Emmanuel Hiel

Emmanuel Hiel (Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, 30 May, 1834 - Schaarbeek , 27 August, 1899), was a Flemish-Dutch poet and prose writer.

During his life he held various jobs, from teacher and government official to journalist and bookseller, busily writing all the time both for the theatre and the magazines of North and South Netherlands. His last posts were those of librarian at the Industrial Museum and professor of declamation at the Conservatoire in Brussels.

Hiel took an active and prominent part in the so-called Flemish movement in Belgium, and his name is constantly associated with those of Jan van Beers, Jan Frans Willems, and Peter Benoit. Benoit set some of Hiel's verses to music, notably in his oratorios "Lucifer" (performed in London at the Royal Albert Hall and elsewhere) and "De Schelde" ("The Scheldt"). The Dutch composer Richard Hol (of Utrecht) composed music for Hiel's "Ode to Liberty", and van Gheluwe used Hiel's verses in his "Songs for Big and Small Folk" (second edition, much enlarged, 1879). That music greatly contributed the popularity of Hiel's writing in schools and among Belgian choral societies.

Hiel also translated several foreign lyrics. His rendering of Tennyson's "Dora" was published in Antwerp around 1871. For the national festival of 1880 at Brussels, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Belgian independence, Hiel composed two cantatas, "Belgenland" ("The Land of the Belgians") and "Rer Belgenland" ("Honour to Belgium"), which, set to music, were much appreciated.

Hiel's efforts to counteract Walloon influences and bring about a "rapprochement" between the Netherlanders in the north and the Teutonic racial sympathizers across the Rhine made him very popular with both. A volume of his best poems was in 1874 the first in a collection of Dutch authors published in Leipzig, Germany.

Bibliography

Among his better-known poetic works are:
*"Looverkens" ("Leaflets," 1857)
*"Nieuwe Liedekens" ("New Poesies," 1861)
*"Gedichten" ("Poems," 1863)
*"Psalmen, Zangen, en Oratorios" ("Psalms, Songs, and Oratorios," 1869)
*"De Wind" (1869), an inspiriting cantata, which had a large measure of success and was crowned
*"De Liefde in Leven" ("Love in Life," 1870)
*"Elle" and "Isa" (two musical dramas, 1874)
*"Liederen voor Groote en Kleine Kinderen" ("Songs for Big and Small Folk," 1879)
*"Jakoba van Beieren" ("Jacquelein of Bavaria," a poetic drama, 1880)
*"Mathilda van Denemarken" (a lyrical drama, 1890)His collected poetical works were published in three volumes at Rousselaere in 1885.

ee also

* Flemish literature

ource

* [http://users.pandora.be/louis.jacobs/Hiel.html Emmanuel Hiel]
* [http://www.dbnl.org/auteurs/auteur.php?id=hiel001 Emmanuel Hiel]

External links

* [http://www.kahiel.be/ Koninklijk Atheneum Emmanuel Hiel] (school named after Emmanuel Hiel)

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