Philippe Alexandre Autexier (1954–1998) was a French

music historian Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history o ...

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

, journalist and

Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to Fraternity, fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of Stonemasonry, stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their inte ...

researcher, whose research on

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

and other Masonic composers is particularly significant.

Biography

Autexier was passionate about music, his research led him to become a musicologist and music historian, a speaker who expressed in French, English, German and Italian. He has taught at several conservatories and universities in France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States. He has written music reviews for various specialised journals, and a number of books on

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, Bartók and other

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

musicians. He was director of the “” (Mozart and Freemason) exhibition in 1991 in

Cahors Cahors (; oc, Caors ) is a commune in the western part of Southern France. It is the smallest prefecture among the 13 departments that constitute the Occitanie Region. The main city of the Lot department and the historical center of the Quer ...

. He has also participated in many radio programmes, such as

France Musique France Musique is a French national public radio channel owned and operated by Radio France. It is devoted to the broadcasting of music, both live and recorded, with particular emphasis on European classical music, classical music and jazz. Hist ...

France Culture France Culture is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. Its programming encompasses a wide variety of features on historical, philosophical, sociopolitical, and scientific themes (including debates, discussions, and documentari ...

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

, as well as

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and

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

channels. During more than 20 years, he worked on the subject of “” (Column of Harmony)—a research on the

Masonic music Masonic music has been defined as "music used in connection with the ritual and social functions of freemasonry". Two major types of music used in masonic lodges are lodge songs, played to keyboard accompaniment before or after meetings, or during m ...

history—which led him to study all the collections of Masonic archives in Europe (

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

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, et cetera). The research results have been published in his book . Among Autexier's publications, the only work for general public is , a richly

illustrated An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video ...

pocket book belonging to the “

Découvertes Gallimard (, ; in United Kingdom: ''New Horizons'', in United States: ''Abrams Discoveries'') is an editorial collection of illustrated monographic books published by the Éditions Gallimard in pocket format. The books are concise introductions to pa ...

”

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: * Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department * Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service * Collection agency, agency to collect cash * Collectio ...

, which has been translated into seven languages, including English. It is simple, concise and accessible to all, unlike the rest of his books which are elitist works.

Bibliography

* ''Béla Bartók : Musique de la vie'', Stock Musique, 1981 * ''Les oeuvres témoins de Mozart'', Éditions A. Leduc, 1982 * ''Mozart & Liszt sub Rosa'', Centre Mozart, 1984 * ''Mozart'', Honoré Champion, 1987 * ''Don Giovanni : Horizons mozartiens'', Philippe Olivier, 1990 * ''Beethoven : La force de l’absolu'', collection «

» (nº 106), série Arts. Éditions Gallimard, 1991, new edition in 2010 ** ''Beethoven: The Composer as Hero'', “

Abrams Discoveries Abrams may refer to: * Abrams (surname), a list of notable people with the surname * '' Abrams v. United States'', 250 U.S. 616 (1919), U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding free speech during times of war * M1 Abrams, main battle tank * Abrams, Wi ...

” series. Harry N. Abrams, 1992. (U.S. edition) ** ''Beethoven: The Composer as Hero'', ‘

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research ...

’ series, Thames & Hudson, 1992. (UK edition) * ''La Lyre Maçonne : Mozart, Haydn, Spohr, Liszt'', Éditions Detrad aVs, 1991 * ''La Colonne d’Harmonie : Histoire, Théorie, Pratique'', Éditions Detrad aVs, 1991, new edition in 2013 * ''L’art de la planche : Théorie et pratique du morceau d’architecture et de la communication en loge'', Éditions Detrad aVs, 1996, new edition in 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Autexier, Philippe A. 1954 births 1998 deaths Music historians 20th-century French musicologists 20th-century French writers 20th-century French historians 1998 suicides Suicides in France