Jules Van Nuffel

In general, I'm not very proud to be Belgian. I mean, what is there to be proud of? We eat waffles every day, we drink lots of beer and we have Manneken Pis... But there is one thing I'm really, really proud of, and that's our composer Jules Van Nuffel. Too bad most Belgians don't know him... <_<

Jules Van Nuffel was born in 1883 in a little village called Hemiksem, somewhere near Antwerp. As a boy, he went to the Minor Seminary of Mechelen. There he received his first piano lessons. Later, he went to the seminary to become he priest. There he conducted the seminary choir and he played the organ. He also started composing. Even though he asked Belgian composer Edgar Tinel for advice from time to time, he is mostly an autodidact, he learned composing on his own.

Van Nuffel conducted the choir in St. Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen, following pope Pius X's motu proprio Tra le sollecitudini. This meant singing old polyphony and gregorian chant, only organ (no pianos or other instruments) and very importantly: no mixed choirs in churches! Van Nuffel was lucky to have a boy school in Mechelen, and he was able to conduct a large mixed choir using only boys and men. He also wrote most of his music for this choir (and the famous Flor Peeters at the organ). In 1916, he performed his psalm Super flumina Babylonis. It was such a big success, that Mgr. Mercier, the cardinal, asked him to form a permanent St. Rumbold's Choir. Van Nuffel continued to conduct this choir, both in Belgium as in the rest of Europe, until 1949, when he was too sic to conduct.

From 1918 until 1953 Van Nuffel directed the Lemmens Institute of Leuven (then it was still based in Mechelen).

One of his biggest achievements was the creation of the Nova Organi Harmonia, eight books of gregorian accompaniments.

For his choir, he wrote many compositions, including 8 psalms. They are written for choir (4 to 8 mixed voices), all but one with organ accompaniment. Some of those psalms have been arranged for choir with orchestra. It is one of those psalms that I would like to show you: Psalm 125 'In Convertendo Dominus'.

It really is a shame this composer isn't more known in the world. Even in Belgium, most of his works have never been performed after his death. Of course, that has to do with Belgium being a very small country and not having the big choirs required for the works of Van Nuffel (after all, his last Te Deum, for choir, organ, trumpet, horn and trombone, was performed with a choir of around 300 voices...).

But, with our school (the Lemmens Institute), we performed a couple of his works a couple of years ago. It was broadcasted on the national television and has found its way to YouTube: (please remember this is not a professional choir, but I think we did fine :happy: )

A truly beautiful piece for five voices (Sopranos, Altos, Tenors, Baritones, Basses). It also exists in a version for four voices (which I think is the original version).

A simpler piece, almost completely homophonic, but still very beautiful.

Tria Cantica Eucharista consists of three pieces, one with organ accompaniment:

Written for Cardinal Mercier's birthday, I believe.

One of the eight psalms, one of my favorite as well. It is so full of energy, absolutely amazing!

So, I hope you enjoyed listening to the works of this Belgian genius? Van Nuffel died in 1953, way too soon, and after his passing, his big St. Rumbold's Choir slowly died too...

Wow, thanks for sharing this.

And as a Dutch neighbour I'd like to tell you how much I appreciate belgian beers. Don't think to little of your self :P

Quality has its way of surfacing eventually. Just think of JS Bach who was 'rediscovered' only in Mendelssohn's time. If his work truly is great, you don't have to worry about it being forgotten, but you can help advocate getting his music to the public.

So I guess what I am saying is... Thanks for sharing!

As another Dutch neighbour I cannot say I like your beer (I don't like beer), but I can say I like your accent.

As another Dutch neighbour I cannot say I like your beer (I don't like beer), but I can say I like your accent.

To make jokes about ? ;)

Quality has its way of surfacing eventually. Just think of JS Bach who was 'rediscovered' only in Mendelssohn's time. If his work truly is great, you don't have to worry about it being forgotten, but you can help advocate getting his music to the public.

So I guess what I am saying is... Thanks for sharing!

As another Dutch neighbour I cannot say I like your beer (I don't like beer), but I can say I like your accent.

Thanks. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm only trying to get people to know him. There's not much I can do, but as a choral conducting student, I hope I get the chance to perform his works later in my life. :-)

I listened to it, but I will have to listen to it a few more times. Sounded pretty nice though!

No not to make fun of; it sounds very sensueel when spoken by a lovely flemish girl/woman. (Only think of how she would pronounce that word sensueel... ! gives me the jibbers)