CALLEBERT, Cecilia

Cecilia Callebert was a Belgian Flemish pianist, composer and teacher. Born in Sint-Jan near Ieper in 1884, she grew up in an artistic and musical family and later became closely associated with the city of Roeselare, where she spent most of her life. Although she had the talent for a career as a concert pianist, health problems limited her public performing career, and she devoted herself mainly to teaching and composition.
Callebert was active as a private piano teacher and helped with the foundation of the music school in Roeselare in 1921. As a composer, she wrote in a conservative but melodically rich style, remaining close to the classical rules she had learned rather than following the newer modernist trends of the early twentieth century. Her music is strongly connected with religious life, Flemish cultural identity and vocal expression.
Around two hundred of her works have survived. Her oeuvre consists mainly of vocal and religious music, including songs, Latin hymns, choral works and masses, but she also wrote piano, organ and harp pieces, as well as music for theatre. After World War I she increasingly composed on Flemish texts, and many of her works were connected with local religious and cultural life in Roeselare. Today she is remembered as an important representative of women composers in Flemish music history