Paul Schollaert

1940

Biography

In Stemband #24 september-november 2020, Koen Vits wrote an eulogy for Paul Schollaert's 80th birthday. The summary of this article can be found below.

Pedagogue

First and foremost, Paul Schollaert was a musical pedagogue. Having joined the ‘Musicerende Jeugd’ and building on the young, German take on musical pedagogy, Schollaert was eager to make music with children, to compose songs for children and to teach future musical pedagogues. Many important contemporary musicians, such as Lode Dieltiens and Carl Van Eyndhoven, report on Schollaert’s unique teaching style. According to them, his lectures were coherent, funny and innovative.

His many sing-alongs were always pedagogically coherent, full of witty comments and with an inventive system. In no time, people were singing passionately under his direction.

Lode Dieltiens about Paul Schollaert in 2010

Director

As a director, Schollaert performed many choral works with the school choir of the Lemmens institute. For example, Schollaert conducted Jules Van Nuffel’s psalms, but he was most renowned for his yearly Bach concerts. These projects were taught on a very high pedagogical level, and introduced new students to the study and performance of Bach’s passions. Schollaert himself always cherished an enormous passion for Bach, but also performed other important choral works such as those of Reger, Poulenc, De Monte, Vaughan Williams, and so on.

Choral composer and priest

For this choir, Schollaert composed some choral works. For instance, on the CD ‘De XIV Stonden’, there is a recording of his passion cantata for choir and soloists, with words by Guido Gezelle. He also composed profane music, such as the song ‘De averulle en de blomme’, which was recently performed by the NSK (Nederlands Studenten Kamerkoor). Schollaert is also known for his song compilation ‘Zingt Jubilate’, the songs he writes for the ‘Hasseltse Virga Jesseommegang’ and his famous children songs, of which “De grote sachem heeft gesproken” is the most exemplary. Apart from music, Schollaert is also dedicated to priesthood. His spirituality characterizes his compositions very often. Moreover, Schollaert was known for his humoristic take on language and music.

Koorwerken (selectie)

De XIV stonden, SATB, published by Euprint, 2016.
De averulle en de blomme, SATB, published by Euprint, 2015, see video below.
De grote Sachem heeft gesproken, children’s song.
James Ensor, SSA, piano, published by Euprint, 2017.

De averulle en de blomme by the Nederlands Studentenkoor under the baton of Kurt Bikkembergs