Guillaume de Van (2 July 1906 in
Memphis – 2 July 1949 in
Amalfi
Amalfi (, , ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno. It lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto (1,315 metres, 4,314 feet), surrounded by dramatic c ...
) real name William Carrolle Devan, was a French musicologist and choral conductor of American origin. A student at Princeton University, he then traveled to Rome to train in
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe dur ...
. In the early 1930s, he became choir conductor, conducting the Armenian choir in Paris. In 1935, in collaboration with abbot
Ducaud-Bourget, he founded the vocal
ensemble ''Les Paraphonistes de Saint-Jean des Matines''. With this ensemble he interpreted and recorded for the first time several secular and religious vocal works of the Middle Ages. Among these works, he recorded the world premiere of ''
Messe de Nostre Dame
''Messe de Nostre Dame'' (''Mass of Our Lady'') is a polyphonic mass composed before 1365 by French poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300–1377). Widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of medieval music and of all religious music, ...
'' by
Guillaume de Machaut
Guillaume de Machaut (, ; also Machau and Machault; – April 1377) was a French composer and poet who was the central figure of the style in late medieval music. His dominance of the genre is such that modern musicologists use his death to ...
in 1936 of which he made one of the first complete transcriptions published by the
Corpus mensurabilis musicae in 1950. In 1942 he was appointed by the Vichy regime curator of the newly created , until 1944. In this capacity he collaborated with the Nazi musicologists of the '. After the Liberation of France, he was suspended from his duties on 24 August 1944.
Bibliography
* Sara Iglesias, ''Musicologie et Occupation : Science, musique et politique dans la France des « années noires »'',
on ''Le Monde diplomatique
''Le Monde diplomatique'' (meaning "The Diplomatic World" in French) is a French monthly newspaper offering analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs.
The publication is owned by Le Monde diplomatique SA, a subsidiary com ...
'' (March 216) chapter ''Un personnage-clé : Guillaume de Van, nouveau prince et « usurpateur » de la musicologie française''. 2014 éditions MSH.
References
External links
Guillaume de Van
on musicme.com
Guillaume de Van
on Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van, Guillaume de
20th-century French musicians
20th-century French musicologists
People from Memphis, Tennessee
1906 births
1949 deaths
American emigrants to France