Belgium Banknotes 1000 Francs banknote 1980 Andre Gretry
National Bank of Belgium - Nationale Bank van België - Banque nationale de Belgique
Obverse: Portrait of composer André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (1741-1813). Fragment of a bass violin.
Reverse: Tuning forks. Sound waves and inner ear.
Dimensions: 154 x 77 mm.
Watermark: Effigy of King Baudouin I in 1/2 profile. Work by: Maurice Pasternak (Inv. - Sketch author, designer); C. Leclercqz (Sc. - Engraver) (Front); H. Decuyper (Sc. - Engraver) (Back).
Main colour: Brown.
Signatures: Serge Bertholomé (De Schatbewaarder - Le Tresorier); Alfons Verplaetse (De Gouverneur - Le Gouverneur).
Date of issue: 3 Dec. 1980.
Texts: Banque Nationale de Belgique. Mille Francs. Nationale Bank van Belgie. Duizend Frank. National Bank of Belgium.
One Thousand Francs. Le contrefacteur est puni des travaux forcés (Art.173 du Code Penal). De namaker wordt met dwangarbeid
gestraft (Art.173 van het Strafwetboek).
Belgian banknotes - Belgium paper money
1978-1997 Issue
Andre Gretry
André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (born Feb. 10/11, 1741, Liège [now in Belgium]—died Sept. 24, 1813, Montmorency, near Paris, France), French composer of operas, a leader in the evolution of French opéra comique from light popular plays with music into semiserious musical drama.
Grétry studied singing, violin, and harmony and in 1761 was sent to Rome to study composition. In 1766 he went to Geneva as a music teacher. There he met Voltaire, at whose suggestion he went to Paris in 1767. From 1768 he produced more than 50 works for the stage, including Le Tableau parlant (1769; “The Speaking Picture”) and Zémire et Azor (1771). His masterpiece, Richard Coeur de Lion (1784; “Richard the Lionheart”), is an early example of French Romantic opera.
Grétry’s music is noted for its finesse and melodic grace. He excelled in the development of dramatic scenes through melody and careful setting of words. He was widely honoured during his lifetime and received a pension from Napoleon in 1802. In 1789 he published his Mémoires; ou, essais sur la musique (“Memoirs; or, Essays on Music”).