[4] He received his earliest music education from his sister Caroline before studying solfège and piano with Etienne Soubre and Auguste Franck and the Royal Conservatory of Liège.

[4] In 1840 he entered the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where he studied harmony with Charles Bosselet, counterpoint with François-Joseph Fétis, piano with Jean-Baptiste Michelot and organ with Christian Girschner, earning first prize diplomas in all these disciplines.

[6] He furthered his studies with Felix Mendelssohn in Leipzig and with Giacomo Meyerbeer in Berlin and met Ferdinand Hiller in Dresden before touring Italy for two years in 1846 and 1847.

Samuel brought the more contemporary works of Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, Peter Benoit, and Anton Rubinstein to the public in these concerts.

Thierry Levaux: Le Dictionnaire of the Compositeurs de Belgique du Moyen-Age à nos jours, S. 550-551, Editions: "Art in Belgium" 2006, ISBN 2-930338-37-7.