 He felt compelled to find a position, and in 1924 he was appointed director of the Municipal Conservatory of Bruges, a function that came with a teaching load.He assumed it with some reluctance, but he discovered that he enjoyed teaching, even “regret[ting] that I didn’t enter the teaching profession until I was 54.” He kept on composing, albeit at a slower rate.Also, he ceased composing oratorios, which he considered his major works, but that was at least as much due to the death of Charles Martens (1866–1921), his librettist as well as his Maecenas, the tireless propagandist of his music and above all his friend, whose name he never mentioned without preceding it with “my good friend” or similar expression.