Verheyen, Pierre Emmanuel (c. 1750-1819)

Belgian composer and tenor. A pupil of the organist of St Bavon in Ghent, he abandoned his university career to become a singer in the choir there. In 1779 he was appointed principal tenor at Bruges Cathedral, but soon after joined a travelling opera company. Later he returned to Ghent, where he became composer to the archbishop; from 1790 he was music director at the church of St Pharaïlde.

Works operas Les Chevaliers, ou Le Prix de l'arc (1779) and De Jachparty van Hendrik IV (1794), Arlequin magicien (1795); masses, psalms, Requiem for Haydn, Te Deum and other church music; cantata La Bataille de Waterloo (1816).