Karel Miry

Karel Miry (14 August 1823 Ghent - 3 October 1889 Ghent) was a Belgian composer. He was one of the first Belgian composers to write operas to librettos in Dutch and is known as the composer of the music for De Vlaamse Leeuw, the national anthem of Flanders, for which Hippoliet van Peene wrote the lyrics.

Karel Miry studied the violin with Jean Andries and harmony and composition with Martin Joseph Mengal at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent. He completed these studies at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where he was a student of François-Auguste Gevaert. Miry succeeded Andries as a professor of harmony and counterpoint in 1857, and in 1871 he became the assistant director under Adolphe Samuel of the conservatory. In 1875, he was appointed as inspector of music at the municipal schools of Ghent; in 1881 the state-aided schools were added to his responsibility. Karel Miry died in 1889 in Ghent.

Miry was well known for his operas, operettas, vaudevilles, and lyrical dramas. While he is one of the first composers to use Dutch language libretto’s, several French works were also written by him. He also composed romances, songs, and cantatas. His most famous work is De Vlaemsche Leeuw (The Lion of Flanders), which was very popular and became the official national anthem of the Flemish Community on 6 July 1973.

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