Career
The language of study at the Antwerp Conservatory had just been changed from French to Dutch at the instigation of Flemish nationalist composer Peter Benoit when the Distelmans brothers enrolled there. The cello-playing brother of the quartet particularly became a fierce nationalist, which contributed to the dissolution of the quartet during World World War World War II Napoleon also was the viola soloist for some time in the Orchestra of the Antwerp Zoological Society. The concerts of the Society were known to attract, at times, Gustav Mahler, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff to conduct their own works there in the hall next to Central Railway Station.
