From Paris he also maintained contact with the Ghent Conservatoire and the musical life of the city. For the occasion of the inauguration of the bronze statue of Jacob Van Artevelde on the Ghent square Vrijdagsmarkt in 1863 he composed a cantata based on verses of the poet Napoleon Destanberg. Est-ce Mars, an Air de Cour of the French renaissance composer Pierre Guédron is the connecting thread in this piece. In the Flemish region this melody was known in a popular version as the “Tabacco song”.