August Schollaert was born on 20th March 1893 in Aalst, as third son in a working-class family. Already at the age of 10 he played the bugle in the wind-band of which his father - nicknamed "Frans de Tamboer" ("Frans the Drummer) - also was a member. Later on, he switched to oboe and it was with this instrument that he did some solo performances at concerts -already at the age of 14. At the outbreak of WWI in 1914, August became conductor of the wind-band mentioned. In 1919, he became a professional musician in the army and it was there that he learned to play the trombone. During this period, he took lessons in harmony-theory and counterpoint at the music academy of Antwerp, where he obtained good results. In 1921 he became conductor again, this time of the brass band "Tot Heil des Volks", again at Aalst.
In 1922, he resigned from the army and in the same year, he started arranging organ books for dance and fair organs. In addition to this job, he continued conducting. It was under his conduct that the brass band won several first prizes. He also performed as a conductor of a big symphony orchestra; in this position he accompanied several operettas dozens of times. Meanwhile, his fame as an arranger continued to grow as well as the number of customers.
During the twenties, August Schollaert married Aline Ghysbrecht. From that time on, his labels on organ books also mention the family name of his wife: Schollaert-Ghysbrecht. The reason for this mention remains unclear. The married couple had one son, Herman, born in 1930.
As far as could be traced and according to the labels on his books, August Schollaert lived at three different addresses. The oldest one is Stoofstraat (Rue de l'Eteuve) 35, Aalst - 'production of perforated cardboard books for all kinds of organs, well-cared-for work". The labels dating from the beginning of the thirties mention the following address: Kluyskensstraat 20, Aalst. In this street also lived a furniture manufacturer who - according to the city archives of Aalst - possibly built some organs. On the books of the second half of the thirties and later on, we read the address "Nestor de Tièrestraat 6". August Schollaert lived on this last address until his death.
After the war, in 1945, Schollaert stopped conducting, but he kept on arranging for organs. Day in, day out Schollaert was busy arranging. Half-way the fifties he was already severely weakened because of sickness and the last time he came out of his house was in September 1957. After his decease on 9th February 1958, his cutting machine and supply of cardboard were purchased by Eugène Peersman. Part of the many scores of Schollaert was given to the symphony orchestra of which Schollaert was a member, but the biggest part of them was - unfortunately - destroyed. Because in 1958 there wasn't as much arranging work anymore as before - sufficient for about eight months a year - August's son Herman (1930-1997) decided not to continue his father's job. He started working at the Decca Record Company for some time, but afterwards became a music teacher at Aalst.
August Schollaert usually worked with piano and full (orchestra) scores, to which he accurately kept himself. The arranging went quite fast, which explains why he was able to arrange an enormous amount of organ books through the years. His arrangements were always correct and well-cared-for, but rarely 'daring'. Schollaert never arranged on patterns but noted down the music with pencil marks directly onto the cardboard, which he bought in large quantities at the "Corona"-firm of Charles van der Mueren at Antwerp. If there were any repetitions in his arrangements at all, then these were drawn again by laying the part already cut on the blank cardboard. In the Netherlands, Gerard Razenberg worked in the same way; it is striking that the style of both arrangers bears strong resemblances. Possibly Razenberg often 'observed' Schollaert's arrangements during his initial arranging work.
Of all Belgian arrangers, Schollaert was without any doubt the most versatile one. Not only did he arrange for dance organs, but also for French (Gavioli, Limonaire) and Belgian (Hooghuys) fair organs. Even people who usually don't like Belgian arrangements that much, often appreciate the ones by Schollaert. He always worked independently and never was in service at the Mortier factory or other Belgian organ manufacturers. He arranged for a lot of private customers in Belgium and the Netherlands. As far as known, he didn't arrange for keyless organs, nor did he arrange on paper rolls.
Most original Mortier organs still have arrangements by Schollaert. The amount of books he delivered - his books were mostly cut by his wife Aline and his son Herman - must have been enormous. In addition to almost every hitparade tune of the thirties, forties and fifties, he arranged a lot of marches, concert waltzes and semi-classical pieces, including overtures and operetta-selections, mostly from the German and French repertoire. Schollaert probably never composed himself. At the inner side of the organ book cover he always mentioned the title and composer of the piece of music and usually also the number of keys and the name of the owner of the organ for which the book was arranged. In some cases, these data still provide interesting information.
In my opinion, Schollaert made his best arrangements for the many 78rpm-records with the typical 'three track-medleys', a.o. on the Kristall-, Decca- and Omega-label. These arrangements were ordered by the record companies themselves. Also several recordings of the 84-key Mortier orchestrion "De Zwarte Kat" ("The Black Cat") at Aalst were released, featuring popular tunes and marches as well as concert pieces as Gold und Silber, the Kaiserwaltz and the magnificently arranged Valse nuptiale. Two of his earliest arrangements, dating from the beginning of the thirties, can be heard on the KDV-CD of the 97-key Mortier organ of the late Roger Duerinck of Wuustwezel (B): C'est toujours l'amour and En effeuillant des coquelicots. One of Schollaert's favourite organs was the 70-key Hooghuys of A.Becquart. According to his son Herman, August could listen for hours to this instrument. When Decca made recordings of this organ, it was packed into pieces and brought to the studio above in the building, where the complete repertoire was recorded. Part of these recordings were released on 78rpm-records, including some three-track-medleys; however, these are passages of larger potpourris Schollaert arranged himself (this appears from a number of books still in existence with the organ of Becquart and the Hooghuys organs of the Rorive family). In addition, some 45rpm-singles were released, containing standard repertoire; afterwards, these recordings were also released on LP.
The Schollaert family had a close relationship with the Becquart family, since the latter usually wintered at Aalst. Schollaert also had good connections with Edmond Hooghuys. It was he who encouraged Schollaert to start arranging for Hooghuys organs. Together they considered what arrangements were to be made for which organ; Schollaert especially loved the older scores in possession of Edmond. A nice detail is the fact that the piano of Herman Schollaert comes from Edmond's shop at Grammont (Geraardsbergen).
As is told, August Schollaert was a gentle person, although he could get furious when his wife didn't treat his 78rpm-records with due care. He was a great and versatile musician and used his talent to give pleasure and relaxation to thousands of people. It is also thanks to the work of August Schollaert that music from Belgium will always be worth listening to.
- p.177 on top: August Schollaert and Aline Ghysbrecht, portrait photographs dating from the early twenties
- p.177 below: the brass band "Tot Heil des Volks" at Aalst, with its conductor August Schollaert (second to the right); picture taken in 1923
- p.178: August Schollaert, his wife Aline Ghysbrecht and in the middle their son Herman; picture taken in the second half of the thirties
- p.179: portrait photograph of August Schollaert dating from the fifties.
Thanks to Björn Isebaert for making available new information. The pictures are from the family archives of the late Herman Schollaert and his wife Agnes Schollaert-Camu. Furthermore, part of the information in this article was based on the "In Memoriam August Schollaert" of Het Pierement of October 1958 (p.3), written by Herman Schollaert and Jan L.M. van Dinteren.