Absil began with the intention of becoming a performing organist. After studying keyboard with the local organist and later at the Ecole St. Gr‚goire in Tournai, Absil attended the Brussels Conservatory to study organ, piano and harmony. Even though he was an accomplished organ student, Absil switched his emphasis to composition in 1917. He enjoyed success in this area as well and took a position as director of the Etterbeek Music School and later at the Brussels Conservatory. A piano concerto composed for the Ysa˜e Competition in 1938 brought him international recognition. Absil had not studied the music of composers after Franck and had investigated only the orchestrations of Wagner, Strauss and the Russian nationalists. He filled in these gaps by attending the rehearsals of The Pro Arte Quartet playing Hindemith and Schoenberg. These became his inspiration and he went on to publish an essay that asserted that polytonality had existed since the Middle Ages and that there is no difference between dissonance and consonance. These beliefs are evident in his music, although he later tried to make his work more accessible, incorporating folk music into his work. ~ Lynn Vought, Rovi