Adolphe Samuel

Adolphe-Abraham Samuel (Liège July 11 1824 – Ghent September 11 1898) was a Belgian music critic, conductor and composer. Samuel was Jewish, and late in life converted to Christianitycite web|title=Samuel - Symphonie Nr. 6 op. 44|url=http://www.musikmph.de/musical_scores/prefaces/S-Z/samuel_sym6.html|language=German|publisher=Musikproduktion Jurgen Hoeflich|date=2006|accessdate=2008-06-18|last=Dewilde|first=Jan] . He spent much time in Brussels where he was a pupil of François-Joseph Fétis, and where he was a friend of Hector Berlioz [cite web|title=Berlioz in Belgium|url=http://www.hberlioz.com/Europe/brussels.htm|accessdate=2008-06-18] .

Samuel, who won the Belgian Prix de Rome in 1845, composed seven symphonies (1846-94), five operas (1845-1854) [ [http://opera.stanford.edu/composers/S.html Opera Glass] ] and a cantata for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the coronation of Belgium's first king (1856, "L'union fait la force").

In 1871, after conducting an orchestra for some years and (beginning in 1865) directing a series of Popular Concerts in which works by Peter Leonard Leopold Benoit and Anton Rubinstein among others were featured, Samuel resigned and became director of the Conservatory in Ghent [Google books|W1k5AAAAIAAJ|Pratt, Mendel: The History of Music: A Handbook and Guide for Students, page 588.] .

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