Pierre Lalo (6 September 1866– 9 June 1943) was a French music critic and translator. He was the son of the composer Edouard Lalo. His reviews for the Parisian paper ''

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 ...

'' combined conservatism and wit; among his principal targets was the composer

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

, whose music Lalo disparaged throughout his career. In addition to his journalistic work Lalo served on the governing boards of the

Paris Conservatoire 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 ...

and the national radio station Radiodiffusion.

Life and career

Lalo was born in

Puteaux Puteaux () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the heart of the Hauts-de-Seine department, from the centre of Paris. In 2016, it had a population of 44,941. La Défense, Paris's business district hosting th ...

, west of central Paris. His father, Edouard Lalo, was a composer; his mother, Julie de Maligny, was a professional singer of Breton origin. He studied at the

École polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

in Paris. He was a fine scholar, excelling in the study of literature, classics, philosophy and modern languages.Trevitt, John
"Lalo, Pierre"
Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, retrieved 4 March 2015 From 1896 Lalo contributed articles to the '' Journal des débats'', and two years later he began a career as a music critic with an article in the ''

Revue de Paris ''Revue de Paris'' was a French literary magazine founded in 1829 by Louis-Désiré Véron. After two years Veron left the magazine to head the Paris Opera The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded ...

'' about

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the P ...

's new opera '' Fervaal''. On the strength of that article he was appointed music critic of ''

'', remaining in the post from 1898 to 1914. He also wrote for ''Le Courrier musical'' and ''Comoedia''."Pierre Lalo"
Encyclopédie Larousse, retrieved 4 March 2015 Collections of his articles were published in volume form in 1920 (''La musique: 1898–1899''), 1933 (''Richard Wagner ou le Nibelung''), and posthumously in 1947 (''De Rameau à Ravel: portraits et souvenirs''). Lalo's writing is described by ''

Grove's 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 ...

'' as characterised by "conservatism, wit, astuteness and a linguistic finesse which occasionally turned to virulence." One of his persistent themes was a dislike of the music of Ravel. Although a friend and trusted adviser of Ravel's teacher Fauré, Lalo gave poor notices to the young composer's early works, and continued to disparage him throughout his career. Lalo was less hostile to the music of

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

, whose style of musical

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...

he preferred to Ravel's. When he detected what he thought was the influence of Ravel on Debussy's music, Lalo wrote, "By a strange phenomenon, the music of M. Debussy today reflects that of his own imitators. M. Ravel has been reproached (more than he should) for resembling M. Debussy, and now it's M. Debussy who starts to resemble M. Ravel." Lalo added that nonetheless he still preferred Debussy's music to Ravel's. His article "Maurice Ravel et le Debussysme" in ''Le temps'' in 1907 so stirred up factional opinion in the musical public that the harmonious relations between the two composers became strained. Lalo was a member of the governing body of the

during Fauré's directorship,Nectoux, p. 269 and later served on the board of the national broadcasting station Radiodiffusion. He died in Paris at the age of 76.

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lalo, Pierre 1866 births 1943 deaths 19th-century French journalists French male journalists 19th-century French translators 20th-century French writers 20th-century French translators Conservatoire de Paris École Polytechnique alumni French music critics French people of Spanish descent People from Puteaux Writers from Paris 19th-century French male writers 20th-century French male writers