Camil Van Hulse
  • Hey friends, I am looking for vocal music (his masses!) by Camil Van Hulse, a Belgian composer who moved to Tucson. Does anyone have an idea how I could get a hold of his music?
    Thanks,
    Dirk
    Thanked by 1Diapason84
  • This discussion pretty much sums it up...
    https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/3671/looking-for-information-about-camil-van-hulse/p1
    Ebay and Interlibrary loan.
    Thanked by 1Diapason84
  • thank you very much but that doesn't help me much. Nothing can be found on Ebay and as a Fleming, living in Flanders, I can't use interlibrary loan. Any suggestions?
  • One of his publishers in the USA, World Library Publications, has since merged with another publisher, GIA. My guess is all his music is permanently out of print. You might try contacting their customer service and asking if they have any suggestions.
  • Thanks, just tried this, let's hope!
  • I contacted Gia Publications, JWPepper, Hal Leonard, ... searched on Amazon, ... all with no luck. Apparently Camil Van Hulse's masses are no longer available. Hence my question to conductors, choirs, organists, ... to look in their repertoire anyway to see if they have anything. Other suggestions on where to look are still welcome.
    Regards,
    Dirk
  • Are you referring only to his settings in Latin?
  • nope, I would love to see his work in english as well. I have ' Behold, the arm of the Lord'.
  • Felicia
    Posts: 124
    Wow. A well-regarded composer has been deceased for less than fifty years, and already his works are as scarce as the proverbial hen's teeth. I suspect most composers of Catholic church music from that era (just before Vatican II) have suffered the same fate. It would be a grand project to re-publish some of the best works. The problem is, most of these compositions are still under copyright in the U.S.
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,112
    A well-regarded composer has been deceased for less than fifty years, and already his works are as scarce as the proverbial hen's teeth. I suspect most composers of Catholic church music from that era (just before Vatican II) have suffered the same fate.

    Catholics in general have no idea of even the big outlines of Catholic music history. "There was chant, and then, oh, Palestrina, and then who... Marty Haugen maybe". A lot of the easier music of the immediate preconciliar period was unmemorable in the ways that Yon or RoSewig were memorable. Which is not to say that there wasn't decent music being written in the US (though much more in Europe). But the really good stuff tended to be harder, so not done as much. The copyright issue wouldn't matter so much had so much of that music (and the music for the transitional Mass) not hit the dumpster. Even the guys who successfully made the transition (Carroll Thomas Andrews) are really only known for their NO music.

    People ripe for reappraisal (besides Van Hulse): Joseph Wilcox Jenkins, Russell Woollen, Leopold Syre maybe. But given that we haven't really figured out Civil War to WWII yet (which doesn't have the copyright problem) it might be good to do that first and establish some hermeneutic of continuity.
    Thanked by 1Felicia