Belgian National Identity in the Work and Writings of François-Joseph Fétis

In his Plan d’organisation de la musique dans le Royaume de Belgique (1832), influential nineteenth century Belgian music theorist, François-Joseph Fétis, focused on three primary projects: founding a good conservatory in Brussels; improving the quality of performances at the Théâtre de la Monnaie; and creating a national musical society. With the goal of developing musical activity in the new Belgian state following the Revolution of 1830, Fétis also devoted a great deal of effort in his activities as the first director of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, working in collaboration with the first King of the Belgians, Léopold I, as well as the Belgian government.

Fétis’ activities are framed by his ambivalent vision of music’s relationship with national identity. On one hand he suggested that music is dependent upon nation and culture and that theories of music should take into consideration their objects’ national, cultural, and historical backgrounds (Fétis 1849 etc.). On the other hand, in the Revue musicale (1833), Fétis held that “there should be neither a Belgian art nor a French art, any more than there should be a German or Italian art; there should only be one art, an immense art, which, within its thousands of modifications, is always itself and has only one homeland, the universe.” This presentation explores Fétis’ role in creating a supposed Belgian musical identity after the Belgian revolution by comparing the different stances he took in his activities as an administrator and his abundant writings on music.