Peter Benoit
Peter Benoit , was a Flemish composer of Belgian nationality.
Petrus Leonardus Leopoldus Benoit was born in Harelbeke, Flanders, Belgium in 1834. He was taught music at an early age by his father and the village organist. In 1851 Benoit entered the Brussels Conservatoire, where he remained till 1855, studying primarily with FJ Ftis. During this period he composed music to many melodramas, and to the opera Le Village dans les montagnes for the Park Theatre, of which in 1856 he became the resident conductor. In 1857 he won the Belgian Prix de Rome for his cantata Le Meurtre dAbel. The accompanying money grant enabled him to travel through Germany. In the course of his journings he found time to write a considerable amount of music, as well as an essay called Lcole de musique flamande et son avenir.
Source: Wikipedia