Henri Émile Hermand Malherbe, also known as Henry Malherbe or Henry Croisilles (4 February 1886 – 17 March 1958) was a French writer."Les prix littéraires"
, Association des Écrivains Combattants, retrieved 19 June 2018 (in French)

Life and career

Malherbe was born in Bucharest."Henry Malherbe (1886–1958)"
, Bibliothèque nationale de France, retrieved 19 June 2018 In Paris he wrote for ''

Le Temps ''Le Temps'' (literally "The Time") is a Swiss French-language daily newspaper published in Berliner format in Geneva by Le Temps SA. It is the sole nationwide French-language non-specialised daily newspaper of Switzerland. Since 2021, it has b ...

'', the magazine ''Excelsior'', and later for ''La Revue des vivants'', ("organe de la génération de la guerre"), of which he was co-director with

Henry de Jouvenel Henry de Jouvenel des Ursins (5 April 1876 – 5 October 1935) was a French journalist and statesman.

. Malherbe fought in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1919 he was a co-founder and first president of the . In 1953 the association established the Henry Malherbe Prize for essays in his honour. In 1917 Malherbe won the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

for the novel ''La flamme au poing'', (literally, "The Flame in the Fist", published in English translation in 1918 as ''The Flame that is France''). In 1918 the reviewer in the magazine ''

North American Review The ''North American Review'' (NAR) was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which it was inactive until revived a ...

'' wrote:

Music

Malherbe took a particular interest in musical matters. His interview with

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

in 1911 is quoted extensively by the composer's biographer

Léon Vallas Léon Vallas (17 May 1879 in Roanne – 9 May 1956 in Lyon) was a 20th-century French musicologist. Biography Orphaned at 8 years of age, after studying at the St. Mary's Institution at St. Chamond, held by the Marists, he passed his baccalaure ...

; his criticisms of the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

for what he saw as its reactionary agenda and declining standards were reported in Britain and the US, in ''The Times'' and by Richard Aldrich, music critic of ''The New York Times''. As a critic, Malherbe was less inclined than some of his colleagues to take new works at face value: he spotted, as many other critics did not, what he called "the heated eroticism" that lay below the seemingly "innocent neoclassical surface" of

Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kno ...

's 1924 ballet ''

Les biches ''Les biches'' () ("The Hinds" or "The Does", or "The Darlings") is a one-act ballet to music by Francis Poulenc, choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska and premiered by the Ballets Russes on 6 January 1924 at the Salle Garnier in Monte Carlo. Ni ...

''. In his book about

Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', which has become on ...

's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'', published in 1951, Malherbe offered what the journal ''Hommes et mondes'' called an analysis "of rare lucidity" of the origins, libretto and score of the opera, and presented hitherto unpublished information about the circumstances of the composer's early death; in this Malherbe raised the possibility that unhappy in love and in despair at "the conspiracy of critics who had condemned Carmen", Bizet may not have died of illness but had killed himself. Malherbe's other books on music attracted some adverse comment from his contemporaries for his propensity to speculate about his subjects. His biography of

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

(1949) was criticised in ''

Music & Letters ''Music & Letters'' is an academic journal published quarterly by Oxford University Press with a focus on musicology. The journal sponsors the Music & Letters Trust, twice-yearly cash awards of variable amounts to support research in the music fie ...

'' for "sketches circumstantially describing scenes for which we have not a shred of evidence. … M. Malherbe allows himself again and again to be carried away by his enthusiasm into writing bookstall fiction." His 1938 ''Richard Wagner révolutionnaire'' also suffered from some "rather fictitious" biography, according to the ''Revue De Musicologie''."J.-G. P.
"''Wagner révolutionnaire'' by Henry Malherbe"
''Revue De Musicologie'', vol. 21, no. 1, 1942, pp. 12–13 (in French)

Later years

Malherbes was appointed a

Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

in April 1953. He died in Paris in 1958, at the age of 72.

Works

* ''Paul Hervieu'' E. Sansot & cie, 1912 * * ''Le Jugement dernier'', Éditions de la Sirène, 1920 * ''La Rocque : un chef, des actes, des idées, suivi de documents sur les doctrines de la rénovation nationale'' Librairie Plon, 1934 * ''La passion de la Malibran'', A. Michel, 1937 * ''Richard Wagner révolutionnaire'' A. Michel, 1938 * ''Aux États-Unis, printemps du monde'', A. Michel, 1945 * ''Franz Schubert, son amour, ses amitiés'', A. Michel, 1949 * ''Carmen'' Michel, 1951

English Translations

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malherbe, Henry 1886 births 1958 deaths 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers French male novelists Prix Goncourt winners Romanian emigrants to France