ANDRE

See also:

• HENRI

HENRI

See also:

• CONSTANT, BENJAMIN (1845-1902)

CONSTANT

See also:

• VAN

VAN

See also:

• HASSELT
• ANDRE HENRI CONSTANT VAN HASSELT (1806—1874)

HASSELT (1806—1874)  , Belgian poet, was born at Maastricht, in Limburg, on the 5th of January 18o6 . He was educated in his native town, and at the university of Liege . In 1833 he left Maastricht, then blockaded by the Belgian forces, and made his way to Brussels, where he became a naturalized Belgian, and was attached to the Bibliotheque de Bourgogne . In 1843 he entered the education department, and eventually became an inspector of normal schools . His native language was Dutch, and as a French poet Andre van Hasselt had to overcome the difficulties of writing in a foreign language . He had published a Chant hellenique in honour of Canaris in the columns of La Sentinelle des Pays-Bas as early as 1826, and other poems followed . His first volume of verse, Prirneveres (1834), shows markedly the influence of Victor Hugo, which had been strengthened by a visit to Paris in 183o . His relations with Hugo became intimate in 1851—1852, when the poet was an exile in Brussels . In 1839 he became editor of the Renaissance, a paper founded to encourage the fine arts . His chief work, the epic of the Quatre Incarnations du Christ, was published in 1867 . In the same volume were printed his Etudes rythmiques, a series of, metrical experiments designed to show that the French language could be adapted to every kind of musical rhythm . With the same end in view he executed translations of many German songs, and wrote new French libretti for the best-known operas of Mozart, Weber and others .

Hasselt died at

Saint Josse ten Noode, a suburb of Brussels, on the 1st of December 1874 . A selection from his works (io vols., Brussels, 1876–1877) was edited by MM . Charles Hen and Louis Alvin . He wrote many books for children, chiefly under the pseudonym of Alfred Avelines; and studies on historical and literary subjects . The books written in collaboration with Charles I-Ien are signed Charles Andre . A bibliography of his writings is appended to the notice by Louis Alvin in the Biographic nat. de Belgique, vol. vii . Van Hasselt's fame has continued to increase since his death . A series of tributes to his memory are printed in the Poesies choisies (1901), edited by M . Georges Barral for the Collection des poetes francais de l'etranger . This book contains a biographical and critical study by Jules Guillaume, and some valuable notes on the poet's theories of rhythm .