Antoine Goléa (real name Siegfried Goldman) (30 August 1906 in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
– 12 October 1980 in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
) was a French musicologist of Romanian origin. He was one of the founding members of the
Académie Charles-Cros
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
.
Biography
Having been pushed by his father to become a violinist, Antoine Goléa entered the
Conservatory of Bucharest at the age of nine, and studied violin under the guidance of Cecilia Nitzulescu, a brilliant and despotic "failed violinist", who initially believed in his talent. But, after nine years of study, they both have to face the facts: he was not made to be a virtuoso violinist, despite his undeniable gifts, in particular that of the "
absolute pitch
Absolute pitch (AP), often called perfect pitch, is the ability to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of a reference tone. AP may be demonstrated using linguistic labelling ("naming" a note), associating mental image ...
", and despite the first violin prize which crowned his long years of study. He was then eighteen years old. After three years at the French high school in Bucharest, his parents decided to send him to France to complete his secondary education. He arrived in Montpellier towards the end of the summer of 1928 and, having obtained his bachelor's degree in philosophy and a certificate of higher studies in German, he moved to Paris in October 1929, where he settled for the rest of his life.
Goléa was one of the first participants of the famous radio talk ' by
Armand Panigel, launched in 1947 on
RTF (and later on
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 classical music and jazz.
History
The channel was lau ...
), alongside
Claude Rostand,
José Bruyr, and Henri Jacques. Other eminent critics later joined this ''Tribune'', in particular
Jacques Bourgeois and
Jean Roy.
A columnist at ''
Télérama
''Télérama'' is a weekly French language, French cultural and television magazine published in Paris, France. The name is a contraction of its earlier title: ''Télévision-Radio-Cinéma''. Fabienne Pascaud is currently managing editor. Ludovic ...
'' ''
Diapason'', and ', he was one of the most important critics of
contemporary music Contemporary music is whatever music is produced at the current time. Specifically, it could refer to:
Genres or audiences
* Adult contemporary music
* British contemporary R&B
* Christian adult contemporary
* Christian contemporary hit radio
* Con ...
, known for his uncompromising stance and passionate defence of
serial music, which he has long considered to be the only contemporary music worthy of interest. He also wrote a ''Histoire du ballet'' (1967).
Towards the end of his life, however, Goléa was led to somewhat soften his positions. In the last published work of his lifetime (''La Musique de la nuit des temps aux aurores nouvelles''.), he must recognize that "an even more serious phenomenon has occurred: serial music died of his beautiful death..."
However, Goléa has always been an ardent defender of 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 influe ...
,
Messiaen,
Schoenberg and
Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music.
Born in Montb ...
, whom he considered to be the true creators of contemporary music, whereas, when asked what a
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...
meant in the evolution of contemporary music, his answer was astounding: "Nothing, very exactly!
He was married to singer Colette Herzog. They are both buried at
Cimetière parisien de Bagneux.
Quote
Excerpt from an article published in the journal ''Musica'' in 1956, and included in his biography ''Je suis un violoniste raté'':
Publications
*1954: ''Esthétique de la musique contemporaine'',
PUF
*1958: ''Georges Auric'', éditions Ventadour
*1959: ''Rencontres avec Pierre Boulez'',
éditions Julliard
*1960: ''La Musique dans la société européenne, du Moyen Âge à nos jours'',
''La Musique dans la société européenne, du Moyen Âge à nos jours'' on WorldCat
/ref> Bibliothèque de l'homme d'action
*1961: ''Rencontres avec Olivier Messiaen'', éditions Julliard
*1962: ''20 ans de musique contemporaine. De Messiaen à Boulez. De Boulez à l'inconnu'', 2 vol.
*1965: ''Richard Strauss'', Flammarion
*1967: ''Entretiens avec Wieland Wagner'', éditions Belfond
*1967: ''Histoire du ballet'', éd. Rencontres
*1968: ''Claude Debussy'', Seghers
*1969: ''Marcel Landowski'', Seghers, 1969
*1977: ''La Musique, de la nuit des temps aux aurores nouvelles'', éditions Alphonse Leduc, 2 vol.
*1980: ''Georges Enesco, un grand inconnu'', éditions Salabert, 1980
*1981: ''Je suis un violoniste raté'', éditions Julliard; reissued Belfond, followed by ''Et après'' by Jérôme Spycket
* Important chapters in the following collective works: ''Wagner, Bach, Mozart, Liszt, Berlioz, Debussy,'' all published in the series ''Génies et Réalités'', éditions Réalités-Hachette
References
External links
Radioscopie d'Antoine Goléa
(20 January 1978) on INA.fr
''La tribune des critiques de disques. Armand Panigel, Antoine Goléa, Jacques Bourgeois.''
on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golea, Antoine
20th-century French musicologists
1906 births
Writers from Vienna
1980 deaths
Messiaen scholars