oa Symbolisme en het kunstlied in België (1884 – 1950). Een nieuwe esthetiek voor muziek op symbolistische gedichten / Symbolism and the art song in Belgium (1884 – 1950): A new aesthetics for music accompanying symbolist poetry

In the period between the 1880s and the Second World War, Belgium was an important international hub for the arts. Especially the symbolist movement found the fertile soil in this country, which is renowned all over the world for its high-quality symbolist literature and paintings. But in music, too, symbolism reigned supreme. In this article, Pauline Lebbe discusses songs Belgian artists composed to accompany texts by Belgian symbolist authors. She devotes attention to the musicians’ creative work environment. The close collaborations between artists, art critics, art theorists and concert organisers and music groups is a crucial aspect of this kind of music that remains underexplored. The corpus of songs turns out to be surprisingly refined and original.