Brancour, René

views updated

Brancour, René

Brancour, René French music critic; b. Paris, May 17, 1862; d. there, Nov. 16, 1948. Educated at the Paris Cons., he became curator of its collection of musical instruments. In 1906, he began a course of lectures on aesthetics at the Sorbonne; also wrote newspaper criticism. A brilliant writer, he poured invective on the works of composers of the advanced school; his tastes were conservative, but he accepted French music of the Impressionist period. He wrote biographies of Félicien David (1911) and Méhul (1912) in the series Musiciens Célèbres; of Massenet (1923) and Offenbach (1929) in Les Maîtres de la Musique. Other books were La Vie et l’oeuvre de Georges Bizet (1913), Histoire des instruments de musique (1921), and La Marseillaise et le chant du départ.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire