Franz Servais (c) Servais Collection Halle
°Saint-Petersburg, March 19, 1846 – †Asnières, January 13, 1901
Servais’ oldest son
Franz Servais was a pianist, composer and conductor. He completed his artistic training in Weimar where his teacher, the famous pianist Franz Liszt, treated him as a son. In 1873 Franz won the Prize of Rome for his cantata La Mort du Tasse.
As a conductor he founded the Concerts d’Hiver (1888-1890) in Brussels. Furthermore he conducted the Liszt Festival in Antwerp (1885) and the Wagner operas in the Brussels opera house La Monnaie/De Munt (1889-1890).
Towards the end of the 1870’s Franz started his lyric composition L’Apollonide, with a libretto written by Leconte de Lisle. The famous artist Fernand Khnopff portrayed a few characters. In 1899 L’Apollonide was first performed in Karlsruhe.
Publications about Franz Servais: see page ‘Research’ – publications.
Franz Servais, ‘extrait des Contemplations’, 1884 (c) Servais Collection Halle