GEYER, FRANÇOIS-AUGUSTE. — Musician and musicologist, b. at Huysse (Belgium) on 31 July 1828, d. at Brussels on 31 Dec. 1908.
A pupil of the Ghent Conservatory, he later became organist in the church of the Jesuits. In 1847 he won the Grand Prix de Rome. In 1849–50 he completed his studies in Paris and undertook important travels in various European countries. In 1866 in Paris he was director of the Opéra. In 1871 he returned to Brussels as director of the Conservatory.
He wrote many stage works that enjoyed wide renown, and he was also the author of theoretical and historical works, including Histoire et théorie de la musique de l'antiquité (2 vols., Paris 1875–81); Les origines du chant liturgique (ibid. 1892); La mélopée antique dans le chant de l'Eglise latine (ibid. 1895). In collaboration with Gaston Paris he published Les gloires de l'Italie (ibid. 1868), which collects operatic pieces by Italian masters of the 17th and 18th centuries.