Le Ménestrel 1st Edition - 1 December 1833

''Le Ménestrel'' (The Minstrel) was an influential French music journal published weekly from 1833 until 1940. It was founded by Joseph-Hippolyte l'Henry and originally printed by Poussièlgue. In 1840 it was acquired by the music publishers Heugel and remained with the company until the journal's demise at the beginning of World War II. With the closure of its chief rival, '' La Revue et gazette musicale de Paris'' in 1880, ''Le Ménestrel'' became France's most prestigious and longest-running music journal.

Publishing history

In 1827,

François-Joseph Fétis François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, composer, teacher, and one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ''Biographie univer ...

had founded ''La Revue musicale'', France's first periodical devoted entirely to classical music. By 1834, it had two serious competitors, ''Le Ménestrel'' established in 1833, and Maurice Schlesinger's ''Gazette Musicale'', established in 1834. ''Le Ménestrel'' was founded by the Paris publisher Joseph-Hippolyte l'Henry, with the first edition (printed by Poussièlgue) appearing on 1 December 1833. In 1835, Schlesinger bought ''La Revue musicale'' from Fétis and merged the two journals into '' La Revue et gazette musicale de Paris''. Until ''La Revue et gazette'' ceased publication in 1880, ''Le Ménestrel'' was to be its main rival in terms of influence and breadth of coverage. E. D'Arlhac took over the directorship of ''Le Ménestrel'' in July 1835, but relinquished it the following March to the journalist and critic Jules Lovy, who had been a writer for the journal since its foundation. By 1836, ''Le Ménestrel'' had a weekly print run of 600 copies, although as Katharine Ellis pointed out, the number of actual readers was probably much larger. At the time, Paris alone had over 500 '' cabinets de lecture'', private reading rooms and precursors to the modern library, popular in early 19th-century France, where for a small fee the public could read the latest issues of newspapers and journals. In 1840, the newly formed music publishing partnership of Jacques-Léopold Heugel and Jean-Antoine Meissonnier acquired ''Le Ménestrel''. Heugel became the director, and Jules Lovy stayed on as editor-in-chief until his death in 1863. Lovy was succeeded by the critic and music historian Joseph d'Ortigue. Later editors-in-chief included

Arthur Pougin Arthur Pougin ( 6 August 1834 – 8 August 1921) was a French musical and dramatic critic and writer. He was born at Châteauroux (Indre) and studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris under Alard (violin) and Reber (harmony). In 1855 he becam ...

who served from 1885 to 1921. However, after d'Ortigue's death in 1866, only the Heugel name appeared on the masthead. When Jacques-Léopold died in 1883, his son Henri-Georges Heugel took over as director. He was in turn succeeded by his own son Jacques-Paul who served as the director for the remainder of the journal's existence. ''Le Ménestrel'' was published weekly for a period spanning 107 years, initially coming out on Sunday (later changed to Saturday and then Friday). The Franco-Prussian War caused publication to be suspended from late December 1870 through November 1871, and publication was suspended again for the duration of

World War I 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 ...

, with the first post-war issue appearing on 17 October 1919. At the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in 1939, the journal carried on until the invasion of France. The 24 May 1940 issue announced that, following the German attacks and the closure of theatres and concert halls in Europe and France as well as the

Paris Conservatory 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 ...

, the journal was suspending publication with the hope of resuming in the autumn.''Le Ménestrel'', 24 May 1940. Original text: "Nous souhaitons pouvoir reprendre, à l'automne, l'effort que nous nous sommes imposé pendant la première phase de la guerre, conscients d'avoir ainsi servi modestement, mais de notre mieux, la cause impérissable de la pensée et de l'art français." In the end, it proved to be the last issue of ''Le Ménestrel''. The Heugel company continued to operate as an independent music publisher until 1980 when it was sold to

Éditions Alphonse Leduc The Éditions Alphonse Leduc company is a prominent French music publishing house specializing in classical music. It was created in Paris in 1841. Since January 2014, Leduc is part of the Wise Music Group (formerly the Music Sales Group). Hi ...

. Notable people who wrote for the journal include

Henri Duponchel Henri Duponchel (28 July 1794 – 8 April 1868) was in turn a French architect, interior designer, costume designer, stage designer, stage director, managing director of the Paris Opera, and a silversmith. He has often been confused with Char ...

, Max d'Ollone,

Alphonse Royer Alphonse Royer, (10 September 1803 – 11 April 1875) was a French author, dramatist and theatre manager, most remembered today for having written (with his regular collaborator, Gustave Vaëz) the librettos for Gaetano Donizetti's opera ''L ...

and

Paul Collin Paul Collin (12 July 1843 – 5 February 1915) was a French poet, writer, translator and librettist. Life and career Collin was born in Conches-en-Ouche. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, his family produced administrative officers in the mili ...

Notes and references

Sources

*Ellis, Katharine (2007
''Music Criticism in Nineteenth-Century France''
Cambridge University Press. *Feurzeig, Lisa (1994)
"The Business Affairs of Gabriel Fauré"
in Hans Lenneberg (ed.) ''The Dissemination of Music: Studies in the History of Music Publishing''. Routledge. * Gautier, Théophile (1995)
''Correspondance générale 1865–1867''
(edited and annotated by Claudine Lacoste-Veysseyre). Librairie Droz. *''Le Ménestrel'' (1 December 1833)
Année 1, No. 0
*''Le Ménestrel'' (3 February 1933). "Cent ans d'histoire de la musique et du théâtre"
Année 95, No. 5
*''Le Ménestrel'' (24 May 1940)
Année 102, Nos. 19–21
*Nichols, Robert S. and Drake, Jeremy (2001). "Heugel" in Stanley Sadie (ed.) ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', Volume 11. Grove's Dictionaries. *Watanabe, Ruth (1948)
"The Pougin Collection"
''University of Rochester Library Bulletin'', Vol. 3, No. 3, Spring 1948

External links

All issues of ''Le Ménestrel'' from 1833 to 1940
scanned by the Bibliothèque nationale de France {{DEFAULTSORT:Menestrel 1833 establishments in France 1940 disestablishments in France Classical music magazines Defunct magazines published in France French-language magazines Music magazines published in France Weekly magazines published in France Magazines established in 1833 Magazines disestablished in 1940 Music criticism