Eddy Vanoosthuyse, Slovak Sinfonietta, Herman Engels - Charles Louis Hanssens - The Playful Lightness of the Clarinet (2016)

Charles Louis Hanssens [dubbed “jeune” (the younger), to forestall confusion with his namesake uncle] was born in a family of Ghent Herman Engels, conductor musicians. His father was the director of the Ghent Opera and his uncle Charles Louis was a composer and for many years the conductor if the Brussels Monnaie. Around 1812 his father Joseph switched to the Amsterdam Opera, and it was there that his son made his debut as a cellist at the age of ten. In 1828 Hanssens took an exam in composition, which was judged by Luigi Cherubini and Antonin Reicha, and this led to his being appointed as a teacher of harmony and composition at the Brussels Royal School of Music. After the Belgian Revolution Hanssens was suspected of “Orangism” (i.e., sympathy for the Dutch, ruled by the house of Orange) and he left to work in Amsterdam, The Hague and Paris. But after the successful creation of the Requiem he composed in 1837 to commemorate the victims of the Belgian Revolution he was rehabilitated, so that he was able to again settle in his native Ghent. Some time later he became the conductor of the Monnaie, where he laid the foundation of the strong Wagner tradition it was long known for. He was also the conductor of the Belgian premiere of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony “Ode to You” on February 17, 1849. Hanssens left an impressive body of work, including choral works, operas, cantatas, oratorios, masses, a Requiem, numerous works for chamber orchestra, a large number of overtures, fantasies for orchestra, fourteen ballets, nine symphonies and a dozen concertante works. His favourite instrument was the clarinet, which was no doubt stimulated by his friendship with a couple of Brussels clarinit virtuosos. There is more information about this composer in the text of the booklet, writtenby Jan Dewilde, of the SVM, the Study Center of Flemish Music.