where he studied psychology and philosophy. He gave concerts and composed "Rousslane" and "Suite Agreste". In 1940, he was mobilised and his right hand was wounded, thus putting an end to his career as a violinist. However, he still had his gift for composition and composed between 1940 and 1952 many important works like "Dante's Inferno", "L'An Mille", "Incantations", "Maria Van Den Kerselaar" , all for choir, soloists and large orchestra, as well as a symphony dedicated to the city of Paris. In Paris in 1957, he studied "concrete" and electronic music at the Radio Research Centre, and he was also a member of the Institute for psycho-acoustic and electronic music in Ghent (IPEM). In 1962 he was well received in in Darmstadt by the pioneers of experimental music. He received many prizes for his works. The Belgian Centre for documentation and information on Music (CeBeDem) has 110 works of Norbert Rosseau.