Irène Fuerison

Irène Fuerison was a Belgian composer from Ghent whose extensive oeuvre included songs, chamber music, piano works and orchestral compositions. Although she became blind around the turn of the century, she continued to compose, developing a musical language that evolved from late Romanticism towards a more modernist style, characterized by chromaticism, extended harmonies and distant modulations. During the First World War, she wrote music with the aim of raising funds for war victims, and her works were performed at several benefit concerts. Her songs, which form two thirds of her output, are particularly notable for their expressive vocal lines and richly evolving harmonies. Despite receiving positive responses from audiences and professional musicians during her lifetime, Fuerison gradually disappeared from musical life after her death. Most of her compositions were never published, and many works have since been lost, leaving a substantial but only partially preserved legacy.