H. Baeck : Joseph Callaerts (1830-1901): a major representative of the 19th century Belgian organ school

Joseph Callaerts (1830-1901) spent his whole life in Antwerp, his native city, where he built up a successful career as an organist, composer and teacher.
He had been a choirboy at the Cathedral of Our Lady under the musical directorship of G.J.J. Kennis before he was trained as a pianist. At the time he won a first prize in the organ class of Jacques Lemmens at the Brussels Conservatory in 1856, he had already succeeded Karel Delin as organist of the Cathedral of Our Lady. The De Volder organ there was in use until 12 October 1890. Then the Brussels organ builder P. Schyven installed a new ‘symphonic’ instrument with four manuals and pedals, ninety registers and 5,569 pipes. This masterpiece of nineteenth-century Belgian organ-building was played in on 17 December 1891 by J. Callaerts, A. Mailly and C.M.Widor.
Callaerts, who also became the city’s carilloneur in 1863, managed not only to combine these functions until his death, but also to exert a considerable influence as a teacher. From 1867 he taught the organ and practical harmony at the Antwerp School of Music under Peter Benoit and retained this position when in 1898 the institution became the Royal Flemish Conservatory notwithstanding his having levelled some criticism against Benoit’s nationalistic pedagogic principles. He was considered one of the outstanding Belgian organists of his time and acted as a consultant in the design of many instruments.
In addition, he found time to compose a vast amount of organ music (about sixty works), chamber music, songs, motets, choral works, orchestral works (including a concerto for piano and a concerto for organ) and an opera. At the 1885 World Exhibition in Antwerp, he conducted a concert of his own works.
Callaerts was a rather conservative musician who, in the eyes of his contemporaries, remained loyal to the old traditions of the German School, both as an interpreter and as a composer. Nevertheless his compositions received awards from the Royal Belgian Academy and his organ works were famous for their melodic abundance and elegant style on the one hand and their exploitation of the resources of the instrument on the other. Most of Callaerts’ organ works were published by Schott Frères (Brussels), Heugel & Cie (Paris) and Schirmer (New York).