Increasingly, as the focus on Ossian after the mid-nineteenth century shifted from south to north in Europe, the cantata began to take on features of the operatic stage, with occasional directions for scenery and action. An example of this trend is Comala, poeme dramatique, by Joseph Jongen (1873–1953), written in 1897. Marie- Alphonse-Nicolas-Joseph Jongen was born on December 14, 1873, in Liege. Aged seventeen when Cesar Franck died, he has been described as a follower of that composer. But after studying in Germany (a condition of the Grand Concours in composition) he began to forge his own individual style. His first musical education was from his father, and thereafter he studied at the Conservatoire royal de musique in his native city. At the time he obtained his diploma, he was taking lessons in composition from the director of the conservatoire, Jean-Theodore Radoux, and won a prize for piano and organ performance in 1895. Participating in another competition of the Beaux-Arts de l'Academie royale de Belgique, he won second prize for a trio for piano, violin and cello, first prize going to Francois Rasse.

Discouraged by this relative failure, Jongen wanted to withdraw from the Prix de Rome competition but was persuaded to enter by Radoux, his father, and friends. Finally, he gained the coveted prize at the age of twenty-four, winning for his cantata, Comala (1897). After studying abroad as a condition of his award, Jongen taught harmony for more than two decades at the Liege Conservatoire, from 1898 until 1920 (with the exception of a stay in England during World War I), and at the Brussels Conservatoire from 1920 to 1933. In the summer months he composed mainly at his country house in the Ardennes, near the area called “Balmoral” because of the many British who visited during the nineteenth century. It was there that he died on July 12, 1953. With over 240 works to his credit, in almost every genre except opera, he showed a predilection for organ, piano, and chamber music.

Joseph Jongen's Comala (1897)

Tucked away in the top right-hand corner of the title page of his cantata, Comala, is the notation by Jongen: “J'ai été laborieux” (I've labored).