Laporte, André

Laporte, André, Belgian composer and teacher; b. Oplinter, July 12, 1931. He received training in musicology and philosophy at the Catholic Univ. in Louvain (graduated, 1956), and then was a student of Flor Peeters (organ) and Marinus de Jong (counterpoint) at the Lemmens Inst. in Mechelen (1956–58), where he received the Lemmens-Tinel Prize for organ, piano, and composition (1958); subsequently he attended the courses in new music in Darmstadt (1960–65). In 1963 he joined the staff of the Belgian Radio and Television in Brussels, where he later served as manager of its Phil. Orch. (from 1988). In 1968 he became a teacher of theory and analysis at the Brussels Cons., and then taught composition there from 1988. He also taught composition at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth from 1990. In 1971 and 1976 he was awarded the Koopal Prize of the Belgian Ministry of Culture. His oratorio La vita non è sogno won the Italia Prize in 1976. In 1991 he was made a member of the Belgian Royal Academy.

Works

dramatic: opera:Das Schloss (1981–85). orch.:Night Music (1970); Transit for 48 Strings (1978–79); Fantasia-Rondino con tema reale for Violin and Orch. (1989).chamber:Introduction and Fughetta for Guitar (1956); Sequenza I for Clarinet (1964) and II for Bass Clarinet and 3 Clarinets (1965); Jubilius for 12 Brasses and 3 Percussion (1966); Ludus fragilis for Oboe (1967); Story for 3 Viola da Gambas and Harpsichord (1967); Inclinations for Flute (1968); Alliances for Cello and Piano (1968); Reflection for Clarinet (1970); Péripétie for Brass Sextet (1973); Harry’s Wonderland for Bass Clarinet and 2 Tapes (1976); Incontro notturno for 13 Winds and Percussion (1976); Icarus’s Flight for Piano and 13 Strings (1977); Variaties op een akkoord for Recorder and Wind Quintet (1979); A Flemish Round for Clarinet, Trombone, Cello, and Piano (1980); C-isme for Cello (1984). Piano: Sonata (1954); Ascension (1967). vocal:Psalm for 6 Voices and Brass (1956); De profundis for Chorus (1968); Le morte chitarre for Tenor, Flute, and 14 Strings (1969); La vita non è sogno, oratorio for Narrator, Tenor, Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (Ghent, Sept. 13, 1972); Chamber Music for Soprano, Flute, Clarinet, Violin, and Piano (1973).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire