Albert Huybrechts
Albert Huybrechts (12 February 1899 in Dinant – 21 February 1938 in Brussels) was a Belgian composer. Life. Albert Huybrechts was born into a musical family. His father, Joseph-Jacques Huybrechts, was the double-bassist with the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie, and his great grand-uncle was the renowned cellist Adrien-François Servais Albert entered the Royal Conservatory of Brussels at age 11, studying under Joseph Jongen, P. Marchand and Léon Du Bois In 1915, age 16, he won an award for oboe at the Conservatory. In 1920 his father died, leaving the 21-year-old Albert a  small inheritance. He won a prize for fugue with Joseph Jongen in 1922, and in 1926 his First String Quartet (1924) took first prize at the Frost-Coolidge Music Festival in Ojai, California. A few days later his Sonata for violin and piano (1925) won the prestigious Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge award. Unfortunately, with his inheritance invested in the stock market, the Wall Street crash of 1929 wiped him out, and a thwarted love affair in the 1930s further diminished his strength. At professor Jean Absil's recommendation, in January 1938 Huybrechts was appointed as a junior lecturer in harmony at  the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, but barely a month later, on 21 February 1938, he died unexpectedly of kidney failure aged 39. Influence. Composer Daniel Denis, of the Belgian progressive rock band Univers Zero, cites Huybrechts as a major influence on his composing. See also. Catalog of works